New Grower Hi All :) 2nd grow has Begun.....

[Happy Horticulturist]

Hey Oldschool

I can probably answer this question for you better than Autorocks as I know he's had no experience with RO water where as I have.

Okay so say you have 0 EC water from your RO. That means you have no calcium, no magnesium and no micronutrients in the water. That means you have to add them.

I was told by Canna that you need to add 0.3 EC worth of Calcium and 0.15 EC worth of Magnesium to the water to make it good enough for our plants. I tried that using Canna Mono range of nutrients (they have each nutrient separately) plus they have a bottle of 'Micronutrients' which I added a touch off. That solved some of my issues with RO water. First grow I didn't add anything and had TERRIBLE results. Second grow I added the above and I still had problems. The reason being that Iron was missing.

So then I switched to Plant Magic - MagneCal+ (the plus stands for extra micronutrients) it also has Calcium and Magnesium (obviously) but also more important Iron (definitely needed) and a bit of Nitrogen and as I said micronutrients.

Now if you can't get Plant Magic just get a Cal Mag that has Iron in it as well and you should be fine.

I don't have exprience with Advanced Nutrients - Sensi Cal-Mag Extra but it looks good. It has added Iron and also amino acids, so it could be better than Plant Magic. In my experience Advanced Nutrients Sensi A&B is the BEST base nutrient I've tried and I've done grows with 10 different base nutrients. So with that in mind the AN Cal Mag X-tra is probably a great product.

The reason why Autorocks does NOT using cal mag is because he a) uses tap water and b) uses dirt and c) he will use cal/mag but only later during flower when the plants need it. You however are using RO water and you DO need cal mag right from the beginning of your babies will start to suffer sometime after week 2.

So in summary with your RO water use a good calmag and top it up from 0 EC up to 4 EC... then add your nutrients. Do that all the way through. If you notice any signs of calcium or magnesium deficiency or you are using LED lights you want to keep a close eye and add more Cal Mag when it's needed. Feel free to post back if you have any more questions or need any more help.

 

[oldschool]

Thanks Happy,

Auto was trying to be helpful I am sure but still curious to hear why he was suggesting not to use the AN product.
Just like you said, it was identified that my girls were starting to show signs at about 14 days and even earlier at times. I had contacted a member on here that uses sensi cal/mag xtra and he confirmed it is a great product and worked well for him. He also uses RO water. The one thing about the AN product is it has 4% Nitrogen which is higher than other cal/mag products. I had ordered this and I had to do something to use while I waited and Epsom salt was the saving grace while I waited for the product to arrive.

You rock buddy!

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

I usually have epson salts on hand just in case there is an obvious Magnesium deficiency. However if you're using the same genetics, nutrient line up, grow room, you shouldn't run into random one off deficiencies unless you've done something different than last time.

Most people try to do things that are too crazy too soon. Like using RO water when they don't really understand what the implications are. I'm pointing the finger at myself because that's what I did and I pretty much f**ked up one grow of 30 odd plants because of it.

The best thing to do is keep it simple. Starting off easier to just use tap water and Sensi Grow / Bloom two part. Then use Big Bud two weeks after that start flowering up until flush. That's it three bottles and tap water. Of course you'll probably also need pH down to bring the pH into range. Don't get me wrong RO water is the way to go, but once you've a handle on the basics.

That plant magic has less Nitrogen than 4% but honestly I don't think it's really matters. I've had excellent experience with Plant Magic MagneCal+ and when I joined this site I noticed TaNg who uses almost the same grow schedule as I do uses it too with great success. It is...

N 2.6%
P 0.1%
K 0.3%

So only 1.4% less Nitrogen than the Advanced Nutrients stuff. I don't think that's going to make a noticeable difference.

Also I think when AutoRocks said I don't use X-tra at all, I think he mean't he's never used it before. He's only just started growing and he's only ever used Plant Magic MagneCal (cus I told him what to buy) so don't worry about it. If you can get Plant Magic MagneCal+ then get it.. if you can get Advanced Nutrients Cal/Mag X-tra then get it... I'm sure they're both going to do almost the same identical thing.

 

[Autorocks]

Happy just answered EVERYTHING above NICE!!!

Yep I've only started myself and getting all advise off Happy.....sticking to the basics first... and getting it right before complicating matters! This 2nd grow has started good ....with all the mistakes learnt from the first grow, this ones looking UP

 

[Autorocks]

DAY 17

 

[Renaissance Redneck]

Damnit, I hate showing up late!
Any seats left?

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

Hell Yes Redneck. WELCOME ABOARD This is my wee bro and he's also from Ireland

AutoRocks, the plants are starting to grow fast now. i.e. their branches are starting to come out and when they happens vegetative growth starts to become exponentially faster. They're looking good. Make sure you water them often now as they're going to start to need it.

 

[Renaissance Redneck]

This is my wee bro and he's also from Ireland

You're doing great, AutoRocks! And having Happy in your corner has got to be the ultimate grow weapon!
Curious, Gents, if Guinness has released their pale lager on your side of the pond?

 

[Happy Horticulturist]

They're released something recently with a strange name which I forget I'll have to google it....

Actually no it's a lager I was thinking of "Hop House 13" I haven't tried it yet but I was reading the comments a while back and the majority of people claiming it's muck while a few people really liking it.

Hey Redneck thanks for the reputation. It's going to be hard earning it now that I'm no longer growing!

I will grow again in the future... BUT that will be a long way away. I'm talking years. I need to settle and buy a house and stop these sporadic rental property grows I've been doing. The last place I had to completely redo the floors in two rooms because of too many accidental spillages

 

[Renaissance Redneck]

Actually no it's a lager I was thinking of "Hop House 13" I haven't tried it yet but I was reading the comments a while back and the majority of people claiming it's muck while a few people really liking it.

Yeah, this stuff is called Guinness Blonde, and I've never tried it, but my soul says it's pure evil, brewed to accommodate the limp tongued light beer crowd.

Hey Redneck thanks for the reputation. It's going to be hard earning it now that I'm no longer growing!

Not with the way you help people, Brother. We can't always grow, but you share your knowledge, and encourage/steer the next generation. We need to start cloning you!