Dialing In MEGA CROP for Auto's

[GeorgeCloney]

you can try either one, there isn't an official rec. If you are having too much N issues, you can lower the MC dose, and sub it with the PK (0 Nitrogen).


Stock solution works well, you might get some small white Calcium particles locked up temporarily, but once you dissolve it into the final res they will slowly dissolve over 1-2 days time and be fully available to the plants.

Another solution is to take your bag and "blend/grind" it somehow, to get a uniform powder. If you do this, make sure to immediately move it to an airtight container since it can be more prone to clumping up.

I've been using a hand powered coffee grinder
Making 100gr batches( about 2 cups).
Works great when saved in a dollar general mason jar.
Question for you @pop22 & @4d-Rock .
When making your solutions.
They are straight MC right?
No calmag or epsom added..
Have you noticed more stability with ph doing it this way?
Or, do you still need to tweak the final ph in your feed?

 

[terp182]

Still having issues dialing in the MC on my first auto grow. After a 5 gal nute update, following their instructions, i.e. 4.5g/gal MC, .5 g/gal PK, .5g/gal epsom salts, all the leaves near the top of all three plants turned yellowish. There was a bit of nute burn at 650 ppm so I diluted to 590ish. I've been trying to titrate up nutes the past few days to correct it - slowly adding cal/mag since brown spots started popping up, and bringing it back to under 600 ppm. But I'm running out of patience with dialing in this nute. This was supposed to be the "easiest" part of the equation, and I've learned a lot already, but was really hoping to get these gd nutes dialed in by ~Day 50. Pretty sure I'm switching to something else for the next grow. Here's my progress on the three so far. I just added more cal/mag today, at 1.25 ml/gal. The new brown patches on the CDLC are worrying me - that's a first. I checked for root rot last night - no signs of brown roots around the base. I also took the lights down a little until I get these nutes corrected a bit. Any thoughts on something I'm missing? The CDLC and DG red/brown marks on the new growth are from the last few days. The ZE has had those Cal deficiency rust spots ongoing, but she's gotten yellower with the new feed.

In response to recent posts advising adding just epsom, see my pics in the linked post above for what happened when I tried that in a nute feed update last week. To be clear (it isn't clear in the linked post) those pics are of regular MC with .5 g/gal epsom salts added, not with the extra calmag I described as my response to the issue, which went in the reservoir only, and never got turned on before I got feedback here and dumped it.

I'm happy to update that after flushing them gently with 515 ppm straight MC down to 550ish outflow this weekend, they're looking much healthier. Flowering has picked up and new growth is looking better. Current feed is at 535ish, straight MC around pH 6.0.

For the future noobs coming across this, the lessons I learned were 1) avoid calmag unless it's clear it's needed, and definitely avoid epsom salts only, 2) keep PPM super low (200-300 ppm) early on and work up to 550 max, and 3) don't fuck with additives, especially with your first grow.

These are all the things I'll be changing for my next grow, along with sticking to either coco or soil (or soil with a bit of coco, just not the other way around like this time). I fucked up by pre-wetting the soil with 500 ppm MC/3 ml/gal calmag and starting off with that. It stressed them out pretty bad early (the Double Grape stood up to everything beautifully though) but they're recovering and despite the epsom salt issue, shooting up buds on day 52ish, and I've learned, like I said, a lot. Can't wait for the next attempt once these are done.

you can try either one, there isn't an official rec. If you are having too much N issues, you can lower the MC dose, and sub it with the PK (0 Nitrogen).

Thanks for this reply. One more question for you, since I'm planning my next grow, in autopots. I'm looking at MC with either Roots Organic soil with added perlite OR coco with added perlite. Is there any significant way that we should use MC and autopots with those two mediums, aside from possibly pH adjustment for soil vs coco? Thanks again for your insight!

 

[elcoloan]

In response to recent posts advising adding just epsom, see my pics in the linked post above for what happened when I tried that in a nute feed update last week. To be clear (it isn't clear in the linked post) those pics are of regular MC with .5 g/gal epsom salts added, not with the extra calmag I described as my response to the issue, which went in the reservoir only, and never got turned on before I got feedback here and dumped it.

I'm happy to update that after flushing them gently with 515 ppm straight MC down to 550ish outflow this weekend, they're looking much healthier. Flowering has picked up and new growth is looking better. Current feed is at 535ish, straight MC around pH 6.0.

