A Guide To Colloidal Silver

bullSnot · Jun 11, 2017

MiStUrX said:
One puny male flower can pollinate a hundred plants making tens of thousands of seeds. One branch can produce a few hundred male flowers. Plus you can also make s-1 seeds "self pollination" if you flip one branch.

One male flower can pollinate and make 10,000- 80,000 seeds? Come on really? I thought it took 2 grains of pollen to make a seed. That would mean there are over 20,000 grains of pollen in one male pod.

I am going to get really stoned and count one....be up for air in a week.

...I don't need to I found a couple law students that did a paper on plant science and they referenced a study that one male cannabis flower can produce 60 -80,000 grains of pollen...holy " spreading genes " batman

MiStUrX · Jun 11, 2017

bullSnot said:
One male flower can pollinate and make 10,000- 80,000 seeds? Come on really? I thought it took 2 grains of pollen to make a seed. That would mean there are over 20,000 grains of pollen in one male pod.

I am going to get really stoned and count one....be up for air in a week.

...I don't need to I found a couple law students that did a paper on plant science and they referenced a study that one male cannabis flower can produce 60 -80,000 grains of pollen...holy " spreading genes " batman

It only takes one very small pollen grain to pollinate one egg cell . If you ever look at a pollen grain under a microscope you will notice they are very small. There are literally thousands of pollen grains in one healthy male flower. How many seeds are you trying to breed? :bigjoint:

I made a mistake and pollinated a whole think different plant. I harvested several hundred on just one branch.

bullSnot · Jun 15, 2017

i thought both pistils need pollen to produce a good seed.

FWHdope1! · Jun 17, 2017

MiStUrX said:
Just remember let the seeds mature, this can take a lot longer than harvest. Wait till the plant is almost dead before you harvest seeds. Ive seen seeds mature in two weeks other times it can take up to 8 weeks from the time you pollinated. If you harvest too early you will get a bunch of immature white seeds.

I had 15 females and the one I desperately didn't want to turn bc its the last of my late grandfathers 70 year seed strain, has turned male Is there Anything I can do to turn it back??? Any help would be so greatly appreciated!!

bullSnot · Jun 17, 2017

FWHdope1! said:
I had 15 females and the one I desperately didn't want to turn bc its the last of my late grandfathers 70 year seed strain, has turned male Is there Anything I can do to turn it back??? Any help would be so greatly appreciated!!

What about taking a clone ? Would that clone be female?

MiStUrX · Jun 17, 2017

bullSnot said:
i thought both pistils need pollen to produce a good seed.

One seed needs one pollen grain to fertilize one egg, same goes for every plant that reproduces sexually or asexually. Two pistols increase the chances of it receiving pollen via air current. Plants that reproduce via air current such as grass and in our case weed produces gobs amount of pollen since they rely on air currents for pollination. Plants that reproduce via insect/flower do not need as much pollen. This goes back to our original reason why you only need to flip one branch. Actually there is three good reasons to fertilize one branch, first reason is that you can save a large amount of CS. Second reason is that you can also make some s-1 seeds with your F-2 seeds. Third and last reason is that since you only flipped one branch you now have a whole plant left minus a branch to bring to full maturity and harvest.

JuanJadinero · Oct 14, 2017

Thanks for the great writeup Hazy. Instead of spraying the colloidal silver, can i instead apply them with a brush instead? Given that i am doing a microbuild, i don't have room for 2 plants, so i want pollen sacs to grow on only 1 branch of the plant only; would you think it would fine if i apply the colloidal silver using a brush instead of a spray can, to prevent the mist reaching other part of the plant?

xtsho · Oct 15, 2017

JuanJadinero said:
Thanks for the great writeup Hazy. Instead of spraying the colloidal silver, can i instead apply them with a brush instead? Given that i am doing a microbuild, i don't have room for 2 plants, so i want pollen sacs to grow on only 1 branch of the plant only; would you think it would fine if i apply the colloidal silver using a brush instead of a spray can, to prevent the mist reaching other part of the plant?

You can just cover the rest of the plant with a plastic bag to prevent over spray from getting on other areas of the plant. You want the solution to be dripping of the targeted branch. Brushing it on may or not work.

