Mike Huntherz Presents: The Perpetual Variety Good Time Grow Show!

Michael Huntherz

Well-Known Member
Are you using silica?
Nope, I am not.
At the risk of sticking my two cents in the quarter slot and screwing everything up, I'm going to say that silica doesn't belong at the root zone. I found it worked best when sprayed on. It reduced powdery mildew, too.
Interesting.

It has crossed my mind, but I haven’t personally seen a need.

I have never seen a speck of mildew, knock on wood.
 

shorelineOG

Well-Known Member
Nope, I am not.

Interesting.

It has crossed my mind, but I haven’t personally seen a need.

I have never seen a speck of mildew, knock on wood.
I use pro tekt with hydro plants because the plants have softer stems in hydro and it helps support the heavier yields you get in hydro. I think it also gives more of a soil grown taste but still a clean hydro taste.
 

Michael Huntherz

Well-Known Member
What does it do to the root zone? Does foliar applications strengthen the stems?
Silica seems like another frontier of controversy, among many, out there in internetland. Maybe my hydro efforts will fail, I have read about the benefits, but I have also noticed commercial formulas rarely contain or recommend it.

I am using about half tap water, to provide a pH buffer for the RO, and I don’t ever really have to pH up or down. Maybe there is plenty of Si from my tap?
 

Michael Huntherz

Well-Known Member

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
What does it do to the root zone? Does foliar applications strengthen the stems?
People are told to add it to the res, but it fucks up pH royally. I asked the owner of Hydro-gardens.com, aka Chemgro in Colorado Springs about this. They mix hydroponic nutrients for a living, I figured he'd know. His suggestion was to run silica by itself in the res for a day or three at high pH. Attempting to lower pH will simply turn it into a gel in the tank. After several days, he said to dump it and run your normal nutrient regimen.

Frankly, I don't think that's very helpful to our application. It is totally unnecessary in any soil based substrate.

If silica is absorbed through the roots, then it will be absorbed by foliar application as well.

If you want to strengthen your stems then use more airflow, such as oscillating fans. That's beneficial all around.
 

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
I use pro tekt with hydro plants because the plants have softer stems in hydro and it helps support the heavier yields you get in hydro. I think it also gives more of a soil grown taste but still a clean hydro taste.
Interesting and I'm not knocking your experience.

@Michael Huntherz has seen my massive tree stumps firsthand and I don't use silica.

Any plant grown indoors without wind will grow weak and spindly, especially if it's given inadequate light or nutrients.
 

Michael Huntherz

Well-Known Member
Hello me out here; can you quote the relevant paragraph?
Just the photos of plants started with and without, plus the conclusion:
5. Conclusions
Si is a non-essential element that confers increased vigor and resistance to plants in response to numerous environmental constraints. Its use in agricultural practices could therefore be considered to improve the biomass yield of economically important cultivated plants, such as fibre crops. Our preliminary results indeed show a positive effect on hemp primed with Si, as well as a protective effect against Cd toxicity. However, to date, only a handful of studies are available concerning the impact of Si application on the growth and differentiation of fibre crops. In the future, the use of biophysical tools (e.g., micro particle-induced X ray emission, X-ray absorption near edge structure) for the elemental analysis of accumulated Si should be considered to map its distribution in different tissues, in connection with high-throughput transcriptomics and/or targeted gene expression of key candidates (cell wall-related, for example), as well as the quantification of phytohormones in stem tissues.
 
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