General Organics CaMg+

Undercover Cop

Active Member
Im running a sterile DWC Bubblejug set up.
View attachment 1987801

I recetly got some GeneralOrganics CaMg+, which contains Molasses and Fermented Plant Sugars. I use Hygrozyme and H2O2 with GH Flora 3part, ST & B1... since Ive been using hydrogen peroxide Ive avoided organics since H2O2 will break down organic compounds. Im going to add the CalMag when I give straight water so it doesnt go in with the H2O2/nute feeding. I want to benefit from the molasses, but Im not sure if its even necessary in otherwise sterile hydro. Their product literature says "CaMg+ is derived from all natural sources, not calcium nitrate. It must be added in conjunction to make calcium available to plants grown hydroponically"
Does anyone have first hand experience w/ GO CaMg+ in hydro?
Can you tell me if it's the same as adding Blackstrap molasses as far as adding carb/sugars...and if molasses would even be necessary in a sterile medium like my jugs (does molasses actually feed the plant? or the just the microbial system in the rootzone of an organic system?)
Botanicare Sweet raw is made from blackstrap, is CaMg+ the same as Sweet, but with calcium? (they both have Mg and Sulphur and Molasses, and smell the same also.)

Thanks, any help would be appreciated.

DSC02107.jpgday28 12/12
:eyesmoke:
 

hyphae

Member
Honestly I hate the GO line, especially cal mag+. I used to manage a hydro shop a few years ago and right before I left the GO line was released, Our GH rep came by and gave us his pitch for the GO line. One thing that he emphasized was that GO IS NOT meant for hydroponics, which would explain why we were having such trouble with it at the time in an ebb and flow system. :lol: His instructions for use were to mix nutrients in dechlorinated water and immediately discard what we did not use after we watered our plants. It's also only supposed to be used in soil/coir.

In short I would say you honestly don't really need the cal mag with the flora series you're using. If you do want to cover your bases I would use CalMag by botanicare which is made from ionized minerals. When I used to run hydro i did add molasses in the reservoirs and I did see a difference using it, that being said I always developed anerobic conditions and the reservoirs would stink to high heaven. To get around this I would use it in the last half of flowering at 5/ml per gallon with the regular feeding regimen and the last week I would run molasses at 60/ml per gallon along with 2.5/ml of cal mag and then flush for four days with plain water.

Running molasses in the reservoir seemed to "cover up" a lot of the chemmy harsh flavors from the synthetic nutrients.
 

hyphae

Member
I started to ramble.:lol: If you want to molasses to cover up the harsh flavor run blackstrap molasses in the buckets and make sure to flush good. If you want to cover your bases against deficiencies run calmag by botanicare or MagICal by technaflora. Don't run that GO stuff as it really is a headache and will cause more problems than it solves, you don't even need it in soil for that matter.
 

hyphae

Member
also, that GO stuff smells nasty like vinegar. Seriously just run blackstrap. the ladies look nice btw.
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
I havent really had any cal mag issues except right at seedling, where the first few leaves start to get spotty when they're still young (first one or two sets of leaves), Im thinking the diluted solution they get at first might be too weak, but I dont want to overfeed and burn em at such a young age, and its not tip burn from overfeeding, rather spotting from a deficiency. I kinda do want to have something just for calcium, I already have some epsom salts for mg. (just requested the free botanicare sample 2 minutes ago so I hope they send some calmag. ...
...

I was about to get some blackstrap, but I just dont want to create a frothy mess inside my jugs, Im worried the 2 gallons of molassess-ed nutes will bubble for a few days then start to spoil and froth up and make a mess. And right now the root balls are so big its a pain to lift the whole netpot out to flush the jugs. I usually flush for the last time about 2 weeks into flowering, then just add fresh water and nutes until harvest. I dont want to have anything foul my little self contained jugs. .. lololol I once thought that I could sweeten up my buds and make em fruity by adding fruit juice to my Ebb and flow res. Bubbling away with all kinds of yeasts and sugars made a spoiled winey gross mess and stressed em all hermie :( learned not to just assume things lol.

So Botanicare for hydro? or do you know anything else that would work with h2o2 for cal? for sweet (anything like molasses that works with H2o2?) or should I use molasses maybe the last 2 weeks so it just doesnt have time to go bad?

Thanks for the response, +rep.
 

hyphae

Member
are you using tapwater? you're probably good on calcium if you're rocking municipal water in those babies. you probably really don't really need to run the h2o2 if you're only going to run molasses for the last two weeks, just sayin. you could run sweet or sugar daddy but you'll wind up using less blackstrap and it will be cheaper..... oh yeah and you won't run out of it as quick since you use less....


do you have any pics of the deficiency????
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
also, that GO stuff smells nasty like vinegar. Seriously just run blackstrap. the ladies look nice btw.

Thx man, yeah I opened it and said "aww shit I dont want that in my clean jugs" and it has fermented sugars so... eeeww yeah. So the blackstrap wont foul the water after a few days bubbling? And you're saying that it does affect the flavor? I know that it feeds microbes in tea's and organic systems so its used for gardening that way, I just wasnt sure if the flavor aspect was hype, like adding juice or koolaid lol. And since it feeds the microbes in teas, I dont want to make a tea in my jugs inadvertantly, by a small bit of bacteria or whatnot that starts to feed on the new food source. And at the same time I dont want the h2o2 to immediately break it down since the molasses is an organic compound. If I feed nutes/h2o2 one day, then straight water w/ molasses 2 days later, would the plant use up a good amt of molasses before the H2o2 is added 2 days later?
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
are you using tapwater? you're probably good on calcium if you're rocking municipal water in those babies. you probably really don't really need to run the h2o2 if you're only going to run molasses for the last two weeks, just sayin. you could run sweet or sugar daddy but you'll wind up using less blackstrap and it will be cheaper..... oh yeah and you won't run out of it as quick since you use less....


do you have any pics of the deficiency????

