Which nutes

[MadJohn]

I agree. The sales talk bothers me. But i like the lower ph and ability to mix at any point and not need to mix first. I am looking to see if any other companies offer a comparable product. If i can find, it will probably be half the price of the buddah which is exceptionally expensive.

By the looks of it mass production of stable colloidal silicon is a relatively new process.

There's a really nice write about it.

I couldn't find any other product using it.

It's one of the many monosililicates that you can buy. I couldn't find information about what PH they are but it seems to imply even more ready absorption in plants.

Having read into this in some detail this morning I think I am going to change my Silicon after this grow or maybe the next. I can't say I've had a bad outcome with this but it's clear there's better options - regardless of the PH.

Great chat. I have another wrinkle.

MJ

[CityDweller]

By the looks of it mass production of stable colloidal silicon is a relatively new process.

There's a really nice write about it.

I couldn't find any other product using it.

I did find this thoug

It's one of the many monosililicates that you can buy. I couldn't find information about what PH they are but it seems to imply even more ready absorption in plants.

Having read into this in some detail this morning I think I am going to change my Silicon after this grow or maybe the next. I can't say I've had a bad outcome with this but it's clear there's better options - regardless of the PH.

Great chat. I have another wrinkle.

MJ

More great info. Thanks MJ. What was the name of the product you found? The link was removed due to forum policy but you can give the name and i can find it myself.

[MadJohn]

More great info. Thanks MJ. What was the name of the product you found? The link was removed due to forum policy but you can give the name and i can find it myself.

Jesus no links to external sites? What are we back in 2005? It doesn't even elegantly strip out the link either making it look like I type like I'm using my nose...

*mutter*

First one do a search on "Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) in sustainable agriculture: major emphasis on the practicality, efficacy and concerns" which is an article from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The second one do a search for Rapid SI+. It's seemingly one of many though but was the first I stumbled across when I was researching.

Any issues with those get back to me.

Thanks

MJ

[CityDweller]

Jesus no links to external sites? What are we back in 2005? It doesn't even elegantly strip out the link either making it look like I type like I'm using my nose...

*mutter*

First one do a search on "Silicon nanoparticles (SiNPs) in sustainable agriculture: major emphasis on the practicality, efficacy and concerns" which is an article from the Royal Society of Chemistry.

The second one do a search for Rapid SI+. It's seemingly one of many though but was the first I stumbled across when I was researching.

Any issues with those get back to me.

Thanks

MJ

Thanks MJ!

[Bethmeg]

But.... i have seen visible improvement to my plants when i started adding silica. I use Botanicare which is sodium silicate and potassium silicate. Definitely a PH up product. The Buddhas Tree makes it sound like the Botanicare should not be helping.

You will see visible improvement using silicon if you did not use it before,no matter the brand.They are not saying that others are not helpful,just that their product is better (But don’t all nutrient company’s say that lol)

I'm seeing it online for $90 us for a liter bottle. Tempted to try it and see if there is any difference but my next grow is supposed to be water only.

Wow that’s steep.You can get a litre here online for £36 at the mo.
Years ago the dose was just 0.25ml per litre.I’ve only just realised it’s now 0.5ml per litre.
I’ve been underdosing for a while now.Glad this thread popped up lol

[Bethmeg]

Hi,

Look I appreciate you're vastly more experienced than me and have vastly more grows than I do so it's hard for anyone to take me seriously but I never let that get in my way! As some of my posts may show, I'm not very good at just accepting "trust me bro" posts even from really experienced people because sometimes the evidence doesn't support it any more (if it ever really did). Please don't take offence if I come across as argumentative as I don't mean to, I'm just learning and questioning. I really do appreciate experienced people like yourself giving their time and knowledge to help.

As for your response, thanks for the info but I had read that a few times. I've highlighted the relevant bit in what you posted as they clearly state it's weakly alkaline (defined scientifically as being between 8-11PH) . It's also stated that this exact product has a PH of 9-10 in the MSDS Material Safety Data Sheet - Solar Green Power.

Now this is absolutely less than potassium silicate (just measured my bottle here and it has a PH of 11.4) and PH being a logarithmic scale means the difference between 9 and 11 is pretty large (100 times no less!) so its effect is going to be considerably less. I could probably do the calculations and work out exactly how much the PH would increase but it's not really the point.

What this suggests is that you're practically right if not technically right

This will definitely have an effect of raising the PH of the target liquid no getting around it as the PH of the colloidal silicon will be 9-10. However as the concentration of silicon is higher you need less of it a litre (0.5ml/l) compared to a more normal potassium based silicon (typically 1ml/l) and the PH is less to begin with (11 > 9 best case) the amount it's actually raised by will be considerably less and who knows may not even be detectable with only 0.1 PH increments.

Now I know it's pedantic as hell to have someone like me come and pick things apart to this level but I always feel it's better that things are explained on good scientific footing. The implication that it has no effect on PH is wrong and might give someone the completely wrong impression about silicate solutions in general. They will all affect PH.

Here's some follow on questions though.

