I am looking for water soluble calcium. I have gypsum, but wondering if I am putting too much in my water and it is not dissolving. Ive seen people using 1/4tsp per gallon, but I find this not being enough, or its not staying dissolved in there. Using tap water, 2 air stones to keep solution mixing, and I put epsom salts in the reservoir too. Wondering if the 1/4 tsp is enough? I had a calcium deficiency on a couple plants and maybe it just wasnt enough to correct it. I would really like a water soluble calcium for ease of use if I can get one strong enough. Wondering what all my options are. I see a lot of suggestions to do the egg shell route, but I don't have enough egg shells to keep up with that I bet. Thanks.
Calcium for Blumat Reservoir
- Thread starter sourgummy
- Start date
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
your calcium should be in your soil buddy. Dolomite lime, Oyster Shell Flour, Eggshells, whatever you can get your hands on. 1/2 cup per cubic foot of soil. you'll never need to add calcium to your water. you'd be much better off going and getting a bottle of cal-mg than trying to solubilize gypsum in water.
I had added dolomite at 1.5 tbsp per gallon on the first little run almost finished right now. Next ones I did say 2.1 tbsp per gallon and yes they are doing perfect. Could possibly use more cal and mag though still. Should I just add more? I’m running CO2 and blasting them. They’re getting 600-1200 par on canopy. I definitely see a big difference in the newest soil I made with that extra dolomite.
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
yeah man, when you blast plants with CO2, they require more nutrients. I would recommend bumping it up some more. one thing i have always wondered when running CO2 with organic soil is how hot you'd need to make the soil mix in order for them to keep up with the extra CO2 fixation. Good to know someone out there is doing it! what rate are you running your other amendments at? Also, you can always topdress some stuff and scratch it into the surface or mix it with some compost. it'll take a couple weeks to start breaking down and you have to kind of anticipate the need which can be hard to do lol.
so right now the ones that are deficient slightly are ones that were really just pheno hunts. One is in 2gal container, so you can imagine top dressing is necessary to keep it going. But my strategy is to make sure the home(pot) is big enough to make my normal but pretty heavy amended soil mix last the plant through flower. I go from 2-7 gallon container a few days before flipping Right now I have a true 7 gallon container run with 4 plants with the added dolomite and almost doubled my original langbeinite dose in those pots too along with more fish bone meal. Those are absolutely crushing it so far as expected. No deficiencies, could be a touch greener but that would be picky and probably just cause they're getting so much light. I have an acapulco gold x colombian gold handling 1,650 par on the top most center coala. It's a great plant its gotten big thats why its getting so much par, but so far no signs of stress on that one coala. Even though this run about to finish has been my best so far(this is my 2nd grow), can tell the next few plants are already going to be better. Last run I ran into deficiencies in week 3 and have just about lasted since then to now almost end of week 7. But the buds still are very nice, good width that I am pleased with. Can post a picture if anyone would like to see. I am very pleased right now with an Afghani I have on that week 7 schedule. Cool to know it had deficiencies and will be better next time I run that one.
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
i think your mix would benefit from adding some crab shell meal to it. I like neptunes harvest brand because it's much chunkier and slower release than the Down To Earth brand. also, if you have the means, drop the azomite and get some basalt rock dust, and i would go a little heavier like 2 cups per cu.ft. Other than that, i think your mix looks pretty solid!
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
azomite has a lot of aluminum compared to basalt. the basalt dust is almost more sand like, rather than powder, which i prefer. the basalt taking a long time to break down is what you want. its not a source of macronutrients, its for the metals that are not required in high amounts (zinc, copper, molybdenum, etc). even the azomite lasts longer than one flower run. if you're recycling your soil, then you would only need to apply it every 3 cycles probably.
i already know cobs require much more calmag. I would like if possible to make my own home made version of general organics calmag for when the soil just isnt enough. Just looking for the calcium since i already use epsom salts.
Skunk_E_Bud
Member
I go the egg shells route. I cook them in a aluminum foil pouch in the oven and they really foam up when first mixed with a good organic apple cider vineger. Did you cook them first? It's easy to keep up on egg shells, but my family loves eggs. Try hard boiling a bunch, those seem to go quick.
i had some old eggs and I cracked em, washed out with water quickly, then slow heated to evaporate water and dry shells. Then processed them into small bits and then roasted. Those were then placed in vinegar and foamed up quite a bit. We'll see how it works soon. How is it working for you and what dilution rate are you using?
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
i remember reading once upon a time that you don't want to cook the eggshells because it changes the chemical composition slightly. After i rinse my shells off, i just put them in a place with good air flow (like in front of my passive intake for flower) they dry brittle and nice, and then mortar and pestle them to a powder. use them in the worm bin usually. All egg shells come from chickens raised in the family.
Actually, basalt contains slightly more aluminum than Azomite, both are a bit over 11%. aluminum
But with aluminum being the 3rd most abundant element in the earth's crust it's pretty much impossible to avoid. To actually get it to release and cause a toxicity would pretty much kill your plant first, like a pH under 4 or so, or a huge overapplication of fulvic acid.
Just use whatever you prefer or can source the easiest. I pretty much just use greensand now, but have used Azomite for years with no problems and granite meal (also higher in aluminum than Azo), and if basalt was available locally I would certainly use that over the granite meal. It is supposed to be the best of the rock dusts.
Not arguing with you at all, just commenting on the ongoing aluminum debate when it's really a non issue. IMO
Cheers
Wet
ShLUbY
Well-Known Member
there ya go
thanks for the info bud!