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Reduced calcium uptake from low night temperatures?

Edmick

Staff Member
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Extreme Member
So this may be a dumb question and common knowledge to most of you but is there a relation between low night temps and calcium uptake? I have around 70 plants in ground already and a good majority of them are showing signs of calcium deficiency. I don't think its a soil issue cuz I have a ton of other things in the garden that are thriving perfectly fine. I've read from a couple other growers that this is a common early season issue and it'll work itself out on its own when temps rise but in the meantime I've been foliar feeding calcium which seems to be helping a little bit. My night temps have been in the low 50s and occasionally high 40s with day temps in the 70s and sometimes low 80s. Has anyone else exerienced this issue? I couldn't really find any trustworthy information on the subject through internet searches. Thanks.
 
Colder temps means slower uptake, in general. So often, we talk about "calcium deficiency" - but calcium is a vehicle for all other mobile nutrients. So,it's really difficult to say that something is a lack of calcium. Many issues mimic calcium deficiency, in appearance. And one has to be very careful, for that reason.
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It's very rare, in practice, for plants to have Ca deficiencies, when not in hydroponic applications. Much rarer than the makes of products like Cal/Mag would have us believe. If you experience BER in any of your plants later in the season, you may need to have a soil test done. But in general, I'd say you just planted too soon, and wait it out.
 
solid7 said:
Colder temps means slower uptake, in general. So often, we talk about "calcium deficiency" - but calcium is a vehicle for all other mobile nutrients. So,it's really difficult to say that something is a lack of calcium. Many issues mimic calcium deficiency, in appearance. And one has to be very careful, for that reason.
.
It's very rare, in practice, for plants to have Ca deficiencies, when not in hydroponic applications. Much rarer than the makes of products like Cal/Mag would have us believe. If you experience BER in any of your plants later in the season, you may need to have a soil test done. But in general, I'd say you just planted too soon, and wait it out.
Our temps were great here. We had a whole week of 80s and 90s during the day but mother nature can't make up her mind on what she wants to do and it shot back down to cooler temps and cloudy the last week. They're still growing great with quite a few pods already setting but just showing the classic signs of calcium (or something similar) deficiency. The reason I suspect its temperature related is because it's only the plants that stay outdoors 24/7. I have about 20 trays of plants for my business that get brought into the garage every night and they're totally fine.
 
I'm sure that's all it is.
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The Xylem sap in your plants becomes more viscous at a certain temperature, and it just slows down the overall intake. I'm sure there's no worries for you at all.
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Keep us updated.
 
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