Silica and cannabis

listmann

listmann

Well-Known Member
Silica will greatly improve the strentgh of the stems and the buds will get way more heat resistant.

Many i know think it alters the taste though even with a good flush. To solve this i stop adding silica a week before i flush.

Also, theres lots of products out there you"ll want to avoid.
Mineral magic is one. It says there is more than 60% soluble silica in it. Og and there IS 60% silica inthere! Trouble is it's SI04 wich is NOT water soluble.
This actually made me discontinue GHE-europes products all together that i had been using for years. If they lie about this god knows what else they lie about.

Used the shit only to find i had dust covering my whole reservoir clogging up the whole system :(

So looking for you Silica sources you will be looking for the water soluble silica (SI02)

Silica's main problem in use for plants is its low solubility.
 
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max420thc

Well-Known Member
does it do this and that,or this magic or that magic?hell I don't know,
what I do know for sure is anyone I know wh0 uses it NEVER gets powdery mildew or bud rot
How much is it worth to you to never get PM or BR?
I just bought some in powder form,cant remember the name of it you can find it on a shelf in most hydro stores pretty cheap along with other powdered concentrate supplements,
ive been using growteks silica pro for 6 years,150 bucks for 6 gallons,
I probable shouldn't even try a new product
its cheap insurance
 
listmann

listmann

Well-Known Member
Ye i've actually spent the last few days buried in extensive studys on silicate and its effect in plants. And the problem with introducing it to hydroponics...

What i've come up with i believe if the cheapest and most effective means of water soluble silicate is the product "Liquid sand"
Tried mineral magic from GHE thats a hoax...

Actually so much so it destroyed my faith in GHE. I now have an interest in a smaller fert- pusher started in 2007 in holland. They seem to have a great program, they seem to be hungry for happy custumors! :)

Besides they are SO much cheaper! Just got a liter of Triacontanol for 85euro and the basic A+B fert with feed program for cannabis is like 30 euros for 10liters :)
 
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Gloomy Gus

Member
I just started using silica powder from Kelp4Less. I started using it in week 3 of 9. I just harvested. I will not tell you how well it worked because everyone would call me a liar. This stuff is worth it's weight in gold. I will NEVER GROW WITHOUT IT.
 
420Dust

420Dust

Well-Known Member
Gloomy Gus said:
I just started using silica powder from Kelp4Less. I started using it in week 3 of 9. I just harvested. I will not tell you how well it worked because everyone would call me a liar. This stuff is worth it's weight in gold. I will NEVER GROW WITHOUT IT.
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Gloomy, what kind of medium did you mix it with? Soil or hydro?
 
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Gloomy Gus

Member
60% Coir, 5% sphagnum, 35% #3 perlite. I keep the pH at 5.9 - 6.1 in veg, 6.3 in bloom.
I make my own nutes following the tomato formula in Hydroponic Food Production by Howard M. Resh, Ph.D. This is pretty much the same as Gen Hydro's A + B+ Micros. Making your own costs pennies on the dollar, as in danged near free. Of course, each strain has its own needs, so you to adjust here, tweek there until your girls think they are in heaven. Tip... Bump the MKP and magnesium sulfate by 50% during weeks 3 - 6 and at the same time taper off the calcium nitrate to zero by week six for a 9 week strain. Thoroughly flush at end of week 6 using ro with magnesium sulfate only, 600 ppm. Flush until the waste water is less than 1000 ppm. Then fertigate using the stock solution B and micros only, at 700 ppm. Oh yeah... mycos in the cloning solution and in the veg nutes. Oh yeah, if you use molasses, go half of the recommended amount or you will make a disappointing mess of the entire project. DO NOT use dried molasses.

Mixing the nutes using a stock solution: Start with RO. Dissolve the silica powder before adding the nute stock solution. You will get noticeable results in 10 - 15 days. The plants will "get tough". Get a lot of air movement going 24/7. The plants will require less support. The flowers will be bigger, more dense and therefore heavier.

