Silica article: Looking for others' knowledge on silica

[Slowpuffer]

I believe you can give too much silica. I’d watch and adhere to the manufacture notes.
I’d also introduce it slowly to your grows. Don’t give them the maximum dose right away.
Also note that mixing some silica with certain nutes can cause a nite lockout or gelling of the silica.

Cheers!

Thanks for the info. !! I'm in coco coir and I use 6 ml per. gl. . Start to finish, is that to much? I know to mix it in 1st. , as like you said, It can and will gell in some nutrients. Also raises ph !! Toughens plants up !! I only use it in coco, as I figure soil is already loaded with silica ?

 

[bobrown14]

Soils wont be "loaded" with silica unless you add it to the mix. I'm a soil grower. We have naturally high silica soil where we live (old extinct volcano the soil acutally sparkles with silica). I collect local EWC and add it into my soil mix for a good silica source and also add in Paramagnetic Rock dusts which also contain a lot of silica.

Hard to overdue natural forms of silica as the crust of the earth is something like 90% silicate minerals and the earth crust contains close to 30% silica by volume.

If you read my post from earlier in the year about making Horsetail fern tea up there^^^ - its a GREAT source of silica and I use it very liberally along with Pro-tekt.

As with everything in life, moderation is always a good thing. I've never had any problems with extra silica in soil, watered in or sprayed on. Will support your plants immune system, help fight of pests and disease (horsetail fern tea foilered on will suppress PM/molds as a side benefit) and also makes VERY strong stems.

I've tried super cropping and the plants stand right back up the next day and bend them again with the same result the next day (without tying them down). They won't even skip a beat. I use ties and string to train when needed.

 

[Boatshoe]

I just started using silica blast and it thickened the stems up dramatically and quickly. In potting soil. I was only going to use it a couple times in veg, but I’ll probably give one or plants some during flower, since so many growers have good things to say. Thanks for the info.
I’ll reiterate the alkalinity, the first time I used it, in some confusions I forgot to adjust the ph down and almost killed my plants. They got better but I’m repeating the warnings already posted.

 

[bobrown14]

Not sure about the PH thing?

I'm in soil.

 

[Boatshoe]

Not sure about the PH thing?

I'm in soil.

I’m in soil too, in containers. I added 1 tsp / gal of silica blast brand and it sent my ph to above 8. Way high. Totally my fault. Within days they yellowed dramatically from iron lockout, my soil went way alkaline. I flushed and fixed, and figured out what I did wrong. So now I adjust the water with 2 tbsp of vinegar, to balance then ph of the silica blast. There’s even a warning on the,bottle to check it. Oops.

 

[bobrown14]

I use Pro-tekt @ 1 tsp to gal water but usually use it at 1 tbs per gal and add in a 1/2 cup of Horsetail Fern Tea which is silica on steroids.

msds on the Silica Blast = INGREDIENTS: Major ingredients comprise silicates of sodium and potassium

msds on Pro-tekt = Mixture Potassium Silicate solution (K2SiO3)

Likely the source of your PH issue is the sodium silicate. In certain forms its alkaline and pretty high as well.

Not really sure why they add that to the mix, TBH??

A quick google on it:

"All silicate solutions are alkaline, the pH of commercial silicate solutions ranges from approximately 10 to 13. The pH is a function of ratio and concentration and decreases with increasing silica content. The stability of a sodium silicate solution depends to a large extent on pH. "


Try Pro-tekt, I use more than whats recommended and no problems and I foiler it on. Never had any bad results.

I dost test PH. Not even sure it's a thing in soil. I would test my water but I use RO so it's always 6.5ph.

 

[Boatshoe]

I usually test ph any time I use a new compound. Since i garden outside there’s a lot of different bio agents and fertilizers etc. so just in case.
Most preparations are ph adjusted and it’s never an issue. I don’t know why this isn’t, I wrote them and asked. Maybe they need to do that to keep it in suspension.

 

[bobrown14]

Cannabis outdoors?? Asking for a neighbor J/K lol. Lucky you.

Wish I could do that. Now jelly.

I'm pretty skeptical of anything out of a bottle so I always do research and ask my growing community whats up. Always gonna get a lot of different views on it.

Lots of time with bottles, it gets down to $$ per oz of water. Mostly.

I try and make my own, home grown too, silica is Horsetail Fern tea. Gonna beat the shit out of anything in a bottle. It's a thing from the Bio-dynamic Gardening thing from
pre-modern day. From back when we depended on growing food at home and we went to the store to buy seed stock not the final product.

 

[Nunyabiz]

I've been using a Silica product called Grow-Sil for awhile now.
Seems to work great, I usually add just a tiny pinch every time I water.
Its 99.9% pure Silica from rice hulls and a small 1lb bag will last years so it's super cheap per grow. It's also a neutral 7.0 pH

Grow-Sil Natural Silica

 

[bobrown14]

i use horsetail ferns these I can get locally wild crafting in the woods or order online.
Just another option.

I like the Grow-sil and would probably use it if I didn't have a crap ton of horsetail ferns in hand.

 

[labexperiment]

Thanks to all of those who replied especially those adding scientific data to the discussion, it is greatly appreciated. And welcomes to all of those who discovered something new to help with their grows, I hope you continue spreading your roots out to find knowledge and improve your growing experience.