No pics of the babies then, but I just germ'd 12 and am trying to avoid that stess at so young, lookin good so far :) When giving straight water, its tap water that has rested for a day or two. When they get nutes, its with the sparkletts bottled water that comes in the same bottles they're living in.. I get a ton of water bottles for free :) (my local water is HARD, nasty nasty HARD water) so I try to keep it bottled. Bottled water holds a steady ph alot better than tap also. I'd love to stick with the cheapest and natural blackstrap, IMO sweet is ripoff (costs more than alot of good liquors by vol.) and I wont use AN (marketed to noobs)
Ill prob cut the h2o2 the last 3 weeks and run only blackstrap for the 2nd to last week, then water only for the last week. (so no nutes for 2 weeks, and only molasses for a week before starving her)...

I did just request samples from botanicare, so they'll prob send me some sweet for free.. then Ill use it :) I had sweet before, it says to be used with all normal feedings, so I did, and ran out before even hitting 12/12. Are there benefits from Sweet or Molasses during veg in my sterile hydro? or is it just a flavoring/sweetener additive for me?
 

hyphae

Member
I've always struggled with DWC when I ran that. Knowing what I do now from organic gardening if I were to run DWC again I would definitely apply this to prevent pathogens fouling of reservoir/rotting of roots https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-dwc-root-slime-cure-aka.html If you used his technique the entire time the plants were in DWC i am certain the molasses would not foul your system provided you had enough aeration. When beneficial microbes are present and thriving within an eco system it is far less likely for disease to get a foothold since benes produce antibiotics to ward off competitors.
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
hmmm ok gotcha, last half of flowering. Hygrozyme? would that have any effect on molasses? Hygrozyme acts kinda like h202 as far as it beaks down dead organic compounds (as far as I know) Would Hygrozyme be another issue w molasses?

And dont worry about rambling lol, that how I get my best ideas out! (then I apologize to those Ive offended)



Ive read it and would like to try, prob will if I go to a more intricate system. But with my jugs, they're constricted to only having 2-2.5 gallons in their own self contained jugs, theres no res with a large amount of water to mix large amts of nutes in and can be drained and refilled. Once I hit the beginning of flowering, the roots get so big I cant lift the pots outta the jugs, so its kinda like past the point of no return. I cant risk something getting outta control in my microbial system cuz I cant get in there to fix it, I can just add more water or nutes when they get low. Im kinda restricted to staying sterile. I will be trying a RDWC system soon and will try the heisenberg tea :)
 

hyphae

Member
A co worker did a side by side experiment once using hygrozyme. In two identical systems, each with a 600 watt system lighting them, he added hygrozyme to one reservior and none to the other. This was with basil plants, at the end of like two or three months the plants that didn't have hygrozyme added with their nutes had a larger, healthier canopy. The plants that were given hygrozyme were not as healthy canopy wise but has fucking pearl white roots. We reasoned that based on our experiment it must be best to run hygrozyme only if a problem does occur, not beforehand as a preventative therapy.

Another time comes to mind when a friend of a friend came into the shop. He used pure blend in an ebb and flow and used hygrozyme to prevent disease, I convinced him to try subculture-b(it was just called subculture at the time) instead of using any hygrozyme since we thought the plants that were exposed to hygrozyme looked kinda shitty. I remember seeing him later on and he remarked that the plants did look better and yeild more without any hygrozyme in the tank.
 

Undercover Cop

Active Member
hmmmm I try not to be a sucker, but some young commercial cropper at the local store was swearing by the hygrozyme. I dont usually have issues with my roots, except I did leave 2 jugs unplugged from the air line overnight and drowned my roots a few weeks back... white to red/brown overnight... stressed em hermie. Hygrozyme prob would have been good to have around to try to salvage some root system.
 

burrr

Well-Known Member
UC, that GO calmag is made with calcium carbonate, and magnesium carbonate. Plants in hydro cant use the cal, or the mag in that form. It's for dirt. If you want to add cal/mag to hydro look for a product with calcium nitrate and magnesium nitrate.

I tried hygrozyme, and it did nothing for me, at least nothing good. molasses in hydro sounds like trouble too! avoid all the sweetener products!
your plants look like they are just overfed, and you probably don't even need the calmag.
 

burrr

Well-Known Member
you really need to figure out a way to change your nutes! I would not expect a plant to be happy with the same 2 gallons for 12 weeks, no matter what you add back to it. Try a shop vac and and 3/8 tubing to suck them bitches dry.
 

WaxxyNuggets

Active Member
... Don't put anything that has any sugars in your buckets man. Adding blackstrap to your buckets with flora nova would be the most ass backwards thing i've ever heard. So that 95% you hear on the internet is bs huh??... lol:wall:

Sugars are broken down by bacteria, giving them a boost that helps the plant uptake nutrients through the roots more efficiently. If you're running synthetic nutes with h202... what the hell would you be feeding (bad bacteria that will ruin your grow and give you a ton of headaches :O) by putting sugars into your buckets? What problem is your plant having? I think you should just put the bottle down and let em roll, the pics look good!
 
Top