Nutrients ortho-silicic acid vs potassium silicate

[Bob's Auto's]

Since two years I've been using potassium silicate, more accurately potassium water glass(*) as a silicate source for my plants since that's was the "recommended" chemical to use. A couple of days ago I'm reading this thread in which I find information that there is a better source of silica then what I'm using. So I start to research this new wonder product to get silica into the plants system. And yes ortho-silicic acid does provide way more silica into the plant's system, but are those amounts really necessary?
On my search I found this webpage and I was wondering what @arty zan's opinion was about the statement made there? I'm all in for better, but if the extra silica doesn't do anything for the plant I would be paying more to replace a product that's already doing what's it suppose to do. And mind me, I've been growing tomatoes and peppers for on hydro for a long time and never had any use for silica products. It's only when I started growing herb that silica came into play. So I'm also not really convinced that plant's do actually need silica. But, and that was my thinking back then. If it doesn't harm the plants and everybody is raving about it, then it must do something...maybe not discovered yet? So, that's why I started using it.

* potassium water glass is the cheapest product which is made out of pure potassium silicate and water. It only costed me 7€ for one liter and I use it in three different concentrations. 1drop/3L in the veg phase, 1 drop/2L in late veg to early bloom and 1drop/L in the bloom phase. This means that in it's most concentrated form I can add it to 20.000L of nutrient solution before I need to buy another bottle

If your not Arty Zan, but have an opinion about this, please feel free to chime in


Regards,

Bob

 

[THE BEAR]

Since two years I've been using potassium silicate, more accurately potassium water glass(*) as a silicate source for my plants since that's was the "recommended" chemical to use. A couple of days ago I'm reading this thread in which I find information that there is a better source of silica then what I'm using. So I start to research this new wonder product to get silica into the plants system. And yes ortho-silicic acid does provide way more silica into the plant's system, but are those amounts really necessary?
On my search I found this webpage and I was wondering what @arty zan's opinion was about the statement made there? I'm all in for better, but if the extra silica doesn't do anything for the plant I would be paying more to replace a product that's already doing what's it suppose to do. And mind me, I've been growing tomatoes and peppers for on hydro for a long time and never had any use for silica products. It's only when I started growing herb that silica came into play. So I'm also not really convinced that plant's do actually need silica. But, and that was my thinking back then. If it doesn't harm the plants and everybody is raving about it, then it must do something...maybe not discovered yet? So, that's why I started using it.

* potassium water glass is the cheapest product which is made out of pure potassium silicate and water. It only costed me 7€ for one liter and I use it in three different concentrations. 1drop/3L in the veg phase, 1 drop/2L in late veg to early bloom and 1drop/L in the bloom phase. This means that in it's most concentrated form I can add it to 20.000L of nutrient solution before I need to buy another bottle

If your not Arty Zan, but have an opinion about this, please feel free to chime in


Regards,

Bob

What does silica do

 

[Bob's Auto's]

What does silica do

It's suppose to give the plants more rigidity and resistance against pests.

 

[wannagrowbuds]

This study is pretty clear that bio available silica makes a significant difference in every way. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6027496/

 

[logangrowgan2020]

whassup AFN squad?! thought about starting a new thread on this issue, but figured it would be worrth trying to revive this one.

silicate silicon silicone monosilicic acid orthosilicic acid potassium silicate......a lot of very different things that sound very similar! i got down this rabbit hole after noting the reported amazing results "exotic mike" aka "big stimmy" had when using "power si". this is the guy from exotic genetix and power si is a monosilicic acid product, on his podcast he was super gushing about it. my interest was particularly piqued because he mentioned it while plugging athena nutrients...athena sponsors the pod so of course hes plugging them. but hes like "since i started athena...yadda yadda...but that POWER SI was AMAZING...im talking ARMS out the net not baby arms but full grown man arms....yadda yadda". i'm like damn - athena doesn't even make power si so anyway...


