CALCIUM DEFICIENCY? MAGNESIUM DEFICIENCY?

Hello fellow growmies & homies of the world ! I normally don't go on rollitup often but I've been going through some garden headaches and need other growmies advice / opinions ...

As you can see by the title , for most part what I think the problem is, is a calcium & magnesium deficiency that I got because Im using RO water and I didn't replace the calmag and some of my plants starved. Also could be other deficiencies I didn't notice so please point out anything you notice that I didn't.

My setup to begin with:

FEED/SUPPLEMENTS: MR BS GREEN TREES DRY AMENDMENTS/SEED SPROUT TEAS /GROWER RECHARGE, CALIMAGIC 1-0-0, SILICA POWDER
MEDIA: Roots organic original soil
WATER SOURCE: REVERSE OSMOSIS (HYDROLOGIC STEALTH 300)
LIGHTS: MARS HYDRO FCE-6500S
DAYTIME/NIGHTTIME TEMP: 78/80 / 70/65
DAYTIME RH/NIGHTTIME RH: 58/65 / 60/70

Just wanted to cover what I'm doing in my grow ao people have a idea on what's going on ... I was using the calimagic 1-0-0 at 1/4 the strength from the start and sometimes I didn't even use any calmag at all ... the back of the bottle says 1 teaspoon per gallon but just like with all bottled nutrients/supplements/dry amendments I always cut the dose in half or 1/4 the strength... but I'm thinking the plants could of used alot more calmag from the start esp since I use RO water (reverse osmosis) ??? Should I follow what they recommend on the back of the bottle and just do 1 teaspoon per gallon? To feed all my plants I use around 40 gallons of water so I figure 40 teaspoons sounds like alot so that's why I always do half the dose cause even 20 tsp is alot but Def less so feels more comfortable feeding 20 tsp to my plants compared to full strength 40 tsp... I layed acouple tablespoons of my 7-7-4 Mr bs green trees on the soil a all in one dry amendment formula... im also going to add some growers recharge next so microbes will help the amendments break down... other then that I just use seedsprout teas , SILICA/calmag/aloe for supplements... I hope this is enough information I really need to figure out how to diagnose this problem asap ...

RO? Definitely use cal mag. Every time.

You've probably got multiple issues going on and need to address each one separately. What is your light height and what % are you running it at? Try to not let the temp drop so low at night, it will just exacerbate your other problems-try to keep it within 5 deg of your daytime temps. How you water is definitely contributing, could you describe your watering practices-how often, how much, etc? Lastly, dry amending soil can be really challenging for some people until they get used to growing. I think you'd have better success feeding with a complete nutrient solution like Maxibloom for a grow, just to ensure your success, then move on to other methods or stick with it if you like it-it's just really easy for beginners. Here is a thread on Maxibloom KISS https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijua...ertilizers/189616-the-k-i-s-s-method?t=191645

Tea spoon =5ml. 40 gallons so 5ml / gallon.=200 ml.
Why RO? Water that bad,may mix the two?

Your dry amendments should have ca/mg in it?
Cheaper alternative is epsom for Mg.

Rurumo said:

You've probably got multiple issues going on and need to address each one separately. What is your light height and what % are you running it at? Try to not let the temp drop so low at night, it will just exacerbate your other problems-try to keep it within 5 deg of your daytime temps. How you water is definitely contributing, could you describe your watering practices-how often, how much, etc? Lastly, dry amending soil can be really challenging for some people until they get used to growing. I think you'd have better success feeding with a complete nutrient solution like Maxibloom for a grow, just to ensure your success, then move on to other methods or stick with it if you like it-it's just really easy for beginners. Here is a thread on Maxibloom KISS https://www.icmag.com/forum/marijua...ertilizers/189616-the-k-i-s-s-method?t=191645

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Well I've always used dry amendments growing outdoors as I was doing no til, laying amendments, doing compost / alfalfa/mung bean sst everything organic. I try to stick to a organic feeding schedule and avoid using salt based liquid nutes. Not saying I don't use liquid nutes, I still use liquid nutes here & there when I need to feed my plants right away. I used a low amount of floranova grow after I noticed the calmag deficiency pop up and def noticed some fast results. I water using a hand watering wand connected to a sump pump and water each pot roughly maybe 1/4 gallon each. To be honest its the opposite for me synthetics / bottled nutes are more challenging for me then laying dry amendments, its easy for me to be able to just lay some dry amendments, add microbes to the soil and let the soil do the work. I've been growing outdoors for the past 3 years and built a super soil over time with amendments, minerals, aeration , compost, earthworm castings so through out the season I didn't have to feed much pretty much just added my amendments (lightly) / supplements and that was it. Now growing indoors in small pots i'm not used to having to feed as much but I know what to expect, I just need to feed them calmag from the scratch. The main reason I'm using RO water is because I run off of town water that goes through old rusty pipes, all my sediment filter collects is rust its horrible. Yeah I prob should keep my night temps up a little bit at night to at least 70.

hotrodharley said:

RO? Definitely use cal mag. Every time.

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Crazy amount of rust in my town water the ro filter works but I have to spray off the sediment filter often to keep the rust from building up

myke said:

Tea spoon =5ml. 40 gallons so 5ml / gallon.=200 ml.
Why RO? Water that bad,may mix the two?

Your dry amendments should have ca/mg in it?
Cheaper alternative is epsom for Mg.

Click to expand...

Yeah the dry amendments I use def have a lot of calcium, but I just started to lay those down, I should've layed the amendments down 2 weeks ago and I probably wouldn't of had any problems. None the less I still need to feed them calcium from the scratch esp using RO water

NCS98 said:

Crazy amount of rust in my town water the ro filter works but I have to spray off the sediment filter often to keep the rust from building up

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If you are not running that water through activated charcoal the membrane in the RO unit will be destroyed by chlorine. Sediment filter alone doesn't remove chlorine.

NCS98 said:

Yeah the dry amendments I use def have a lot of calcium, but I just started to lay those down, I should've layed the amendments down 2 weeks ago and I probably wouldn't of had any problems. None the less I still need to feed them calcium from the scratch esp using RO water

Click to expand...

and yes my water is really bad its got excess chlorine , and my sediment filter builds up alot of rust over time, main reason im using RO water.

hotrodharley said:

If you are not running that water through activated charcoal the membrane in the RO unit will be destroyed by chlorine. Sediment filter alone doesn't remove chlorine.

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Yeah I have the stealth RO 300 has a charcoal carbon filter & a sediment filter. I just replaced both of them, there's one carbon filter that lasts up to 6 months and the cheaper carbon filter last 3 months. The sediment filters I change out every 3 months regardless. I probably could of kept using the more expensive dark carbon filter since it lasts 6 months, but I wasn't sure so I ended up changing both of them out as you can see I have a fresh white sediment & and fresh carbon filter.

You say your tapwater is not good. Rusty. What does the water quality report say as far as hardness? Rusty color can be from a pipe of pipe rusting. Is this well water speaking of that?

Not questioning your judgement. My landlord's well water won't even bloom bread yeast.

I believe.

Those with the viable option to install a small rainwater tank would be better served than forever paying for RO.