I found this little excpert on the interwebs and I thought I would share it here if you were thinking of adding silicon to the mix.;)
Also, I saw that you were having trouble with the EZcloner because of the heat. You can pick up a bottle of "ClearRez" and not worry about what temps the ezcloner get to because it adds chlorine into the water- keeps roots white and free of fungal infections. A cycle timer also helps. Anywho, have fun at the cup!!


"As an agricultural consultant in far northern Queensland, Australia I grew 2 to 3 thousand dollars of culinary ginger in my garden as well as an aloe vera nursery—without nitrogen fertilisers. Both were high silicon crops. At nearby Mt. Garnet we had a diatomaceous earth mine that sold diatomaceous earth (DE) at $300/ton—somewhat pricy, but an excellent silicon fertiliser. When I sprinkled this DE on my ginger it grew beautifully, and was twice as robust wherever I spilled a liberal amount. The same was true for my aloe vera. What was clear was that nitrogen fixation and amino acid uptake by both ginger and aloe was far more abundant with high silicon availability. On a nearby banana farm using the same diatomaceous earth at a rate of 1 ton per hectare (2.5 acres) there was 1.28 more new leaves per month, a sure sign of quality nitrogen availability and robust growth. This meant silicon was a huge influence in nitrogen fixation."

Nice

Hey Fresh. Thanks for this interesting read. I must admit that I'm no expert on nutrients or root biology or whatever this type of knowledge would fall under but there was a flyer at the store that I saw about a year ago with this guy claiming to be making silica available to roots directly from diatomaceous earth. Dude's product was not actually being carried in the store and i could not find anything online except what sounded like crap talk to me. That quote you have there also sounds pretty unscientific. Seems like it might be somehow linked to these guys: who are linked to these guys: http://diatomaceousearthonline.com.au/shop/ and this nonsensical garbage:
Effects of silicon on growth processes and adaptive potential of barley plants under optimal soil watering and flooding
Tamara I. Balakhnina; Vladimir V. Matichenkov; Teresa Wlodarczyk; Aneta Borkowska; Magdalena Nosalewicz; Irina R. Fomina
Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) was grown in pots with brown loess soil and highly soluble amorphous silicon dioxide as the source of monosilicic acid to examine its influence on plant growth and adaptive potential under optimal soil watering and flooding. The adaptive potential of plants was estimated by the concentration of the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs) as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD), guaiacol peroxidase (GPX) and ascorbate peroxidase (AsP) activities. Application of amorphous silica to the soil increased the Si content in barley shoots and roots and stimulated their growth and biomass production under optimal soil watering. Soil flooding suppressed the growth both of the (−Si)- and (+Si)-plants. The intensity of oxidative destruction estimated by the concentration of TBARs was lower in the roots and leaves of the (+Si)-plants. Soil flooding induced SOD activity in the roots and in the leaves of the (−Si;+flooding) and (+Si;+flooding)-plants, but no significant differences were observed due to the Si treatment. GPX activity in the roots of (+Si)-plants was higher than in the (−Si)-ones under optimal soil watering, but under soil flooding no differences between (+Si)- and (−Si)-treatments were observed. AsP activity was not influenced by Si treatment neither under optimal soil watering nor under flooding. Thus, application of Si stimulates growth processes of barley shoots and roots under optimal soil watering and decreases intensity of oxidative destruction under soil flooding without significant changes in the activities of antioxidant enzymes.
from here: http://diatomaceousearthonline.com.au/research/
These retailers of DE claim it is coming from Mt. Garnet, just like from your little story above: http://diatomaceousearthonline.com.au/what-is-diatomaceous-earth/
That sure is convenient...

i noticed that most vendors of DE don't claim availability of silica as a benefit: http://www.perma-guard.com/
And it is not listed in wikipedia as having such an agricultural benefit:
Use in agriculture
Natural freshwater diatomaceous earth is used in agriculture for grain storage as an anticaking agent, as well as an insecticide.[18] It is approved by the United States Department of Agriculture as a feed supplement to prevent caking.[19] It is also used as a natural anthelmintic (dewormer). Some farmers add it to their livestock and poultry feed to prevent the caking of feed.[19] "Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth" is widely available in agricultural feed supply stores.

Again, I'm no expert but the claim that silica in DE can be made available to plants sounds like a little scam to me.

