BTW...If possible, avoid using chemical soaps or soaps with chemical scents. My prefereed is Dr. Bronners which is scented with natural oils, but even Dove or Ajax will work fine and don't worry too much if it's lemon-scented, or something.
Purpose of Silica for feed & insecticide?
- Thread starter WthAmIDoing
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BTW...If possible, avoid using chemical soaps or soaps with chemical scents. My prefereed is Dr. Bronners which is scented with natural oils, but even Dove or Ajax will work fine and don't worry too much if it's lemon-scented, or something.
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WthAmIDoing
Well-Known Member
Will do. Appreciate the info!! Stupid question.. but when you say blend the onion garlic and water, am i stirring it up and letting it sit for a while or blending it and straining it afterward..
will trying Tomorrow Morning
Ok first and not to bust your bubble but.....
you said in your first post
"I grow outdoors with organic soil, beginning feed with fox farm trio & General Hydroponic pH kit. "
Organic and bottles aren't a thing. So you are growing with nutrients and they are not organic.
That said doesn't matter but it you wanna grow organically you need to build your soil from scratch with organic inputs. Doing this "might" help some.
Silica gets sprayed on plants or foilered on. When building an organic soil mix we organic growers add in rock dust/granite dust to our soil mix and we add in a fair amount. This rock dust is about 60-70% silica. So the plants get a steady supply from the soil (your back yard dirt probably has a good bit of silica in it already) and a quick burst from spraying on. It won't get rid of pests per se. It's just a plant immune system booster.
One of it's benefits is that it will boost the plants immune system and like you and me the plants immune system will fend off many pests.
Ok so you wanna get rid of pests organically?
Get the silica that you can add to water ... Pro-tekt is one product.
For actual pests you need something that will kill them. I use Monterey Garden spray @ 2tbs / gal of filtered water, 1 tsp of Pro-tekt and 2 tbs of Fulpower (fulvic acid).
Spray up and down all around under leaves specially.
This can be sprayed up until the day of harvest. You won't need to go that far.
Spinosad is the active ingredient. Its a bacteria so 1000% organic. For some crazy reason its getting some bad publicity in California for use on cannabis. Never mind its totally ok for use on pretty much every veggie and fruit grown organically in California and its OK for that... food for thought.
I'm thinking there's some hokey pokey at play with big AG and chemical companies in bed with politicians.
Anyway, spray this mix every 3 days and dont miss. Pests like mites and aphids have a life cycle you need to break so the every 3 day thing is how its done.
You won't have any problems after this with pests. Spinosad breaks down very quickly so it's a contact thing with insects and eggs. Spray well and spray often. You cant hurt your plants with Silica or Spinosad.
Silica also very good at helping prevent mold... its a thing the later in the season we get specially outdoors. It's just a matter of time.
Filtered water FTW.
Good luck with pests and your grow. You wanna grow organic, my suggestion is to google "Clackamas Coots organic soil mix".
No bottles no worries. Can do "no-till" and keep using that same soil over and over. I'm on my 8-9th rounds with my current mix I'm running nothing but water now not even any teas or organic amendments.
Edit: Doctor Bronners Peppermint soap is effective for pests and also to imulsify your IPM spray. GO EASY with it (a few drops is all that's needed). It has a lingering taste so not good for flowers really.
Ive never known silica as an insecticide.. this is great, something to learn that interests me 
Edit; as an, is that proper English? Maybe another thing to learn...
Edit; as an, is that proper English? Maybe another thing to learn...
I would never spray silica on any of my plants, yes adding it to your feed regiment is good, but spraying it on your leaves, and buds is really bad. Silica sprayed on leaves accumulates in the epidermal, in the cell wall of a leaf, and most times it cannot even be washed away because some of the silica will become encased into the leaf as the leaf grows. Also all plant supplements, and even so-called food grade sillca products that contain sillca are made with Amorphous Silica, which is not harmful to us if eaten, but during the process of making Amorphous Silica, a percentage of Crystalline Silica is produced and will be found in any Amorphous Silica, and Crystalline Silica is a very dangerous IARC classified carcinogen if smoked / inhaled. A good example of this is Diatomaceous Earth, it states it is made with Food Grade Amorphous Silica, but it also can contain up to 3% Crystalline Silica from the process of producing the Food Grade Amorphous Silica! So its good for use as a soil amendment, but would be very bad to use as foliage spray if what you are growing will be smoked / inhaled!