Rice hulls are used in pyrotechnics to coat black powder onto. Tests were done to evaluate rice hull charcoal for use in the black powder itself, as an ingredient. It performed poorly compared to over 20 other types, and it was said to be due to the very high silica content of the grasses. Bamboo is the same thing. When I cut it with a power saw, it made sparks. I wonder if these types of plants have special abilities to solubilize the silica they need? Just curious. I bet Dr. Bruce Bugbee would know :)
Fire!!! Perfect timing I swear as soon as I ordered my pro line 1 gal kit the Dr Bruce podcast came out and now these to get that fat knowledge dump and absolutely kill it on this harvest! So pumped! Appreciate you guys
So would we mix the silica in a smaller batch of water to take it to 11 PH then bring it back down and add that to our main reservoir without having to change the entire res PH
Once again Bruce, you have not brought me down but have lifted me up. Ty for the advise on raising the solution to 11 when adding the potassium silicate in order to make it soluble to the plants. Simply Brilliant
I'd be interested to hear Bruce discuss the differences between Potassium silicate and Silicon Dioxide nanoparticles. The later is meant to be a lit more soluble.
The most soluble form of Silicate for plants is called MonoSilicic Acid (Si(OH)4) I have a (PHD in Phytochemistry). Also suits great with acidic loving Cultivars.
Great information here - lots of misinformation online about this topic. Am I correct in assuming there is no need to adjust my water pH from 8.5 to add just 20 ppm of Potassium Silicate? The way I understand it, to mix a larger amount of Potassium Silicate in solution you would need to first put the pH to 11, but just 20 ppm, the amount recommended in the video, is fine to mix at a pH of anywhere from 6 to 11.
I understand both the powdered and liquid forms of potassium silicate have a pH11. They both need buffering. And they are both soluble in water. It's the silica that needs the alkalinity to dissolve. Calcium silicate is the better choice in soils. Less worry of tipping the NPK balance. Imho✌️
just put your liquid p-silicate first in the reservoir, then lower ph smaller 7.0 and then add nutes and finally adjust ph to 5.8. with this procedure you are fine. the doc talks of p-silicate in it's pure form, therefore he mentions low solubility at low ph. p-silicate in bottles is dissolved at ph11.3, this is your stsrting point. he did not clarify this aspect very well..
So since I’m running Athena in rock wool and Athena wants me to adjust ph to 5.5 do I take it up to 6 when running potassium silicate and then adjust back down after day 21? Or do I keep feeding at 5.5 and keep the substrate around 6-6.5?
i´ve heard that rice hulls can contain high amount of arsenic, becauso its capapble of suck it out of the media without getting damage from it. Does anybody know more about this topic?
3:23 professor, how stable is it once you’ve dropped it down to 6PH & how long will it stay there or will it fluctuate after being stored for a month for example?
That video was years ago, in more recent videos/years he has stated that Vermiculite did not release the Si at an effective enough of a rate to justify using it due to cost and now recommends perlite instead and supplementing Si through other means (Wollastonite, rice hulls etc). That's the great thing about science, you review the data and adjust your practices based on your observations/new information.
@@PerpetualRetrospect Thanks for clarification with vermiculite Si availability, I've missed that. I've almost started to worship vermiculite haha. However the reason why he recommended vermiculite (peat:vermiculite 50:50 which he called top notch medium for hydro cannabis) wasn't beacause of Si (he called it just a bonus) but based on years of medium studies. He said vermiculite has exceptional water storage and CEC capabilites. You can't substitute that with perlite, that's completely different medium. Perlite will make your medium dry faster. Vermiculite will keep water and nutrients easily available for a long time plus it areates medium too because of it's coarse structure.
We appreciate your work, Ive been using Power SI (original formula) in Veg. My PH is always between 6 & 6.5. Should I mix the Power Si in a 5 gallon bucket with 12PH water then pour into 30 gal res. and adjust mixed res down to 6? are the rice hulls better and Easy to use in Coco? I’ve never really noticed a difference using the Si Maybe this explains why. Thanks
Ime it only makes an apparent difference in certain media with otherwise basically no Si availability at all. In most cases it's effect aren't very noticeable as it's merely an increase in availability, not a jump from none at all to ideal levels. And how do you notice a certain increase in overall resistance to fungi, bacteria and pests without tightly monitored control group after all? But it's basically for free and studies show a definitive effect, so it should be standard. Also don't buy that ridiculously overpriced hydro nutrient supplement crap water. Just buy regular old potassium silicate/potassium waterglas, it'll do. Same thing, just less watered-down and cheap as dirt per m³ of nutrient solution at 25ppm Si - but comes without the fancy marketing and labels. Edit: Oh, and yeah. I always mix the waterglas into a bucket of straight RO/DI water with no buffering capacity (and a few drops of potassium/sodium hydroxide solution to make it alkaline if you want to be extra sure) before giving it into the rest of the RO water for the nutrient solution before adding nutrients and buffer. Works just fine and without anything to buffer I'm pretty sure it gets its ph to were it needs to be by itself. After all it's already very alkaline and already in solution in the first place. But if you're anxious you can drop in a tiny bit of lye to drop the ph, potassium or sodium won't matter much at those low levels.
