Introduction
Hello friends in today's blog we'll look into the importance of calcium in gardening and six easily available sources of calcium to plants and what all of these really work and why then finally to gardening hacks or tricks to get instant supply of calcium to your plants coming up well before we start listing the six easy sources of calcium plants we'll quickly know the importance or the function of calcium in plants.
Secret Gardning Hack
Calcium plays a
very important role in overall growth of plants helps in the absorption of
major nutrients by the roots in the presence of water it is essential for the
formation and integrity of land cell wall and hence very essential for fruit
formation so what are the signs and symptoms of calcium deficiency in plants
calcium deficiency can cause necrosis or death of plant tissue at certain parts
of the plant.
Milk Calcium
Milk this is the most expensive option actually and not recommended because most of the ingredients found in milk along with calcium are not required to the plants like the fats lactose and proteins are not as essential to the plants, but if your milk is spoiled you may dilute it and water it to your plants or make a foliar spray by mixing it with compost tea and stuff like that.
Composed of Calcium Carbonate
Actions no doubt
Excel is composed of calcium carbonate you know even one of the hardest thing Marvel
is Ketcham carbonate and also the soft chalk sticks is also calcium carbonate
the point here is if you add crushed or even powder directions into the soil it
may take many months and even years for it to decompose and release that
calcium for uptake into the soil this option is least effective for treating an
acute disease.
like the blossom
end root or even a stunted plant perhaps this option of powdered eggshells may
be utilised while preparing your potting mix before planting another option for
instantly providing calcium for plants is to water the plant with the water used
to boil the X do not throw away this water cool it and what are your plans for
this excels release some calcium into the water during the process of egg
boiling well on
Bone Meal Calcium
Bone meal yes it
is an excellent source of calcium but the problem is the plants can only get
phosphorus from bone meal and cannot utilise calcium from bone meal this is
because of the garden sigh pH of around 6.5 that is slightly acidic for most
garden plants and at this pH level it is not a good option to use bone meal as
a source of calcium on
Expired Calcium or Iron Tablets
Expired calcium
or even iron tablets are these of any use to the plants certainly not for
instance supply of calcium unlike in humans these are complex binding forms of
compounds in these tablets that take lot of time to decompose and release them
for uptake by the plants the best way to use these expired tablets is to add
them to the compost bin the final compost form will be rich in calcium and
other minerals like iron.
Lime Agricultural
Lime is
chemically calcium hydroxide and another variety of garden line called dolomite
lime is more commonly used and it's also a good source of magnesium to plants
no doubt it's a great source of calcium the only drawback is it increases your
soil pH level to hell which is not desirable for most plans unless you have
tested your soil pH and it's found too acidic like the pH levels below 5.5 you
can safely use lime for your plants this pH metre is quite handy and very inexpensive
you can buy that online.
Calcium Dosage
well the dosage
of lime should not be more than one teaspoon per litre of water or 1 tablespoon
per gallon of water like once in a while like in a once in three months but
still if you want to use this and keep your soil pH unchanged you may have
other options like adding a lot of compost or manure to raise the pH or you can
also mix about 10 grams of ale and powder in one liter of water to compensate
this.
Soil pH Level
Rise in soil pH
level because alum acidify the soil or even or alternately you can also add one
or two teaspoons of white distilled vinegar into this mix.
Gypsum Sources of Calcium
Gypsum is one of the best sources of calcium to plants and also the safest option simply because it will not alter the soil pH levels chemically it is calcium sulphate dehydrate is also called lime sulphate gypsum is also used in clay soils to remove soil compaction and improve the soil drainage it drastically reduces the sodium levels or the salinity of the soil which is very important.
If you're
watering your plants with salty or hard water well the dosage for gypsum is one
teaspoon per litre of water or 1tablespoon per gallon of water once in about 3
months depending on the container size or the plant size you can safely
increase the dosage if necessary.
Eggshells And White Vinegar
The most inexpensive
sources of calcium for home gardening the calcium hacks using chalk pieces
eggshells and white vinegar firstly let's look into the chalk stick hack chalk
is chemically calcium carbonate you can take white chalk sticks and bury them
into the soil while planting your vegetables that's in initial stages this
really works wonders for plants like tomatoes peppers squash or eggplant almost
any vegetable plants you can vary two chopsticks per container for these
vegetable plants safely if your pH is around six for other plans to provide
slow release of calcium source you can bury one chopstick per container.
Lime and Vinegar
The second hack
is the winning heart hacks to treat blossom end rot disease or any acute
deficiency of calcium in plants you can mix lime and vinegar or eggshell powder
plus vinegar to break down the compound and prepare a water soluble form of
calcium that can be easily and quickly absorbed by the roots make sure if you
use eggshells son dry them for at least two days or microwave them for a few
minutes
Eggshell Powder
It's simple just
take a handful of eggshell powder or one or two spoons of lime and add same
amount of white vinegar into this you can see a chemical reaction between
calcium carbonate and acetic acid that is vinegar which releases carbon dioxide
a gas and free calcium into the solution you can leave this alone for a few
hours and then mix it in water and then what are your plants this is the cheapest
source of calcium to treat deficiency.
- Introduction
- Secret Gardning Hack
- Milk Calcium
- Composed of Calcium Carbonate
- Bone Meal Calcium
- Expired Calcium or Iron Tablets
- Lime Agricultural
- Calcium Dosage
- Soil pH Level
- Gypsum Sources of Calcium
- Eggshells And White Vinegar
- Lime and Vinegar
- Eggshell Powder
That's it let me
know in the comment section if you have tried any of these sources discussed
today and please share these experiments with your friends