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Help me ID this…mite?

Rama777 67 Replies 7,064 Views
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#42
@Rama777 I forgot to mention that diatomaceous earth is not a drastic meassure, many people use it even if they dont have bugs to ammend the soil because the silica slowly becomes available for the plant and thats all that DE is, fosilized microalgae in form of silica crystals. Silica boosts the inmune system of your plant and makes the stems thicker, its a basic building block like calcium but not demanded as much. Even the buds are made partially of silica. Most soils already contain silica but you can also buy expensive silica boosters, or use unexpensive diatomaceous earth.
 
#43
Eledin said:
Happens, sometimes I dont even know in what thread I am anymore or where I said what hahaha.
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that's most of the time for me lmfao. Im very dyslexic, so i tend to skim if spacing isnt exaggerated, but i can also touch type 100+ wpm, honestly faster then i usually talk, so i also tend to ramble on about nothing a lot.
 
#44
Eledin said:
@Rama777 I forgot to mention that diatomaceous earth is not a drastic meassure, many people use it even if they dont have bugs to ammend the soil because the silica slowly becomes available for the plant and thats all that DE is, fosilized microalgae in form of silica crystals. Silica boosts the inmune system of your plant and makes the stems thicker, its a basic building block like calcium but not demanded as much. Even the buds are made partially of silica. Most soils already contain silica but you can also buy expensive silica boosters, or use unexpensive diatomaceous earth.
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If you plant in ground and you have a high sand, clay, or shale content with a healthy soil ecosystem, you're also pretty set on silica, for pretty much an eternity lol.

DE is wonderful stuff, its one of those things i keep around and throw down so often in so many places i forget to even mention i use it most of the time lmao. I imagine the reason ive never once had a root aphid problem is my gregarious use of DE. I even put it in the windowsills while summer is swinging through fall into winter lol.
 
#45
Thatoneguyyouknow_ said:
If you plant in ground and you have a high sand, clay, or shale content with a healthy soil ecosystem, you're also pretty set on silica, for pretty much an eternity lol.

DE is wonderful stuff, its one of those things i keep around and throw down so often in so many places i forget to even mention i use it most of the time lmao. I imagine the reason ive never once had a root aphid problem is my gregarious use of DE. I even put it in the windowsills while summer is swinging through fall into winter lol.
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Indeed! Those minerals are full of silica. Perlite is also full of silica aswell but it takes too long to decay to consider it indoors, unless you reuse the soil. Potassium silicate is what those silica boosters use, the most expensive ones might use a little bit of silicium dioxide which is absorved quicker. Thats the case of Rhino Skin from AN, the high price comes mostly because of the silicium dioxide but its mostly potassium silicate. I do have potassium silicate in liquid form but because it was 7 euros for 1 liter, spanish brand called Top Crop, they also sell the more expensive version with readily available silica for the great price of 100 euros 1 liter LMAO. Even Rhino Skin from AN is too expensive and its 24 euros per liter here. At some point youre spending a lot of money for readily available silica when you can just use diatomaceous earth. Sure, it wont be all absorved instantly but you dont need to as its absorved constantly but slower. I have no doubt that pricy silica boosters that use other more available forms of silica can come very handy if you grow hydroponic, with or without reservoir, or with synthetic nutes, but if youre going organic there's no need to get riped off like that.
 
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#46
#47
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#50
katraiter said:
Yeah I need glasses 🤓 Got closer saw hairs and was like damnit! I was wrong 😭 🤗🤓
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Thats me when Im watching the trichomes in my plants 😂. I also need glasses but for some reason I dont care 🤪 gotta be checking the trichomes extra times to make sure I didnt miss any amber. My hand held microscope is quite shitty too that doesnt help but at least comes with a LED... ehm... yeah I need something better eventually, Im rebuilding my "empire" slowly 😄
 
