Too much CalMag?

[Antonio Bandido]

Hey peeps,

Wondering if anyone knows what to do with this plant?
Maybe put a bit too much CalMag yesterday.
Added 1ml of CalMAg to 1Litre of Ph water at 6.4......the other plants were fine with this,
but this one is in a smaller pot and these burnt leaves came up straight away....
Anything I can do to help her out?
Muchos Gracious

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi Antonio... I have problems believing that this has happened because of too much calmag. I think the problem has to do with the pH. When you mix up your nutes and/or calmag with the water, do you pH adjust it right then, immediately before applying the fluid to the soil, or are you pH adjusting the water first?

Your problem looks to be have been happening long term... so it has been building up for a while. There has to be something basic wrong here. Just to cover all the bases, tell us more about your soil and how often you water too. We will figure this out.

 

[Antonio Bandido]

Hi Antonio... I have problems believing that this has happened because of too much calmag. I think the problem has to do with the pH. When you mix up your nutes and/or calmag with the water, do you pH adjust it right then, immediately before applying the fluid to the soil, or are you pH adjusting the water first?

Your problem looks to be have been happening long term... so it has been building up for a while. There has to be something basic wrong here. Just to cover all the bases, tell us more about your soil and how often you water too. We will figure this out.

Hi Emilya,
I Ph'd the water after adding the CalMAg but i watered this one more than the others (I dont know why I did this )
The plants that were a bit Cal Def which I watered less with the CalMag have now come good and leaves are much better.
I started with organic soil and miracle grow plant food. I added some perlite later (when I learnt it was good to use)
Since then i have only once (6 weeks ago) added some tomato concentrate which seemed ok on this plant but killed a younger plant so since them I havent added any food only watered every 3 days with 24 Led 300W light.
This was my first plant so its in a smaller pot than my others.
Obviously Im knew to this...Ph i think I have my head around but feeding plants zero knowledge....

 

[Emilya Green]

You are going to need some nutrients, that is for sure. Do you have access to a garden store near you or can you order things on the internet from the big distribution centers? Have you looked into MegaCrop?

 

[Antonio Bandido]

You are going to need some nutrients, that is for sure. Do you have access to a garden store near you or can you order things on the internet from the big distribution centers? Have you looked into MegaCrop?

Yes theres a garden centre near me.....Anything you can suggest I will get.......

 

[Emilya Green]

See if you can get MegaCrop online... do a search for it. It is a very easy system... just one bag of stuff that you mix with water, and pH isnt even a worry. That would be my highest recommendation at this time.

 

[Antonio Bandido]

See if you can get MegaCrop online... do a search for it. It is a very easy system... just one bag of stuff that you mix with water, and pH isnt even a worry. That would be my highest recommendation at this time.

ok great thanks so much!!!!let me order some now, so besides that just keep watering every 3 or so days (when soil is dry)?
And as for feeding amounts...do I follow the feeding instructions on the pack? or a bit less than recommended?

 

[Emilya Green]

Start with the recommended dosage for the age of your plants, and then you will adjust from there. Be sure to get the main product, not the part 1 and 2. For now, yes, keep watering when the soil gets dry all the way to the bottom.

 

[Antonio Bandido]

Start with the recommended dosage for the age of your plants, and then you will adjust from there. Be sure to get the main product, not the part 1 and 2. For now, yes, keep watering when the soil gets dry all the way to the bottom.

Ok found it, they only have to 9.9kg bag online that I can see (do they do smaller bags)....its quite pricey (nearly £100) but if its worth it then will place the order

 

[Antonio Bandido]

See if you can get MegaCrop online... do a search for it. It is a very easy system... just one bag of stuff that you mix with water, and pH isnt even a worry. That would be my highest recommendation at this time.

Hi Emilya,
I justt wanted to check if this is the one you mean? Its does say 1 Part Complete Premium NPK Formula so am not sure.
Its the only one I can find in the UK 1000g bags seems to have run out everywhere

 

[BigDannel]

Hi Emilya,
I justt wanted to check if this is the one you mean? Its does say 1 Part Complete Premium NPK Formula so am not sure.
Its the only one I can find in the UK 1000g bags seems to have run out everywhere

I have not personally used it but have heard many people suggest ordering directly from MegaCrop to avoid any issues. I'm not sure if there are imitation products or what, but ordering directly seems to be the way to go if possible.

