@WestcoastCroppers I use gypsum and tap water (120ppm) in soilles… not sure if thats enough calcium though i see that gypsum is not really that soluble.
ive stayed away from calcium nitrate because im already on a high nitrate feed (20-10-20).
any suggestions?
I remember the late 80’s and early 90’s when we used well water, if the pH was reasonable, and just used Peters 20-20-20. Peters is now Jacks but I think the same. I had buds that were 8-10 inches across and 15-20 inches long. Did we benefit from all the complicated crap we’ve learned from for profit fertilizer companies. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve used all of Advanced Nutrients products, from Iguana organic up through connoisseur grow and bloom and big bud. It’s been interesting but I wonder. Lately, I’ve been growing Mandala varieties and using much less nutes. I basically just look at my plants to decide when to feed. I like simple things and simple solutions. I can’t help but wonder if it really matters that much.
@the_bot I assume your in veg , try changing your base feed from a 20/10/20 to a 10/20/20 or similar complete 1/2/2 type feed , then when you add your calcium nitrate that should bring it up to a nice 1/1/1 balanced type or close , perfect for veg , calcium nitrate messes things up more in flower , it’s then we have to be more creative with 1/3/3 being our target after stretch : )
Thanks! so my 20-10-20 is for throughout the grow (I got the idea from the Bugbee videos and a guy who posted as Uncle Ben on other forums, who also did that). for flowering, i just raised the quantity of phosphorous a lil bit (with my ph down)
But yeah, im prob going to have to adopt one of your suggested ratios to incorporate more calcium, i think my 120 ppm tap doesnt have enough and gypsum doesnt seem to be that soluble.
Thnks!!
For soluble forms of calcium there aren’t many. I wouldn’t use calcium EDTA or even amino acid chelated calcium as a primary source, given the amounts cannabis requires. For soil / organics there’s some good insoluble options. But for salt fertilizers, it’s pretty much just calcium nitrate.
I have yet to use but I have a liquid bottle of canna calcium mono , is
11.6 % calcium oxide ( CaO ) water soluable ( 8.3% Ca ) but not sure if that’s available over there or how good it is , must get round to it : ) anyone ever try it ?
Or see any potential problems arising ?
They also do a mono magnesium too 7%MgO for anyone interested : )
Just started experimenting - supplementing with solution grade gypsum. Never knew solution grade existed until @corgitron opened my eyes
I haven’t tried it, but I don’t think CaO is truly soluble in water. There’s a difference between fines that suspend in liquid and salts that dissociate in water. For media like soil or coco, the fines are OK though – but not for hydroponics usually. So gypsum, oxides, carbonates really don’t work well for hydro, but can be ok for other media.
You can get calcium from a dandelion root and leaf tea. It also has many other minerals and nutrients stored in the tap root that your plants will love. It takes three or four weeks to make the tea. You will want to make it in the spring/early summer when dandelions are plentiful. It takes about two pounds of dandelions per gallon of water to make. You can scale it down if you cant find enough dandelions.
I use a five gallon bucket with a lid to make one gallon of tea and keep it covered for three or four weeks. I occasionally mix the tea. Usually twice a week. And it stinks once it really starts fermenting. That is the reason for the lid.
I then strain it and toss the plant material in the garden to mix in the soil. To use the tea you will want to mix 1 part dandelion tea to ten parts water.
When i was running canna nutes i couldnt find a bottle of their ca product to save my life.
I put my gypsum in the medium (peat-vermiculite-perlite) but what im worried is its release time and availability. do you know if im just sprinkling gypsum that wont be available for the plant?
I think release time and availability will be somewhat related to powder fineness. Finer powder has more surface area and can decompose more easily. I’m not really sure how the plant breaks it down to use it, enzymes or chelation or something. I think it just has to stay in the media long enough to be broken down.
This is what I have in my notes from the soil doctor:
Gypsum - Solubility in water is LOW (~9 grams per gallon)
Powdered gypsum will suspend in water and will flow through drip lines
I have used the amino chelated biomin calcium. It works very well, but delivers some N and is quite pricey. It does work amazing as a foliar though.
This is an old thread but a good one.
Bump for more discussion on this topic. 
For a minute I thought I was hallucinating. @WestcoastCroppers actually trying to help people, in a roundabout way… fun stuff. When I joined two weeks later he was telling everyone we were idiots for using cal/mag, that calcium kills plants and boron was the way of the future. 
And something about everyone being idiots as far as curing, too. I never really figured out the angle there, just that he was always furious at someone for being an idiot and always looking for someone to take it out on.
I have missed most of the drama part of things.
That dude has some very interesting things to say.
I can see that comes with problems but everything aside most of the stuff he says makes good general sense to me and some of the other things he says is are hard to prove one way or the other.
I have a feeling if you get into a boxing ring with this guy and let him take a few jabs at you he might just tell you some secrets AKA things that are not well known. 
I know he is a big pain in the ass for the mods but I hope he comes back. 
We need more out of the box thinkers.
I like to hear everyone’s side of the story.
But
One must decide for ones’s self what is fact and what is fiction. 
He’s not really preaching boron 
You have to read his posts like old alchemical texts lol
“But he called me fat”
Yes… yes he did 
Well to be truthful cal/mag is for novice growers, advanced grower don’t usually use cal/mag.
So he kinda has a point, although the words chosen may have been a bit rude.
As far as Boron goes it is highly underappreciated much the same as calcium is and they both go hand in hand and work synergistically together.
So possibly another valid point no body seems to catch on to, I can understand his frustration.
I have tried often to explain the value of calcium but it seems to fall on deaf ears and may just be some invaluable advice.
It’s almost as if you needed boron to really push calcium, what a cryptic man…
