Monday morning, watering. The girls are looking very happy, today we will introduce 1/4 strength flower nutrient, defoliation took very well, overall I expected little variation in Twenty20 gear they tend to run their lines longer than most breeders pretty stable. Studying the plants I have noticed a few early calcium spots on one, I feel they are a bit heavy feeders on calcium, hence the introduction of flowering nutrients.
I was asked why I wouldn’t just give them Cal/Mag?
First identifying the exact issue would be better than giving them something in general like Cal/Mag. The plants always are the boss, they tell you what is going on, close attention to leaves and growth can give you immense insight into the health of the plant. I do not use Cal/Mag I believe it’s a band aid, that lets you ignore the real problem.
Root bio, the biosphere where the roots live is the where most problems occur. The plant from day one is establishing their very own root bio they continue this their whole life, in the root bio they control or maintain PH, and regulate most elements in the medium that the plant needs. The plant dictates when it needs calcium or nitrogen not the grower, plants have this ability to live in different conditions and adapt.
If you change the root bio you force the plant to change how it gets nutrients and maintain its root bio PH, the plant maintains PH perfectly by itself.
Think for a moment what Cal/Mag has in it. If your fixing a calcium issue why give N? Why give M? Then you have to fix the PH it’s going to be off now. So now add PH up or down, do you think the plant can metabolize in the root zone all that stuff you just added to the roots? Your confusing the poor plant, you would get better results with just plain tap water.
In my plant environment when a calcium issue arises, after I have eliminated environmental factors which can affect calcium (light intensity is one factor) I will flush with 2 gallons of tap water, give a my flowering nutrient which has more calcium. That’s it.
The flush is to make sure the plant can have a clean plate, in hopes it can absorb the needed nutrient as fast as possible. This technique does not affect the plant’s ability to maintain its root PH, without proper root PH anything you do will not give you the results.
Sorry for the long winded post, I do not claim to be a pro, just a common grower like we all are.
I’m no better than anyone, just giving an insight is all.