Calmag? About to flower

I made a post about 2 weeks ago seeing some nutrient problems and the main conclusion was it was a result of overwatering. The post is here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/possible-rootbound-what-do.946437/

Setup:
-40"x40" tent, humidity 50% and temps 70-75 degrees F.
-5x plants in 7g smart pots (transplanted from 3g buckets approx 2 weeks ago) in FFOF soil.
- 400w Vero29 cob @ 3000k (this is new as of a week ago, prior to that they were under a Mars II 900)
-EJ nutrient line up (Grow, Bloom, Catalyst, Microblast, and Meta-K) aerated for 24 hrs prior to feeding. Only been done twice. I see some forms of "magnes__" on the bottles in the microblast but nothing for calcium.
-Watering when the pots are light and dry. I recently found my tapwater ph is 7.8-8 so the last watering I ph'ed down to 6. Run off was 6.2-6.4.

Do I need to buy some calmag supplement? Should I wait to flower until I see these issues go away? Thanks!

Ps. I made a thread about things growers are tired of hearing and calmag was definitely on there so I apologize in advance hah.

Cal/mag issues are the most common problem newbies have because you won't find cal/mag in most fertilizer mixes, it gets added separately because everyone has different levels of it in their water or soil. Tap water often has cal/mag but in a large molecule form that is difficult for the plant to take in. FFOF needs to have calcium and magnesium added as it is usually light. Experienced growers will mix their soil with different forms of slow release and faster release to make sure it is present throughout grow.

People that say you are overwatering are generally full of shit. Ask them to explain hydroponics, lol. The root issue is a soil that is not structured properly to allow good aeration and water retention.

Bugeye said:

Cal/mag issues are the most common problem newbies have because you won't find cal/mag in most fertilizer mixes, it gets added separately because everyone has different levels of it in their water or soil. Tap water often has cal/mag but in a large molecule form that is difficult for the plant to take in. FFOF needs to have calcium and magnesium added as it is usually light. Experienced growers will mix their soil with different forms of slow release and faster release to make sure it is present throughout grow.

People that say you are overwatering are generally full of shit. Ask them to explain hydroponics, lol. The root issue is a soil that is not structured properly to allow good aeration and water retention.

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I was the person that told him that he was over watering and I remember it well.
Decide for yourself, here is the thread.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/possible-rootbound-what-do.946437/
If he was not over watering please explain the resolution to his problem.

Buba Blend said:

I was the person that told him that he was over watering and I remember it well.
Decide for yourself, here is the thread.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/possible-rootbound-what-do.946437/
If he was not over watering please explain the resolution to his problem.

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I think he' saying its not the water its the soil, because if you over water soil that drains quickly it wont happen. its really the available oxygen to the roots, however it gets there. Like 100 degree temperature indoors is not the problem, its actually lack of c02 at an elevated metabolism. is true, but I still dont like it @Bugeye lol

So, FFOF is low on cal/mag? Why am I paying 20 for the "top" soil if it doesn't even come with the full range of nutrients?

In that case....does anyone have any good recommendation for a cal mag supplement that will go well with my Earth Juice line up, and FFOF?

SchweeDubz said:

In that case....does anyone have any good recommendation for a cal mag supplement that will go well with my Earth Juice line up, and FFOF?

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I have a water only in soil run going with my soil and ffof side by side. The experiment is finished today at week 5 of flowering. I wanted to push the limits and the ffof is showing calcium deficiency in 3 plants now. So far my soil hasn't shown a deficiency but I started feeding cal mag now. I'm feeding General organics cal/ mag+ to try to avoid any more issues with about 5 -6 weeks to go till harvest.
It is a popular choice.

I find it a bit ridiculous that between my $20 bag of soil, and my 5 bottles of nutrients, I still am lacking in cal/mag. I ultimately blame myself I suppose for lack of research.

Buba Blend said:

I was the person that told him that he was over watering and I remember it well.
Decide for yourself, here is the thread.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/possible-rootbound-what-do.946437/
If he was not over watering please explain the resolution to his problem.

Click to expand...

That was very rude of me and not directed at you personally. Apologies.

I checked out the pics and completely agree that it has the classic "overwatered" look. But @chemphlegm is correct, the source issue is lack of oxygen, which in soil is always a suboptimal soil construction. With a good soil construction you can water everyday and keep your leaf structure flat. If cannabis really liked dry feet, hydroponics would not work.

SchweeDubz said:

In that case....does anyone have any good recommendation for a cal mag supplement that will go well with my Earth Juice line up, and FFOF?

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A bottle of cal/mag is about the easiest.

SchweeDubz said:

So, FFOF is low on cal/mag? Why am I paying 20 for the "top" soil if it doesn't even come with the full range of nutrients?

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Because it is a rite of passage. There may be more of them, lol

Fair enough hah. So...I'm sure there will be mixed opinions on this...but should I continue to buy FFOF moving forward? It sounds like its a great organic soil aside from the calmag. I'm sure the pros will say 'make your own' which, ok, I'd consider it, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to find all the necessary components locally.

SchweeDubz said:

Fair enough hah. So...I'm sure there will be mixed opinions on this...but should I continue to buy FFOF moving forward? It sounds like its a great organic soil aside from the calmag. I'm sure the pros will say 'make your own' which, ok, I'd consider it, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to find all the necessary components locally.

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Lots of good recipies if you do some Google or RIU searches. I'm using a base that is about 1/4 each of soil, perlite, coir, and earthworm castings. Then amendments measured correctly for the base volume.

Bugeye said:

Lots of good recipies if you do some Google or RIU searches. I'm using a base that is about 1/4 each of soil, perlite, coir, and earthworm castings. Then amendments measured correctly for the base volume.

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So what are the advantages to that? I don't really know what coir or castings offer that isn't already apart of FFOF.

SchweeDubz said:

So what are the advantages to that? I don't really know what coir or castings offer that isn't already apart of FFOF.

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The perlite and coir give you the perfect mix of aeration and water retention. Castings provide all kinds of benefits at both the bacterial and soil structure level. FFOF will have this stuff in it, but not the best ratios.

Cool., so is there not a company that just offers a perfect recipe of soil as is? I thought FFOF was the best you could buy. Seems like an obvious business opportunity if this does not exist.

Most soils need to be amended based on what you plan to grow in them, i use FFOF i mix it with happy frog, add some espoma kelp meal, tomato tone, and hi cal dolomite lime and a generous amount of additional perlite for drainage along with a bit of green sand and additional worm castings, i do this a month or so before i need the soil so that it can cook. I have great results in it i typically just have to water all the way through harvest with no nutes added unless i want some additional P and K and then i use minute amounts of tiger bloom in my waterings. and here are my results with it 49th day of flower.

Those look nice but I'm nto sure if I'd be able to find all of those ingredients for soil locally, and I'd definitely prefer to find a soil that offers that quality but premade if possible.

SchweeDubz said:

Those look nice but I'm nto sure if I'd be able to find all of those ingredients for soil locally, and I'd definitely prefer to find a soil that offers that quality but premade if possible.

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Well if you can find it premade please let me know ive been looking for 20 years and have had no luck, and fyi get an amazon account you can order any and everything you need and have it delivered for free and actually pay less for it there.

I might have to start up my own soil company for real if that is the case. I wonder what the profit margin is for that heh, and where you can buy the raw ingredients in bulk.

Just seems so odd to me that there aren't solid options available, I went throught his some process when deciding on a new LED light. Like, I shouldn't necessary need to learn the full biology of soil just to have a great grow. Imagine if you had to build your own HDTVs or cars because the major brands weren't acceptable. Lol.