Bruce Bugbee Series - Effects of Potassium Silicate

What are the effects of potassium silicate on plant health and in the rootzone?
Athena Ag, Inc is honored to be partnering with Dr. Bruce Bugbee and his research team to promote plant eduction to cultivators as well as more extensive research and development on existing and new potential products coming to market.
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About Dr. Bruce Bugbee:
Dr. Bruce Bugbee is an American scientist with a prestigious educational and research background with degrees from the University of Minnesota (Bachelor of Science), University of California, Davis (Master of Science), and Penn State University (Ph.D.). His work includes research into space farming with NASA to help develop regenerative life support systems. He and his students developed a dwarf variety of wheat that has been used in several studies on the Space Station, and he is currently working with NASA to study the use of fiber optics for growing plants in space.
After 34-years Dr, Bugbee is still located at Utah State University, where he is the Director of the Crop Physiology Laboratory. Athena is proud to be partnering with him in our pursuit of commitment; to never stop innovating. Innovation distinguishes a leader from a follower. Partnering with Dr. Bruce Bugbee at Utah State University allows Athena access to a team of research analysts running trials for various studies. Results to further develop better products and more consistent methods of cultivating the plant we all love.

[@RookieBuds]

Potassium Silicate is so badass, IT GOES TO 11 !!! 🤘

[@jjjjjasonjjjjjackson]

Once again Bruce, you have not brought me down but have lifted me up. Ty for the advise on raising the solution to 11 when adding the potassium silicate in order to make it soluble to the plants. Simply Brilliant

[@pursaveer9027]

Rice hulls are used in pyrotechnics to coat black powder onto. Tests were done to evaluate rice hull charcoal for use in the black powder itself, as an ingredient. It performed poorly compared to over 20 other types, and it was said to be due to the very high silica content of the grasses. Bamboo is the same thing. When I cut it with a power saw, it made sparks. I wonder if these types of plants have special abilities to solubilize the silica they need? Just curious. I bet Dr. Bruce Bugbee would know :)

[@lessmigrantsmorewalls8392]

No talking

[@freedom_born]

Indeed, bamboo being one of, if not the highest holder of organic silica.

[@dropsofink1336]

Brilliantly done. Thank you again Athena!

[@chrissoto9882]

Always dropping knowledge, thank you guys

[@603livefreeordie]

Thank you Professor! I have learned so much from you.

[@adhesivegenetics3489]

New drop let's go

[@chastheplayer8367]

Yes i use silica…very good additive

[@Docriversburner]

Love the song love the info tnx

[@laurieedeburn2449]

thanks

[@chaseD707]

Fire!!! Perfect timing I swear as soon as I ordered my pro line 1 gal kit the Dr Bruce podcast came out and now these to get that fat knowledge dump and absolutely kill it on this harvest! So pumped! Appreciate you guys

[@athenacultivation]

Let us know if you have any questions or concerns!

[@danstellmach5679]

What’s the podcast called?

[@canha_patch1211]

So would we mix the silica in a smaller batch of water to take it to 11 PH then bring it back down and add that to our main reservoir without having to change the entire res PH

[@drgr33nUK]

I'd be interested to hear Bruce discuss the differences between Potassium silicate and Silicon Dioxide nanoparticles. The later is meant to be a lit more soluble.

[@joseacevedo909]

The most soluble form of Silicate for plants is called MonoSilicic Acid (Si(OH)4) I have a (PHD in Phytochemistry). Also suits great with acidic loving Cultivars.

[@madchem184]

How much mg/l silicate is needed for cannabis?

[@Cabriellopez]

What about diatomaceous earth?

[@coquicrops]

if using tap water at around 9pH can I add Balance and it should bring it up to 11pH since it says to use as pH up?

[@todd.mitchell]

Does Wollastonite steal phosphorus in solution as Ca & P combine to form hydroxyapetite?

[@sachinkumar-yp8mf]

Can we mix potassium silicate solution with compost and spread to field

[@heierkaseandergabel2821]

i´ve heard that rice hulls can contain high amount of arsenic, becauso its capapble of suck it out of the media without getting damage from it. Does anybody know more about this topic?

[@everennui1]

What about Silicon Dioxide (SiO2)?

[@markolewink5623]

Why don't you guys talk about mono/orthosilicic acid?

[@mrbuffett1422]

Great information here - lots of misinformation online about this topic. Am I correct in assuming there is no need to adjust my water pH from 8.5 to add just 20 ppm of Potassium Silicate? The way I understand it, to mix a larger amount of Potassium Silicate in solution you would need to first put the pH to 11, but just 20 ppm, the amount recommended in the video, is fine to mix at a pH of anywhere from 6 to 11.

[@doktorhunggari4415]

I understand both the powdered and liquid forms of potassium silicate have a pH11. They both need buffering. And they are both soluble in water. It's the silica that needs the alkalinity to dissolve. Calcium silicate is the better choice in soils. Less worry of tipping the NPK balance. Imho✌️

[@dude9127]

just put your liquid p-silicate first in the reservoir, then lower ph smaller 7.0 and then add nutes and finally adjust ph to 5.8. with this procedure you are fine. the doc talks of p-silicate in it's pure form, therefore he mentions low solubility at low ph. p-silicate in bottles is dissolved at ph11.3, this is your stsrting point. he did not clarify this aspect very well..

[@cookinsdabest]

What about humans? Is there a form of silica that can be absorbed to strengthen our bones?

