Thanks for the response.
I purposely don't use Potassium Silicate for the reasons you mention about its "special needs."
I'm glad you brought up silica. I once went way down an internet rabbit hole researching this topic.
I'll share what I learned. Maybe it can help others. But remember, I have only been growing for a little over a year.
My Happy Rant of Mono-Silicic Acid
When I first started learning about salt nutrients the one thing I liked was mostly instant availability to the plants.
As I continued to read (BillFarthing) on another board I learned about the beauty of using mono (ortho) - silicic acid (MSA) instead of potassium silicate for my silica needs.
Two Things Sold Me on MSA over other Forms of Silica.
1) Instantly available to the plants. No need to pass through a microbes alimentary canal first.
2) It doesn't mess with pH. At least for me, it doesn't cause pH issues.
Possible #3) I don't really think you need to make it the first thing in the water before moving on to other things the way you do with other silica sources. I still put it in first though. Just in case.
Which Mono-Silicic Acid To Buy?
I started with Alchemist MSA Stout -- I Didn't Know Better
Like a lot of folks in the forums, I started out with
"Stout MSA" because it was cheap.
Other options seemed so expensive. At least I thought when compared to Stout.
Then I Discovered Front Row Ag Si
Then I came across the one I use now: Front Row Ag Si. It cost me $91(delivered), but when you compare the dosing, nothing seems to come close when you consider the concentrations of each product.
For example, for the ones I looked at the dosing was 5ml a gallon and 1.66 ml per gallon.
Front Row Ags Mono-silicic acid calls for
0.125 ml - 0.500 mil. I have a hard time measuring that little of an amount.
For anyone reading this and saying there's no way I would spend $91 bucks on a liquid ... let's look at the numbers.
Compare Dosing Per Gallon
The bottle is a quart but let's crossover to metric since that's how dosing is measured.
One quart = 946 ml
Front Row Si -- How Many Doses in Each Quart
At the lowest dose (0.125) we are talking 7,568 gallons of Monosilicic Silicic Acid. (946/0.125 = 7568)
At the highest dose (0.500) we are still looking at 1,892 gallons of MSA. (946/0.500 = 1892)
I'm sharing all this because I was floored when I compared it to others on the market. And Front Row Si is 10% MSA.
How Much Money Are We Talking Here
Now the best part ... the cost of Front Row Ag Si
a) Let's just go with the highest dose and round it to $100 for the bottle.
$100.00 divided by 1,892 = $0.05 a gallon.
b) Now, let's look at the minimum dose of 0.125
$100.00 divided by 7,568 = $0.01 a gallon.
Let's Compare Front Row Si to Some Other MSA Options
Alchemist Stout MSA
It would only be fair to compare it to some other popular brands starting with Stout MSA.
Premier Hydro has it on sale for about $17.00 and with shipping and tax it's about $30 delivered:
If running hydro, it's 5 ml. I run coco so I use hydro numbers. But, for soil, it's 2 - 5 ml. Let's look at 2ml.
1000 ml divided by 2 = 500 gallons in a quart bottle
$30.00 divided by 500 = $0.06 a gallon.
Now for apples to apples for me since I use a hydro dose.
946 ml divided by 5 = 189 gallons
$30.00 divided by 189 = $0.16 a gallon
What is the Concentration MSA In Other Brands
It's been a while since did this research, but I think Stout is nowhere close to 10%. I did read the following on Rollitup forum:
"Concentration is 1.25% for Alchemist (Stout) vs 1.71% for PowerSi. This leads to a popular "premium" brand: Power SI.
I have no proof of either of those numbers.
What About Power Si?
One brand that I see has a big following is "Power Si", but their one liter is $150 on Amazon delivered. Yikes. Maybe it is cheaper somewhere, but let's go with this for brevity. They say for regular use is 3ml to 5 gallons or 1.67 ml per gallon.
1000 divided by 1.67 = 599 gallons
$150 divided by 599 = $0.25 a gallon
My Decision is Getting Easier
This is why (for the moment) I settle on Front Row Si. 10% concentration versus products less than 2%.The higher concentration explains the fractional doses.
Here is Another positive way to compare:
Front Row Ag =
• 7,568 gallons per bottle (0.125 ml/gal)
• ($0.01 per gal)
• (10% Concentration)
MSA Stout =
• 189 gallons per bottle (5 ml/gal)
• $0.16 per gal
• 16 times more expensive per gallon than Front Row Si
• 700% less concentrated (if 1.25% concentration is true)
Power Si =
• 599 gallons per bottle (1.67 ml/gal)
• $0.25 per gal
• 25 times more expensive per gallon than Front Row Si
• 465% less concentrated (if 1.71% concentration is true)
Dang ... Front Row should hire me.
S
Sorry it took me so long to return.
Ok silica doesn't mix well with anything.
What You need to do is feed silicate by itself in plain water.
Once a week I give everyone a drink with potassium silicate by its self.
Cal mag helps with uptake of nutrients, its important in coco.
Regardless of buffering you must put cal-mag in your plain water
First.
I wait 10 minutes then add nutrients in order, starting with micro.......etc as they are listed.
I'll have a look at that nutrient line when I get a minute.
But follow those recommendations.
Also a little drift in ph in the res is ok as long as you stay below 6.
What is the temp of the res?
#VIVOSUN #Love What You Grow
Bill284