#51
Eledin said:
Indeed! Those minerals are full of silica. Perlite is also full of silica aswell but it takes too long to decay to consider it indoors, unless you reuse the soil. Potassium silicate is what those silica boosters use, the most expensive ones might use a little bit of silicium dioxide which is absorved quicker. Thats the case of Rhino Skin from AN, the high price comes mostly because of the silicium dioxide but its mostly potassium silicate. I do have potassium silicate in liquid form but because it was 7 euros for 1 liter, spanish brand called Top Crop, they also sell the more expensive version with readily available silica for the great price of 100 euros 1 liter LMAO. Even Rhino Skin from AN is too expensive and its 24 euros per liter here. At some point youre spending a lot of money for readily available silica when you can just use diatomaceous earth. Sure, it wont be all absorved instantly but you dont need to as its absorved constantly but slower. I have no doubt that pricy silica boosters that use other more available forms of silica can come very handy if you grow hydroponic, with or without reservoir, or with synthetic nutes, but if youre going organic there's no need to get riped off like that.
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Most municipal tap water is already fairly saturated with potassium silicate, usually in plenty for most plants. Not always, unfortunately some of us live near Flint, Chicago, or Compton, but in most cases, you're getting plenty if using untreated municipal tap water. Hydro or otherwise. Not that you should be using tap water in hydro though lol. Personally the only context ive ever really noticed any difference at all with silica supplements is when using multi-part lineups intentionally designed to need it, or im using very simple regiments with RO, distilled, or well water, or hydroponic mediums, and even then, not usually. I tried for years to see the benefit in the products, and there is, but only in very specific contexts. I will be using silica supplements on my indoor girls here at the new property. But because indoors im only breeding, and Im using cheap ass GH nutrients and RO filtered well water with a pretty bodged soil mix with whats available locally lol. Rural mountains. Ill likely see good benefit with the supplements in that context. My outdoor plants though, if i hit them with silica it would just be to feel good about it, i guess, im not sure what else it would do besides raise soil alkalinity over time.

If its not obvious, i think im agreeing with you lmao.

Eledin said:
Im rebuilding my "empire" slowly 😄
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I know this feeling lol.
 
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#52
GNick55 said:
too control he can start by letting the soil dry out an extra day before waterings..
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IIRC rama's profession is essentially horticulture. He prob just wants a for sure, consensus ID if that's even possible, because i imagine that's potentially a lot more important for him to know, then it would be for most of us. Neither him nor me have seen those in this region before. He was dm'ing me about em before i noticed the thread lol. I went on a nearly 2 hour hunt through the yard everywhere i could think that would harbor mites, and i found tons, bugs of all kinds ive never seen before, but none of these. But i wasn't checking anything moldy or old and dead specifically, so i wouldn't have probably seen any mold mites. Me not finding any in the specific places i looked, is probably actually evidence in favor of them being mold mites lol.

The one thin im fairly confident about, is that IF they are crown mites, they were probably introduced rather then natural, i can't find a spinach crown mite anywhere around here, not even on my unsprayed spinach crowns lol.


There's wild shit in our neck of the woods though too. ive already put a couple highly virulent local necrotic strains of local PM thats way nastier then any ive seen before anywhere else on agar petris in the fridge for the dept of ag.. A giant hornet too. Im going to use the spare agar cultures to test the PM resistance of my own strains.
 
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#53
Thatoneguyyouknow_ said:
Most municipal tap water is already fairly saturated with potassium silicate, usually in plenty for most plants. Not always, unfortunately some of us live near Flint, Chicago, or Compton, but in most cases, you're getting plenty if using untreated municipal tap water. Hydro or otherwise. Not that you should be using tap water in hydro though lol. Personally the only context ive ever really noticed any difference at all with silica supplements is when using multi-part lineups intentionally designed to need it, or im using very simple regiments with RO, distilled, or well water, or hydroponic mediums, and even then, not usually. I tried for years to see the benefit in the products, and there is, but only in very specific contexts. I will be using silica supplements on my indoor girls here at the new property. But because indoors im only breeding, and Im using cheap ass GH nutrients and RO filtered well water with a pretty bodged soil mix with whats available locally lol. Rural mountains. Ill likely see good benefit with the supplements in that context. My outdoor plants though, if i hit them with silica it would just be to feel good about it, i guess, im not sure what else it would do besides raise soil alkalinity over time.