[@anyhuman100]

What about vermiculite? You’ve previously said adding it to the medium at 50% thereof takes care of all the needs?

[@PerpetualRetrospect]

That video was years ago, in more recent videos/years he has stated that Vermiculite did not release the Si at an effective enough of a rate to justify using it due to cost and now recommends perlite instead and supplementing Si through other means (Wollastonite, rice hulls etc). That's the great thing about science, you review the data and adjust your practices based on your observations/new information.

[@eggspanda2475]

wossup Bruce

[@gorehammer1]

So since I’m running Athena in rock wool and Athena wants me to adjust ph to 5.5 do I take it up to 6 when running potassium silicate and then adjust back down after day 21? Or do I keep feeding at 5.5 and keep the substrate around 6-6.5?

[@athenacultivation]

We prefer 5.5-5.8 PH in Veg and 5.8-6.2 PH in flower.

[@dudeleboski2692]

3:23 professor, how stable is it once you’ve dropped it down to 6PH & how long will it stay there or will it fluctuate after being stored for a month for example?

[@GenomX]

uygulama esnasında pH düşürülecek.

[@sebby007]

How much Wollastonite powder should be added to Coco? I think in another video 1g/L of medium was mentioned. Is that accurate?

[@MikeBrown-ob9ic]

Iv done 150g it pushs the ph up slightly about .3 of a point in the runoff. at 500grams you get large ph swing which can be problematic about 1.2 points. This would push your media runoff up to about 7 if your coco was starting at 5.8.

[@forevatreats1012]

Is it not true that potassium silicate converts to or creates mono silic acid when it is within a ph range of 6?

[@dusty4208]

We appreciate your work, Ive been using Power SI (original formula) in Veg. My PH is always between 6 & 6.5. Should I mix the Power Si in a 5 gallon bucket with 12PH water then pour into 30 gal res. and adjust mixed res down to 6? are the rice hulls better and Easy to use in Coco? I’ve never really noticed a difference using the Si Maybe this explains why. Thanks

[@stangcobra592]

I have also noticed no difference running silica versus not, plant genetics play the most important role in plant growth and structure.

[@heinzhaupthaar5590]

Ime it only makes an apparent difference in certain media with otherwise basically no Si availability at all. In most cases it's effect aren't very noticeable as it's merely an increase in availability, not a jump from none at all to ideal levels. And how do you notice a certain increase in overall resistance to fungi, bacteria and pests without tightly monitored control group after all? But it's basically for free and studies show a definitive effect, so it should be standard. Also don't buy that ridiculously overpriced hydro nutrient supplement crap water. Just buy regular old potassium silicate/potassium waterglas, it'll do. Same thing, just less watered-down and cheap as dirt per m³ of nutrient solution at 25ppm Si - but comes without the fancy marketing and labels. Edit: Oh, and yeah. I always mix the waterglas into a bucket of straight RO/DI water with no buffering capacity before giving it into the rest of the RO water for the nutrient solution before adding nutrients and buffer. Works just fine and without anything to buffer I'm pretty sure it gets its ph to were it needs to be by itself. After all it's already very alkaline and already in solution in the first place. But if you're anxious you can drop in a tiny bit of lye to drop the ph, potassium or sodium won't matter much at those low levels.

[@coquicrops]

powersi = monosilicic acid = readily available potassium silicate is a different form of silica

[@dusty4208]

@@coquicrops good to know. Thanks

[@heinzhaupthaar5590]

@@coquicrops Which is an inferior form to purchase after all, due to the necessity to keep Si concentrations very very low - ie you buy overpriced water with a pinch Si. If used properly (meaning first diluted in water at suitable concentration and suitable ph, then massively diluted again into the remaining clean water, then add diluted nutrients, Ca/Mg containing should supposedly be last but I doubt if there's any difference at that point.) you get monosilicic acid in solution from good old potassium silicate just as well as with overpriced nonsense products. They might be more convenient, but that's about all there is. There's no real benefit in plant availability whatsoever. If you f'k it up, right, you'll end up with polymeric silicates or precipitate. If you do it right though potassium silicate is the superior choice for multiple reasons.

[@tombryant4518]

What about just using monosilicic acid? What are its pros and cons?

[@athenacultivation]

Monosilic Acid is great in aiding plants through heavy environmental stresses. You can use it as a foliar spray with Stack and IPM if you'd like.

[@saifulhanif20]

Potassium silicate can be added to rain water instead of RO water.

[@athenacultivation]

Yes no problem.

[@user-cb6ll3so3q]

Is monosilic acid better?

[@athenacultivation]

Monosilic acids are great to spray with. We do NOT recommend mixing Monosilic acids in the resi.

[@garyking6423]

I was wondering if anyone can help me with this I was told that you should reduce the amount of water at the end to increase the amount of resin and THC

[@athenacultivation]

The last two weeks of the plants life, we use planned stresses such as heavy P3 dry backs (overnight dry backs) to get the plant to produce more trichomes, cannabinoid's, and terpene's as a defense mechanism. Here's a link to our handbook where you can find our "Pro Irrigation Strategy" that goes into detail regarding this "Generative Steer".

[@roncozad4108]

Lovin me some wollastonite my girls have got some thick ass stalks and stems!!!!!!! No PD problems and then some.

[@0hleg]

nah this song wayyyy tooo trippy

[@GenomX]

Is phosphoric acid suitable for adjusting pH to 6?