Power Si

Wastei

Wastei

Well-Known Member
Why don't you guys buy Agsil16H or regular "waterglass"?

I buy waterglass locally. 85 fl oz of 33% saturated Potassium Silicate for 15 bucks. Agsil16H is even more affordable but it's not available where I'm at.

I make 2 gallons of "Pro-tekt" for 15 bucks. That's dirt cheap. Cheers!
 
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PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Midwestsmoker419 said:
Think I has seen @PJ Diaz posting some good info on silica maybe he cant help
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I personally use Armor Si right now, which is Potassium Silicate. Apparently Potassium Silicate needs to break down before being usable by the plants. The question is how much does it take to break it down to a usable form. Also Potassium Silicate will raise your ph. Agisil 16H is also Potassium Silicate, and is better value compared to Armor Si (but I got my Armor Si for free, so there's that).

Power Si is different because it's the readily available form of Si, Silicic Acid, which is why it's a lot more expensive.

Interestingly enough a buddy of mine started working for a new company last week who carries an even more concentrated version of Silicic Acid, which is also even more expensive that Power Si (if you can believe that). I had never heard of this product before, which is apparently a whopping 40% silicic acid. I can't seem to find the exact amount of silicic acid in Power Si, but I've been told that it's somewhere between 1% and 4%. That makes this other stuff at least 10x stronger, and considering that the feed rates (0.3 ml / 10L (2,64 gal)) are like 20% that of Power Si (3 ml / 5 gal), it makes this super expensive stuff a better deal than Power Si.

Anyway, here's the 40% mono-silicic acid product: https://www.grow-genius.com/mono-silicic

Here's where you can get it online: https://centralcoastgarden-shop.com/brands/Grow-Genius/

Here's some other good really good info about the different types of silica, and their different effects on plants in foliar applications: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6027496/#B27-plants-07-00045

Here's a summary of the above study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6027496/table/plants-07-00045-t003/

I think the general takeaway from this study is that Potassium Silicate is great for preventing fungal infections when used as a foliar, but doesn't provide the same sort of biostimulant boosts which Silicic Acid does.

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radiant Rudy

radiant Rudy

Well-Known Member
Sometimes avoiding K is crucial. Wollastonite is CaSiO3, it is alkaline but weakly, barely effects pH.

GrowSil : "Natural Silica is a 99.9% pure amorphous silica made from rice hulls. Grow-Sil is the highest purity biogenic silica available to growers today. Many conventional silica/silicate products contain 4%-45% silica. No K does not affect pH and is very absorb-able." Getting Si into your plants isnt as challenging as bottled nute makers want you to believe

I verified Si uptake through sap analysis.
 
Wastei

Wastei

Well-Known Member
radiant Rudy said:
Sometimes avoiding K is crucial. Wollastonite is CaSiO3, it is alkaline but weakly, barely effects pH.

GrowSil : "Natural Silica is a 99.9% pure amorphous silica made from rice hulls. Grow-Sil is the highest purity biogenic silica available to growers today. Many conventional silica/silicate products contain 4%-45% silica. No K does not affect pH and is very absorb-able." Getting Si into your plants isnt as challenging as bottled nute makers want you to believe

I verified Si uptake through sap analysis.
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While it probably works just as well for soil grown plants as potassium silicate I would never use anything organically derived in hydro.

I may argue one positive thing about potassium silicate actually is it's ability to raise, buffer and stabilize pH.
 
radiant Rudy

radiant Rudy

Well-Known Member
Wastei said:
While it probably works just as well for soil grown plants as potassium silicate I would never use anything organically derived in hydro.

I may argue one positive thing about potassium silicate actually is it's ability to raise, buffer and stabilize pH.
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Ya, makes sense. I'm so recycled substrate oriented that I habitually space on other modes.
 
PJ Diaz

PJ Diaz

Well-Known Member
Chunky Stool said:
It's all about availability and rice hulls do not decompose quickly.
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I believe that Grow-Sil's assertion is that they have made a 99% Si product which is derived from rice hulls. Rice hulls themselves are around 15% Silica, if I'm not mistaken, so clearly there has been some processing here in an attempt to make Si more readily available.
 
radiant Rudy

radiant Rudy

Well-Known Member
PJ Diaz said:
Have you tried it in a hydro type situation with emitters and such? Does it dissolve?
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Nah, sorry all of my experience is with peat based substrate. The suggested dosage is about a gram / gal. I think it is thoroughly solubilized at that rate.

Ive used many silica products. I am familiar with the signs of strong silica uptake in cannabis plants. I also have a sap analysis from my last grow showing a very good Si level in both old and new leaves at 1 month flowering. This stuff works perfectly, does not effect pH and does not bring K which can be especially impt during stretch.
3-16-flower-stem.jpg
 
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Chunky Stool

Chunky Stool

Well-Known Member
radiant Rudy said:
Nah, sorry all of my experience is with peat based substrate. The suggested dosage is about a gram / gal. I think it is thoroughly solubilized at that rate.

Ive used many silica products. I am familiar with the signs of strong silica uptake in cannabis plants. I also have a sap analysis from my last grow showing a very good Si level in both old and new leaves at 1 month flowering. This stuff works perfectly, does not effect pH and does not bring K which can be especially impt during stretch.
View attachment 4855030
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Nice brix. :leaf:
Where did you get your sap analysis?
Was it expensive?
 
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