The current opinion of silica

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blueberrymilkshake

blueberrymilkshake

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rkymtnman said:
Silicon is found in mineral form as silicon dioxide in rocks such as ignimbrite. ... When silicon dioxide is rendered into a soluble powder and mixed with water, it forms silicic acid. This weak acid is the form of silicon that plants are able to absorb and use in their cells.

this sounds promising for using bulletproof si instead of armor si that i was using.
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Wait, the 10% silicon dioxide in armor si isn't the same silicon dioxide in power si?
 
gwheels

gwheels

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Not to derail everything...but if you grow organically use rice hulls as your aeration ammedment

Rice hulls are 6% silica as they break down...and 3 feet of hulls expands to 6 feet of stuff. It is a bit more expensive than perlite but it has effect.

I get my organics from Black Swallow in Brantford ON...if you live here it is worth the drive (order first).

50 pounds of rice hulls turns into a lot of aeration but i do need another bale.
 
calvin.m16

calvin.m16

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blueberrymilkshake said:
I read the latter can result in tough flowers with poor ash quality if used past a certain point, dunno if that's true. Do you know what happens when you use potassium silicate too long? And when is that window? Lastly, will bioavailable silica work with salt based nutrients? Sorry for 21 questions. Hopefully this helps someone else too.
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Silica used in late flower 1000% produces a darker burning ashe I have tested the theory many times over. I stop using PH down and cut Silica out of my CYCO feed in coco after week 3 of bloom.


I've been experimenting with using no silica at all and so far so good...... Your plants do not NEED it and personally I don't see any downsides to cutting it out, if anything I'm noticing much better nutrient uptake and less PH issues.
 
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mudballs

mudballs

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I will never knock someone using it on face value for its resistance benefits, documented to be effective...giving one insect a chipped tooth feels like revenge. Im just keen on sciencey side and lignin, cellulose...plant makeup, chemistry..etc.
 
Rurumo

Rurumo

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PeatPhreak said:
TPS GOLD silica is not expensive

https://tpsnutrients.com/products/silica-gold

The others are just over priced.
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We're talking about two different forms of silica, potassium silicate vs Monosilicic acid (the pricey one.) I'm not advocating one over the other, I've never tried silicic acid before but I'm curious about it and have read plenty of studies on the subject. Here is one that summarizes some of the information available: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6027496/ If you skip down to "Foliar sprays with stabilized Silicic Acid" it points out a few differences between potassium silicate, which is the ingredient in TPS or Armor SI, vs Monosilicic acid, which is what is in Power SI or Grow Genius. Monosilicic acid is the most bioavailable form of silica by a huge margin, but whether that justifies the cost is something I can't answer, since I've never used it. It is interesting though and at the top of my list for promising products to try.
 
PeatPhreak

PeatPhreak

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This is what TPS gold is -

Silica Gold is derived from two sources of silicon. It contains both organo-silicates from plant extracts and potassium silicate that we micro-chelate with organic acids to create an ultra bio-available formula. The most important part of Silica Gold is the benefit of these two sources. Organo-silicates can absorb immediately and are the organic-acid chelated potassium silicate takes anywhere from 1-10 days to uptake. The combo is a steady flow of silicon for your plants.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

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and back to the microbe question, i found this yesterday:
Silicic Acid vs. Potassium Silicate
Potassium silicate (K2SiO3) is a salt of silicic acid (H4SiO4).
As mentioned above, silicates are not available to plants. So, plants cannot take up or use potassium silicate. First, bacteria must convert it to monosilicic acid.
Therefore, applying potassium silicate does not have the same effects as applying monosilicic acid. Plants will not be able to experience the benefits of silicon until weeks or months after you apply potassium silicate.
 
Samwell Seed Well

Samwell Seed Well

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Apostatize said:
There's a nice, neat 3-bulletpoint quote listing the 3 general forms of silica for horticulture (purposes ranging from pesticide to nutrient transporter/greater bandwidth apparently). Pretty sure the labeling on all silica products indicate basic (high pH).

Skipped the general pesticide silica (1st/bottom-tier silica), started with Armor SI (2nd-tier silica). Acquired Power SI (3rd/currently top-tier silica), but am saving it for a later date.
  • Power SI is pretty expensive,
  • decided to split the 1ml Armor SI/2 gallons (per GH feeding schedule) ~ 1/2 Power SI and 1/2 Armor SI.
    • Much more than 1ml/gallon is supposed to turn leaves leathery. That's not normal, I don't want that.
    • 2.5 gallons of liquid Armor SI, and 2 kg of dry Power SI. So, that will be interesting.
    • Armor SI might be good enough for my purposes (assuming I don't see measurable improvement).
Also, seems like horticulture heads in India discuss nano-silica products online. Perhaps it's racial bias, my limited thread/video sampling indicates India's on the forefront of nano-silica production/applications. At some point, product differentiation is bs; not sure silica's there yet. Believer. Branches don't break like they used to.
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Mammoth si , potassium silicate, drops my PH considerably..not sure how I like them yet... but i can foilar it so... i love that
 
mudballs

mudballs

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rkymtnman said:
cannabis is an accumulator plant.
www.humboldtseeds.net

Cannabis as a dynamic nutrient accumulator - Humboldt Seeds

We can find references to plants known as dynamic or biodynamic accumulators in the agricultural sector. These plant species are capable of extracting nutrients from t...
www.humboldtseeds.net www.humboldtseeds.net
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I searched your linked page for silica...um only one mention of silica and not related to silica accumulation...are you just trying to be confrontational? Bk78 did you even read the fkn thing? Or just hit lol cuz you like him going after me?
You sure you 2 wanna dance?
 
blueberrymilkshake

blueberrymilkshake

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PeatPhreak said:
The rest of the TPS line looks good. They might be using their silica as a "loss leader" to attract people to the rest of their line. The TPS Gold works good for me.
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I felt that way about their calmag when I couldn't find any other brand that was close to 0-0-0. Maybe not so much loss leaders and moreso they know what's up haha
 
blueberrymilkshake

blueberrymilkshake

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
and back to the microbe question, i found this yesterday:
Silicic Acid vs. Potassium Silicate
Potassium silicate (K2SiO3) is a salt of silicic acid (H4SiO4).
As mentioned above, silicates are not available to plants. So, plants cannot take up or use potassium silicate. First, bacteria must convert it to monosilicic acid.
Therefore, applying potassium silicate does not have the same effects as applying monosilicic acid. Plants will not be able to experience the benefits of silicon until weeks or months after you apply potassium silicate.
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So it probably has worked on my plant since it vegged for 3 months and its had silica for like 5 months lol.

Edit: there is a lot of info with some smart folks in here. I appreciate everyone's help.
 
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