@@coquicrops Which is an inferior form to purchase after all, due to the necessity to keep Si concentrations very very low - ie you buy overpriced water with a pinch Si. If used properly (meaning first diluted in water at suitable concentration and suitable ph, then massively diluted again into the remaining clean water, then add diluted nutrients, Ca/Mg containing should supposedly be last but I doubt if there's any difference at that point.) you get monosilicic acid in solution from good old potassium silicate just as well as with overpriced nonsense products. They might be more convenient, but that's about all there is. There's no real benefit in plant availability whatsoever. If you f'k it up, right, you'll end up with polymeric silicates or precipitate. If you do it right though potassium silicate is the superior choice for multiple reasons.
I am not growing Cannibis but leafy greens and herbs. We are seeing PM allover our Romaine, no matter what we do. I have Si over 60PPM and it got worse...any help?
We recommend using our product IPM as a foliar at 50 mL's per gallon of water to treat PM. You can also use our cleanse product as a foliar spray at 375 mL's per gallon of water.
Iv done 150g it pushs the ph up slightly about .3 of a point in the runoff. at 500grams you get large ph swing which can be problematic about 1.2 points. This would push your media runoff up to about 7 if your coco was starting at 5.8.
Yes but you have to spray with it. Same concentration 20-30ppm. I've seen studies that shows it's the best. You only need 3 applications during vegetative period. The problem with these products is that manufacturers say something like 1ml per 10L to irrigation which is nonsense.
@cookinsdabest silica is a micronutrient in bones, like super micro, there's only 17ppm silica in human bones. There's less than 1 gram of silica total in a human body and most isnt in your bones. You do not need to take a silica supplement to strengthen your bones.
I was wondering if anyone can help me with this I was told that you should reduce the amount of water at the end to increase the amount of resin and THC
The last two weeks of the plants life, we use planned stresses such as heavy P3 dry backs (overnight dry backs) to get the plant to produce more trichomes, cannabinoid's, and terpene's as a defense mechanism. Here's a link to our handbook where you can find our "Pro Irrigation Strategy" that goes into detail regarding this "Generative Steer".
![Chino Pacas - Smith (ft. Junior H & Fuerza Regida) [Video Visualizador Oficial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/BVK6k56X30Y/mqdefault.jpg)
Potassium Silicate is so badass, IT GOES TO 11 !!! 🤘
Rice hulls are used in pyrotechnics to coat black powder onto. Tests were done to evaluate rice hull charcoal for use in the black powder itself, as an ingredient. It performed poorly compared to over 20 other types, and it was said to be due to the very high silica content of the grasses. Bamboo is the same thing. When I cut it with a power saw, it made sparks. I wonder if these types of plants have special abilities to solubilize the silica they need? Just curious. I bet Dr. Bruce Bugbee would know :)
No talking
Indeed, bamboo being one of, if not the highest holder of organic silica.
More on this topic please.
Fire!!! Perfect timing I swear as soon as I ordered my pro line 1 gal kit the Dr Bruce podcast came out and now these to get that fat knowledge dump and absolutely kill it on this harvest! So pumped! Appreciate you guys
Let us know if you have any questions or concerns!
What’s the podcast called?
Thank you Professor! I have learned so much from you.
So would we mix the silica in a smaller batch of water to take it to 11 PH then bring it back down and add that to our main reservoir without having to change the entire res PH
Thank you Athena Nutrients!
Brilliantly done. Thank you again Athena!
Always dropping knowledge, thank you guys
Once again Bruce, you have not brought me down but have lifted me up. Ty for the advise on raising the solution to 11 when adding the potassium silicate in order to make it soluble to the plants. Simply Brilliant
So increase the water to pH 11 than add the silicate?
@Matt-xn5wj just after the 3 min mark Bruce explains.
I'd be interested to hear Bruce discuss the differences between Potassium silicate and Silicon Dioxide nanoparticles. The later is meant to be a lit more soluble.
The most soluble form of Silicate for plants is called MonoSilicic Acid (Si(OH)4) I have a (PHD in Phytochemistry).
