I have been flushing my chips in preperation and also have some coir lined
up to do a 4-1 mix. I read you should do a final rinse with calcium nitrate
and magnesium sulphate(epsom salts). Could i use a small amount of
dolomite lime and achieve the same result? Its made up of calcium and
magnesium right?drainage has been a problem 4 me with leaf drop.
I had a problem from magnesium deficency before,when i tried to grow in
chips with the peat moss formula.
any idea where i would look for calcium nitrate? can i do the final soak with
a bit of soluble citrus fertilser in the soak? i read the chips will absorb along
with the mag and calc. any ideas? cheers
p.s if millet reads this,how are your trees doing in the chc and coir mix?
i live in auckland,so it doesnt get really hot here = 25 tops

"Could i use a small amount of
dolomite lime and achieve the same result?"

The information in the following link suggests that is the case, but perhaps with a little more nitrogen added too to make up for the demand from the coir and replace that from the calcium nitrate.

http://flrec.ifas.ufl.edu/Hort/Environmental/Media_Nutrition/COIR%20potential.htm

Laidbackdood, I am glad you joined this Citrus Forum, and I enjoy reading your postings: I answered your questions on your other post under the title (Chc's for container citrus), you can read it on that post. My recomendation would be to add any additional fertilizer that you wish to add to your 4:1 CHC growing mix, at the very end when you are blending the CHC and the Coir. Therefore you would actually be blending the CHC, Coir and fertilizers at one time. The trees that I planted in the CHC/Coir experiment look fine. In the future I will be replacing the peatmoss with Coir. You should be able to find both Calcium nitrate and Potassium Nitrate in NZ. Read my other thread on you first post. - Take care. Gonebananas, thank you for the thread on coir, I have postmarked it for further study. - MIllet

I spent most of the day going around chemists and garden centres trying
to find calcium nitrate or Nitric acid. Cant find calcium nitrate at the moment.Apparently,nitric acid is hard to find because the kids like to make
bombs out of them!!!! found a supplier in the end.
Someone,suggested the half ounce of nitric acid on a cup of dolomite
lime would have the same effect,fill the bucket up with water and let it all
settle and it should be good.I have ordered the nitric acid anyway.I will
do the above and see how it goes and do the final mix as millet suggested. Would you suggest i mix a slow release citrus fertilser in with the mix at the end or mix a teaspoon of a solluble fertilser which is supposed to be fed
weekly to the tree in the final soak. that is 25/15/15 plus high in 7 trace
elements. The chips have been soaking for two days now.Thanks for all
your help.I will try to find the calcium nitrate but if i cant ,millet could you
post me some to new zealand!!!!I will pay for it,no problem.I notice you offered to send some to people but i realise new zealand is a long way away,i will try hard myself here first.I am determined to succeed with these chips dood! i have already killed at least 5 trees i deserve a positive result.oooh the quest for a container citrus.

Laidback: Sure I would be happy to send you some CaNO3. Actually I send quite a few items to various flower growers in NZ through our business. Your fertilizer formula (25-15-15) is pretty high in phosphorius for citrus trees growing in containers. Citrus absorb nutrients in a 5-1-3 ratio, so a fertilizer with a formula of 25-5-15 with minors would be better. Concerning the use of coir. Coir seems to hold moisture longer, and it also seems to resist compacting better than peat moss. Take Care. - Millet.

Hi Millet,they only sell 20 kg bags of the stuff here,thats all i have been
able to find.I would like to use for several occassions with this mix.Can you
e-mail me with your details and we can sort out.How much would i need
do you think ? My e-mail address is jonathancox007@yahoo.co.nz.
Can you tell me the quantitys of calcium nitrate and epsom salts needed per
volume of water please? thanks for your help

Do you need to do the cation exchange with the coir too? I have a small
compressed brick of that ,enough to make 10 litres.Thanks

I'm really not sure, but I also do a cation exchange on coir just to be sure. Certainly can't hurt. - Millet

good question a! Thanks millet.

OK. ive got Epsom Salts (and do usually add about 1T to my gallon of fert-water.
Ive got Osmacote, Wal*acid fert with micros, some lawn fertilizer that is 18-2-18 (i think), Bone meal, and Holly Tone. Will any of these help in a final wash of CHCS?
Im just a bit chemically challenged... if its cations, youre trying to get the Mg and the Ca into the CHCs right? so Bone meal is the highest Ca of any of the things I have on hand, but I doubt it is soluable enough to help....
Any suggestions?
I looked at the MSDS for Ca nitrate, and it sounds a bit nasty. Id hate to absolutely need to buy it if I can make do with a rinse of something else.
thanks for any help!

Gartnetmoth, most all MSDS's give a nasty outlook. Calcium Nitrate is a VERY VERY safe fertilizer. We are not talking about eating the stuff. Calcium Nitrate = no problem. When bone meal is put into water unfortunately it is not soluble, so for that reason bone meal does not become ionic, and therefore cannot be used in a cation exchange reaction. I don't know about Wal*acid fertilizer. If that is a wall-mart product I would not know anything about it. I never ever ever ever shop at wal-mart. However, if you cannot find Calcium Nitrate in a smaller package, let me know and I'll send you some. You only need 3-grams per gallon in final rinse of CHC's. Take care. - Millet

Thanks so much Millet, I just found a site (Verti-Gro hydroponics) that sells 2lb bags for fairly inexpensive. I dont need that much, but its pretty cheap.

I strongly dislike sprawl mart myself, but theyre the closest store and sometimes i get a few items there

The wal-acid stuff is just a balanced acid food fertilizer. My fiance accidentally bought a bag of Urea nitrogen fertilizer, but its not calcium...

oh smack. the darn webpage doesnt have secure ordering.... the quest continues.....

Alright, one more try. Searched several hardware stores, one of them being a Lowes (no, thats not a new HB Pommelo I bought today too! its flowering and was only $15!)
I bought some horticultural lime. Is that soluble calcium enough?
What actually is the idea or mechanism behind this, what are the ions that are washed out by this? is it in the book Managing pH for container citrus youve mentioned?

Horticultural lime, also called hydrated lime or Ca(OH)2 is produced by adding water to Calcium Oxide or CaO. Calcium Nitrate CaNO3 is the only water soluble form of calcium that I am aware of. Cationic Ion exchange is actually not a washing out, it is a trading or replacement. In the case of CHC the Calcium in Calcium Nitrate trades places, or replaces the Sodium ion (Na) on the coconut husk chip. Calcium is good for plants, Sodium is not. - Millet