Would it be possible to increase some of the other elements to drop the ratio of "K", or is it too complicated ?
Effects Of Potassium On Cannabinoids
- Thread starter Mitchell Florn
- Start date
Calcium is super understated in a lot of the off the shelf mixes, and often when talking about growing in my experience.. Cannabis loves so much more Ca than the average line provides from what I’ve seen. When I was studying ratios for my super soil I couldn’t believe the levels of calcium at first. It launched me off into what Calcium is responsible for and what it actually does. I was impressed.
I don't have the answer, but Mulder's Chart/Diagram has an antagonistic relationship between Ca and damn near every other element other than N. Is it really that we need massive amounts of Ca, or is the Ca limited due to improper balancing of the other elements?
Im gonna tag in @Gee64 on this convo as well. His understanding of calcium is far beyond mine. It would be helpful if we understood the antagonistic relationship causes better but last I read we were still hypothesizing about transport pathways.
While he’s responding I’m gonna dig in a little on this topic, I’d prefer to better understand what’s occurring before making any assumptions.
I read somewhere recently (forget the source) that Ca should be half of K, and Mg should be half of Ca. Not sure if it's that simple but I'm going to try something close in my latest reformulation.
I believe this may be what you’re referring to:
“For cannabis, K, Ca and Mg all appear to be needed in larger quantities compared to other greenhouse floriculture species. In general, the rule is provide K, Ca and Mg in a 4:2:1 ratio to avoid antagonisms.
For commercial poinsettia production, we recommend a similar ratio around 200 ppm K to 100 ppm Ca to 50 ppm Mg; this would be a good starting point for cannabis (which, like poinsettias, is a short-day plant) until scientifically based research can determine optimal rates.
Also, keep in mind that excessive sodium (Na), which can come from your fertilizer source or irrigation water, can also interfere in K, Ca and Mg uptake.”
I read that here:
I can’t find sources for what they’re saying but they do say that more research is needed for optimal rates. These ratios seem pretty consistent with how I mixed my super soil. Obviously it’s a little harder to tell down to the ppm levels but by volume this is pretty darn close.
Your work with your own nutrient salts can easily be translated to soil mixes.. I’m gonna crawl back over your journals for information as well. It’ll be nice to have ratios and their results to look at dialing in my mixes.
Yep, that was the source. Thanks.
Gee64
Well-Known Member
Calcium and magnesium in proper balance create proper tilth in the soil.
Proper tilth regulates water and air as well as allowing the colloidal platters to function correctly.
If none of that is working properly forget about food as its all electrically locked onto the platters. This is what occurs when ph gets out of whack.
Aprox 90% of the platters are filled with cal and mag. Food fills the rest and the gaps are filled by hydrogen(ph) when they say ph ( potential hydrogen) they mean how much potential hydrogen can be on the platters. Thats exactly why synthetic guys add calmag to the water 1st.
Hydrogen can flip its charge at will so as food gets eaten off the platter hydrogen can manipulate its charge to attract various other nutes. Hydrogens ability to do this in the proper range for cannabis is dictated by how much cal and mag are on the platter.
Also too much mag or too little calcium and mag gets sticky. The 1st thing it sticks to is nitrogen. So if the cal/mag ratio is out nitro gets locked, and if cal is low ph goes out and everything locks. In organics, a nitro def is almost alway low cal or excess mag.
Calcium and magnesium are food, but more than that they are soil conditioners.
So yes, after NPK calcium is by a country mile the most important ingredient, and if its not right then NPK do not matter.
I assume you already know what I’m about to say but I’ll say it for the post.
Not only is calcium Uber important in the soil, it’s Uber important in plants. It acts as a central regulator for plant growth/development.
It’s a component of the cell wall, and is responsible for plant rigidity. It also plays a major role in the organization of genetic material during cell division.
“Calcium interacts with the membrane structures of the cell, which stabilizes cell structure and affords the living cell the ability to control its ionic concentrations. Calcium allows the cell to maintain homeostasis.
Calcium participates in a wide range of intercellular processes through a diverse set of specialized proteins. Calcium modulates hormone and enzyme activities, energy generation and gene expression”
It’s almost literally the backbone of a plant with how vital it is to the cells themselves and the cellular processes occurring throughout.
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