Soluble Silica.

[Hanky]

I finally got some of this stuff after hearing nothing but good things.

 

Two questions to those who use it: How often do you add it to your nutes and do you ever bother with foliar applications?

 

Any help will be appreciated.

[bufo marinus]

Hi Hanky, I've been using this

http://www.flairform.com/Products/silikamajic.htm

Been adding it as per the bottle, 2ml per 10litre every res change.

Also been using it as per the bottle once a week in a foliar spray with a bit of HySan(hydrogen peroxide)

Been using it mainly to try keep the plants healthy

[Hanky]

I've got the same stuff, I've been told that aswell as making plants more disease resistant it also helps them tolerate high summer temps (indoors) and helps develop nice thick stems.

 

Thanks for the heads up, I'll stick to the recomendations and see how it goes.

[Shithappens]

interesting idea but can anyone with some more knowledge describe what chemicals are made when this product is burnt??

 

I can see from there spoll that its good for those things but doent look like it proven seems very assumed.... please if any one can vouch for it speak up..

[Luke Skywalker]

Silica is a completely normal and natural substance that is particularly beneficial in hydroponics where silica is not added to the standard nutrient solution concentrates due to solubility issues.

 

ALWAYS add silica additives to a full tank of water before anything else. Mix well and then check and adjust pH as needed. Adding silica after you've added your A+B nutes will cause it to precipitate out and become useless to the plant

 

Silica is abundant and natural, and it's been absorbed and utilised as a valuable micronutrient by plants of all kinds for millions, if not billions of years. Silica is typically laid down in the cells in the same areas as calcium, with many structures on the surface of the plants leaves and stem relying on silica being available to manufacture. The structural improvement of plants which have abundant silica is noticeable, and tolerance to high levels of sodium is increased as well.

 

Think of silica as being the 3rd part of a two part nute that the chemists just haven't found a way to put into 2 parts successfully. It's not "Necessary" for good growing, as there is some residual silica available in tap water and in most media which are used in hydroponics. But the levels available are small and quickly depleted, or otherwise are locked up in bonds with other elements which aren't easily broken without high or low pH levels.

 

The combustion thing is moot. If you haven't got a problem with smoking nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, sulphur, iron, molybdenum, magnesium, boron, zinc, copper or manganese, (which are all standard major and micronutrients in any 1, 2 or 3 part nutrient solution available at any hydro or gardening shop, and also in any soil you can look at around the world... ) then you shouldn't have a problem with silica.

 

Admittedly, I wouldn't drink the stuff neat, but would you drink an A+B nute? No, because in huge doses they're harmful, but in the proportions we're talking about (approx 20-40ppm is a rough guide for a end concentration in a nutrient solution of a silica additive) it's not relevant.

 

Silica additives rock, and I am currently using the DM silica type, although normally I use silicamajic by flairform as it's so much more concentrated and value for $. The DM seems to be good though, I'll prob keep using it until I need another bottle.

 

Hope that helps, and I didn't come off too pretentious there, but there is a lot of misinformation and misapprehension out there about the nutrients used in hydroponics, and the best way to change that is to inform people of the realities.

 

(as a side ramble, it's interesting that true organic agriculture has the disadvantage of having much higher levels of heavy metals and other toxic substances present in the soil and finished product, as opposed to pure hydroponic culture where inputs are strictly monitored and only using lab grade salts. Less contamination of dangerous heavy metals and other substances in hydro than in organic is a strange truth, but a truth nonetheless....)

[Hanky]

Thanks Luke, I fully agree with you on the points you raised about chemicals, after all we are all composed of chemicals as is everything in the universe, nothing except some of the elements at the high end of the periodic table are unnatural.

 

To put 20-40ppm into perspective, that's 20 to 40 grams per tonne, That's a mere spoonful of sand out of a six by four trailer load.

[Shithappens]

Cheers to both of yous for the clarity damm these brain cells they arnt what they used to be (That wasnt that crash hot either back then)

[bufo marinus]

Good stuff Luke

Yes important to add the Silica first as you have pointed out.

Been very happy with the current grow using the Silkamajic and GreenDream from Flairform as well as some Fulvic Acid from Growth Technologies.

[blacksaint]

Does silica in a foliar spray make any noticeable difference?

 

I've recently bought and am using SM in the res, but was going to mix up a spray with salt-free soda water.

Edited January 29, 2007 by blacksaint

[Luke Skywalker]

One or the other really. Foliar feeding is useful but if you're root dosing there's not much point unless the plants are having a nutritional meltdown....