Do plants need silicon? How is it used by plants? Can we make our own silicon products at home?

Agsil 16 H (Potassium Silicate)

Now you can make your own DynaGro ProTekt or silica product for pennies on the gallon!

Mixing 560 grams of Agsil 16 in 1 gallon will give you 7.6% silicon (SiO2), which is the % in Dynagro ProTekt.

ProteKt @ 2.5 ml per gallon:
K = 18
Si = 56
total PPM = 74

For foliar application use a good spreader/stickier.

If you use neem you can mix AgSil 16H with Neem Oil.

Mix 1.5 grams AgSil 16H with 1 ounce Neem Oil to emulsify the oil. Then mix this emulsified oil with one gallon final volume spray solution. Spray every other week covering all plant surfaces (top and bottom of leaves) until it runs off.

Note: neem oil may effect the human nervous system but there has been little research done on this subject.

NOTE: Never mix concentrated silica solutions with other concentrated fertilizers. It is best to make up the liquid solution first or add water prior to mixing the powder with other ingredients or nutrients.

Rates for mixing with water

1.5 pounds per 100 gallons for foliar = 682.5 grams per 100 gallons = 6.825 grams/1 gallon
For soil drench 68.25 grams per 100 gallons = 0.68 grams/ 1 gallon.

The best results are achieved when just applying the silica to the rhizosphere, when it comes to both increases in growth and preventing molds, mildews, pests etc. you can use up to 100ppm silica, although i would taper that down before harvest. I usually keep my feedings in between 50-80ppm silica.

The use of fulvic acid as well as boron greatly aids the uptake of Si.

Boron solubilizes insoluble silicon and it is a good idea to combine boron, calcium and silicon in your program to maximize the synergistic potential of the trio.

For direct mixing application add 0.6 to 0.7 grams per gallon for foliar and 0.6 to 0.7 grams per gallon soil drench.5a5e124d11f88_silicamixing.thumb.jpg.3285e1f2b3a02455268be0d490f4955f.jpg

This chart shows the amount of soluble Si % in each product. For those who wish to use AgSil 21 or 25.

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Using OSI can aid in keeping a plant from growing soft and lanky.

An overdose of OSI has been found to dramaticly slow or stop growth completely.

In some cases an overdose will burn leaves, in most cases the plant will not die and later be regenerated with exceptionaly strong and healthy growth.

This is why Aptus Fasilitor is said to stop stretch.

  • If during early bloom your plants continue to stretch too much, double the dose of FaSilitor for a couple feedings. This helps tighten node spacing and slow vertical stretching.
  • FaSilitor makes plants more compact. Used from the beginning of vegetative growth tends to produce a wider plant with more branches and tighter internodes.

Note: Silicon content should be estimated with use of a nutrient calculator.

When silicate salts get mixed with water they form monosilicic acid (a.k.a. orthosilicic acid), which is not ionized at normal pH, and your EC meter will not measure silicon content. it will however measure the partnering cations (K or Na) conductivity as pH increases to 8.5 only 10% of your silicon can be ionized, when it gets to ~9.5pH you still only have ~50% ionization but no more than that.

Also note that EC is relative to pH since pH is basically a ratio of acidic and alkali ions that have a huge effect on EC. so an accurate EC meter will have different results at different a pH.

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