Get your lighting, temp and atmospheric controls right AND use DE hps. This is all you need to produce top shelf flowers. Don't waste your time on all the silly bs. Keep it simple and grow great weed.
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Gloomy Gus said:
60% Coir, 5% sphagnum, 35% #3 perlite. I keep the pH at 5.9 - 6.1 in veg, 6.3 in bloom.
I make my own nutes following the tomato formula in Hydroponic Food Production by Howard M. Resh, Ph.D. This is pretty much the same as Gen Hydro's A + B+ Micros. Making your own costs pennies on the dollar, as in danged near free. Of course, each strain has its own needs, so you to adjust here, tweek there until your girls think they are in heaven. Tip... Bump the MKP and magnesium sulfate by 50% during weeks 3 - 6 and at the same time taper off the calcium nitrate to zero by week six for a 9 week strain. Thoroughly flush at end of week 6 using ro with magnesium sulfate only, 600 ppm. Flush until the waste water is less than 1000 ppm. Then fertigate using the stock solution B and micros only, at 700 ppm. Oh yeah... mycos in the cloning solution and in the veg nutes. Oh yeah, if you use molasses, go half of the recommended amount or you will make a disappointing mess of the entire project. DO NOT use dried molasses.

Mixing the nutes using a stock solution: Start with RO. Dissolve the silica powder before adding the nute stock solution. You will get noticeable results in 10 - 15 days. The plants will "get tough". Get a lot of air movement going 24/7. The plants will require less support. The flowers will be bigger, more dense and therefore heavier.

Get your lighting, temp and atmospheric controls right AND use DE hps. This is all you need to produce top shelf flowers. Don't waste your time on all the silly bs. Keep it simple and grow great weed.
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Why didn't Howard Resh mention Si in his formula?

(btw, Howard Resh's tomato formula is in the formulation database in hydrobuddy on a fresh install. No Si there either.)
 
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Gloomy Gus

Member
I can't say for certain why Howard left out Si.

A little background...

The copyright on his first edition is 1978. Maybe all of the benefits of Si were not yet understood. Or maybe he just didn't think the benefits with respect to growing veggies wasn't worth the hassle. It's been decades since I read his book. but as I recall his approach was to supply the 17 essential nutrients and leave it at that.

He never said as much, but I think he was a missionary. He went to some exotic south sea island where the natives were living on a diet of mostly seafood and yams. He set himself to the task of improving their diet. Howard looked around at the resources available and put together a technique that worked there. Here's the good part. He made the medium they used from coconut husks and rice hulls. To the best of my knowledge, the man was a pioneer of using coco coir.

Here's a P.S. on my previous post. I recently upgraded from single end hps to double end. The Sun Systems DE Boss hoods had samples of General Hydro's Si Armour. I was blown away by the performance, in a positive way, and by the cost, in a negative way. After looking around on the 'net I found that Kelp4Less had a couple inexpensive silica powders. I bought the cheap one and it is working just fine. I suspect that it is just fossil shell four. Now here's the good part. The light from the DE hps lamps is so intense, (How intense is it?) It is so intense that in early bloom the plants grow so aggressively that they show signs of being under fed. I kicked the bloom formula tds all the way up to 1450 ppm and they quickly recovered. Back to the subject at hand, Si. The Si is necessary when using DE hps, in my opinion. These two things, Si and DE hps has upped my game beyond my wildest dreams. I think that with the right strain, I might be able to pump out 2 pounds per 1000 watt lamp, 4 lolly popped plants per lamp. I just started growing Incredible Bulk and I got 1.67 lb.s/ lamp, first try. (I told you everyone would think I lie.)
 
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Gloomy Gus

Member
Oh man... I get so distracted by the minutia that I forget the basics. Si is necessary when using DE hps because you have to toughen up the plant to get the most out of the intense light of the DE hps.
 
DirtyMcCurdy

DirtyMcCurdy

Well-Known Member
lazaah said:
AHA!! Until customs started seizing it we had a product here called DrJKS BUD HARDENER, the main ingredient was sillica, you would feed it to the plant from day 28 flowering to 38, it literally doubled my mates harvest, havent been able to find anything like it since though locally :(
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Man... don't be coming on here saying shit like that. "it literally doubled my mates harvest" Come on dude... seriously? It must be magic :roll:
 
Aeroknow

Aeroknow

Well-Known Member
Gloomy Gus said:
I can't say for certain why Howard left out Si.

