Maddabs710
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Quick question, can I use Silica gel to feed my plants?
Quick question, can I use Silica gel to feed my plants?
I was more refering to using the silica as a nutrientA lot of water conserving potting soils, like Miracle Grow, mix it in with their mix to retain water. It works well, but if you have drainage issues, I wouldn't recommend it. If you have a dry environment, then it probably won't hurt. The stuff they use is typically much smaller in size than std silica gel packets.
Hey, so to revive an old thread, I’m looking at the Silica Gel Desiccant packs because of my understanding with silicon for plants. So clearly I don’t want Silica Gel, but right now I’m trying to figure out how to make silicon dioxide (SiO2) from Silica Gel, if the process isn’t too hard, I could save money buying Silica for my plants if I can convert/use the Silica gel desiccant packs. Just putting it out there if anyone has an idea. My first inclination was to just soak them! Ahah, I know that’s only gonna cause problems. But yeah, would be cool if anyone had any thoughts on how to convert the Silica.
Am I trippin?
View attachment 1077057View attachment 1077056
Should I try to dissolve a few pure Silica gel desiccant beads into some water and feed the plants with it or foliar spray with it?
Edit: Not that easy, Some of the beads popped in half but all remain solid pieces of Silica gel regardless of soaking in hot water. Maybe removing the gel bit by cooking it down or I haven’t gotten that far yet. View attachment 1077075
The answer is yes.
If the chemical name is the same, you can use it. However exercise caution, many products have additives. I would only trust products that list the ingredients to be sure.
SiO2 is SiO2
yeah, I forget which source I read this from, but it was explaining somewhat the process of how they make the gel and it involved heating it to something crazy like 900 C* and then filling it with this “xerogel” and whatever else for the blue gels and color changing ones I guess. So I’m not sure how exactly to break it down. I save them because they have many uses, and they keep coming every time I buy something that would benefit from such. So it would be so cool to figure out a simple step to prepare it into a bioavailable form. Like I can’t dissolve the beads, they soak up water but remain hard solid beads, except some break on first contact in the water.
True. Good point, I can always search the internet for some easy or fancy answer. However, thanks to flu, I can wear one of my already available masks and go outside or in a well ventilated area and conduct some experiments with some clones or something. I’d be interested to see the results. I’ll keep all y’all posted on any of my findings. Then again I wouldn’t mind just having a few extra desiccant packs laying around if it’s too much trouble.I'm sure you would have to mill them down to a powder. Creating a dust that is most likely lethal if inhaled.
I save them too, but as you said for other reasons. I mean it's worth a shot, if you have the means to do it. What could it hurt to try it out?