If its not obvious, i think im agreeing with you lmao.


I know this feeling lol.
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We agreefor the most part yes hahaha. There are studies that show that giving silica to your plants besides the one in the soil and water is better than not giving any extra, even if the soil and the water already have silica. Plants eat A LOT of silica, almost as much as NPK and calcium and you do replenish those right? Charts that have silica boosters in them are advanced charts because if you give your plant good nutrients and keep it healthy it will be able to process more silica. The same happens with calcium, plants that are thriving use more calcium that plants that are just OK, and more NPK, and more everything. Outdoors, if you are using a plot of land, you should also replenish the available silica content. Yes you will have silica forever in certain soils but clay and sand takes a loong time to decompose and diatomaceous earth degrades way quicker. You will have constant silica yes, but your plant could have more. You wouldnt also be raising soil alkalinity overtime because if you use the right ammount its gonna degrade before the next top dressing and will be inside the plant already. Potassium silicate even faster because its water soluble. Of course too much is also bad like everything and of course youre gonna notice the benefits more if your plant is able to eat more because she is thriving. Here is just one of many studies that show that increasing silica uptake for plants does give results even outdoors and with tap water, there's plenty more in google scholar.
 
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#54
I would also like to correct myself as silicium dioxide is the slow absorption form of silica and is what DE is made of, but you can make it more readily available by using aditives like silicic acid or ph stabilizers which is why some of those products are so expensive. You cant just use potassium silicate if you have auto irrigation for example, it would clog it, same with silicium dioxide, so you have no other choice than going for the expensive ones if you want more silica. Athena balance has silica that you can use with irrigation system but is not cheap, and those guys know what theyre doing. If I could afford Athena and it were 100% organic I would 100% use it but its a mix of bio mineral and organic and probably something synthetic aswell. Still considered the best line by many and voted the best line in spannabis 2024. I know several people from Spain that swaped to Athena as soon as it became available here, and theyre some serious growers... not like me, I plant mostly for myself but these people I talk about move a lot of money with high quality hydroponic weed.
 
#56
Zatoichi said:
If they are in soil/coco using BTI mosquito dunks in water helps. Best to collect water a day in advance and but one in it so the bacteria multiplies. Some say diatemecious earth layer, others use sticky tape on stalks.
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Sticky traps on stalks sounds like an awesome scouting tactic!
 
#57
Eledin said:
We agreefor the most part yes hahaha. There are studies that show that giving silica to your plants besides the one in the soil and water is better than not giving any extra, even if the soil and the water already have silica. Plants eat A LOT of silica, almost as much as NPK and calcium and you do replenish those right? Charts that have silica boosters in them are advanced charts because if you give your plant good nutrients and keep it healthy it will be able to process more silica. The same happens with calcium, plants that are thriving use more calcium that plants that are just OK, and more NPK, and more everything. Outdoors, if you are using a plot of land, you should also replenish the available silica content. Yes you will have silica forever in certain soils but clay and sand takes a loong time to decompose and diatomaceous earth degrades way quicker. You will have constant silica yes, but your plant could have more. You wouldnt also be raising soil alkalinity overtime because if you use the right ammount its gonna degrade before the next top dressing and will be inside the plant already. Potassium silicate even faster because its water soluble. Of course too much is also bad like everything and of course youre gonna notice the benefits more if your plant is able to eat more because she is thriving. Here is just one of many studies that show that increasing silica uptake for plants does give results even outdoors and with tap water, there's plenty more in google scholar.
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Even a hydroponic plant leaves potassium silica behind if its above 120ppm lol.

They do not consume as much silica as you think. Yea it's used for cell watts, and resin head structure, but there is absolutely 100% a "too much" context for silica. Especially in hydroponic using more then about 120ppm of silica additive will cause all sorts of screwy PH problems if your plant doesnt uptake the amount you are given. If you;re in something like DWC this would mean excessive flushing throughout the grow to prevent problems.

