Guide to Nutrient Deficiency or Toxicity
- Thread starter nick17gar
- Start date
Thedillestpickle
Well-Known Member
were you suggesting that I use cal/mag with what im doing with hydro? Or was that just a general, everyone should use cal/mag plus ?
mcgyversmoke
Active Member
thank you gobskii,
I actually went and got some and now i add it every watering feeding or not
I actually went and got some and now i add it every watering feeding or not
nick17gar
Well-Known Member
yea cal mag is a pretty common one, thankfully it doesnt take much of either for a plant to thrive. they just have to be included.
Im currently using a 4 part nutrient solution and only 1 of the 4 contains both of these, the other 3 dont.
I kinda just think people need to read the labels, and know what is in that jug of "Green Booster!" or whatever they buy
skunkpunk13
Active Member
or u can use epsom salt its a grreat sorce of cal and mag
welshsmoker
Well-Known Member
im glad i made this a sticky.
IntrepidTraveler420
Member
Very clear explanation and good photos. I just wanted to add in to the 2nd post and chart of PH. For soil with organics you should not be PHing your water and instead using dolomite lime and humus. I was adding like 30ml PH up to my earth juice tea and experienced a wide variety of deficiencies. Just my 2 cents
HigherGround
Active Member
Cal-mag + with every feeding and even with plain water for me. Esecially if you r.o. your water because everything that water has in gets removed. I like the soluble instead of empsom because it's easy to adjust.
calicatt79
Well-Known Member
hey there, I wanted to send along some pics of a abundance of nitrogen. I accidentally spilled about a 1/4 cup of blood meal into the dirt of my little baby. She's 8 weeks old now and still hasn't fully recovered. She is getting ready to begin flowering in about 2 weeks and is very dark green towards the bottom but getting lighter at the top! I haven't given her any more blood meal since 
The larger lower fan leaves are getting kind of stiff and look like they are drying up a bit. Do you think she'll make it? I sure do hope so 
)View attachment 1948126View attachment 1948127View attachment 1948127
The larger lower fan leaves are getting kind of stiff and look like they are drying up a bit. Do you think she'll make it? I sure do hope so )View attachment 1948126View attachment 1948127View attachment 1948127
Thedillestpickle
Well-Known Member
I may have a put a bit too much nutes into my solution for my coco seedlings, 2 of them didnt seem to like it, the rest are thriving, but what I dont understand is why its not a dark green that eventually leads to a burn, they are just a normal green and then they have some slightly droopy spots with a few burns along the edges... perhaps its an OD of a different nutrient, the base nutes are Home and garden Cocos A B. I used plain tap water, some people advice against this and others say its actually good to use because of the trace minerals like calcium... Could it be chlorine burns? My next mix will be done with water that I let sit out for a few days to evapourate the chlorine, does anyone have any insight into this?
Heres the pictures even though you cant see much, there are some small browned areas along the edges of the leaves.
Heres the pictures even though you cant see much, there are some small browned areas along the edges of the leaves.
nick17gar
Well-Known Member
will she make it? yea they will be fine, thankfully, nitrogen is really forgiving, perhaps because the plant uses so much of it. i went a lil heavy on the nitrogen and got a patch of dark, mangled leaves, and a few weeks later the new growth was fine.hey there, I wanted to send along some pics of a abundance of nitrogen. I accidentally spilled about a 1/4 cup of blood meal into the dirt of my little baby. She's 8 weeks old now and still hasn't fully recovered. She is getting ready to begin flowering in about 2 weeks and is very dark green towards the bottom but getting lighter at the top! I haven't given her any more blood meal since
)View attachment 1948126View attachment 1948127View attachment 1948127
nick17gar
Well-Known Member
the issue i see here, is age. when a plant is that small/young, a slight inbalance can have serious consequences. when mine are under 6inches (and sometimes up to a foot) i try to limit the feedings (and nutrient strengths) as much as possible. a lil stretch, a lil slower growth, whatever are both bad, but not as bad as an abundance/toxicity from a chemical. and yea leave the water out for a few days, chlorine can/will do lots of bad things, and chances are your tap water has more than just chlorine, but chloramine, ammonia, flouride... most of this will evaporate off within 2-3 days.
nick17gar
Well-Known Member
so am i. i smile everytime i log in and see more people have 'liked' it.
nick17gar
Well-Known Member
yea dolomite lime is great, its has a strong pH. i dont mean its a 1 or a 14, but that its a buffer. it takes a lot to counter-act the pH from lime.Very clear explanation and good photos. I just wanted to add in to the 2nd post and chart of PH. For soil with organics you should not be PHing your water and instead using dolomite lime and humus. I was adding like 30ml PH up to my earth juice tea and experienced a wide variety of deficiencies. Just my 2 cents
either way, always check pH of water im pouring in, and every so often i check the pH of the runoff. if your sticking 6.5pH water in and runoff is like 5.0 or 8.3 or something, you know theres an issue.
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and im gonna go out on a limb here, and say this, and probably get negative comments (lol) but ive done both, hydro and soil, and hydro is a PAIN to set up... but its sooooo much easier down the line. no dirt. no runoff to check. no worm casings, or bat poop or bone meal. i dunno. seemed to me like after that first week of getting it perfect, the right temps, and pH and drip speed and everything, the rest was pretty much just check it, and wait. i might go back to DWC.
