The Nutrient 99% of Gardeners Don’t Know Exists
This Video is from the Youtube channel: “Hoocho”.
Hoocho disusses the benefits of a particularly undervalued nutrient: Silicon, Silica, mono silic acid… Etc
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Another great, informative video. Thanks Hoocho
I was sure that you were going to show us a side by side timelapse video of some plants, some with and some without silica.
Fantastic idea.
I’ve actually been playing with the idea of doing this with a plant with and without silica, then depriving it of water.
I rekon it would be a banger experiment.
It’s funny timing this videos should come out, because the last few days a video add keeps popping up on Facebook of a hydro shop that keeps promoting silica.
I like the older Hoocho’s videos very mucht but this is almost like a Hydroland potassium silicate commercial.
@RobLukkienI was trying very hard not to make it that way. It’s a commodity, so you can get it anywhere, it’s not some magic potion hidden behind a brand name.
I am offering it as a cheap product on the site, but I definitely don’t want you to buy that if you can find it cheaper elsewhere
@HoochoSorry to hear that you tried not to make it look like a commercial. On the other hand the bills need to get paid. I understand.
Mate, there’s a bigger buzz about it. I’m from Poland and got a video in my YT feed about Australian farmers using crushed bottles powder in their fields to increase crop yields.
For 2 minutes into the video before Hoocho revealed the name I was thinking “it’s silica, must be silica, 100% silica”.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Again, the best fertilizer is pee, among other things it contains mono silicic acid too.
I use asprin tablet (Acetal silicyclic acid) 1 tab per liter for foiliar spray and drench, strong roots and havent seen any pests for a long time, and the best part its super cheap!
Asprin is acetylsalicylic acid. It may have an effect in plants (salicylic acid one of the precursors is a plant hormone) but it does not contain any silicon
Salicylic acid
I appreciate you sharing the knowledge
So I guess regular NPK mixes should really be expanded to NPK + Magnesium + (active) Silica. Silica is a building block as well as a phenolic agent while magnesium facilitates the chemical/biological/metabolic reactions necessary for NPK to work.
Heck yea 💪😎 I use AgSil-16H
Been using it for a couple years as well in synganic setups and hydro of course. It has been a great addition for me as well.
For most people, if you keep your soil biologically active, you’re never going to run out of silica and most nutrients. Biology will secrete organic acids, enzymes, and other substances to break down the mineral matrix and unlock minerals that were previously unavailable to plants. That said, common farming practices do not lend themselves to maintaining biologically active soil.
I read studies done on American bison that eat grass near mineral springs in Yellowstone park. The studies revealed that grass growing near mineral hot springs had high levels of silica. The added silica in the grass caused bison teeth to wear down faster than normal and it shortened the bison lifespan because of it. I have not done any research myself, but I wonder what the exact level of silica was in the grass and how easy it is to hit that level in human food crops and if it would cause added wear and tear on human teeth?
Herbivores like bison chew for a looong time, 6-8hrs a day or more! The fine silica crystals that form from over mineralised plants would definitely cause an issue over time for them. For humans, I have been using a safe amount of Silica (1ml per 2 litres of nutrient solution) for my indoor tomatoes, chillis and melons for over a year now and my teeth are fine lol
fruits absorb very little silica compared to other tissues. Also humans cook foods which breaks down the structure. Also animals graze 10 hours per day, humans just spend a few minutes per day chewing.
Thanks for the deep dive, funnily enough I watched the ABCs video on crushed glass this morning. They only covered the unlocking of soil nutriments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UhdnlZ5Us8
I also know if you add silica to a plant like tobacco, where the plant is going to be smoked, added silica causes harsher smoke and increased ash content left behind after combustion
Dude, perfect timing. Finishing up my first round of tobacco to be harvested. So unless I find out otherwise, I will avoid using this stuff on the tobacco. It’s too much work (humidity controlled curing tent and then whatever follows) to screw it up.
have you heard about maxsil yet? the silica from crushed glass? I feel like they make it on you side of the planet. It seems like a pretty revolutionary solution.
I’m not sure how well it would work in strict hydro systems, but maybe in coco based systems 🤔
I use General Hydroponics Maxi Gro in RO water. That provides a pH in the low 4’s. I then use potassium carbonate to bring it up to around 5.8, and have to keep adding as needed during the grow (until eventually pH starts to rise). SO, if I wanted to use potassium silicate, could I mix the Maxi Gro into the RO, THEN add the potassium silicate to balance this to 5.8? Seems ashame to use potassium silicate first, then use phosphoric acid to lower pH, then add nutes, then raise it again with potassium carbonate. UNLESS there is a good reason to do it this way.
Thank you sharing .Appreciate
too much clifhanging for me. bye
Everyone should be aware that you are supposed to add potassium silicate first into your nutrient mix or it will bind to other salts and precipitate into chunks of salts into your reservoir.
Monosilicic has always been much much more expensive and i will not pay hundreds of dollars for small bottles of mammoth p or the grow genius (grow genius is around 100$ CAD for 100ml)
Just buy a gallon of Potassium Silicate and be done with it.