Too much silica also deminishes resin content and quite hugely amplifies the thickness of the walls of the resin head structure, and it makes them reflect more light. According to lab testing through commercial facilities back in KC, the over dosed in silica flower was indeed frostier, and it was indeed prettier, but across the board it had lower resin content, and the kief fell off the flower far easier. The simple *truth* is that silica, although an essential element, has become a market money grab because its something you can overdose plants on without actually killing them or burning them unlike with Calo-mag, the old money grab that there was more then enough of in basically all known municipal water sources.


I did double blinds with controls man, multiple strains, clone only phenos, over close to a decade of time. In 9/10 contexts it is being used today, the silica isnt doing anything for your plant but making the stems stronger, and making the resin head shells thicker, lowering total resin content, and making easily kiefed flower. That's very impressive flower to a lot of people, it's a waste of time to me though.


*The only context i was able to note benefits to using a silica additive, was when using multi part nutrients designed to need them, or if i was running RO or distilled water in hydro. That's literally it.

Trichome coverage and size at most, only loosely affects resin content and actual perceived potency, and it can actually affect it in a negative way. Using too much silica, like most that use it today are, is resulting in dry, super kiefy/frosty flower available EVERYWHERE now... I know exactly what's causing that, ive done the experiementing, just like the micronized sulfur and unsulfured cheap molasses causing the sparky buds. And there is a reason ill only use silica additives in a specific context, because it doesnt matter how much frostier it makes your flowers look, its not making it better lol It doesn't do that. It can't do that. Silica is a structural element in a plant. Even going over just a little bit wont cause noticable problems in your plant's health, but will actually makes the flower burn a bit hotter and take longer to cure as well. But if you dont have a control group, you have no way to determine that for yourself.


Silica and cal-mag both are only actually beneficial in very specific contexts, and neither one are likely to mess up a plant when over-dosed, (although ive seen plenty N tox a flowering plant with cal mag lol)and that is exactly why they are so hyped by manufacturers in the current market
 
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#58
Eledin said:
We agreefor the most part yes hahaha. There are studies that show that giving silica to your plants besides the one in the soil and water is better than not giving any extra, even if the soil and the water already have silica. Plants eat A LOT of silica, almost as much as NPK and calcium and you do replenish those right? Charts that have silica boosters in them are advanced charts because if you give your plant good nutrients and keep it healthy it will be able to process more silica. The same happens with calcium, plants that are thriving use more calcium that plants that are just OK, and more NPK, and more everything. Outdoors, if you are using a plot of land, you should also replenish the available silica content. Yes you will have silica forever in certain soils but clay and sand takes a loong time to decompose and diatomaceous earth degrades way quicker. You will have constant silica yes, but your plant could have more. You wouldnt also be raising soil alkalinity overtime because if you use the right ammount its gonna degrade before the next top dressing and will be inside the plant already. Potassium silicate even faster because its water soluble. Of course too much is also bad like everything and of course youre gonna notice the benefits more if your plant is able to eat more because she is thriving. Here is just one of many studies that show that increasing silica uptake for plants does give results even outdoors and with tap water, there's plenty more in google scholar.
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i stopped using silica additives outdoors in ground in KC because it was raising soil alkalinity over time and i had bothered to do test grows with controls lol.


All the potassium silicate in my well water is doing the same to my outdoor patch, i had to put soil acidifier down last week to combat the issues it was causing. I dont RO the water for the patch, its just too much damn water. Alkalinity was going high enough i was starting to see some micro lockouts on my smaller girls. Im dealing with alkalinity the problems potassium silicate and calcium acetate (the dominant dissolved solids in my well, and the minerals that keep it at like 8ph and force me to RO so it can hold other minerals instead) can cause right now, actually. Plant roots do not fill every square inch of soil in ground like they do in a container, they spread out, minerals and salts will build. Theres a shale layer a few feet down that perches the water table where im at too. Is where i had to stop digging for amending. In ground too much potassium silicate absolutely, 100%, without question, raises topsoil alkalinity over time lol. That's not even debatable. If there's abundant calcium around, it makes it even worse.

