Question about silica

Hey all.
I'm into my second week of flower in dwc and was reading about silica as an additive and how much benefit it can provide to the plants by strengthening the stem etc.

I'm off to my hydro store on the w/e to pick up some more boost and was thinking about picking some of this stuff up.

Is there any point adding it this late into the grow? Will there be any negative effects introducing it this late?

Any thoughts?
Cheers

I can't help ya my brethren, but wut I can say is, I LOVE that shit. Specifically "cyco silica". And I attend to use it up until week 5 or 6 in flower.

Yes it will help. One of the best improvements I have seen in my plants was when I started using it. I regularly get 6+ oz plants with no support needed.

smokegreenshlt said:

I can't help ya my brethren, but wut I can say is, I LOVE that shit. Specifically "cyco silica". And I attend to use it up until week 5 or 6 in flower.

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superstoner1 said:

Yes it will help. One of the best improvements I have seen in my plants was when I started using it. I regularly get 6+ oz plants with no support needed.

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Thanks guys, sounds from what I have read and what you guy's are saying that it's a good additive.

Awesome job getting 6+ ounces a plant. I am aiming for at least 4 per plant on my first dwc run.
Dwc has re invigorated my hobby and passion for this great plant of ours.

I found it raised my PH a ton. And then id use a lot of ph down and once the plant ate the nutrient my ph would drop a lot due to having all that ph down to offset the high ph the nutrient was giving.

I was using protekt at like 3ml/gal.

Maybe i was using it wrong. My ph never drops now that i stopped using it.

I put silica in my dwc.. at the start of a grow..usually I dint add any after that.... I dont change the res out.. soooooo.. should you add this weekly?.. if you would normally change the res at 14ish days.. would I add it to my soup then?.was curious.. thanks for any replies on that one

I use silica blast at 3ml per gallon every res change.

Buy Botanicaire Silica Blast, it won't mess with your PH, it is PH stable.

I always use silica in my hydro and aero grows. It does help alot with stalk and stem strengthening. I reccomend it. I never had any ph change from it. It should be added after nutes have been added and mixed. If you mix it direct into nutes it can seperate and bead up.

twistedwords said:

Buy Botanicaire Silica Blast, it won't mess with your PH, it is PH stable.

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Can't get botanicare in Australia unfortunately any other brands that you know of that won't make the ph bounce?

L2icho...Why cant you get it in Austrailia not internet there? Its used for house hold plants also and I know ebay will send there and I see it on the aussie ebay site as of today??

FilthyFletch said:

L2icho...Why cant you get it in Austrailia not internet there? Its used for house hold plants also and I know ebay will send there and I see it on the aussie ebay site as of today??

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Well botanicare don't distribute to Australia for some reason. Yeah it os available on ebay from America with $40 postage and 3 weeks on a ship. Really not worth it.

Found that with a few products you guys have in the states. Azamax is the same. Same with gnatrol.
Same with ona gel. Impossible to buy in Australia.

O well I have seen a heap of different brands I'll be able to get my hands on here.

The only reason for this is silica blast is less concentrated than its competitors. They all use potassium silicate to provide silicates.

I'm still skeptical of silicates. The people who use potassium silicate products notice stronger stems, but I think it's the added potassium that has the greatest affect on stem strength.

twistedwords said:

Buy Botanicaire Silica Blast, it won't mess with your PH, it is PH stable.

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Ok, so far I'm just reading that it is good for strengthening the stems and stalks. What about flower production, size, resin, potency, etc? I guess cause I scrog I would not need this product?

I'm in australia,i was told "bud link" is the best...apparently, according to the hydro shop scientist guy, silica for plants was first made in australia and had gone on too become recognized internationally...he said he laughs whenever he sees a nutrient product that claims too have added silica, as the two react and the silica drops out..there are a shit load of silica products in oz on the market..i don't know why your having trouble sourcing??

Please try and shop locally where possible...don't get caught up in the hype and marketing gimmicks...oi,oi,oi....p.s try the aussie growers thread for some closer to home advice

twistedwords said:

Buy Botanicaire Silica Blast, it won't mess with your PH, it is PH stable.

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Sorry, but wrong. It is not pH stable and will change pH.

I2icho said:

Can't get botanicare in Australia unfortunately any other brands that you know of that won't make the ph bounce?

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dg pro-tekt is what I use and the most concentrated. It is going to raise the ph, that's what it does... ph to 5-8 like normal. the ph might start drifting down now in flower jsyk.

silica also helps with heat tolerance, drought resistance and pest resistance from what I have read... although I have never had a reason to test that.

I2icho said:

Well botanicare don't distribute to Australia for some reason. Yeah it os available on ebay from America with $40 postage and 3 weeks on a ship. Really not worth it.

Found that with a few products you guys have in the states. Azamax is the same. Same with gnatrol.
Same with ona gel. Impossible to buy in Australia.

O well I have seen a heap of different brands I'll be able to get my hands on here.

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If you have grow rocks Silica, then you wouldn't need to add it to your reservoir and you can dump hydroton.