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

Not sure if I posted this yet?
Found it going through my papers.
the importance of silicone.pdf (93.7 KB)

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You forgot if you posted it cuz youā€™re a stoner. We forgot if we read it cuz weā€™re stoners.

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This. Wollastonite for the win. I mix it in soil before I plant. Donā€™t have to mix other stuff or use woo juice. Credit Bugbee.

Very interesting stuff. Please, no offense intended, but ā€œmix in soilā€ is a little vague. Your soil is? No applications of anything drop to chop?
Now Iā€™m off with reading in mind.

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Use Vermiculite for natural silica.
It consists mostly of silica. Vermiculite comes from 19 varieties of micaceous minerals and the ores contain silica, alumina, iron oxides and magnesium oxide.

Although sand, pumice, perlite, vermiculite, rockwool are technically silicon materials, silicon from these materials is barely available to plants. In fact, silicon content in the plants growing in these soilless media is remarkably lower compared to the same plant species growing in natural soil.

Natural soil and Rabbit manure and a little duck manure for the win for me.

Iā€™ve noticed in the long run regular soil grows plants best inside or out.

I teaspoon of regular soil has more microorganisms than all the people on earth.

Silicon is the second most abundant element in the Earthā€™s crust, so not surprisingly plants growing in natural soils have evolved to absorb and use silicon to their benefit. :100::dove:

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Iā€™m with you and will stick with poo.
Seems to me itā€™s just more nutrient hype to get people to spend moneyā€¦ Then again, I use soil to grow in.
In nature cannabis rises out of the corpses of last yearā€™s crop. Perhaps mulching with chopped up cannabis stems would be a good move, provided healthy plants make the mulch?

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Pro-TeKt MSDS.pdf (48.8 KB)
Pro-Tekt_DataSheet.pdf (669.6 KB)

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@shag I used Protekt for a few years. Iā€™ve been using Armor Si now for a bit and donā€™t care for it. Iā€™ve taken to mixing 5 gals at a time the day before I use it. Back to Protekt when Armor S I is gone.

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Doc Bugbee indicated that vermiculite doesnā€™t do what we thought it did:

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When I get ready to load grow bags I add only a couple things. First and foremost is about 2 solo cups of solution grade gypsum per cubic foot and wollastonite for slow release silica. I have to check my notes for how much but itā€™s not a lot and last grow I could tell it helped with plant strength and had less flopping branches.

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What mix are you putting those adds into? Thatā€™s what Iā€™m not seeing. Coco, peat, a zillion different ā€œsuper soilsā€. Lots of choices.

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Coast of Maine Bar Harbor

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So youā€™re adding to a pre-made soil with slow release N. Crab and lobster meal. Kelp. Thatā€™s not exactly ā€œjust adding gypsum and wollasoniteā€ and just watering.
Kind of like saying I only use water on my outdoor plants, forgetting itā€™s a repurposed organuc soil. ā€œOnly water and teasā€.
@Jasper not trying to argue at all. I like the possible use of the W-powder over Si in a jug. Iā€™m pretty new growing indoors. Less than 3 years, so am learning a lot. Regional terminology has been an issue with all you Okies!
Ha! Lets see who corrects that really quick.

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Yeah heā€™s probably right. Iā€™m definitely leary of using vermiculite but Iā€™ve got some mixed with Ez blend Hydrafiber, meal worm frass, Bokashi Bran, that manure mix and old potting soil.

Bokashi bran can fix problems in container soils. Iā€™ve topped dressed with it and had great results.

Iā€™ll be making regular soil containers soon. I did some testing and found out peat has a carbon effect that equals all the cars carbon in America a year.

So Iā€™m just using the old leftover junk for winter indoors till it wonā€™t grow again. Iā€™ve had 10 harvest with the same soil. So it was time to compost the whole pile. :dove:

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Thank you all for your contribution to this thread. :star_struck:
For all you folks using SI in the soilā€¦and I do like the different ways you folks mentioned to add SI to the soil.
Most of the stuff used in soil is not really in a sprayable form.
Do you ever use SI as a foliar spray to form a protective barrier against pests?
This is my favorite way to use SI myself.

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As a foliar with Regalia and Chitosan.

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So would this work Amazon.com : Horsetail Herb - 100% Natural - 1 lb (16oz) - Herbal Tea - EarthWise Aromatics : Grocery & Gourmet Food or an alcohol sugar free extract? Thanks for this info

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It should, I donā€™t see why it would not.
You could use the herb as is or extract the silicon from the herb and use that depending on you goals.
I am not much help with the extraction of silicon from horsetail, I have never done it.

Wonderful thread! Thanks @shag for posting all the information and others for supplementary content.

Looks like Iā€™m buying some AgSil 16H and making some silica juice. :sunglasses:

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Cool stuff in here. Thanks for sharing! Where do people get their wollastonite from? I wouldnā€™t mind tossing some in my soil.

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