Thedillestpickle
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the assessment, its been a few days now and everything is good with the plants, I can still see some of the damage that was done to the older leaves but its like 4% total damage so Im not worried at all, and the top of the plant is thriving now. I will let my tap water sit for a few days from now on, did that on the last watering too. If I use tap water do I get calcium AND magnesium or just calcium? seems like its almost better to just use tap water than to have to buy a RO filter and then bump up it up again with Cal/Mag. I guess you dont know what the cal/mag content of my towns water is but just as a general rule of thumb? I figure the guys at the hydro store would have brought this up anyways if it was needed but just double checking. Thanks.
nick17gar
Well-Known Member
i use a mix between tap water, and water that my AC unit drains out (kinda like unfiltered RO water?) either way, i still let the tap water sit out. and i still stick nutrients in it. you want calcium AND mag, yes. another tip i heard was a buddy filters his water using a Brita filter thing, then adds in all the nutes. seems kinda 'elitist' to me but whatever.
i have no idea the levels of crap in water in any town ive lived in. thats why i add in nutes til i see a lil over-ferting, then cut back a bit. i also have a lot of plants (30ish?) so i mess with them, over water one, under water another, over fert one, underfert another. and see how they react. im mean to them. but its ok cuz if one gets stunted, or dies, im like "hm, note to self, dont do that again" and still have plenty more. =)
Thedillestpickle
Well-Known Member
thats good to do that as long as you have enough plants. Im doing a bit of experimenting/self educating by experimenting with different nute levels and different ratios of my A+B formula. I am doing a 2/3 A to 1/3 B test on half of the plants right now. I also did a 6.3Ph in hydro to see what nute lockout looked like. it was pretty obvious so I just switched back to normal Ph. 5.3Ph didnt seem to do anything so it seems lower Ph is pretty safe at least for a short term. Im actually amazed at how much variation I can give them without seeing any differences. I did 1 plant at 450ppm and another at 950 and the results were pretty close. just shows you how big of a window you have to work with. Doing the 950 test showed me that my plants were ready for 950+ppm so that helped me there.
You use the drain water from your AC? Im not sure what effect that would have on a plant... theres not going to be any "nutes" in that water thats for sure.. itll have a very low ppm... BUT what about all the pollen/bacteria/yeast/spores/dust/dead skin...etc that is going to be in the water. I know I personally wouldnt want to drink it! when the water condenses on the cold expanded freon filled tubes inside the AC I am sure it takes with it alot of the junk thats in the air. Then again mold spores and yeasts will be killed in the process of becoming saturated. Maybe its harmless afterall, just something to consider
calicatt79
Well-Known Member
Thanks nick
nick17gar
Well-Known Member
thats good to do that as long as you have enough plants. Im doing a bit of experimenting/self educating by experimenting with different nute levels and different ratios of my A+B formula. I am doing a 2/3 A to 1/3 B test on half of the plants right now. I also did a 6.3Ph in hydro to see what nute lockout looked like. it was pretty obvious so I just switched back to normal Ph. 5.3Ph didnt seem to do anything so it seems lower Ph is pretty safe at least for a short term. Im actually amazed at how much variation I can give them without seeing any differences. I did 1 plant at 450ppm and another at 950 and the results were pretty close. just shows you how big of a window you have to work with. Doing the 950 test showed me that my plants were ready for 950+ppm so that helped me there.
You use the drain water from your AC? Im not sure what effect that would have on a plant... theres not going to be any "nutes" in that water thats for sure.. itll have a very low ppm... BUT what about all the pollen/bacteria/yeast/spores/dust/dead skin...etc that is going to be in the water. I know I personally wouldnt want to drink it! when the water condenses on the cold expanded freon filled tubes inside the AC I am sure it takes with it alot of the junk thats in the air. Then again mold spores and yeasts will be killed in the process of becoming saturated. Maybe its harmless afterall, just something to consider
yea i dunno, i saw a video on youtube where a dude had a 10k watt gro and he used the AC water. its really not that dirty when it comes out. atleast not that i can tell. either way, where i am (HUMID AS FUCK), it makes about 15gallons of water a day, so anything in there is probably really diluted, and im sure theres less crap in my air then in the public water! and theres certainly no chlorine/flouride/or whatever. either way, ive been mixing it at 3/4 ac water, and 1/4th tap water or so, and adding in nutes. the plants seems to love it. i do clean the filter often in the AC unit, so as long as the plants are thriving, no worries i guess. pollen? not an issue if its not pot pollen, bacteria? eh, not worried. yeast spores? i got a fungus/rot/mold killer i use at a weak strength every so often for preventative care, and dust/deadskin...? thats gonna make its way onto the plants anyways right?
i heard of a guy that sticks buckets outside during thunderstorms too, i guess the lightning does something where it ionizes the water and makes it great for plants. i, on the other hand, dont wait around for a thunderstorm to stock up on water. thats a lil much.
and yea they are resistant. i had a light fall on one, broke ALL branches to one side of it, the remaining branches spread out to cover the gap left behind, and now its the thickest biggest bushiest plant i have. thankfully i heard the light fall, and got 6 clones out of the disaster.