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KáliumSzilikát - KáliVízÜveg - SiO2/K2O

Széklet Nagyúr

Active member
A tegnapi napon szembesültem vele, hogy ezeddig teljesen rosszul használtam kálivízüveget illetve valószínüleg többet ártottam vele a kertnek mint amenniy előnyöm származott az alkalmazásából.
A módszer amivel eddig kotyvasztottam eleve több sebből vérzett, az egyik pl az volt, hogy ph-zatlan csapvízzel kezdtem a keverést ami erre felé eleve lúgos ( közelít a 8-hoz, amit a szilikát tovább emel ), másrészt a kotyvalék keveréséhez használt összetevők sorrendjét is elbasztam.
A dolog lényegében abból indult ki hogy szokás szerint nekiálltam kutyulni, először belecsaptam a kálcium/Keserűsó kombót, utána a kálivízüveget ami egy elég érdekes jelenséghez vezetett:
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A z adagolt káliszilikát 8 ph fölé emelte a lötty kémhatását , ahol a Szilikát összeállt ( gondolom a korábba beaditt kálcium/epson só kombóval ) ilyen oldahatatlan ködös miazmává, hozzáférhetetlenné téve a növény számára a flamót.
Ezután rákerestem tápkeverési leírásokra hidropónikához ( organikusban ugye nem számit mit mikor toszol a vízbe, a lényeg, hogy tiszta savat nem szabad Báktérimuk közé csepegtetni - max citromsavat - aztén locsoltam össze minden ész nélkül ) meg ugye külön Szilikátok hidropónikai alkalmazásához segédletre és ezt találtam:



Mint ugye az fent is látható már az elején elcsesztem, másrészt a figura - ha jól vettem ki a szavaiból - RO szűrt vizet használt aminek alapból semleges a PH-ja így a káli szilikát hozzáadása max 7.6-ra emeli, ahol még nem lép fel a nálam beköszönt tényállás.

Másrészt itt egy külön SZILIKÁT használatára kitérő leírás :





HOW TO USE SILICA IN THE CANNABIS GARDEN

Posted by Scotty Real | Oct 18, 2014




K2O3Si

Potassium silicate will save you. this is not a sales pitch in an industry that sometimes wants to believe in a magic potion that will take care of all your problems but Potassium silicate may fit the description. Potassium silicate is a beneficial supplement for your plants; one that will make them bigger, stronger, more resilient to pests and disease and capable of yielding more. period.

Silicon is the second most common element in the earth’s crust.

It is widely regarded and agreed that plants require 17 key elements to successfully develop. These are comprised of macronutrients; nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, calcium, magnesium and sulphur, and micronutrients; iron, manganese, boron, copper, molybdenum, zinc, chlorine and nickel. Plus, the obvious elements of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.

With Silicon being found in such abundance in plant tissues, there is now an argument that it should be considered as a relevant macronutrient

when plants are grown without Silicon, they run the risk of being structurally weaker than plants grown with. They may be more open to attack from fungal pathogens and pests and can also be more vulnerable to any toxic metals that build up in the root zone.

If you have ever grown hydroponically and thought that your plants seemed a little weaker or more susceptible than previous crops grown in soil, it may be due to a lack of Silicon.

Hydroponic feeds do not contain Silicon in any noticeable quantity, if at all. The reason for this is that for Silicon to stay soluble, it requires a high pH – greater than 7. Unfortunately it cannot be included in a normal, hydroponic two-part feed as it would react with the other components present and this would most likely lead to a nutrient deficiency

For Silicon to be used as an available additive for your plants, it needs to be kept separate from the basic feed. You could even think of it as your third part to go alongside your usual two-part feed.

Plants can only absorb Silicon in the form of monosilicic acids, these occur naturally as mineral Silicon is broken down and dissolved into water. In hydroponic applications, the most common form of Silicon additive is Potassium Silicate.

Once absorbed, Silicon is transported to where it is required by the plants transpiration system, it is deposited as either hydrated silicon dioxide (which effectively stores water molecules within the plant) between the plant cells or as silica (a gel like substance) within the walls of the individual plant cells. Silicon “builds” the plant, acting as the cement between the bricks in the cell walls or between the actual cells themselves. It increases the structural integrity of the plant, making stems and branches thicker and stronger, and leaves greener and tougher.

The addition of Silicon to your feeding schedule can have an incredible effect on the growth, yield and overall health of your plants. So, how does it actually benefit your plants? This is how it works.

Improved Plant Cell Development – once your plant uptakes Silicon, it is permanently deposited into the cell walls within 24 hours. These deposits form a silica-cellulose framework that are stronger and can be created quicker than they could have been without the inclusion of Silicon. Overall the plant can develop faster and grow quicker when it uptakes Silicon.