 

[Emilya Green]

Hi Emilya,
I justt wanted to check if this is the one you mean? Its does say 1 Part Complete Premium NPK Formula so am not sure.
Its the only one I can find in the UK 1000g bags seems to have run out everywhere

yes, thats the stuff

 

[Emilya Green]

I have not personally used it but have heard many people suggest ordering directly from MegaCrop to avoid any issues. I'm not sure if there are imitation products or what, but ordering directly seems to be the way to go if possible.

yes, and they do have outlets in the UK

 

[multiVortex]

Ok found it, they only have to 9.9kg bag online that I can see (do they do smaller bags)....its quite pricey (nearly £100) but if its worth it then will place the order

That will work just fine, even though it's a big bag. That's the size I get, and it lasts me about a year across all my grows, mixing up weekly for 50, 20 , and 5 gallon reservoir. The short of that is it will last you a long, long time. I strongly suggest getting 4 or so big tupperware type containers, and divide the bag among them. Then you're only using one container at a time, which should help it keep from clumping from humidity.

If you think that's pricey, you should see the bottled nutrients cost for a grow. lol

For me it comes out to about $20/grow with the big bag. If I were to use bottled nutrients, it would be more like $400-$500 per grow.

 

[Antonio Bandido]

I have not personally used it but have heard many people suggest ordering directly from MegaCrop to avoid any issues. I'm not sure if there are imitation products or what, but ordering directly seems to be the way to go if possible.

That will work just fine, even though it's a big bag. That's the size I get, and it lasts me about a year across all my grows, mixing up weekly for 50, 20 , and 5 gallon reservoir. The short of that is it will last you a long, long time. I strongly suggest getting 4 or so big tupperware type containers, and divide the bag among them. Then you're only using one container at a time, which should help it keep from clumping from humidity.

If you think that's pricey, you should see the bottled nutrients cost for a grow. lol

For me it comes out to about $20/grow with the big bag. If I were to use bottled nutrients, it would be more like $400-$500 per grow.

Cool BananasHave ordered, its arrives tomorrow.....thanks a bunch...;p

 

[Antonio Bandido]

yes, and they do have outlets in the UK

Thanks a bunch Emilya, I got the 9.9kg bag....arrives tomorrow......should I leave the CalMAg out of the next watering?

 

[FelipeBlu]

¡Hola and welcome to !

Back to the initial post, it appears that there was probably an incipient Mg def (interveinal fading/leaf damage on lower leaves), which was exacerbated by the addition of too much Ca.

Sometimes, CalMag is not the answer. In this case, had you been fertilizing normally, the application of Epsom salt would have been prescribed.

Do you know what’s in your water (or are you using RO)? Too much Ca in the tap water, plus more in the CalMag, could lock out the Mg, making the Mg def worse.

See Mulder’s chart for antagonistic interactions:

 

[BigDannel]

Back to the initial post, it appears that there was probably an incipient Mg def (interveinal fading/leaf damage on lower leaves), which was exacerbated by the addition of too much Ca.

Sometimes, CalMag is not the answer. In this case, had you been fertilizing normally, the application of Epsom salt would have been prescribed.

Do you know what’s in your water (or are you using RO)? Too much Ca in the tap water, plus more in the CalMag, could lock out the Mg, making the Mg def worse.

See Mulder’s chart for antagonistic interactions:

This is very interesting and I'm glad I read this. I have also identified a slight Mg def on one of my plants, not as bad as these are but needs to be addressed. I have some Cal-Mag en route and should be arriving on Friday but now I wonder if I should just get epsom salt to avoid creating this exact situation. I just bought the condo I'm in so have not had the water fully tested, I did test pH which is 7.2. I'm thinking now that my tap water most likely is high in Ca as you said and that adding CalMag would cause more damage. How do I best utilize epsom salts? I'm growing in FFOF soil, fed as scheduled, 2 months veg, no issues other than slight spotting on some leaves from Mg def. After adding nutes, pH is 6.1.

In terms of moving forward, would I be better off buying a small RO system for my place? I did order some pH down but that wouldn't address the Ca issue, would an RO system fix this as well?

 

[Emilya Green]

no, do not use epsom salt in soil because you can permanently change the soil balance. Epsom is fine in coco, not in soil. Epsom is also fine as a foliar feed as a band-aid while you are waiting for your calmag to arrive, but be very careful. I only add a few tablespoons of epsom in when I am making a large batch of soil... I certainly wouldnt add it to a closed container unless I had no other choice.

 

[BigDannel]

no, do not use epsom salt in soil because you can permanently change the soil balance. Epsom is fine in coco, not in soil. Epsom is also fine as a foliar feed as a band-aid while you are waiting for your calmag to arrive, but be very careful. I only add a few tablespoons of epsom in when I am making a large batch of soil... I certainly wouldnt add it to a closed container unless I had no other choice.

Thanks, that's what I am worried about doing - messing with the soil balance so thank you for jumping in. Is there a better option for addressing just Mg and not Ca deficiency? I'm concerned about over-doing the Ca when the CalMag arrives.

I'm also currently looking at RO systems, I think having "clean" water to start with will help prevent many of these issues going forward and then I can use CalMag without worrying about high Ca levels already being in the water.