Daniel Lawton · Oct 15, 2017

I just used a big piece of cardboard to shield the plant. you have to spray too many times to use plastic bags, they get soaked and washing them would be a pain. The cardboard gets soaked, but you can remember which side should be getting splashed.

JuanJadinero · Oct 15, 2017

xtsho said:
You can just cover the rest of the plant with a plastic bag to prevent over spray from getting on other areas of the plant. You want the solution to be dripping of the targeted branch. Brushing it on may or not work.

Daniel Lawton said:
I just used a big piece of cardboard to shield the plant. you have to spray too many times to use plastic bags, they get soaked and washing them would be a pain. The cardboard gets soaked, but you can remember which side should be getting splashed.

Thanks for the advice peeps, unfortunately, i have plenty of exposed wires with DC fans and naked LEDs at close proximity to the plant, so i was kind of hoping to apply the silver with a non-cluster bomb method. I will see what can be done.

Daniel Lawton · Oct 16, 2017

Please DO and report back!!! There's plenty of us who would like to know if that works.

I've got a weird suggestion. Make a cornstarch thickened solution and see if that remains in place better when you brush it on. If so, add the colloidal to that. But if you do that, keep an eye on the lefovers to see if the silver falls out of solution quickly due to the starch. It'll form grey dust on the bottom. At that point the solution gets so weak that you won't get pollen until the plant is very old.

xtsho · Oct 16, 2017

You could also use the Silver Nitrate and Sodium Thiosulfate solution method. You only need to apply once so no daily spraying. Here is a post I made in a different thread about it. This is the method I use and it works every time. At least it has for me.

https://www.rollitup.org/t/applying-silver-nitrate-sodium-thiosulfate-mixture-for-fem-pollen.937161/

xtsho said:
I use the same formula that you list except in larger amounts. I got the formula from a different site.

0.5 grams Silver Nitrate + 500ml H2O
2.5 grams sodium thiosulfate (anhydrous) + 500 ml H2O
Mix those and then mix together to form solution
Then 1 part solution to 9 parts water.

I got 1/4 lb of sodium thiosulfate on Amazon for $5.99 and 25 grams of silver nitrate for $28. That will last a long time but I think I'll start mixing smaller batches since I end up dumping what I don't use.
I like this formula over the collodial silver method because you don't have to spray everyday. One application and then 12/12.

You really need to spray this on until it's dripping off. I let it dry and spray a second time. Put in 12/12 and wait.
Be careful with the silver nitrate as it will stain. Especially make sure you don't get it on a white counter top unless you want purple stains.
Just put some newspaper down and spray over that.

I would spray the whole plant. What I do is grow a rooted clone out for a couple weeks and use that. Harvest the pollen and toss the rest of the plant.
Here is a picture of one that's had it's sex reversed using this method showing male pollen sacks after a couple weeks. It was really small but you only need a little pollen because it goes a long way.

Daniel Lawton · Oct 16, 2017

STS gets really weak after a week or two, even in the fridge. And those formulas mix up SO much it's crazy.

Just be prepared to toss out all that you mixed after a couple of weeks. You'll be able to see that you need to do it, if the final bottle for the concentrated mix is transparent. The bottom will get grey fuzz, meaning the silver has gone out of solution. But keep that transparent bottle wrapped in some black paper so it doesn't normally get light.

Colloidal silver goes out of solution also, even in glass bottles kept in the fridge.

If you use a weakened solution, you'll probably still get pollen. But it'll come so late, you have to wonder if it wasn't just stress induced by age.

OldMedUser · Oct 16, 2017

Colloidal silver keeps for years. I have what's left of a gallon I made over 2 years ago and there's no grey on the bottom. It's in an empty jug of distilled water so I can see if there is any discoloration and there ain't.

Daniel Lawton · Oct 17, 2017

It's not my experience. I mixed a few batches over months, until I got tired of having to spray so much and switched to STS.

Maybe it's the strength we made? Mine was that weird slight yellow/grey color and the TDS meter said it was 50ppm. However, you could dilute it in half, and the TDS meter STILL said it was 50ppm. I suspect they don't really work for particles of metal.

If I ever use colloidal again, I'll test out making mixtures around 10ppm. Maybe yours was the right strength to hold up.

