Calcium deficiency? How do I fix it?

[anolis]

This is my first growth (an auto grown in soil). Very recently the newer leaves started to get these brown patches (during flowering stage). It looks similar to photos on internet showing calcium deficiency problems. Could someone confirm?

I am also not sure how to combat it. I was hoping I will get by with a simplified growing regime without measuring EC, pH and all that and I was following the general feeding schedule of the nutrients I am using (green house feeding powder- short flowering: https://shop.greenhousefeeding.com/downloads/GHF_M+B_2019_UK-AU.pdf ). I can get the Calcium powder, but I am not sure how I will know how much to add- the guide can only be used if using water with EC 0.0, which I am not (I am using filtered tap water). So I am guessing I will need to buy the equippment to measure EC and pH, to know how much to add, right? Would I also need to buy pH up and down? Could someone tell me, in a simplified way, what would be the procedure?

Also, how bad is this, will the plant survive some days before I get all this eqippment?

Thank you so much for your help. Cheers!

 

[Lil Dab]

So I am guessing I will need to buy the equippment to measure EC and pH, to know how much to add, right? Would I also need to buy pH up and down? Could someone tell me, in a simplified way, what would be the procedure?


Also, how bad is this, will the plant survive some days before I get all this eqippment?

So yes a EC meter will help you determine how much to add and yes if your buying a ph meter to watch and adjust ph then ph up and down is needed but ph doesn't affect your EC. In soil ph isn't super critical some folks watch it others don't but it is a good idea to know your starting ph if it's not super high or low it's probably fine for soil but it doesn't hurt to check.

I'm not sure it's Ca def or a P def but it also could be a lockout problem leaves look kind of dark. Have tried adding or reducing anything to see if problem gets better or worse?

 

[anolis]

So yes a EC meter will help you determine how much to add and yes if your buying a ph meter to watch and adjust ph then ph up and down is needed but ph doesn't affect your EC. In soil ph isn't super critical some folks watch it others don't but it is a good idea to know your starting ph if it's not super high or low it's probably fine for soil but it doesn't hurt to check.

I'm not sure it's Ca def or a P def but it also could be a lockout problem leaves look kind of dark. Have tried adding or reducing anything to see if problem gets better or worse?

Thanks for your help! It´s good to know pH meter is not necessary, since it os the more expensive of the two. I haven´t tried adding anything yet, but Calcium is on it´s way, so I will try that. I don´t think I really can experiment with taking things away since I am only using the green house feeding powder. I use the recomened amount every second watering and I have 10% runoff, so not sure why a nutrient lockout would happen. This feeding powder does not contain Ca, but it does contain P.

So, if I get an EC meter how do adjust the EC of the feeding solution? I add the recomended feeding and calcium powder and if EC is too high, I add water until I reach the desired EC? Or do I only use it for measuring runoff and flush the plant if it is higher than 2.5 (this is a recommendation in the feeding guide). Also, what exactly does it mean to flush, how much runoff should there be?

 

[Lil Dab]

Thanks for your help! It´s good to know pH meter is not necessary, since it os the more expensive of the two. I haven´t tried adding anything yet, but Calcium is on it´s way, so I will try that. I don´t think I really can experiment with taking things away since I am only using the green house feeding powder. I use the recomened amount every second watering and I have 10% runoff, so not sure why a nutrient lockout would happen. This feeding powder does not contain Ca, but it does contain P.

So, if I get an EC meter how do adjust the EC of the feeding solution? I add the recomended feeding and calcium powder and if EC is too high, I add water until I reach the desired EC? Or do I only use it for measuring runoff and flush the plant if it is higher than 2.5 (this is a recommendation in the feeding guide). Also, what exactly does it mean to flush, how much runoff should there be?

Yeah so I don't know those nutes at all if I were you I would do a little research and testing with the calcium. Make a plain gallon check starting EC and add recommend dosage then check EC to see actually how much is added. I use ppm on 500 scale just cause it makes numbers make more sense to me. This way you can get an idea of how many ppm's are added per gram or tsp or what ever measuring unit you are using. Just remember it may not all be calcium that's added only most products have other elements too so if you added 100ppm it's not all calcium. You probably don't want or need more then 50-100 ppm of calcium


An actual flush is watering/feeding 3x the pots volume through it to flush everything out and reset the balance most people don't do this. I think of it as once you start getting over 50% runoff then your in the flushing realm. You're just trying to wash excess nutes and salts away but I don't recommend flushing in anything but coco rock wool hydro setups. Don't flush soil there is to much going and stuff breaking down you never know what's left in the pot.

 

[anolis]

Yeah so I don't know those nutes at all if I were you I would do a little research and testing with the calcium. Make a plain gallon check starting EC and add recommend dosage then check EC to see actually how much is added. I use ppm on 500 scale just cause it makes numbers make more sense to me. This way you can get an idea of how many ppm's are added per gram or tsp or what ever measuring unit you are using. Just remember it may not all be calcium that's added only most products have other elements too so if you added 100ppm it's not all calcium. You probably don't want or need more then 50-100 ppm of calcium


An actual flush is watering/feeding 3x the pots volume through it to flush everything out and reset the balance most people don't do this. I think of it as once you start getting over 50% runoff then your in the flushing realm. You're just trying to wash excess nutes and salts away but I don't recommend flushing in anything but coco rock wool hydro setups. Don't flush soil there is to much going and stuff breaking down you never know what's left in the pot.

Thanks!