Especially if you are following the on bottle directions of a silica additive, you are likely giving you plant 3-5x more then it would ever need to thrive, and are probably damaging your resin content and making your buds kief easier then they would otherwise in the pursuit of nothing but bag appeal


My most potent lab tested run ive ever done. tested at 33% thc, was a bubba kush x gelato F2 pheno. I ran that plant with nothing but tap water, and flora micro and flora bloom in DWC *just to prove a point to a commercial grower friend in KC that the $4500 he was spending every 2 months on silica was pointless since he was using municipal tap water.** Didnt use cal mag, didnt use silica, didnt even use the flora grow. Micro, bloom, and municipal tap water.

Wasn;t expecting it to be my highest resin content, highest THC run ive ever done, was just trying to show someone else how little you can really get by on because i had a commercial grower loosing money on his own investments. This F2 is def frostier when overdosed on silica, yea, its prob be easier to sell. I didn't have to use the YoYos when i used silica, she held herself better, i did without it. But the flower was better without the silica, as my experiementing with every lineage i had at the time showed. I spent the last 2 years in KC growing DWC with nothing but 2 of 3 flora parts, and tap water, and had the best indoor growing results ive ever had tbh, across the board. I did have to use more YoYos though, a lot more yoyos

But the flower is hands down better without being overdosed on a mineral. And that applies to just about any specific mineral. Tastes better, smokes better, burns cooler, and better lung fill without it, kind of across the board. In my own personal experience, Too much silica does a similar thing to a flower that too much N does, resin head and kief wise, it just doesnt burn or stifle flower development like N tox does. It makes it prettier to look at, but thats about it.

It's not the silica that raises the soil alkalinity though, its potassium silicate being broken down into base elements, and *Not* being immediately up taken or consumed by something. If your PH goes too high, a silica additive with potassium silica can actually burn your leaves with potassium toxicity very rapidly, ive had it happen a couple times years ago in DWC, Never even realized it was the silica additives causing the PH spikes until i removed them from the regiment either.

Ever since that moment ive lived by KISS essentially. The simpler i can make an effective regiment, the better results i come in to. The best quality outdoor ive ever smoked was grown on nothing but compost and goat manure.

Indoors, here, though, my own experiments have informed me, im currently in a context where cal-mag, and silica additives will be very beneficial though.


Totally irelevant, but P.s. small light leaks dont cause hermies. Even stress bananas are a genetic trait and i have the self bred lineages to prove that one too lmao.





Damn, ive gone waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay off topic here lol.
 

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#59
Well as I said, we agree that too much is bad, we dont agree about what is too much. Tap water that has 30ppm of silica or more is considered high (I dont know about well water, and I doubt most people use well water) and your soil might have silica but theres one problem with the one in the soil, it will also deplete quite a bit as shown in studies made for food crops (Im aware that fruits need more than vegs and so on but this is for every single comercial crop). I cant find one particular study that showed how after only 4 years (dont remember the crop, I think it was wheat) the land lost almost all of its silica and started giving smaller and smaller production every year until they decided to pay for someone to see what was going on and that study was born. Anyway theres plenty more, have 3 more:
link.springer.com

Effects of Silicon and Phosphatic Fertilization on Rice Yield and Soil Fertility - Journal of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of silicon and phosphatic fertilization on rice yield and soil fertility. Three levels of silicon (Si) fertilization i.e., SiO2: 45, 135, and 225 kg hm−2 and the two phosphatic fertilizer i.e., P2O5: 15 and 45 kg hm−2 for each of calcium...
link.springer.com link.springer.com

I could keep going but I think that the one I sent you before this post and those 3 are more than enough hahaha. I do agree with the fact that bigger doesnt necessarily mean better quality but if I can get more and the same quality I will do that of course. Your particular case outdoors might not be the case for many other growers, specially growers that dont grow in high clay or sand soil, it depletes overtime.

