Silicon-Silica-SIo2-SIo4

Are you looking for silica, silicon for your plants?

Culture indoor explains how silicon works on your plants, the toxicity, the deficiencies.
Which plants need it, the dosages, the different products available in our shelves.

Silicon - Silica - Fertilizers

What is the role of silica or silicon in horticulture or soilless culture?

Silica is one of the most important nutrients for your indoor and outdoor plants. Know that plants need these elements in order to better complete their life cycle because not all plants need these elements. Silicon and nickel are very important elements and yet are not often used on your crops.

Silica and silicon are the 2nd most important element of the earth's crust, essentially available in large quantities in the soil, but the only silica or silicon absorbable by plants is in the form of Monosilicic acid(Monomer) find different silicon assimilable in different ways, SI02 and SI04 even if the monomeric silicon SI04 is assimilable almost in the hour by the plant.

All the elements treated in the previous articles are considered essential, which means that plants cannot complete their life cycle without them. However, there are other elements that benefit some plants, but these plants can complete their life cycle without them. Among them, silicon and nickel, which will be discussed in this article and the next one respectively. Most broadleaf plants absorb small amounts less than 0.5% into their tissue, some plants can absorb up to 5/10% silicon into their tissue which is more than the normal nitrogen and potassium uptake, surprisingly rice and some grasses can absorb as much.

Role of Silicon for Plants

Silicon benefits many plants even in times of stress, silicon allows a better resistance to drought and allows the delay of wilting during a delayed irrigation, allows an improvement of the resistance to toxicities and micronutrients or other metals such as aluminum, copper, iron, manganese, zinc etc. ... Silicon increases the strength and reinforces the stems of plants, it is important to know that some plants are strongly lacking in silicon, so it is necessary to provide them with it. It is proven in some researches that silicon would allow a better resistance to the attacks of fungal pathogens likeodium and phytophthora, it is proven that silicon delays the attacks.

Silicon seems to benefit some plants when they are stressed. Silicon has been shown to improve drought tolerance and slow down wilting in some.

Plant deficiency

Since it is not an essential element, most plants will grow normally without silicon. However, some plants have shown deleterious effects in the absence of silicon. Silicon deficiency may also increase the possibility of manganese, copper or iron toxicity in some plants.

Plant Toxicity

Although not common, excessive levels of silicon can possibly compete with the absorption of other nutrients. In gerberas and sunflowers, too much silicon can distort the flowers. Plants that are considered non-silicon accumulators are more sensitive to excessive silicon levels than plants that accumulate silicon (see table below).

In the table above at Culture Indoor, find the plants that are categorized according to their tendency to accumulate silicon or little.

What Sources of Silicon for Plants?

Typically, water sources provide silicon, as do ingredients in growing media. Even dust contains usable silicon. Taken separately, no single source of usable silicon provides a sufficient amount of silicon to plants. However, if they are combined, it may not be necessary to provide extra silicon to plants, especially in the case of non-accumulating plants

If a silicon fertilizer is used, research shows that potassium silicate or calcium silicate can be injected at a constant rate of 50 ppm or once a week at a rate of 100 ppm. Do not exceed 200 ppm as this could cause phytotoxicity in some non-accumulating plants such as gerberas and sunflowers.

Test the silicon fertilizer on a few plants and for several crops. Then compare these plants to plants that have not received the fertilizer to determine if there is a risk of phytotoxicity, as well as to verify the benefits of the fertilizer. As with other elements, silicon must be maintained throughout the growing and flowering cycle

Silicon fertilizers are very alkaline and increase the pH of the base solution considerably. This reduces the solubility of the micronutrients and silicon can form deposits in the tank. As a precaution, it is best to use a different tank for the silicon fertilizer.

Be aware that sand contains 80% silicon, for example, but it cannot be assimilated by the plants in your gardens.

Is silicon necessary for plants?

The benefits of using silicon with certain agricultural crops (rice, wheat, sugar cane, cucumber tomatoes etc.), especially if the soil is of poor quality or very poor. Regarding the benefits for crops in greenhouses or growing rooms, studies to date are quite limited, but there would seem to be definite benefits for intermediate and accumulator plants with results increasing the weight of the crops with a heavier fruit.

And especially an increase in the final weight of your indoor or outdoor crops.

It may be that the resources used for cultivation (water, fertilizer and substrate) provide sufficient silicon to non-accumulating plants, and perhaps even to moderate accumulators. If not, moderate accumulators may benefit from silicon supplementation. Unfortunately, few laboratories test silicon, so it is difficult to know if plants already have access to sufficient usable silicon.

Discover all the silicon fertilizers at culture indoor your online growshop for intensive plant growing.

Discover Platinium nutrients :

KelpMass Sio4 Kelp booster + Sio4 1 to 2 % - 0.1ml/L

APTUS : Regulator SIo4 1 to 2% - 0.15ml/L

ATAMI ; SILIC BOOST Sio2 30% - 0.1ml/L

Can silicon be used in hydroponics? yes

Can silicon be sprayed on plants? Yes, according to the type and indications on the bottle. Read the instructions for use.

Can silica be used for indoor cultivation? yes

What is the watering interval for silicon or silica? Approximately every 15 days in horticulture growth and flowering.

Growing journal with silica fertilizer.