Dirt Wizard's Magic Wand Factory and Library Lounge

@Gonzo I would only recommend one thing if you’re in North America, and that’s AgSil16H, or Potsil from the UK if you’re in Europe. There’s no competition when it comes to potency for the dollar compared to soluble, micronized potassium silicate:

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@Gonzo Half of the products on the market are liquid solutions (dilutions) of this stuff and the ones that aren’t mostly suck, either way you’re just paying for water. The exception being horsetail based silica products but you should just make those yourself if you want to go the FPJ silica route. Horsetail is up to 25% silica by weight so you just ferment like @BeagleZ and others do to release it. It’s one of those crazy bioaccumulators that sends roots down dozens of feet and cracks into bedrock.

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Awesome thanks man :+1: $25 for basically what looks like a lifetime supply (for a small grow) ain’t bad.

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I use a lot of it and my pound has lasted me two years and isn’t done yet, it just rocked up from moisture. I’d definitely split the pound into two pint mason jars to keep the second half dry for a few years until you need it, that’s what I started doing with my dry amendments that absorb moisture. I also use it in my yard so that made it go faster.

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I must plant me some horsetail!

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Eeeeuuuhgh I wouldn’t! It spreads through spores and rhizomes like a fern, they’re some of the oldest plants in nature, very hard to control and quite an invasive. You’d be better off going and finding some in your area and pulling it out, growing it at home it’ll have a decent chance of it getting where you don’t want it. If you do grow it definitely give it a container to itself or plant it on the far side of your property.

horsetail-wash.pdf (302.8 KB)

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I have a creak bed behind the fence in the back yard. Was thinking that might be a good area. Plenty of buffer woods between my usable space and the creak.

Nettles and comfrey are on my list as well.

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Oh yeah planting up a swampy creek bank might be a good one, horsetails do a great job at stabilizing soils and preventing erosion so it would probably reduce channeling if you get seasonal floods through that creek bed. They are really wild plants, they used to be called scouring rush because there’s so much silica in the stems you can scrub metal cookware clean with them. Their root systems and the underwater stems are really important habitats for lots of bugs and bacteria.

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They’re like magnolias, incredibly ancient plants that are just different. Magnolias don’t get pollinated by bees, they get pollinated by beetles because bees didn’t exist yet when they came around. I believe at one point when it was very hot and swampy horsetails made up like half the plants on earth, which is why they’re so well adapted to everywhere basically.

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I’ll put an offer out here to any regular readers of this thread: what seeds are you looking for that you’d actually grow out soon (this winter indoors or outdoors in the spring) if you could find them? My seed vault is feeling very ample right now, and if I could help another OG achieve their dream grow, I’m down to donate a few seeds to make that happen if I have them. I’m not throwing whole packs at folks, but if I have an unopened one, I’ll split it with you, as long as you promise to log the grow here and share a few seeds back if you do any expansions/selections/crosses with it. It’s been a weird few years for all of us, and I’ve enjoyed watching all of you grow and getting to know some folks here. The internet is a hot mess most places nowadays but this is one of the good ones and this holiday season I’m thankful to have a community of growers to share and consult with. Fire away, here or in the DMs with your hopes dreams and bean requests.

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That is really cool about the beetles, I did not know that they were pollinators. Or that magnolias were that old .
Is it weird that I love your brain :joy:

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Naw not weird at all! I’m used to existing in a mental state that is either extremely engaging or annoying to people, but I do my best to keep it interesting. I’ve always been an autodidact and a polymath, and the internet is a great place to have grown up for that. This forum is good for me, I learn a lot by getting prompts here and then chasing down other research and forum stuff, even if I don’t read it right now it’s pulled up out of the depths to find more easily, and I figure it’ll be good reading for other folks and spark some interesting discussions.

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Ever come across downsides to using a standard solution? I went that route when I saw mine lumping up and it’s been super convenient to use. Tape a pipette to the mason jar and write the dilution rates on there and I’ve used it so much more often than I ever did when it was dry.

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If some BubbaShine fell in my lap I’d certainly make room pronto.

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I gotta go ahead and mix the solution, I just dump a teaspoon at a time into a mixing pitcher and blend it up with warm water then dilute it down into two gallons or so of water. I don’t use it every watering though, maybe once every week or two. I’d like to get a little more precise than my current vibes (observation) based approach, which is working well, but I think I’d learn more if I kept more notes and had more of a regimen.

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You and me both, the closest I could offer you would be a few Blue Tara F3 or SSDD BX1. Was there ever a pure Bubbashine release?

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I’m actually not sure, it’s on seedfinder so I assumed it was at some point

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Arcata or other Trainwreck by chance? I have some fem Wreckage seeds from THSeeds, that I want to backcross!

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I may still have 1 or 2 of Twenty20’s fem arcata @HeadyBearAdventures

I’d have to look as we know I can’t trust my ledger :wink:

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Sadly no Trainwreck in my stash, though I’d love to find some, I always liked that harsh nasty pissy stuff, the worst flavor with the best effect. I see why it’s not popular now with the market but Trainwreck is such a good functional sativa dom if you can stay on the rails with it :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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