i use it throughout flower and veg at 1/4 dosage every watering or three, it works for me and the taste isnt harsh.
theres an old grow method by a guy uncle ben but the pics arent working on this site now for some reason ( really pisses me off!)
if you didnt want to use a scrog setup, you could do bens 2 or 4 top cola method. when you do the 4 top method, you end up with 4 medium sized cola instead of gigantic one. on top of this they are all equally growing, and when they put on weight they naturally fall away from eachother. if they got too big alls it would need is to tie each of the 4 colas (as late as possible in the grow) and suspend them from the ceiling. anything growing off those four stalks should support itself and is unlikely that they would even need support. if anything they'd need to be tied down
obv im talking about next time. but what id do there is yeah just get some string and tie the ones your worried about to the ceiling
in hydro it says to add it to a gallon of water then add it after the nutes go in because it rises ur PH. It can also replace PH up and my silica adds some potassium too. i havent used silica in hydro but maybe thats something that happens is people dont add it right and it fks up their plant
imo your plant is a great height for that growth, you done it good, next time if you dont veg as long your gonna get less crop, so its good you did it so you learn more about managing a beast!
nice job dude!