Plant Magic Bio-Silicon is cheap, can be ordered from Europe and can be used in Veg 
AKgramma
Well-Known Member
Isn't there a natural product in the US? Plain old sand is mostly silica anyway.
Horsetail ferns are a great natural source of silica. Just soak them in a bucket of water for a few weeks and mix 1 part of the result to 10 parts water.
I probably inhaled enough silica dust (et cetera) in a few jobs I used to have to supply the silica needs of every plant in every current journal on this forum (yeah, I know, enjoy life now because I won't be breaking any longevity records :rolleyes3 ).
I have used General Hydroponics' Rare Earth product in the past. "Rare Earth is derived from ancient seabed deposits of pyrophylitic clay that are blended with fulvate ore. By slowly releasing silicon, humates, and organic rare earth minerals, Rare Earth allows a crystal matrix to develop within growing plant tissue that protects the plant from heat stress and nutrient extremes by generating a protective silicon shield. Use Rare Earth by blending it with rooting media, and either top-dressing around the plant stem or adding it directly to nutrient solutions." It's available in 1½-, 4-, and 16-pound containers.
The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on the product states "At low concentrations can cause irritation and breathing difficulty. Massive over-exposure to respirable dust over a short time is rapidly fatal. Long term exposures may cause cancer." It also mentions that NIOSH considers silicone to be a potential occupational carcinogen, and observes that prolonged exposures to respirable silica dusts can cause chronic silicosis.
Chronic silicosis... When you inhale silica dust, it's basically thousands of tiny daggers that cut and scar lung tissue. I worked around it (airborne, with no filtration or mask) for eight or nine years. Knowing what I know now, I'd rather have taken a severe beating - every day for eight or nine years.
Anyway... A tiny little bit probably isn't going to mess you up. And, hey, the effects don't really hit you for about ten or more years. But, still... If you use a powdered silica product, don't disregard the warnings against breathing the stuff.
BtW, I can't really say how well that Rare Earth product actually works - turns out, placing a very small amount in a micro (only a few gallons) DWC one day caused every single leaf to fall off of a plant before I saw it the next day, lol. I don't know how large a garden a person would have to have in order to need the 16-pound size package (acres?) - that stuff must be extremely concentrated. And I suspect that it might cause the pH of a small container of nutrient solution to change in a rapid and extreme way. I don't really know... When I saw dead leaves everywhere and a denuded plant, I didn't bother to check the pH of the solution. Just dumped it, grabbed a big garbage bag to place the remains in, and tried not to weep.
I have used General Hydroponics' Rare Earth product in the past. "Rare Earth is derived from ancient seabed deposits of pyrophylitic clay that are blended with fulvate ore. By slowly releasing silicon, humates, and organic rare earth minerals, Rare Earth allows a crystal matrix to develop within growing plant tissue that protects the plant from heat stress and nutrient extremes by generating a protective silicon shield. Use Rare Earth by blending it with rooting media, and either top-dressing around the plant stem or adding it directly to nutrient solutions." It's available in 1½-, 4-, and 16-pound containers.
The MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on the product states "At low concentrations can cause irritation and breathing difficulty. Massive over-exposure to respirable dust over a short time is rapidly fatal. Long term exposures may cause cancer." It also mentions that NIOSH considers silicone to be a potential occupational carcinogen, and observes that prolonged exposures to respirable silica dusts can cause chronic silicosis.
Chronic silicosis... When you inhale silica dust, it's basically thousands of tiny daggers that cut and scar lung tissue. I worked around it (airborne, with no filtration or mask) for eight or nine years. Knowing what I know now, I'd rather have taken a severe beating - every day for eight or nine years.
Anyway... A tiny little bit probably isn't going to mess you up. And, hey, the effects don't really hit you for about ten or more years. But, still... If you use a powdered silica product, don't disregard the warnings against breathing the stuff.
BtW, I can't really say how well that Rare Earth product actually works - turns out, placing a very small amount in a micro (only a few gallons) DWC one day caused every single leaf to fall off of a plant before I saw it the next day, lol. I don't know how large a garden a person would have to have in order to need the 16-pound size package (acres?) - that stuff must be extremely concentrated. And I suspect that it might cause the pH of a small container of nutrient solution to change in a rapid and extreme way. I don't really know... When I saw dead leaves everywhere and a denuded plant, I didn't bother to check the pH of the solution. Just dumped it, grabbed a big garbage bag to place the remains in, and tried not to weep.
AKgramma
Well-Known Member
That is scary! You just talked me out of trying Silica supplements.
Lazarus13
Well-Known Member
AN rhino skin s directions say just for flowering but i use it the whole way through my grow and it works great. Makes the stems super strong.
The jobs that I mentioned weren't indoor cultivation ones. I have just become... cautious. You can use a silica product - even a dry one, if you are careful - without doing harm. And it's something that is found in practically every plant that grows outdoors (indoors... not so much).
- Thread starter
- #9
Thanks! I got an email from Advanced Nutrients saying that I can use Rhino S. in vege too so I will give it a try.
@Tortured: Nice info on Silica dust. That should be in a sticky thread, for real... If it weren't for you and I'd have bought dust no freaking way I would have read the indications... Just like that time (my first grow) when I was using AN Sensy Grow A and Sensy Grow A ... Figured that shit out when my grow was over, lol.
@Tortured: Nice info on Silica dust. That should be in a sticky thread, for real... If it weren't for you and I'd have bought dust no freaking way I would have read the indications... Just like that time (my first grow) when I was using AN Sensy Grow A and Sensy Grow A ... Figured that shit out when my grow was over, lol.
