Colloidal Silver

Had my first attempt at making my own colloidal silver today.
12v DC, a cup of distilled water, for eight hours. 999 silver.
Mine turned black, rather than the purple or white I had read to expect.
Is this normal?
The only thing I can think (now I'm posting) is that I should of cleaned the silver with alcohol first. Not that it was visually dirty, but some silver oxide must have been present as it was a couple of "off cuts" taken from my jewellery bench...

Have I just answered my own question?

i think you answered for yourself but i have no experience in this. so i am posting to sub up to hear what others will say.

No idea but interested. I would like to try it sometime but only have 925 so unsure. Did you use distilled water and keep the contacts out of it? Did you strain it (coffee filter?)

Yup, I used distilled water, kept the contacts out.
I haven't strain it though, I didn't realize I had to...

(Edit) I just filtered it, and came out a light yellow leaving the black residue behind...

to make the highest quality colloidal silver (for internal use), you want to use a current limiting diode that restricts the current to about .25 to .35 mA at around 25-30 volts. Colloidal silver made this way will be still clear colored after 24 hours of cooking, and as potent as it needs to be for most purposes at around 10 - 15 ppm.

Using 12 v without current limiting diode will result in a VERY high concentration of colloids with a larger particle size. yellow is usually the 1st color you see, this stuff is very potent. Let it keep going and it takes on a reddish color. That stuff is extremely potent with even larger particles of silver. I have never seen it after reddish color.

With no current limiting diode it shouldn't take longer than 10 minutes to get a yellowish tinge to the colloidal silver.

Thanks pmumbry...so I'm good to go with my yellow solution?

sworth said:

Yup, I used distilled water, kept the contacts out.
I haven't strain it though, I didn't realize I had to...

(Edit) I just filtered it, and came out a light yellow leaving the black residue behind...

Click to expand...

that stuff should be perfect for what i assume you are using it for (making a female hermie)... but i would not use it internally.

That's exactly what I want it for; female seeds.
Thanks for the information!

you are most welcome

sworth said:

Had my first attempt at making my own colloidal silver today.
12v DC, a cup of distilled water, for eight hours. 999 silver.
Mine turned black, rather than the purple or white I had read to expect.
Is this normal?
The only thing I can think (now I'm posting) is that I should of cleaned the silver with alcohol first. Not that it was visually dirty, but some silver oxide must have been present as it was a couple of "off cuts" taken from my jewellery bench...

Have I just answered my own question?

Click to expand...

Hey sworth!
I've been making my own for almost 2 years now.
Did you measure your EC? Just curious as to how stout it is w/12v after 8 hrs.
I'm doing some with 18v and usually run it at least 24 hours to get close to 30ppm.
It eats up about 2" of bezel to make 16oz though. I've messed up a lot of perfectly good material but it's well worth it.
Good luck with your project

btw if you do it in the dark it should come out clear for you.

Yup, ec was measured @ 0.03
I thought I'd messed it up because I had my ppm/ec confused , so was looking for 0.12 ec der! lol
But anyway, job done, and I'm very excited with my seed project; kick off today!! Gonna start a little grow journal.

View attachment 2379516

I thought the aim was more for an ec of 0.5? Also. will larger particle sizes be absorbed by the stomata?

I don't know to be honest. Here is where I got my info;

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Marijuana_Cultivation/Producing_Seeds#Colloidal_Silver_.28CS.29

says a ppm of 12-15, which Ec. is about ....ah shit...I'm confused now...

View attachment 2379636

cues said:

I thought the aim was more for an ec of 0.5? Also. will larger particle sizes be absorbed by the stomata?

Click to expand...

I don't know about that, cues. 15-30 ppm has always worked for me without stressing the plant unduly.
Maybe a stronger solution would work faster but I am waiting for the fem to be ready anyway....no hurry
I don't know anything about particle sizes, and there's really no need to get all scientific about it. I just know it works.

pmumbry said:

that stuff should be perfect for what i assume you are using it for (making a female hermie)... but i would not use it internally.

Click to expand...

http://www.buycolloidalsilver.ca/

I bought this one and I am planning on using more than half internally, see what it does to me hehe...

I am planning on using the rest on my ladies, is 10ppm enough?

I have made it work with 15-17ppm (hanna). I haven't tried lower. Some varieties are easier to flip than others so maybe it will work. About 30ppm is best for me. Doesn't seem to stress them too much and usually gets viable pollen in 3 weeks.

Here's the thread that got me started making my own female seeds. https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/387589-producing-feminised-seeds-using-colloidal.html It's so simple to make those $10-$15 seeds.

The solution of colloidal silver doesn't need to have a high ppm to work, mine is still clear when I unplug the system after 4 hours (18V 3.5A .9999 pure silver rod 1L distilled water), I spray every day for 10 days & it work all the time, to the point I'm starting to have a huge collection. My best recommendation: don't spray the whole plant, only one branch will yield more pollen you'll ever need as 2-3 pollen flowers are enough to pollinate a plant

A couple of weeks later and I have finished spraying my branch. I sprayed one branch for 4 days of veg and 14 days of flower, just waiting on those flowers now...I'll upload a pic later when my 800w sunrises...
Anyone know if I can store my colloidal silver, or do I have to make a fresh batch for my next session?

sworth said:

A couple of weeks later and I have finished spraying my branch. I sprayed one branch for 4 days of veg and 14 days of flower, just waiting on those flowers now...I'll upload a pic later when my 800w sunrises...
Anyone know if I can store my colloidal silver, or do I have to make a fresh batch for my next session?

Click to expand...

store colloidial silver in a glass container, mason jar works well, don't let the liquid be in constant contact with the metal lid though. fill it like 3/4 of the way. you will want to place the container(s) in a dark place, light reacts with silver. it will keep for years this way. avoid using metal or plastic containers, glass only, and make sure they are cleaned and then rinsed with distilled water.

an even better container are those brown glass bottles, those filter any light coming through so there is less reaction with the silver if it does come into the light for some reason.