Armor Si

[Axion42]

So I've been doing some reading about adding silica to my nute line. Currently growing in a rdwc waterfall setup and I've read you should add your silica first and let it throughtly mix in your water before adding other nutrients. Im using Canna aqua nutes. How do you do that when you have 30 gallons of nutrient solution already mixed and pumping thru your plants during a grow?

 

[Maine207Medical]

Silica is important and I use Armor Si as well. I always add it first when mixing up a batch of nutes. You'll want to add it to the reservoir first before adding anything else to the water.

 

[Axion42]

Silica is important and I use Armor Si as well. I always add it first when mixing up a batch of nutes. You'll want to add it to the reservoir first before adding anything else to the water.

Problem for me is I dont usually change my res until I'm switching to bloom nutes, or if my plants are telling me they need a change. Would the silica benefit to only add once at the beginning of veg and once again later on when I switch to bloom nutes, or does it need to be added thought veg/bloom just like base nutes?

 

[Renfro]

If you add the silica to some topoff water first and then add it you can probably get away with that.

 

[Renfro]

Using silica in bloom is good for yield so use it through till finish.

 

[Renfro]

If your reservoir is topped off with a float, turn that off for a while and let it get like 5 gallons low and have that 5 gallons in a bucket, add the Armor Si and mix then add that to the reservoir and turn the float valve back on.

 

[Axion42]

If your reservoir is topped off with a float, turn that off for a while and let it get like 5 gallons low and have that 5 gallons in a bucket, add the Armor Si and mix then add that to the reservoir and turn the float valve back on.

It is on a float but I can easily do that. How often should I have to add the silica? Right now to keep my ppms around 800 I refresh base nutes about once a week.

 

[Renfro]

I refresh base nutes about once a week.

What do you mean by refresh?

If you empty the reservoir and put in fresh nutes then add silica first then. If you are just doing addbacks to maintain PPM then I wouldn't really worry about it. Put in 2mL per gallon to start and call it done. Thats what I do in my flood and drain and I run that reservoir for the full flowering cycle.

 

[Renfro]

Just set you an alarm so you don't forget that turned off float! lol And don't forget to turn it back on.

 

[Axion42]

What do you mean by refresh?

If you empty the reservoir and put in fresh nutes then add silica first then. If you are just doing addbacks to maintain PPM then I wouldn't really worry about it. Put in 2mL per gallon to start and call it done. Thats what I do in my flood and drain and I run that reservoir for the full flowering cycle.

That's what I meant by refresh, addbacks to maintain PPM. Thanks for your input Renfro.

 

[viridi]

It says to put armor si in water 1st and add before nutes. Just put some water in a cup then added armor si then added my nutes to cup. It looks really cloudy like chocolate milk. Is it safe to add to res now. Hydro flood and drain

 

[Renfro]

Armor Si can be problematic. Typically it's added first, then calmag, micro, grow, bloom... With RO water that works. I found that if use tap water the Si will cause precipitation if I add it first, the precip happens when the grow is added. I ditch the Si when using tap water or just add a little last as a pH up buffer if required.

If you get cloudy let it sit and settle, that shit that settled out was nutrients and now it's not available for the plant.

If you get precip / cloudy then just ditch the Si or find a way you can add it without any precip.

 

[viridi]

Armor Si can be problematic. Typically it's added first, then calmag, micro, grow, bloom... With RO water that works. I found that if use tap water the Si will cause precipitation if I add it first, the precip happens when the grow is added. I ditch the Si when using tap water or just add a little last as a pH up buffer if required.

If you get cloudy let it sit and settle, that shit that settled out was nutrients and now it's not available for the plant.

If you get precip / cloudy then just ditch the Si or find a way you can add it without any precip.

Maybe it became cloudy because I mixed it with a bottle water and it has calcium in it. My res water is spring water and it probably has calcium in it too. Very frustrating

 

[Renfro]

Maybe it became cloudy because I mixed it with a bottle water and it has calcium in it.

Agreed. The Armor Si is sometimes more of a hassle than it's worth lol.

If you want to use it and you have RO water then just add it first to the full volume of water (not a concentrate). Get it mixed in well before adding other nutes in their proper order.

So if you have a 30 gallon system capacity and you want to run 2 mL per gallon, you add the 60 mL of Armor Si to the full 30 gallons.

If you are using tap water then it can be more of a problem than it's worth. When I switched from RO to tap I just ditched it basically, I grew hydro for 25 years just fine without it, just base nutes and calmag and I really noticed no benefit from using it.

 

[XtraGood]

I had heard foliar spraying silicate in the first week(s) of flower will reduce stretch?

 

[PadawanWarrior]

I had heard foliar spraying silicate in the first week(s) of flower will reduce stretch?

Sounds like Broscience, but I could be wrong.

 

[XtraGood]

Sounds like Broscience, but I could be wrong.

I don't know either way myself, was looking for more opinions/info

 

[manfredo]

So I've been doing some reading about adding silica to my nute line. Currently growing in a rdwc waterfall setup and I've read you should add your silica first and let it throughtly mix in your water before adding other nutrients. Im using Canna aqua nutes. How do you do that when you have 30 gallons of nutrient solution already mixed and pumping thru your plants during a grow?

I love Armor Si and it's part of my IPM, along with Regalia and Venerate. I've recently been playing with a 100 liter aero setup and had this same issue/concern, because I don't change my water every week, but about every 3 weeks. So they have only been getting armor si when I do a res change. I've been afraid to add it as a "top off", but I like the idea of letting the res get 5 gallons low and adding it diluted that way. Maybe I'll try that like 1 week before a res change and see if there are any negative signs of lockout, etc.