For the future noobs coming across this, the lessons I learned were 1) avoid calmag unless it's clear it's needed, and definitely avoid epsom salts only, 2) keep PPM super low (200-300 ppm) early on and work up to 550 max, and 3) don't fuck with additives, especially with your first grow.

These are all the things I'll be changing for my next grow, along with sticking to either coco or soil (or soil with a bit of coco, just not the other way around like this time). I fucked up by pre-wetting the soil with 500 ppm MC/3 ml/gal calmag and starting off with that. It stressed them out pretty bad early (the Double Grape stood up to everything beautifully though) but they're recovering and despite the epsom salt issue, shooting up buds on day 52ish, and I've learned, like I said, a lot. Can't wait for the next attempt once these are done.



Thanks for this reply. One more question for you, since I'm planning my next grow, in autopots. I'm looking at MC with either Roots Organic soil with added perlite OR coco with added perlite. Is there any significant way that we should use MC and autopots with those two mediums, aside from possibly pH adjustment for soil vs coco? Thanks again for your insight!

While I agree that if learning to use MC, or simply learning to grow, it is better to use MC alone and only use sups if really needed, i don't think your problem was the Epsoms... 0.5 g/Gal would only add 13-22 ppms of Mg. I've seen problems when adding = or more than 40 ppms of Mg (which amounts to around 100 ppm / 0.2 EC of epsoms) and it didn't look like your problems... but 50 ppms of Epsoms have worked great for me with MC 1-part version 1 as long as I stay 0.1-0.2 EC below the total EC that GL recommends in ther calcs.
I really think your problems were high total EC and the roots organic you had in your mix initially. I think the real problem with adding Epsoms or any other supplement is if you don't ad the correct amount in relation to the base nutes and screw up the ratios and generate antagonisms, etc.

Glad to hear thing are picking up though. I'd advice next run in the autopot to go with coco+perlite.

 

[GeorgeCloney]

In response to recent posts advising adding just epsom, see my pics in the linked post above for what happened when I tried that in a nute feed update last week. To be clear (it isn't clear in the linked post) those pics are of regular MC with .5 g/gal epsom salts added, not with the extra calmag I described as my response to the issue, which went in the reservoir only, and never got turned on before I got feedback here and dumped it.

I'm happy to update that after flushing them gently with 515 ppm straight MC down to 550ish outflow this weekend, they're looking much healthier. Flowering has picked up and new growth is looking better. Current feed is at 535ish, straight MC around pH 6.0.

For the future noobs coming across this, the lessons I learned were 1) avoid calmag unless it's clear it's needed, and definitely avoid epsom salts only, 2) keep PPM super low (200-300 ppm) early on and work up to 550 max, and 3) don't fuck with additives, especially with your first grow.

These are all the things I'll be changing for my next grow, along with sticking to either coco or soil (or soil with a bit of coco, just not the other way around like this time). I fucked up by pre-wetting the soil with 500 ppm MC/3 ml/gal calmag and starting off with that. It stressed them out pretty bad early (the Double Grape stood up to everything beautifully though) but they're recovering and despite the epsom salt issue, shooting up buds on day 52ish, and I've learned, like I said, a lot. Can't wait for the next attempt once these are done.



Thanks for this reply. One more question for you, since I'm planning my next grow, in autopots. I'm looking at MC with either Roots Organic soil with added perlite OR coco with added perlite. Is there any significant way that we should use MC and autopots with those two mediums, aside from possibly pH adjustment for soil vs coco? Thanks again for your insight!

I've been using MC in coco &peat for about 200 plus plants.
Only add calmag or epsom if needed.
That said, DO add if needed.
As elco said, do not go over about 70ppm.
MC has plenty of calcium in it already.
Same for epsom.
Some plants may require a little addition.
A little is 20 to 40ppm.
If the plant does not react positively in the 2 to 3 feeds.
Your issue is NOT a def'c of either cal or mg.
It is most likely a SOIL ph issue.
At which point you should be doing a run off test ( testing both ph and ec in the run off).
Experience tells me when people see a def'c , they over do it with either cal or mg.
This now leads to a CREATED def'c.
Excess mg will lock out calcium.
Excess calcium will lockout mg.
Either /OR will lockout nutrients if excessive.
This is why you want to limit to 70ppm.
Beyond this, nutes are competing with excessive cal or mag.

