Can anyone recommend a silicon soil additive available in the US?

truck said:

silica derived from bamboo. TeaCo has a very concentrated powder that i like. Its 65% silica way better than i've seen in any liquid form.

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Do you have a link for that?

I googled around but couldn't find anything.

Thanks!

Is there any way to extract it from the horsetail plant or I need to use the plants in the compost in order to get the silica benefit?

i think horsetail need to be sprayd on plants im not sure, package i bough say put 24hours or was it 12 hours in water and use sprayd on plants.. its spain i dont understand it fully lol

i put it in my compost tea sometimes lol

and use ghe mineral magic in soil but not in teas.. diatomaceous earth sound good too is that silica avaible to plants easy? and reason i dont use it maybe it kill beneficials too




''
Lipid organization

Montmorillonite is also known to cause micelles (lipid spheres) to assemble together into vesicles. These structures resemble cell membranes on many cells. It can also help nucleotides to assemble into RNA which will end up inside the vesicles. This could have generated highly complex RNA polymers that could reproduce the RNA trapped within the vesicles.[10][11] This process may have played a part in abiogenesis which led to life on Earth.[12] Minerals similar to montmorillonites have also been found on Mars.[13]''



Calcined clay products

Montmorillonite can be calcined to produce arcillite, a porous, calcined clay sold as a soil conditioner for playing fields and other soil products such as for use as bonsai soil as an alternative to akadama.[citation needed]
Medicine and pharmacology

Montmorillonite is effective as an adsorptive of heavy metals.[7] ''

green54321 said:

Cool, good do hear.

Do you have to do anything to balance the PH with that?

Currently I use Fox Farms OC, perlite and dolomite lime, so if I could just add AgSil to that mix that would work great.

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I do, I use a small amount of pH Down. Everything in the nutrient solution. I'm in coir. This stuff is an instantly dissolving powder, so I'd expect it to wash out if you placed it in the medium. Also couldn't control how much was being released.

As a side note: when I first started growing I used to bring in bags of Fox Farms Happy Frog. Complete PITA. Did it for a few years. I can't recommend coir highly enough. Much more efficient, controllable and eco-friendly (you can reuse and it's a bi-product). I'm getting 2 times the yield I got in bagged soil, lights the same. If I had the space and inclination to compost and maintain a living soil, I might do that, but using bagged "organic" soils misses the mark in many aspects, IMO.

green54321 said:

https://buildasoil.com/products/grow-sil-natural-silica

This looks perfect, thanks!

I wonder how much of that would be a proper dose for a 5 gallon soil grow.

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I don't think there is a listed rate as a soil additive/amendment. The application rate should be listed on their website, I think it's 1/8-1/4 teaspoon per gal of water.

Look into calcium silicate/wollastinite/vansil if you need silica as a dry amendment. 1-2 dollars a pound for under 50 lbs., also a calcium source.

RB56 said:

As a side note: when I first started growing I used to bring in bags of Fox Farms Happy Frog. Complete PITA. Did it for a few years. I can't recommend coir highly enough.

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I hear yuh, but I have a pretty small setup (two 315 watt flower spaces plus veg area) so it really isn't that much of a hassle. The main thing I really like is that I don't have to dick around with nutes until flower.

Which is also why I'm looking for a silica option that works as a soil amendment.

The stuff from buildasoil is looking pretty great so far.

redlaser said:

Look into calcium silicate/wollastinite/vansil if you need silica as a dry amendment.

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Do you know of an online retailer that sells any of that?

Not really finding anything googling around.

Thanks!

green54321 said:

Do you know of an online retailer that sells any of that?

Not really finding anything googling around.

Thanks!

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It's all the same thing, vansil is a company name that sells it in bulk. I picked up some locally from a ceramic wholesale supply place. It's around 1.50$ a lb for under 50 lb purchases, .50 a lb for 500+

When it comes to plant nutrition, AgSil & Potassium Silicate are not approved organic source for Si. The organic fanatic authorities approved the use of "aqueous potassium silicate" just for "pesticide" and "plant disease control" only.

In So Cali, I have been unable to find an affordable source for wollastonite so my organic sources of passive Si are copious amounts of "food grade" DE (Perma Guard Fossil Shell Flour--50# bags for under $35 at feed stores) and Greensand (available everywhere for about $1/lb). Both contain an assortment of beneficial minerals/elements in addition to amorphous Si.

I reclaim my grow medium so I guestimate the residual levels of both DE and Greensand to be around 75% (25% consumed during each grow season). My initial application rates are 5lbs/cu yard and for reclaimed grow medium (residual levels of DE & Greensand) I use the lower 2lbs/cu yard rate.

I tried rice hulls a few years ago and was not happy how they broke down, making me question their suitability for containerized gardening.

A nice hidden advantage of using DE is how the diatoms attach to the grow medium and increase the ability to hold liquid (DE can absorb water 7x their weight). And how the diatoms increase "structure" to the grow medium such that...when potted plant is turned upside down and the container is removed during transplanting, the exposed grow medium maintains it's structure and rarely crumbles apart.

Think of diatoms as little sponges that can hold nutrients...which are later released with subsequent waterings. Sweet!

Just an FIY for anyone that's interested:


I've decided I'm going go with the Grow-Sil from buildasoil after getting this response to an email:


"Zach B. here with B.A.S. Grow-Sil is pH neutral at 7.0 so it will not affect your soil pH.

Are you wanting to amend into your soil dry, or use as a soil drench solution? If using dry, you would roughly 1 teaspoon for 5 gallons of soil; or 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon per gallon water."


Thanks everyone for the input.

Montana Grows offers an organic silica product derived from volcanic tuff. I think it makes a nice soil amendment. it is also available in different grades as well.

https://shop.montanagrow.com/

would it be okay to use rice hulls in an organic soil bed, than add D.Earth later on?

Do both--one is different than the other. I tried rice hulls once, and was not too happy--they got mushy (reducing grow medium aeration) and some of the slower decomposing rice hulls generated a rancid-type aroma.

If I had my choice, I would use "rice hull ash". But since it is not affordable (cheaper alternatives are available)...I continue to source my Silica from foodgrade DE (fossil shell flour), Greensand and of course an occasional shot of Potassium Silica (which is not approved by OMRI/Organic Fanatics for plant nutrition).

I had a similar experience using Wheat hulls. They also acidified my soil from an 8pH to about 5pH is a couple of weeks. But... This acidification could have been caused by the breakdown of the flour that the hulls came in. I'm still not sure.