A little background...

The copyright on his first edition is 1978. Maybe all of the benefits of Si were not yet understood. Or maybe he just didn't think the benefits with respect to growing veggies wasn't worth the hassle. It's been decades since I read his book. but as I recall his approach was to supply the 17 essential nutrients and leave it at that.

He never said as much, but I think he was a missionary. He went to some exotic south sea island where the natives were living on a diet of mostly seafood and yams. He set himself to the task of improving their diet. Howard looked around at the resources available and put together a technique that worked there. Here's the good part. He made the medium they used from coconut husks and rice hulls. To the best of my knowledge, the man was a pioneer of using coco coir.

Here's a P.S. on my previous post. I recently upgraded from single end hps to double end. The Sun Systems DE Boss hoods had samples of General Hydro's Si Armour. I was blown away by the performance, in a positive way, and by the cost, in a negative way. After looking around on the 'net I found that Kelp4Less had a couple inexpensive silica powders. I bought the cheap one and it is working just fine. I suspect that it is just fossil shell four. Now here's the good part. The light from the DE hps lamps is so intense, (How intense is it?) It is so intense that in early bloom the plants grow so aggressively that they show signs of being under fed. I kicked the bloom formula tds all the way up to 1450 ppm and they quickly recovered. Back to the subject at hand, Si. The Si is necessary when using DE hps, in my opinion. These two things, Si and DE hps has upped my game beyond my wildest dreams. I think that with the right strain, I might be able to pump out 2 pounds per 1000 watt lamp, 4 lolly popped plants per lamp. I just started growing Incredible Bulk and I got 1.67 lb.s/ lamp, first try. (I told you everyone would think I lie.)
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You should be getting way more than that, per 1000w DE. No offense, but especially with a strain called "incredible bulk" :-D
Check it: Most OG type strains I grow, which I will only blow up the decent yielders in my bloom rooms, yield about 1.5 lbs with a 1000w hps(mogul) over a 4X4 tray. So that's 4.5 lbs, from 3000w's, over 3-4x4 trays.
Put 2-1000wDE's(each ran @ 1150w) over 3-4x4's, I get more than 5lbs. Or roughly 2.5lbs a light. Very serious. I am in the process of converting all of my setups to DE's because of the trials I just ran.
Anyways, I do this without Si, and I feed 1.7-1.8 EC all through flower, except the last couple weeks, when I lower EC. I always keep an elevated Ca and AND Mg throughout(because I'm in coco also)and water with enough nute solution every time, that a periodic flush is unnecessary.

Btw, the trial runs with the DE lights were in a regularly ventilated grow room. I switch my rooms back to Sealed w/Co2, when the weather gets warmer. I can't wait to see what happens then :hump:
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Gloomy Gus said:
Oh man... I get so distracted by the minutia that I forget the basics. Si is necessary when using DE hps because you have to toughen up the plant to get the most out of the intense light of the DE hps.
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Considering you were using potassium silicate and potassium is an essential element used in abundant quantities, how can you be sure it wasn't the potassium causing noticeable effects?

Also, look what wikipedia has to say about the horticultural use uses of potassium silicate.

"In horticulture, potassium silicate is used as a soluble source of potassium and makes also the growing medium more alkaline."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_silicate#Horticulture

For there to be no other uses listed there, it means there have been no acceptable citations.

Let's just say I'm a huge skeptic on the benefits of silica. Howard resh's formula is a slight variation of the hoagland formula, which was developed in the 1930s. I just can't see how Si could not have been discovered as being so important by up until recently. We've had silicate salts for long time, so why did it take so long for the hoaglands and arnons to come up with conclusive results based on the effects of silicon, the most abundant element in the earths crust after oxygen? The claim by some that silicon is actually a macro nutrient is downright absurd. It's not even a micro nutrient.
 
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Gloomy Gus

Member
Aeroknow... WOWIE ZOWIE!!! That is the most exciting info I have gotten in a long, long time! As I said, that was my first round using DE and Si. Know I know what I should be striving to achieve. Thanks for the response.
 
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Gloomy Gus

Member
To all... I didn't make note of the source, but I did read that tissue samples taken where there is active mold show elevated levels of Si.
 
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