Put simply, plant cell walls are like brick walls in a house. When Silicon is taken in by the plant, it is used like cement in a brick wall. So the walls are built quicker and stronger.

Once the ‘cement’ is in place, it cannot be transported elsewhere within the plant, so it’s important to continue to add Silicon throughout the entire growth cycle. This will ensure that all new growth in the plant benefits from the effects.

Balancing Uptake Of Elements – the presence of Silicon in a nutrient solution can positively affect the uptake and absorption of several macro and micro nutrients. Silicon increases Zinc uptake; an essential element in growth and photosynthesis.

Silicon increases the availability of Nitrogen to the plant as its application (in soil) will reduce the loss of Nitrogen to Ammonia (a naturally occurring process in soil). Nitrogen is key in the vegetative stage of plant development as it promotes healthy new foliage growth.

Silicon also balances the uptake of Phosphorus, reducing the risk of toxic levels being taken in by the plant. This is a particularly helpful characteristic to all you home growers that like to use a concentrated bloom stimulator (or root stimulator, for that matter!) with a high PK value.

Protection Against Metal Toxicity – Silicon is known to compete for uptake against certain metal elements that are made available to the plant. These metals include; Aluminium, Manganese and Iron, all essential for plant growth, but an excess of availability of any of the three elements can be problematic for your plants.

If there is a Silicon deficiency around the roots, then plants can uptake these metal elements to toxic levels. This can lead to problems that are not only detrimental to yield, but are also quite difficult to diagnose. So, you could go all the way through your grow, without rectifying the problem and be seriously down on yield at harvest time.

By increasing the dose of Silicon available to your plants, there will be a corresponding increase in the deposits of silica in the cell walls and Silicon will compete against the metals available in the nutrient solution, preventing toxic build ups. Therefore adding Silicon to your feeding schedule protects against metal toxicity.

Maintain Cell Integrity and Plant Strength – this is one of the more obvious effects of adding Silicon. Your plants will be visibly stronger, with wider, thicker stems and branches. The wider the stem, the more uptake and transpiration of water and nutritional elements is possible. So, in theory the plants will grow bigger and at a faster pace.

obviously, thicker branches will be able to hold more weight without the need of additional supports. If you have you got to the fourth or fifth week of flowering and realised that you haven’t put enough support in place to keep your buds stable? silica will solve this problem.

Protection Against Pests and Disease – this is a really fantastic benefit, particularly for home growers who prefer not to spray their plants with pesticides or fungicides. The protection that Silicon offers against fungal pathogens is two-fold:

1. The Silicon that has been deposited in the cell walls effectively toughens the outer ‘skin’ of the plant. This makes it far more difficult for pathogens to penetrate the plant in the first place.
2. If a plant is attacked by a pathogen, for example powdery mildew or pythium, the plant will transport and deposit any Silicon that it uptakes to the area of attack. This then stimulates the production of anti-fungal compounds that halt the infection process.

The toughened outer ‘skin’ reduces the risk of infestation from sucking insects.

Overall Increase In Weight And Bulk – Plants grown with Silicon will have leaves that are darker green, increasing their potential for photosynthesis and better growth. This, together with wider, stronger branches and stems and resilience to disease and pests will ultimately lead to bigger yields.




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Széklet Nagyúr

Active member
For myself, I do not see silica as a beneficial additive but, more so, as a must (an essential element) in any balanced/optimized nutrient regime.

Silica (Si) is the second most common element on Earth after oxygen and is abundant in soils.

Silica is abundant in all field grown plants, but it is not present in most hydroponic solutions.

In plants, silica strengthens cell walls, improving plant strength, health, and productivity.[1]

Silica, deposited in cell walls of plants, has been found to improve heat and drought tolerance and increase resistance to insects and fungal infections. Silica can help plants deal with toxic levels of manganese, iron, phosphorus and aluminium as well as zinc deficiency.

Thus, the beneficial effects of silica are threefold: 1) it protects against insect and disease attack (Cherif et al. 1994; Winslow, 1992; Samuels, 1991), 2) it protects against toxicity of metals (Vlamis and Williams, 1967; Baylis et al. 1994), and 3) it benefits quality and yield of agricultural crops (Kathryn E Richmond et al, 2003).

Silica is excluded from hydroponic nutrient formulas because it has a high pH and is unable to remain soluble (hold/remain stable) in concentrated nutrient solutions. Therefore, Si needs to be added to the nutrient tank as a separate element.