• From what I read, colloidal silicate will start to form large chains below a PH of 7 so does that have any implications when using it in hydro where it's going to be in an acidic solution for a longer time?
• If you don't have Silicon as a fallback non-EC affecting PH UP what do you use instead? (admittedly I only ever need it when I put an extra drop of PH Down in but still)

Again thank you so much for your input.

MJ

Hi John

I’m a personal grower of weed not a scientist,so I couldn’t possibly give a scientific explanation.


But you got me running around on a Saturday night to do a test,just so I know for sure.
Now the funny thing is before I did this test,I realised I’ve actually been underdosing for a while.
Solar green power dosage used to be 0.25ml per litre and this is the dosage I have been using up until present day.
So obviously before I did the test I was a little nervous.

Anyways pen calibrated to 7.Fresh One litre Jug of tap water with a starting ph of 7.3
Added 0.5ml of SGP Final PH 7.3.
Did this 3 times second one 7.3 third one 7.2 Get that eh?
Tested third one again after half an hour now reading 7.3
Now I can go to the trouble of uploading a YouTube video if you wish as that’s all I can really do to show I’m right.


So like I said Solar green power doesn’t alter PH.Unless you want to argue that it’s moving 5.81,5.82,5.83 etc then that would be pedant as that’s not really relevant to me,and a little unfair being as my ph pen only shows the 2 digits. As long as my ph is between 5.8 and 6 then it matters not no?

The point to me chiming in about the product in the first place was just to give advice about a more stable silicon product.
The mass majority majorly affect PH to a great extent SGP does not.
I often see people complain about having to use masses of ph down on the forum when using silicon,whenever I see them,I tell them about SGP.


To answer your questions

I use a flood and drain system with a 200 litre res.The pots flood and then return back to res.So I have no waste reusing the nutes over and over till the res gets low then fill and repeat.I rarely have to adjust ph once it’s set.
Start at 5.8 and by the time it’s low it’s no higher than 6.2/3
With other potassium based silicons I’ve used in the past it would take a lot of ph down to get a workable ph.I would then get the problem of ph crashes in my res which caused no end of problems so I didn’t use silicon for a while as it was too much hassle.
Hydro shop put me onto SGP and I’ve used it since with no problems.

If I need to ph up (which is very rare) I use PH up.

Hope this has settled ya mind somewhat.

[IceCalibur]

Hi John

I’m a personal grower of weed not a scientist,so I couldn’t possibly give a scientific explanation.


But you got me running around on a Saturday night to do a test,just so I know for sure.
Now the funny thing is before I did this test,I realised I’ve actually been underdosing for a while.
Solar green power dosage used to be 0.25ml per litre and this is the dosage I have been using up until present day.
So obviously before I did the test I was a little nervous.

Anyways pen calibrated to 7.Fresh One litre Jug of tap water with a starting ph of 7.3
Added 0.5ml of SGP Final PH 7.3.
Did this 3 times second one 7.3 third one 7.2 Get that eh?
Tested third one again after half an hour now reading 7.3
Now I can go to the trouble of uploading a YouTube video if you wish as that’s all I can really do to show I’m right.


So like I said Solar green power doesn’t alter PH.Unless you want to argue that it’s moving 5.81,5.82,5.83 etc then that would be pedant as that’s not really relevant to me,and a little unfair being as my ph pen only shows the 2 digits. As long as my ph is between 5.8 and 6 then it matters not no?

The point to me chiming in about the product in the first place was just to give advice about a more stable silicon product.
The mass majority majorly affect PH to a great extent SGP does not.
I often see people complain about having to use masses of ph down on the forum when using silicon,whenever I see them,I tell them about SGP.


To answer your questions

I use a flood and drain system with a 200 litre res.The pots flood and then return back to res.So I have no waste reusing the nutes over and over till the res gets low then fill and repeat.I rarely have to adjust ph once it’s set.
Start at 5.8 and by the time it’s low it’s no higher than 6.2/3
With other potassium based silicons I’ve used in the past it would take a lot of ph down to get a workable ph.I would then get the problem of ph crashes in my res which caused no end of problems so I didn’t use silicon for a while as it was too much hassle.
Hydro shop put me onto SGP and I’ve used it since with no problems.

If I need to ph up (which is very rare) I use PH up.

Hope this has settled ya mind somewhat.

Whenever I've used solar green power, I've never had it shift my PH, which is actually why I started using it in the first place, as I had heard that it didn't

[Bethmeg]

Whenever I've used solar green power, I've never had it shift my PH, which is actually why I started using it in the first place, as I had heard that it didn't

Im just here to share the love with the things I’ve picked up over the years.
Even if John thinks I’m wrong he has learned there are “better options” so today is a good day

[Sun&Soil]

This thread made my head hurt. I'm glad there are so many different ways to grow and I found the "better option" for myself. Biology was always an easier subject for me then chemistry. I can appreciate the growers and the processes of science grows, but sitting back and witnessing momma nature working her magic is more my speed.

MJ hope you a nice green grow full of plump kind.