I'd also like to add, the silver electrodes DO wear out! In the long run, colloidal has to be more expensive than STS due to the waste of silver. STS is very diluted.

Poontanger · Oct 19, 2017

Great thread, & if I may, id like to know , how to collect pollen, so I can store it for future use
I intend to use the collected pollen , within 4 months, & hope it will last in a sealed container in the fridge for that period ,any help appreiated

Daniel Lawton · Oct 19, 2017

I collected jars and jars of pollen in my fridge. As a beginner, I wanted to have pollen for all the seed types I purchased. I guess it's the same kind of thinking that caused me to collect stamps as a kid.

I almost never use the pollen! If you were standing next to my fridge, I'd give all of it to you and the only thing I'd miss is all the mason jars.

It's just too easy to make pollen on the same plant you want to pollinate, and then you get clone seeds.

How to collect pollen isn't a big deal, as long as you did a good job turning a full branch. Get a wide opening mason jar the first time, hold the branch over the entrance, and tap it a little. Eventually, when the whole branch has turned, just cut it off and stick it in the jar, and let it dry somewhere else. Don't put a branch in and close the lid, it'll spoil if it isn't dry

I put drying packs in my jars, but be very careful not to use too many. I've dried seeds so much I only get 50% sprout rate, I have to believe the pollen doesn't like getting too dry also.

If you keep the pollen in the fridge, DON'T open it until it reaches room temp. Otherwise moisture will condense on the inside and kill some of the pollen.

Poontanger · Oct 19, 2017

Thx for advise,
In your opinion, or experience, how long , is the pollen good for , storing it in this manner??....ie have you used pollen , that has been refridgarated for long periods , with sucsess ??

OldMedUser · Oct 19, 2017

Daniel Lawton said:
It's not my experience. I mixed a few batches over months, until I got tired of having to spray so much and switched to STS.

Maybe it's the strength we made? Mine was that weird slight yellow/grey color and the TDS meter said it was 50ppm. However, you could dilute it in half, and the TDS meter STILL said it was 50ppm. I suspect they don't really work for particles of metal.

If I ever use colloidal again, I'll test out making mixtures around 10ppm. Maybe yours was the right strength to hold up.

I'd also like to add, the silver electrodes DO wear out! In the long run, colloidal has to be more expensive than STS due to the waste of silver. STS is very diluted.

You can't rely on a TDS pen to give the right reading. I bought a new one that reads in 1ppm increments as my old Hanna is a 10X which is fine for nutes but not near fine enough for CS. I run my CS until I get a 6 or 7ppm reading which according to a couple sites you multiply by 2 or 2.5X to have a close approximation so I consider mine to be about 15ppm. Totally clear and like I said there is no sediment on the bottom of the jug from the gallon batch I made in May 2015. Almost out so time to dig out the gear and make some more. Wife feeds it to the chickens and uses it on their wounds and ours too.

I cut a Canadian silver dollar in half and attached each half at the end of a 6" silver wire and just submerge the lower portions of the coins in the distilled water. All the silver is .9999 pure and I buy gallon jugs of distilled water at the drug store making sure it's not the brand that has fluoride in it. Reads 0 or 1 with the TDS pen when I test it. I diluted 1000ppm test sol'n down to 20ppm and the pen reads 19 or 20 when I check it so I know everything is pretty darned accurate.

I run the CS thru an unbleached coffee filter to get all the particles out. Saving all the used filters until I figure out some use for the bits in it. Bandages maybe?

Daniel Lawton · Oct 19, 2017

OldMedUser said:
I run my CS until I get a 6 or 7ppm reading which according to a couple sites you multiply by 2 or 2.5X to have a close approximation so I consider mine to be about 15ppm. Totally clear and like I said there is no sediment on the bottom of the jug from the gallon batch I made in May 2015.

So I made mine too strong. Makes sense to me now. Once you get some fuzz on the bottom, the little colloidal drops can collide and stick over time.

I might change my opinion on colloidal silver, since you've proven it can last.

Still, I have a crazy idea I'm going to get around to doing one of these days, involving a sprayer that mixes solution A and B when you spray. Calculate Sodium Thiosulfate concentration for finished stuff, same for silver, and let STS get mixed as it sprays.

A Guide To Colloidal Silver

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