Benefits of Si

· Increased disease resistance

· Increased resistance to pathogenic airborne fungi (eg. Botrytis)

· Increased resistance to waterborne pathogens

· Increased resistance to insects/pests

· Increased strength in cell structure

· Increased stress tolerance

· Increased drought tolerance

· Increased salt tolerance

· Increased yields



The Science


Silica is not considered to be an essential plant nutrient because most plant species can complete their life cycle without it. However, Si is considered to be a ‘quasi essential’ element for plants because its deficiency can cause various problems with respect to plant growth, development and reproduction. The addition of Si to hydroponic solutions exerts a number of beneficial effects on growth and yield of several plant species, which include improvement of leaf exposure to light, resistance to lodging, decreased susceptibility to pathogens and root parasites, and amelioration of abiotic stresses. Silica can also alleviate imbalances between zinc and phosphorus supply. In general, dicot plants (e.g. tomato, cucumber, peppers) show a tissue accumulation of Si at about 0.5% or less.



A lack of knowledge about the role of silica in horticultural crops became apparent with the change to soilless growing media (hydroponics) in the glasshouse industry in the Netherlands. It was found that in hydroponic systems the Si contents in plant tissue were significantly lower in comparison with crops grown in soil. Research was carried out on the effects of Si application in hydroponic systems. With cucumber, melon, courgette, strawberry, bean, and rose, the Si contents were increased as a result of the addition of Si into the root environment. Results in these trials showed that cucumber, rose, and courgette could benefit from enhanced Si concentration in the root environment, since total yield was increased and powdery mildew was suppressed. [2]



Si and Fungi Suppression (eg. Botrytis)


Si has been shown in numerous studies to suppress fungal pathogens such as Botrytis. In a study by Adatia et al (1986) conducted on cucumbers grown in recirculating hydroponic systems it was shown that despite regular applications of fungicide, outbreaks of the fungal disease occurred on most of the mature leaves of low Si cucumber plants, while the high Si plants remained almost completely free of fungal pathogens. The conclusion to this study noted:



“The addition of Si could be beneficial to cucumbers grown in areas where the local water supply is low in this element, especially when grown in recirculating solution or in a medium low in Si, e.g. peat.”

Further research by Shettyet al (2011) demonstrated that Si treatment reduced powdery mildew development by inducing host defense responses in plants.


It is believed that silica deposition at sites of fungal pathogen penetration may be a common component of the host-defense response in a variety of plant families.

Silica is also deposited in the cell walls of roots where it acts as a barrier against invasion by parasites and pathogens.

For instance, potassium silicate has been shown to act as a preventative against Pythium ultimum.


Studies have found that soluble Si polymerizes quickly and that disease development is suppressed only if Si is present in soluble form (Samuels et al., 1991b). To minimize disease development, Si must be provided continuously in the nutrient feed in hydroponic systems.

Therefore, a continuous source of soluble silica is very important to combat pathogens. This can be from constant feeding in hydroponics or from retention in the growing medium with soils or soilless mixes.



Optimum ppm of Si in Solution

Research on optimum ppm of Si in hydroponic solutions tends to be somewhat variable. However, to generalize somewhat, hydroponic specific research has shown that different types of plants such as wheat, tomatoes and cucumbers react positively to a moderate addition of silicate ions.

Silica as SiO2 (silica dioxide), which is 46.743% Si and 53.25% O, has been shown in various studies to be beneficial to plants in the range of 50 -150 ppm in the nutrient solution. However, what is typically asserted as optimal SiO2 in hydroponic solutions is 100ppm, which equates to 46.7 ppm of Si.

However, there are several important things that you need to be aware of when using silica in your hydroponics system.

Firstly, silica has the tendency to react with other ions and if present at too high levels in the nutrient solution this can cause the precipitation (“drop out”) of other elements from solution. That is, silicates are relatively insoluble and the acidic pH in hydroponics can cause some precipitation of different reaction products of this ion with other ionic species present within the hydroponics solution. The silicate ions can form silicic acid and start to polymerize into complex macromolecular structures. Basically, silicates in hydroponic solutions can act in unpredictable ways. For this reason, lower rates of use versus higher rates of use in hydroponic solution is advised.

Secondly, Si products typically are highly alkaline. Therefore, when added to solution they raise the solutions pH. As pH rises to above 8.0, the form that silica takes in solution changes from non-reactive, non-ionic monosilicic acid, to reactive, ionic polysilicic acids that react with other minerals and precipitate out of solution, giving a cloudy appearance. That is, at high pH of above 8 silica changes to a form that can react with other minerals and precipitate out of solution. The best way to prevent this is to add your Si additive to water (no nutrients – just water) outside of the nutrient tank/reservoir, and then lower the pH to 5.5 – 5.8 before adding it to your hydroponic nutrient solution. Depending on how much ml of silica is required and how concentrated the liquid product is, I tend to recommend prediluting the silica in 5 – 8 litres (1 – 2 US gallons) of water and pH adjusting the solution (water + silica) to 5.5 – 5.8 before adding it to the nutrient tank/reservoir. What I also recommend is to add this solution slowly over several hours. That is, add 20% of the solution and let this circulate into the nutrient. Then add another 20% an hour or so later etc. While no research exists to support this practice as optimal in hydroponics, I have found that by adding the silica to the nutrient tank/reservoir in this way minimizes the risk of nutrient precipitation.