And yes if you use too much you will rise alkalinity thats why you can only top dress every so often with DE, not whenever you feel like it. DE can be very harmful if you pass the dosage for bio mineral and synthetic, for organic you need to use a lot to bother the plants since 7ish ph more or less is totally fine. I still ph my water because it still makes it easier for minerals to be absorved anyway though. I trust your study but I also trust the studies I see in google scholar and I think they dont have to necessarily contradict each other, what youre saying is basically "too much silica is bad" which we already agreed on. How much is too much silica? Well that depends on the plants, the nutes you use, the soil and the water. If you say (I never grown in hydro) that 120ppm is what is adviced for hydro when it comes to silica, is still way more than what you will get with tap water, which you shouldnt be using for hydro anyway, and coco and arlite are not gonna release enough silica either.

"Especially if you are following the on bottle directions of a silica additive, you are likely giving you plant 3-5x more then it would ever need to thrive, and are probably damaging your resin content and making your buds kief easier then they would otherwise in the pursuit of nothing but bag appeal"
Yeah I have no doubt that many companies do that and not only with silica, calmag as you mentioned is often the reason of N toxicity and charts that have calmag sometimes have too much of it and you dont need it if you use tap water or/and and a line that has calmag already incorporated in the base liquid or other supplement not only based on silica. I use my own calcium from eggshells made available with vinegar, not sure if youre familiar, probably you are, the ph of the vinegar goes to exactly 7 if you do it right and its full of calcium with an irrelevant ammount of nitrogen.

"But the flower is hands down better without being overdosed on a mineral. And that applies to just about any specific mineral. Tastes better, smokes better, burns cooler, and better lung fill without it, kind of across the board. In my own personal experience, Too much silica does a similar thing to a flower that too much N does, resin head and kief wise, it just doesnt burn or stifle flower development like N tox does. It makes it prettier to look at, but thats about it."
Again, we agree, too much of anything is bad. That said, Ive been using silica for about 3 years now, 1 top dressing in veg and one in flower, not a lot of course like a couple of tablespoons in veg and then in flower I add a bit more because the silica in the soil has already been eaten for the most part. I also tried Rhyno Skin and it works but not so much so that the price is justified. I beg to differ in the sense that its only bag appeal, bigger buds = more surface for trichomes so more trichomes per square foot right? Asuming youre using the right ammount of silica of course, if youre losing trichomes because you dont know what youre doing with your nutes then its not worth it even if therye bigger.

"It's not the silica that raises the soil alkalinity though, its potassium silicate being broken down into base elements, and *Not* being immediately up taken or consumed by something. If your PH goes too high, a silica additive with potassium silica can actually burn your leaves with potassium toxicity very rapidly, ive had it happen a couple times years ago in DWC, Never even realized it was the silica additives causing the PH spikes until i removed them from the regiment either."
And it can be way worse than that, youre gonna cause a nutrient lockout if your PH is too high but thats why you dont use too much! Hahaha. In your case, if your water is loaded with potassium silicate then I guess for outdoors youre set, mine isnt and I guess that will vary depending on where you live. Even inside Spain which is minuscule compared to the USA tap water is very different depending on where you live.

"The best quality outdoor ive ever smoked was grown on nothing but compost and goat manure."
Both have silica, assuming the compost is balanced which I assume it was if the results were good (Proper nitrogen to carbon ratio). If I add diatomaceous earth Im not gonna also use potassium silicate, that bottle is there because it was cheap and I use it as a ph up for my nutes, I only have PH down from General Hydroponics, my PH up is potassium silicate (which is what some ph ups use anyway) but I very rarely need to make it higher (usually the first 3 weeks of flower only which is when an additive that I use with 3ph called alfa boost, plus Iguana Juice, plus big bud and they all have acids that might leave it below 6.)