 

[pop22]

PH stability for me is a matter of what my source water ph is. My tap water ( a combination of well and spring water ) changes PH several times a year. It even affects my RO water. Remember, RO does not remove everything form your water. In July my water PH was 7.8 today it's 5.79!. I also just bought Calcium Hydroxide PH up, in powder form, with shipping what it is today, even more reason to stop buying watered down bottled products! I normally use baking soda as PH up but when ?I saw I'd need more than a 1/4 tsp, I began to worry about the level of sodium. Less than that has works very well over the years but with my PH dropping so low, I decided it was a time for a change. I just last night used the CH and so far the PH has remained perfectly stable. 1 pound cost me $12.55 shipped should last me years. I used a 1/4 tsp and it was a little too much!

When I bought filtered water, MC was quite stable, so again, it's your water that affects PH stability from what I'm seeing.

I've been using a hand powered coffee grinder
Making 100gr batches( about 2 cups).
Works great when saved in a dollar general mason jar.
Question for you @pop22 & @4d-Rock .
When making your solutions.
They are straight MC right?
No calmag or epsom added..
Have you noticed more stability with ph doing it this way?
Or, do you still need to tweak the final ph in your feed?

 

[4d-Rock]

@GeorgeCloney i only mix MC in when making a concentrate. Everything else gets mixed in at the time when making up a feed. I use filtered lake water which fairly consistently starts around 7pH and 60ppm, with a bit of seasonal fluctuation, but I find that just like the powdered MC, the liquid concentrate lowers the pH by about the same amount. I usually have to add a few drops of pH down to get it down to the correct range

 

[Greenleaf Nutrients]

Thanks for this reply. One more question for you, since I'm planning my next grow, in autopots. I'm looking at MC with either Roots Organic soil with added perlite OR coco with added perlite. Is there any significant way that we should use MC and autopots with those two mediums, aside from possibly pH adjustment for soil vs coco? Thanks again for your insight!

not really. Are these pictures Mega Crop plants? They look a little low on Nitrogen

 

[GeorgeCloney]

PH stability for me is a matter of what my source water ph is. My tap water ( a combination of well and spring water ) changes PH several times a year. It even affects my RO water. Remember, RO does not remove everything form your water. In July my water PH was 7.8 today it's 5.79!. I also just bought Calcium Hydroxide PH up, in powder form, with shipping what it is today, even more reason to stop buying watered down bottled products! I normally use baking soda as PH up but when ?I saw I'd need more than a 1/4 tsp, I began to worry about the level of sodium. Less than that has works very well over the years but with my PH dropping so low, I decided it was a time for a change. I just last night used the CH and so far the PH has remained perfectly stable. 1 pound cost me $12.55 shipped should last me years. I used a 1/4 tsp and it was a little too much!

When I bought filtered water, MC was quite stable, so again, it's your water that affects PH stability from what I'm seeing.

Yeah I hear ya, PH stability is a bitch.
A year ago I had well water which was pretty darn stable year round.
Now (after a move to subb-erbia),..the city water is 0ppm on ec,....and 7.0 on ph.
So where is the chlorine I wonder????

Not taking chances, I add 1/10 of a tea spoon of ascorbic acid to my mix prior to feed.
For those not in the know,....ascorbic acid (yes...a vitamin c tablet!!!,....will neutralize the chlorine in the water).
From there, I adjust my final ph.
I've used vinegar or lemon juice & baking soda to adjust ph.
Although very bio, it doesn't last when you measure soil ph after a day or two.
So we have to resort to other means.

 

[terp182]

not really. Are these pictures Mega Crop plants? They look a little low on Nitrogen

Thanks! Yes, they are MC. I have them at 540ish ppm/5.9 pH right now, after seeing some leaf burn at 600 ppm. They are bouncing back from some kind of lockout and “flush” (@515 ppm) a few days prior (see photos in the prior linked post), but they look much better than they did on Saturday, with no new brown spots and mostly green (and some yellow) on new growth.

When making and adjustment to nutes, generally how long should we wait to see a change before making another adjustment?

 

[GeorgeCloney]

@terp182
What medium are you growing in?
If soil (coco/peat),...the damage done to larger leaves will be permanent to partial return.
What you really need to be concerned with, is the new growth if any).
Look for other things as well , like leaves stiff, or wimpy?
your ec and ph are now on track
The plants general health will recover.

FWIW,
your next plants will look f'ing amazing with your new knowledge!
(we've all been there bro,), ...
cheers on the graduation to a new level...