Biochar or Mineral Kit with Coco?

As I’m wrapping up two of my tents, I’m starting to think on how I can improve this next run. In my main tent, I ran 70/30 coco perlite (under quantum boards) and I feel my finished product will be limited a bit due to needing to use extra calmag with my RO water, and having to reduce my base & PK to make up for the extra PPM from adding calmag to my RO. I thought I’d expirement and cut out out the calmag so I could push a little harder, and I started getting calcium deficiency until I added the calmag back in. So this go around I’m thinking of getting the Coco Mineral kit from Build a soil, to help with calcium and magnesium, I’m thinking between the mineral kit and the high levels of calcium in Megacrop already, I should be good with just mixing straight RO with the Megacrop.

also, instead of using 30% perlite, I was considering going 10% biochar for both aeration and microbial life. I would charge the biochar with recharge before mixing up my medium.

basically looking for input for anyone who Has used either BAS’s coco mineral kit, or biochar, with coco-coir, and what their experience was like. Look forward to hearing your input!

No experience with bas or bio.

I found this helpful on coco grows / calmag.

Related...
Good info with or without supplemental co2.

TintEastwood said:

No experience with bas or bio.

I found this helpful on coco grows / calmag.

Why & How to Use CalMag in Coco - Cal Mag Deficiency - Coco For Cannabis

Learn why you need additional Cal/Mag when growing in coco coir. Covers the role of cation exchange & offers simple instructions to avoid Cal/Mag problems

www.cocoforcannabis.com

Related...
Good info with or without supplemental co2.

CO2 Enriched Hydroponic Growing | Manic Botanix

The CO2 fertilizer effect. Article covers contemporary research about yield increases in under lights growing with CO2 enrichment. Optimum ppm and growth.

medteknutrients.com.au

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Yeah, I used calmag throughout most of the grow and I tried to cut back during bloom, 4 of my 6 plants just weren’t having it. I’m hoping that adding the mineral kit will get rid of the need for calmag when using Megacrop. I love Megacrop, but I had hoped it would have enough calcium already in it, turns out it doesn’t, at least not for the four Gator Bait plants that threw a fit when they didn’t get their calmag.

not using any co2, I would like to, but it’s just not feasible with my current setup.

I am curious about your nute solution on your last round...what was your PPM of calmag, PPM of Megacrop, and total PPM/pH? Also, was that megacrop v1 or v2?

MC has a fair amount of Ca, but it's Mg is lower than say jacks or maxibloom. Calmag is typically 3 parts Ca to 1 part Mg (Mg~25% if the Calmag mixture). I am wondering if you can replace the Calmag with say 1/4 the normal amount of MgSO4 and increase your MC concentration. This would allow you to run a bit hotter on the MC and will provide more Ca (from the increase in megacrop) and ~the same Mg (from the epsom salts) as your previous calmag addition. Obviously, you'll have to play with your ratios, but is seems doable given the relatively high Ca in MC.

Zero_OS said:

I am curious about your nute solution on your last round...what was your PPM of calmag, PPM of Megacrop, and total PPM/pH? Also, was that megacrop v1 or v2?

MC has a fair amount of Ca, but it's Mg is lower than say jacks or maxibloom. Calmag is typically 3 parts Ca to 1 part Mg (Mg~25% if the Calmag mixture). I am wondering if you can replace the Calmag with say 1/4 the normal amount of MgSO4 and increase your MC concentration. This would allow you to run a bit hotter on the MC and will provide more Ca (from the increase in megacrop) and ~the same Mg (from the epsom salts) as your previous calmag addition. Obviously, you'll have to play with your ratios, but is seems doable given the relatively high Ca in MC.

Click to expand...

I was in bloom, the extra nitrogen would have been a problem, leaves were already getting rather dark. What I was aiming for was adding in more Bud explosion. And I’m running v3. Never had any Mag issues either. I’m more interested in people’s experience with the mineral kit tho, I can figure out the ratios and dial it in if I need to, but if people have used the mineral kit with success, I’d rather go that way.

Sounds good, looking forward to hearing the responses on the mineral kit.

Commenting to follow along.
Im down to 2g/gal of MC in flower right now to get the N down, they just kept getting darker and darker. They seem really happy with the current mix though.

fragileassassin said:

Commenting to follow along.
Im down to 2g/gal of MC in flower right now to get the N down, they just kept getting darker and darker. They seem really happy with the current mix though.

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Are you running pk booster as well? If so, how much?

iShatterBladderz said:

Are you running pk booster as well? If so, how much?

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Yeah im using MKP.
I believe this is the mix I used last time.
I have pretty good tap and dont need the calimagic in veg. I supplement with epsom under the led lights in the flower tent and adjust the amount of calimagic to keep close to a 2:1 ratio.