Also suits great with acidic loving Cultivars.
How much mg/l silicate is needed for cannabis?
What about diatomaceous earth?
How about diatomaceous earth? Would that be an effective soil ammendment for silica?
New drop let's go
Love the song love the info tnx
Yes i use silica…very good additive
thanks
Great information here - lots of misinformation online about this topic.
Am I correct in assuming there is no need to adjust my water pH from 8.5 to add just 20 ppm of Potassium Silicate?
The way I understand it, to mix a larger amount of Potassium Silicate in solution you would need to first put the pH to 11, but just 20 ppm, the amount recommended in the video, is fine to mix at a pH of anywhere from 6 to 11.
I understand both the powdered and liquid forms of potassium silicate have a pH11. They both need buffering. And they are both soluble in water. It's the silica that needs the alkalinity to dissolve. Calcium silicate is the better choice in soils. Less worry of tipping the NPK balance. Imho✌️
just put your liquid p-silicate first in the reservoir, then lower ph smaller 7.0 and then add nutes and finally adjust ph to 5.8. with this procedure you are fine. the doc talks of p-silicate in it's pure form, therefore he mentions low solubility at low ph. p-silicate in bottles is dissolved at ph11.3, this is your stsrting point. he did not clarify this aspect very well..
if using tap water at around 9pH can I add Balance and it should bring it up to 11pH since it says to use as pH up?
Why don't you guys talk about mono/orthosilicic acid?
Like dune!
So since I’m running Athena in rock wool and Athena wants me to adjust ph to 5.5 do I take it up to 6 when running potassium silicate and then adjust back down after day 21? Or do I keep feeding at 5.5 and keep the substrate around 6-6.5?
We prefer 5.5-5.8 PH in Veg and 5.8-6.2 PH in flower.
Does Wollastonite steal phosphorus in solution as Ca & P combine to form hydroxyapetite?
i´ve heard that rice hulls can contain high amount of arsenic, becauso its capapble of suck it out of the media without getting damage from it. Does anybody know more about this topic?
3:23 professor, how stable is it once you’ve dropped it down to 6PH & how long will it stay there or will it fluctuate after being stored for a month for example?
uygulama esnasında pH düşürülecek.
What about vermiculite? You’ve previously said adding it to the medium at 50% thereof takes care of all the needs?
That video was years ago, in more recent videos/years he has stated that Vermiculite did not release the Si at an effective enough of a rate to justify using it due to cost and now recommends perlite instead and supplementing Si through other means (Wollastonite, rice hulls etc). That's the great thing about science, you review the data and adjust your practices based on your observations/new information.
@@PerpetualRetrospect Thanks for clarification with vermiculite Si availability, I've missed that. I've almost started to worship vermiculite haha. However the reason why he recommended vermiculite (peat:vermiculite 50:50 which he called top notch medium for hydro cannabis) wasn't beacause of Si (he called it just a bonus) but based on years of medium studies. He said vermiculite has exceptional water storage and CEC capabilites. You can't substitute that with perlite, that's completely different medium. Perlite will make your medium dry faster. Vermiculite will keep water and nutrients easily available for a long time plus it areates medium too because of it's coarse structure.
Before adding silica to water, do you need to increase the pH of the water to 11?
No, you do not.
We appreciate your work, Ive been using Power SI (original formula) in Veg. My PH is always between 6 & 6.5. Should I mix the Power Si in a 5 gallon bucket with 12PH water then pour into 30 gal res. and adjust mixed res down to 6? are the rice hulls better and Easy to use in Coco? I’ve never really noticed a difference using the Si Maybe this explains why. Thanks
I have also noticed no difference running silica versus not, plant genetics play the most important role in plant growth and structure.
Ime it only makes an apparent difference in certain media with otherwise basically no Si availability at all. In most cases it's effect aren't very noticeable as it's merely an increase in availability, not a jump from none at all to ideal levels.
And how do you notice a certain increase in overall resistance to fungi, bacteria and pests without tightly monitored control group after all?
But it's basically for free and studies show a definitive effect, so it should be standard.
Also don't buy that ridiculously overpriced hydro nutrient supplement crap water. Just buy regular old potassium silicate/potassium waterglas, it'll do.
Same thing, just less watered-down and cheap as dirt per m³ of nutrient solution at 25ppm Si - but comes without the fancy marketing and labels.
Edit:
Oh, and yeah. I always mix the waterglas into a bucket of straight RO/DI water with no buffering capacity (and a few drops of potassium/sodium hydroxide solution to make it alkaline if you want to be extra sure) before giving it into the rest of the RO water for the nutrient solution before adding nutrients and buffer. Works just fine and without anything to buffer I'm pretty sure it gets its ph to were it needs to be by itself. After all it's already very alkaline and already in solution in the first place.