It's not the silica that raises the soil alkalinity though, its potassium silicate being broken down into base elements
Both DE and potassium silicate have a high PH before it breaks down and after it breaks dow, from 5 to 10 when it comes to DE (calcinated DE has higher PH) and the bottle I have of potassium silicate... well see for yourself
1722616806621

The bottle is so old that is losing the ink, thats how little I use it (as I said only for PH up and a little bit is enough, and I use DE so I dont really use this for anything else than that)
I think that we seem to agree for the most part like I said, the only thing where we dont agree is not needing to use any silica outdoors if youre using the same plot, for the same part seems like we are going in circles here, we agree that too much is bad we dont agree on the fact that silica supplements are useless outdoors, youre using well water that seems that has a lot of potassium silicate and thats not the case for most people. DE doesnt stay around for very long when youre watering constantly unlike other dry ammendments.
"Indoors, here, though, my own experiments have informed me, im currently in a context where cal-mag, and silica additives will be very beneficial though."
I bet! I only grow indoors and in my experience there was a milestone before and after starting to use silica, not a huge one, but noticeable enough that I kept using it every grow.

"My most potent lab tested run ive ever done. tested at 33% thc, was a bubba kush x gelato F2 pheno. I ran that plant with nothing but tap water, and flora micro and flora bloom in DWC *just to prove a point to a commercial grower friend in KC that the $4500 he was spending every 2 months on silica was pointless since he was using municipal tap water.** Didnt use cal mag, didnt use silica, didnt even use the flora grow. Micro, bloom, and municipal tap water.
Thats quite impressive, congratulations! But is not conclusive, would have been higher would you had use a little bit of silica and other micronutrients as additives? Probably, even though flora tripart has all thats needed. You DONT need to add silica to your plants, but is better if you give a bit, same with chitosan, hormones, etc... you dont need them for proper weed but its gonna help. You would have to run the same side by side and compare. Theres a point where you are actually going to long extents for little gains, but those little gains are what distinguish expensive weed from less expensive weed. At some point youre paying A LOT for a premium experience.

" Never even realized it was the silica additives causing the PH spikes until i removed them from the regiment either."
Thats not silica's additives fault but rather yours for not knowing that silica rises soil PH and you have to counterbalance it sometimes :P silica improves nutrient uptake if your PH is right.

"Totally irelevant, but P.s. small light leaks dont cause hermies. Even stress bananas are a genetic trait and i have the self bred lineages to prove that one too lmao."
Agreed, outdoors they have the light of the moon so theyre used to certain levels of light during night cycle. As long as its not too much is okay.

Okay I think yes its time for us to discuss this further via PM if you wanna keep discussing it but I think its pretty clear what we think
1. Overusing silica or any other nutrient is bad: agreed
2. Using silica supplements outdoors is not necessary: agreed, but is way better if you do when your soil and your water dont contain enough silica, and that can happen if you use the same plot constantly.
3. Silica supplements are overpriced: that was my initial point and you stole it from me and made it your point 😂 Im not gonna spend 24 euros in a bottle of potassium silicate nor am I gonna overfeed them with silica. And dont get me started with the 50-100 euros per bottle silica supplements like the one I mentioned from Top Crop. They can go f themselves. The only reason they are still in market is because of hydroponic growers with irrigation system that cannot use potassium silicate nor silicon dioxide on their own.

Conclusion: As long as you dont overfeed it with silica is fine, which can apply with any other nutrient, so this conversation is not only long but quite pointless actually hahahahahaha I think we all know that using too much of something is not good. Your friend that tried to overdose them on silica clearly didnt know what he was doing.
Also youre not gonna notice great difference if you only up your game in 1 thing, there's too many variables for just one nutrient to make a huge difference, is the combined effort of keeping it all at its maxium potential without using too much.
 
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#60
After hours of research I must say that I learned more about tap water. Since it doesnt show in the typical analisis of tap water, I had to investigate for hours the content of silica of various people that used strips to meassure silicates. Some of them were growers, some of them were owners of fish tanks. The major concern about it seemed to be that in zones that you might encounter more silica the pipes can eventually clog and it can also cause diatoms to appear (which is totally fine). I found that for most parts of the world the standard is from 5 to 30mg/L which is a huge difference and in some places even 100mg/L naturally occur so I can see why you could be concerned about too much silica in your outdoors garden. Thank you for making me take the journey needed to learn something new! I like to learn about outdoors because I dont have one but I sure want to and will have one some day in the future. It has been way more productive than what I thought initially hahaha.
 
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