The cup was cool and all. It was a bit too much of the big dudes showing off to consumers than the meet and great that I had hoped it would be. I have heard that the 420 deal in Denver is more my speed so I'll give that one a try. Let's grab a beer and I'll tell you all about it.

so sorry for not getting this posted earlier. sub rosa got me these seeds a long time ago and i'm just now getting this up. I have 2 phonos of the old man og. they are both crazy vigorous and push out top notch frosty buds. some of the best stuff I have ever popped. also the kappo is awesome but I don't have any pics of her atm. thank you so much sub rosa. your gear rocks.

here is the old man og:

looks real nice PDX .....hope all your plants are doing well and yourself .... M

Now I know this is getting off topic here and I'm probably beating a dead horse :mad:
but ....
I found a book that is available from an italian author over here:

It's all about silicon for agricultural use. Here is an excerpt from the website:

" Many silicate salts and mineral earths are available in formulations for agricultural use, obtained mainly from pyrophyllite clays and diatomaceous soils that can be applied as fine dust or foliar sprays.

Advantages for silicate fertilizers is that they also provide the soil with mineral elementsother than silicon (e.g. calcium from calcium silicate or potassium from potassium silicate), some of which become plant available.

Another advanatge of silicates over SSA is the potential slow-release of silicon to the soil; slow-release has been demonstrated with diatomaceous earth and zeolites. Another example of slow-release fertilizer consists of coated calcium amonium nitrate fertilizer containing silicon."

Hey that old man OG looks fire! I did a little research about it and now I want to pop some karma White Ogv2 seeds. Wifi x SFVog x Djshorts' Blueberry x Williams Wonder = Whoa :eek:

Fresh Starts said:

Now I know this is getting off topic here and I'm probably beating a dead horse :mad:
but ....
I found a book that is available from an italian author over here:

It's all about silicon for agricultural use. Here is an excerpt from the website:

" Many silicate salts and mineral earths are available in formulations for agricultural use, obtained mainly from pyrophyllite clays and diatomaceous soils that can be applied as fine dust or foliar sprays.

Advantages for silicate fertilizers is that they also provide the soil with mineral elementsother than silicon (e.g. calcium from calcium silicate or potassium from potassium silicate), some of which become plant available.

Another advanatge of silicates over SSA is the potential slow-release of silicon to the soil; slow-release has been demonstrated with diatomaceous earth and zeolites. Another example of slow-release fertilizer consists of coated calcium amonium nitrate fertilizer containing silicon."

Hey that old man OG looks fire! I did a little research about it and now I want to pop some karma White Ogv2 seeds. Wifi x SFVog x Djshorts' Blueberry x Williams Wonder = Whoa :eek:

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Howdy Fresh. Maybe you could give it a whirl and see what you think.

Medusa said:

looks real nice PDX .....hope all your plants are doing well and yourself .... M

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thanks medusa. things are going great thank you. hope you and yours are well too. let's grab a drink again.

pdxfire said:

thanks medusa. things are going great thank you. hope you and yours are well too. let's grab a drink again.

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Yah got some clones for ya ...are you trying coconut water ? Taking a 2 day seminar in Nov on cannabis biz in Ore.....get your take on it ..that Oldman Og looks killer....later M

Nice pics fire.....I was just given a kappo and old man og cut to fill out a bed.....they look exciting...

Medusa said:

Yah got some clones for ya ...are you trying coconut water ? Taking a 2 day seminar in Nov on cannabis biz in Ore.....get your take on it ..that Oldman Og looks killer....later M

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sounds like a plan. early next week. i haven't heard of coconut water?

thanks jimmy. i'm sure those will both work great for you. my kappo is much more indica dominant than the old man og.

I've been gifted this amazing cut from the fire master himself @pdxfire and I thought I'd throw it up here for the Sub-Rosa/Jacks hydro fans.
Kappo Kush day 30. From the looks of it this phenotype is leaning towards the White Og V.2 but has an earthy pine musk. I'm not sure if that was inherited from the Bubba or if the WOG V2 had that to begin with. Gonna be some fire tho :)

Beautiful pic. I'm glad you got that up so folks can take a look at the Kappo. She's a great plant.

Katsu bubba mom is earthy, coffee/mocha, kush, and the White og v2 dad is fruity, fuely and a little creamy.. Your description sounds/looks like a nice mix of them both. :) Looking good Fresh Starts!

Kappo kush day 57.....I have a cut of the white next to it..very similiar

The white

That kappo cut looks bubba to me with those upward facing calyxes going purple. @jimmy the hat

I have no experience with bubba.....so your most likely correct....I should google a bubba pic.....your pic looks more like the white than mine does.... very frosty plants

Fresh Starts said:

That kappo cut looks bubba to me with those upward facing calyxes going purple. @jimmy the hat

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Looks more like the mom to me too. Looking really good jimmy!