But if you're anxious you can drop in a tiny bit of lye to drop the ph, potassium or sodium won't matter much at those low levels.
powersi = monosilicic acid = readily available
potassium silicate is a different form of silica
@@coquicrops good to know. Thanks
@@coquicrops
Which is an inferior form to purchase after all, due to the necessity to keep Si concentrations very very low - ie you buy overpriced water with a pinch Si.
If used properly (meaning first diluted in water at suitable concentration and suitable ph, then massively diluted again into the remaining clean water, then add diluted nutrients, Ca/Mg containing should supposedly be last but I doubt if there's any difference at that point.) you get monosilicic acid in solution from good old potassium silicate just as well as with overpriced nonsense products.
They might be more convenient, but that's about all there is. There's no real benefit in plant availability whatsoever.
If you f'k it up, right, you'll end up with polymeric silicates or precipitate. If you do it right though potassium silicate is the superior choice for multiple reasons.
Can we mix potassium silicate solution with compost and spread to field
Is phosphoric acid suitable for adjusting pH to 6?
I am not growing Cannibis but leafy greens and herbs. We are seeing PM allover our Romaine, no matter what we do. I have Si over 60PPM and it got worse...any help?
We recommend using our product IPM as a foliar at 50 mL's per gallon of water to treat PM. You can also use our cleanse product as a foliar spray at 375 mL's per gallon of water.
@@athenacultivation where can I find this? I found you site and can't find the products you listed
How much Wollastonite powder should be added to Coco? I think in another video 1g/L of medium was mentioned. Is that accurate?
Iv done 150g it pushs the ph up slightly about .3 of a point in the runoff. at 500grams you get large ph swing which can be problematic about 1.2 points. This would push your media runoff up to about 7 if your coco was starting at 5.8.
What about just using monosilicic acid? What are its pros and cons?
Monosilic Acid is great in aiding plants through heavy environmental stresses. You can use it as a foliar spray with Stack and IPM if you'd like.
Is that 20ppm of K2SiO4 or of elementary silica (20ppm * 0.165 = 3.3ppm)
Elementary.
wossup Bruce
WOLASTA WHAT??? Oh, Calcium Silicate !!!???!!! Oh you mean the stuff sold at ceramics stores....Perfect Thanks Brucie!
@@jakelooter5139 what is it sold for at ceramic stores?
Is it not true that potassium silicate converts to or creates mono silic acid when it is within a ph range of 6?
What about Silicon Dioxide (SiO2)?
Potassium silicate can be added to rain water instead of RO water.
Yes no problem.
Is monosilic acid better?
Monosilic acids are great to spray with. We do NOT recommend mixing Monosilic acids in the resi.
Yes but you have to spray with it. Same concentration 20-30ppm. I've seen studies that shows it's the best. You only need 3 applications during vegetative period. The problem with these products is that manufacturers say something like 1ml per 10L to irrigation which is nonsense.
@@athenacultivation What does it mean "the resi"?
What about humans? Is there a form of silica that can be absorbed to strengthen our bones?
Your bones don't use silica....... 🤦♂️
@@deleqtronica8733I'm pretty sure bones are a matrix of minerals like silica that are filled in by the calcium. Silica helps prevent osteoporosis.
@@deleqtronica8733 bones are a matrix of minerals like silica and calcium. Did you know calcium is actually a metal?
@cookinsdabest silica is a micronutrient in bones, like super micro, there's only 17ppm silica in human bones. There's less than 1 gram of silica total in a human body and most isnt in your bones. You do not need to take a silica supplement to strengthen your bones.
Lovin me some wollastonite my girls have got some thick ass stalks and stems!!!!!!! No PD problems and then some.
I was wondering if anyone can help me with this I was told that you should reduce the amount of water at the end to increase the amount of resin and THC
The last two weeks of the plants life, we use planned stresses such as heavy P3 dry backs (overnight dry backs) to get the plant to produce more trichomes, cannabinoid's, and terpene's as a defense mechanism. Here's a link to our handbook where you can find our "Pro Irrigation Strategy" that goes into detail regarding this "Generative Steer".
do not mistake with Power Si
Power SI is a Monosilic Acid, Blended Balance is a Potassium Silicate.
@@athenacultivation And which is better?
Ugggh OH,,,this video will NOT BE GOOD for Lost Coast sales....
nah this song wayyyy tooo trippy
What about mono silicic acid
Dr Bugbee said in other video that 1g/L is good for silica ... such is 500 times more than 20 ppm