supplemental internet digging shows that bio-available silicon is a huge boost for basically all
plants. they get tougher, stronger, more resilient, can handle more nutrients....list goes on. seems like it helps plants handle supplemental UV/IR/Far Red lights also. a lot of "si" products use potassium silicate which is super cheap but presents two issues:

sends PH sideways/doesnt mix well
isn't very bio-available


I'm pretty sold on trying one of the monosilicic/orthosilicic acid products. This list isn't complete, but best I can tell these products all exist in the same family:

cannabis consumer products:
power si by power si
von liebig special by dutch pro
solar power by buddhas tree
regulator by aptus
alchemist stout msa by hawthorne


mega agricultural products (looks like bulk sales for farms and stuff):
grow genius
cropsil


any results to report? these products are EXPENSIVE so I'd like a rec if possible. tagging a few people who may have tried:

@Vapo
@Bob's Auto's
@arty zan


ideally this would be a simple dropper/syringe in with my DWC feeds but open to trying foilar spray technique as well. thanks for your time!

 

[Bob's Auto's]

This year I'm completely on the organic route with BioTabs, but before I always used potassium silicate. You are correct that it's a mess to adjust your pH, which has to be done two times over a 24h period. But it works perfectly after and is dirt cheap.

 

[Shugrows]

Is it true rice hulls add silica? Thats what I herd so I started putting it in all my soil. Organic and also adds to the drainage

 

[logangrowgan2020]

Is it true rice hulls add silica? Thats what I herd so I started putting it in all my soil. Organic and also adds to the drainage

Yep, pretty sure that rice hulls process down to silica eventually. outside of the cannabis silica research there was a ton of stuff on regular agriculture.....how amending soil to add silica helps crop resilience and all kinda stuff like that. daggon if i had it to do all over again it would be hard to not choose botany - fascinating stuff! im more into the hydro scifi over the organic dirt and poop stuff personally, but its all so interesting.

 

[Vapo]

whassup AFN squad?! thought about starting a new thread on this issue, but figured it would be worrth trying to revive this one.

silicate silicon silicone monosilicic acid orthosilicic acid potassium silicate......a lot of very different things that sound very similar! i got down this rabbit hole after noting the reported amazing results "exotic mike" aka "big stimmy" had when using "power si". this is the guy from exotic genetix and power si is a monosilicic acid product, on his podcast he was super gushing about it. my interest was particularly piqued because he mentioned it while plugging athena nutrients...athena sponsors the pod so of course hes plugging them. but hes like "since i started athena...yadda yadda...but that POWER SI was AMAZING...im talking ARMS out the net not baby arms but full grown man arms....yadda yadda". i'm like damn - athena doesn't even make power si so anyway...


supplemental internet digging shows that bio-available silicon is a huge boost for basically all
plants. they get tougher, stronger, more resilient, can handle more nutrients....list goes on. seems like it helps plants handle supplemental UV/IR/Far Red lights also. a lot of "si" products use potassium silicate which is super cheap but presents two issues:

sends PH sideways/doesnt mix well
isn't very bio-available


I'm pretty sold on trying one of the monosilicic/orthosilicic acid products. This list isn't complete, but best I can tell these products all exist in the same family:

cannabis consumer products:
power si by power si
von liebig special by dutch pro
solar power by buddhas tree
regulator by aptus
alchemist stout msa by hawthorne


mega agricultural products (looks like bulk sales for farms and stuff):
grow genius
cropsil


any results to report? these products are EXPENSIVE so I'd like a rec if possible. tagging a few people who may have tried:

@Vapo
@Bob's Auto's
@arty zan


ideally this would be a simple dropper/syringe in with my DWC feeds but open to trying foilar spray technique as well. thanks for your time!

I did look into this myself not too long ago and after a bit of digging and info posted by learned friends dude, I decided to try it.....then looked at the price of the right one for me(DP Von Liebigs!)and decided against it as the cost was too high!!...let me know how you get on when you decide dude!!

 

[>Potato]

Can't you just mix Diatomaceous earth into the mix it's readily available silicone and dirt (pun intended) cheap