Thirdly, after many years of using silica products in hydroponics, I have found that like all other plant nutrients, too much Si in the root zone antagonizes other nutrients. For example, it has been shown that excessive levels of Si antagonizes iron and zinc. Other than this, it has been shown that silica increases the oxiding power of the roots making Fe and Mn less soluble. Further, some research suggests that while the benefits of Si are seen when used at one level, when its’ use exceeded this ideal level, growth was negatively affected. What this really comes down to is that I tend to use silica at full strength during grow and early bloom, but reduce the strength to about 65 % once the flowers begin to set (I.e. when the bulk of the internodes are formed and flowers/fruit begin swelling). I have found that this offers the best results and that too much Si in solution can negatively impact on optimal fruitset.

Therefore, I recommend Si use in RTW/DTW organic substrates (e.g. coco and sphagnum peat) at the lower end of the scale – this being between 20 (when flowers are setting) to 30ppm (or 42 – 64ppm as SiO2).

In inert medias and water-based systems I recommend Si use at a higher rate of 30 (during flowerset) to 46.7 ppm Si (or 64 – 100ppm as SiO2).
It is important to note that most hydroponic store sold liquid silicon (silicate) products are made using potassium silicate (K2SiO3). Potassium silicate contains 18.204% Si and 50.685% potassium (K). This means that by adding e.g. 30ppm of Si to solution we are adding 83.5 ppm of K to the solution. The addition of potassium through the use of potassium silicate needs to be considered in any optimized nutrient regime.

The Si to K ratio of any potassium silicate product may vary. Therefore, it is advisable that you contact the manufacturer/supplier of the product and ask them how many ppm of Si (or SiO2) and K their recommended dilution rate contributes to the nutrient solution.

It is important to note that people use different terminology when specifying optimal silica levels in solution. For example, it is typically asserted that optimal SiO2 (silicon dioxide) in hydroponic solutions is 100ppm. However, others may specify optimum ppm referring to Si (silicon), K2SiO3 (potassium silicate), or H4SiO4 (silicic acid). The various chemical references used will determine optimal ml per Ltr usage rates to achieve a given ppm of Si or SiO2 in solution. Just be somewhat aware of this when looking at research or talking to hydroponic nutrient suppliers about their recommended usage rates and what this provides to the plants in terms of Si and otherelements (e.g. K).


Converting between SiO2, K2SiO3, and H4SiO4

If you want to convert the ppm of Si to SiO2 ppm

Work out the percentage of Si in SiO2 – there is a molecule and mole calculator on the Manic Botanix website that does this for you. You simply enter in the ‘chemical formula’ of SiO2 (be sure to use subscript for the 2), enter 100% in the ‘purity of chemical box’, enter that you want 1 mole in the ‘moles required’ box (any number will actually do but 1 is just fine), hit calculate and the calculator will tell you that the SiO2 molecule consists of 46.743% silicon (Si) and 53.257% oxygen (O).

To convert:

1) Take the known percentage of Si in SiO2 and calculate that as a percentage of 1 – e.g. 46.743 (% Si in SiO2) x 1% = 0.46743 (be sure to use the percentage -%- button on the calculator)

2) Then take the amount of Si you want in ppm and divide it by the figure less than one. E.g. 30 (ppm Si) divided by 0.46743 = 64.1807 (ppm SiO2)



Converting SiO2 ppm to Si ppm

This one is dead easy. Let’s say you want to convert the ppm of SiO2 to what this is in Si ppm.

1) 100 ppm (SiO2) = 46.743 ppm (Si) – i.e. 100 (ppm SiO2) x 46.743% (% Si in SiO2) = 46.743 (ppm Si)

These sums can be used for conversion between any chemical formulas, whether they be in ppm, grams, or ml. The unit doesn’t matter, just that the answer is in the same units or a conversion thereof (i.e. 100g or 0.1kg)

For example, if a manufacturer tells you that their recommended dilution rate for their potassium silicate (K2SiO3) product gives you 100ppm of potassium silicate in solution. To establish what this is in Si, you use the mole calculator on the Manic Botanix website and it will tell you that there is 18.204% Si in K2SiO3.

Therefore, to establish Si ppm from 100ppm of K2SiO3 – 100 (ppm K2SiO3) x 18.204% (%Si in K2SiO3) = 18. 204 ppm Si.

Knowing this, you would then be able to establish that the manufacturers recommended dilution rate is too low and would then be able to calculate what is required to achieve your sort after ppm in solution.


© Copyright Manic Botanix ® March 17, 2021





 
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