Farside05's Super Secret Weed Feed Grow

[farside05]

I believe I read somewhere where they have to make silica supplements base in nature in order to keep the silica in suspension. I have a bottle of Silica Blast from Botanicare here that was sent to me as a sample. I should make up 2 gallons of RO, one with Silica Blast and the other with Pro Tekt, and compare the pH of each to see if one of the two is more pH neutral.

 

[Pennywise]

I used silica blast a few grows back and my plants went yellow like nitrogen was locked out and as soon as I stopped using it they greened up like nothing had happened. Haven’t used it since.

 

[farside05]

Interesting. Wonder what caused that. Nitrogen is available over such a broad pH range, more than a lot of the other nutrients, so I wouldn't think that would be it. I hadn't tried the silica blast since I have 3/4 of a quart of Pro Tekt left.

 

[Blazinjones]

I used silica blast a few grows back and my plants went yellow like nitrogen was locked out and as soon as I stopped using it they greened up like nothing had happened. Haven’t used it since.

Could it maybe be from the silica used was such a high concentration that the plant was slightly stressed trying to force the cell walls to thicken and the increase in how much the plant was feeding maybe it jus needed a tad more nitrogen and then maybe u could have kept using it and the plant would have been a beast not trying to say tht it wasnt super or anything cuz if u grew it im sure it was but im jus making an observation about the silica blast and as 2 why ur plant yellowed also this is based on no scientific evidence at all im jus throwing out what i naturally felt lol

 

[Pennywise]

Not really sure to be honest, but NPK tends to interact with one another.

263A06B3-C839-4F16-804E-C7033138D185.jpeg

• Pennywise
• Jun 6, 2018

Induced deficiencies

Too much potassium can lock out Nitrogen and calcium

 

[farside05]

Looking at lables, both Silica Blast and Pro Tekt tell you to use the same amount of product per feeding. Pro Tekt though is nearly 4x stronger than Silica Blast (7.8% vs 2% silica). Cost wise, Pro Tekt is $3 more a quart than Silica Blast ($21 vs $18). Not a huge difference considering it's 4x stronger. If you tried to use Silica Blast to provide the same amount silica as Pro Tekt, you'd be spending around $50 more of your hard earned cash. Don't think I'll worry about comparing the pH of each. Any difference between the pH of the 2, if any, can be overcome with a little pH down at a much lower cost than $50. I'm a numbers guy and a tight ass.

 

[Pennywise]

I guess we need to look at the potassium levels with silica blast.

 

[farside05]

Pro Tekt is 6x stronger in K (3% to Silica Blasts .5%). So that doesn't seem to fit either.

 

[Pennywise]

Hmm do they use 2 different forms of K?

 

[Blazinjones]

Looking at lables, both Silica Blast and Pro Tekt tell you to use the same amount of product per feeding. Pro Tekt though is nearly 4x stronger than Silica Blast (7.8% vs 2% silica). Cost wise, Pro Tekt is $3 more a quart than Silica Blast ($21 vs $18). Not a huge difference considering it's 4x stronger. If you tried to use Silica Blast to provide the same amount silica as Pro Tekt, you'd be spending around $50 more of your hard earned cash. Don't think I'll worry about comparing the pH of each. Any difference between the pH of the 2, if any, can be overcome with a little pH down at a much lower cost than $50. I'm a numbers guy and a tight ass.

Lol well shit with numbers like tht wouldnt want to be lmao

 

[farside05]

Hmm do they use 2 different forms of K?

Perhaps its how they are getting the silica. Pro Tekt is from Potassium Silicate, Silica Blast is from Potassium Silicate AND Sodium Silicate.

 

[Pennywise]

Could very well be the sodium.

 

[Pennywise]

Could very well be the sodium causing issues.

 

[farside05]

Let's say that it is so we can put down our junior detective kit and feel good about ourselves...lol

 

[Pennywise]

Lol yea I won’t be using the blast again so it’s a non issue for me.

 

[farside05]

Mine was a free sample and it's only a little 8oz container. No loss if I steer clear of it just in case. Maybe I'll feed it to some outdoor hanging baskets if I get froggy.

 

[Pennywise]

There ya go, hopefully the dyna-gro products will be all I need.

 

[farside05]

The first part for my new light showed up, the driver. This is gonna end up like the 12 days of Christmas, every day a new present.

 

[KingJoe83]

I'm good on inventory. One of these days I'm gonna line up all the jars and take a picture. It may make for a good photo of the month entry.

Although the super secret weed feed worked fine, I'll be going back to Dyna Gro Foliage Pro. In order to turn the SSWF into a liquid I could use more easily, I had to mix it where 1tsp equaled the same strength Foliage Pro is for 1/4tsp. Any stronger and you couldn't get all the SSWF to dissolve. It's easier to get the smaller size measuring spoons into the mouths of containers when mixing up your nutes. The SSWF had more calcium than Foliage Pro but I never saw a benefit. I don't see deficiencies with FP and the extra Calcium didn't seem to make a difference in growth. The SSWF is cost effective. I could get 8 plants from start to finish for like $11 with it.

I know you’d think they would come up with liek a squeeze bottle top something easier then sticking your measuring utensils in it and juggling spilling .. something for all future nutrient companies to consider. It necessary but meh ..
here ya buddy

 

[KingJoe83]

I may back off on the Pro Tekt just to make ph’ing easier.

Good to know