Running Masterblend in coco. Is there enough cal mag?

Title says it all. I’m curious if anyone uses a different ratio than the 2:1:2 (masterblend: epson salt: calcium nitrate) when growing in coco?

Ive been running it at the recommended levels, my coco is buffered 2x times using double concentrated calcium nitrate + magnesium sulfate.

Still see what looks like a mild cal-mag deficiency.
Air Temp: 78-82°
Humidity: 55-62%
Ec: 1.4-1.6
Ph: 5.7-6
Using RO water on a chiller (67°-70°)

I mix the nutrients in the following order:

- Potassium silicate (left to circulate and dissolve for 30-60mins in the res)
-Masterblend
-epson salt
-Calcium nitrate
-diamond nectar
-yucca

Then ph adjusted with General hydroponics up/down.

Ive honestly had perfectly acceptable runs, but I can see the mild signs of cal mag deficiency.

Any advice? Do you guys run high cal nit and mg with coco? Are you using the “cali magic” or whatever supplements?
I figured the epson salt and cal nit would be enough but maybe not? I was curious if well buffered coco would still need huge doses of cal mag.

Have you considered tap water instead of r/o? I use tap water and never have to supplement with calmag.

I wish I could. My tap water is way too hard unfortunately. It tests high in calcium carbonate and low in magnesium. The amount of acid I have to add to keep the ph down makes the res super milky with precipitate.

bluntly hell said:

I wish I could. My tap water is way too hard unfortunately. It tests high in calcium carbonate and low in magnesium. The amount of acid I have to add to keep the ph down makes the res super milky with precipitate.

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Do you drink your tap water?

Yes?

Wow! Your last post was over 14 years ago!
Congratulations on remembering your password.

bluntly hell said:

Yes?

Click to expand...

If you can drink your tap water so can plants.

bluntly hell said:

Title says it all. I’m curious if anyone uses a different ratio than the 2:1:2 (masterblend: epson salt: calcium nitrate) when growing in coco?

Ive been running it at the recommended levels, my coco is buffered 2x times using double concentrated calcium nitrate + magnesium sulfate.

Still see what looks like a mild cal-mag deficiency.
Air Temp: 78-82°
Humidity: 55-62%
Ec: 1.4-1.6
Ph: 5.7-6
Using RO water on a chiller (67°-70°)

I mix the nutrients in the following order:

- Potassium silicate (left to circulate and dissolve for 30-60mins in the res)
-Masterblend
-epson salt
-Calcium nitrate
-diamond nectar
-yucca

Then ph adjusted with General hydroponics up/down.

Ive honestly had perfectly acceptable runs, but I can see the mild signs of cal mag deficiency.

Any advice? Do you guys run high cal nit and mg with coco? Are you using the “cali magic” or whatever supplements?
I figured the epson salt and cal nit would be enough but maybe not? I was curious if well buffered coco would still need huge doses of cal mag.

Click to expand...

I use cali magic all the way through in coco/perlite at ec 0.4 then late flower 0.2 ish my tap water is very soft like 50ppm. never epsom in coco/perlite as the mg in cali magic and canna coco a and b seems sufficient towards the end of flower i see a slight c/mg def but thats ok. This auto had a consistant low ec of 1.0 1.2 most of the grow peaking at 1.4 1.5 mid flower finaly tapering off at 0.8 0.6 till the bitter end. Ill use low feeds of epsom on water only days when growing in peat based mediums to buffer the tap water like low as in 40ppm of epsom.

J2M3S said:

Wow! Your last post was over 14 years ago!
Congratulations on remembering your password

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Haha forgot password feature works great lol.

MickFoster said:

If you can drink your tap water so can plants.

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First time I’ve been told not to use RO lol. I’ve attempted using tap for pure convenience and the results were pretty bad. My tap water ppm is 330-380 ppm and sits at around a ph of 8. The amount of ph down need to get the ph to 6 was around 450ml of 75% phosphoric acid in a 50 gallon barrel. Calcium carbonate.

Calcium and magnesium are cheap. I’d rather just add it in soluble forms. Reacting tap water producing a bunch of calcium phosphate is not ideal.
Remember, I’m using coco, not soil.

cat shit said:

I use cali magic all the way through in coco/perlite at ec 0.4 then late flower 0.2 ish my tap water is very soft like 50ppm. never epsom in coco/perlite as the mg in cali magic and canna coco a and b seems sufficient towards the end of flower i see a slight c/mg def but thats ok. This auto had a consistant low ec of 1.0 1.2 most of the grow peaking at 1.4 1.5 mid flower finaly tapering off at 0.8 0.6 till the bitter end. Ill use low feeds of epsom on water only days when growing in peat based mediums to buffer the tap water like low as in 40ppm of epsom

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I know that’s the general consensus with most nutes. I know coco for cannabis had that as part of his feeding regime. Just wasn’t sure if growers using jacks, jr. peters, or masterblend just adjusted the cal nit and mg sulfate.

Got a fresh bottle of cali magic a year ago but haven’t tried it yet.

bluntly hell said:

I know that’s the general consensus with most nutes. I know coco for cannabis had that as part of his feeding regime. Just wasn’t sure if growers using jacks, jr. peters, or masterblend just adjusted the cal nit and mg sulfate.

Got a fresh bottle of cali magic a year ago but haven’t tried it yet.

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Yeah im in australia wish i had access to jacks, cali magic is good because it has less nitrogen in its mix. My understanding of jacks is mg sulphate is required.

bluntly hell said:

First time I’ve been told not to use RO lol. I’ve attempted using tap for pure convenience and the results were pretty bad. My tap water ppm is 330-380 ppm and sits at around a ph of 8. The amount of ph down need to get the ph to 6 was around 450ml of 75% phosphoric acid in a 50 gallon barrel. Calcium carbonate.

Calcium and magnesium are cheap. I’d rather just add it in soluble forms. Reacting tap water producing a bunch of calcium phosphate is not ideal.
Remember, I’m using coco, not soil.

Click to expand...

there are hard water formulas for nutes, you may be able to save alot of filters its worth looking into https://generalhydroponics.com/products/flora-series-v1/floramicro-hardwater/