Silica and cannabis

Observe & Report

Well-Known Member
Figuring out if your stems are thicker seems tricky. Do you measure every node or half way between every node and take the mean per plant, or do you measure at a specific node?
 

purplelicious

Well-Known Member
From what I understand, diatoms are unique in they build skeletons from silica, but Cannabis and nearly all other plants don't make the same skeletons. So some of us are having a hard time understanding how the info on diatoms is relevant.
  • Acquisition of nutrients and their assimilation : the nutrients which limit the primary productivity of diatoms are nitrate, phosphate, silica and iron. The annotation of the genome will help in determining the pathways of acquisition and assimilation, and will provide information on the mechanisms of formation of the cell wall of diatoms, which is composed of silica.
 

purplelicious

Well-Known Member
From what I understand, diatoms are unique in they build skeletons from silica, but Cannabis and nearly all other plants don't make the same skeletons. So some of us are having a hard time understanding how the info on diatoms is relevant.
The oceans of our planet are Earth’s largest ecosystem. About 50% of the primary productivity is attributable to them. The most important photosynthetic eukaryotes are the diatoms; they contribute about 40% of the primary marine production, and thus produce almost 1/4 of the oxygen we breathe. Although they form only a small part of the photosynthetic biomass, in some regions of the ocean, they can fix the same amount of carbon per day as a forest of terrestrial plants.
There are at least 100,000 species of diatoms, which makes them the most abundant photosynthetic group after the angiosperms. Diatoms, therefore occupy a central position in the control of marine resources, and for prediction of climatic change. However, we possess very little knowledge about the biology of diatoms today. Furthermore, algal blooms are often caused by diatoms, sometimes with production of toxins (a cause of anmesiac intoxication by shellfish), and they may have harmful effects on the local ecosystem, fishing, aquaculture and tourism. Finally, diatoms are the principal cause of “biofouling”, because of their capacity to adhere to surfaces and to produce extracellular polymeric mucilaginous substances (EPS). The total direct costs of “antifouling” treatments in the world is estimated at 3 billion dollars.
In parallel to their ecology, the diatoms are also interesting for the study of evolution, because their genomes are the result of a fusion of 3 genomes derived from their cyanobacterial and eukaryotic ancestors. Furthermore, they have applications in biotechnology: in nanotechnology because of their silica, as a nutrient in aquaculture and as biofactors for the production of molecules such as omega-3 type fatty acids.

Diatoms Ecology
Diatoms are some of the most important and influential organisms that exist. Every person should have an appreciation for them at an early age.

Diatoms account for 23% of the primary productivity of the world. That means that of all the photosynthesis going on at any one time, almost one-quarter of it is happening inside a diatom.

All that photosynthesis happening means there must be a whole lot of diatoms out there. It's true: diatoms live throughout the lighted zone of every ocean, as well as in freshwater streams and lakes. Some species live everywhere, but most have temperature, salinity, or other environmental preferences that restrict their ranges. Even so, any watery point on the globe contains several to many different species of diatoms living in an assemblage, or community.

As primary producers, diatoms play a key role in marine food webs. They are an important food item for a larger class of animal plankton (zooplankton) such as copepods, as well as for all kinds of filter and suspension feeders from worms to anemones to mollusks like clams and mussels.
 

Observe & Report

Well-Known Member
  • Acquisition of nutrients and their assimilation : the nutrients which limit the primary productivity of diatoms are nitrate, phosphate, silica and iron. The annotation of the genome will help in determining the pathways of acquisition and assimilation, and will provide information on the mechanisms of formation of the cell wall of diatoms, which is composed of silica.
Again, the distinguishing feature of diatoms is their silica skeleton so it is unsurprising that silica is a limiting nutrient for diatoms. Is there any evidence that silica is a limiting nutrient for any other form of plant life? If its true that silica limits "the primary productivity pathway" of Cannabis you should be able to consistently yield higher than control plants. It should be an easily measurable difference like CO2, which is a limiting nutrient when your temps are high and lighting intense.
 

purplelicious

Well-Known Member
Again, the distinguishing feature of diatoms is their silica skeleton so it is unsurprising that silica is a limiting nutrient for diatoms. Is there any evidence that silica is a limiting nutrient for any other form of plant life? If its true that silica limits "the primary productivity pathway" of Cannabis you should be able to consistently yield higher than control plants. It should be an easily measurable difference like CO2, which is a limiting nutrient when your temps are high and lighting intense.
Ok.. so you want to again argue on facts,that need to be researched before being negated, based on someone that thinks Si is just glass?
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
How about making some threads on micro elements that are actually important and vital, like iron? So much time is waste discussing the homeopathic anecdotal results they get from using soluble glass.

I never hear anyone talk about experimenting with different iron levels, even though the plant will die fast without it.

It's just one more pointless variable for noobs to waste time with...
 

purplelicious

Well-Known Member
How about making some threads on micro elements that are actually important and vital, like iron? So much time is waste discussing the homeopathic anecdotal results they get from using soluble glass.

I never hear anyone talk about experimenting with different iron levels... even though the plant will die fast without it.

It's just one more pointless variable for noobs to waste time with...
It is toxic at high levels. This is never possible with biogenic silica
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
That's because silica doesn't do anything. You will produce awesome harvests with thick rigid stems without any sand/glass, even in DWC with no silica present in the reservoir or medium..

You won't get anywhere without iron. I've tried in my own DIY mixes to see what would happen. Wouldn't you know, the plants started to die from what appeared to be iron deficiency
 
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churchhaze

Well-Known Member
And usually when there are correlations like that, scientists ultimately find that there are good reasons for these correlations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferredoxin



From this alone, it's obvious why plants must have Fe and S. If they don't have both, they can not make this protein needed for PS1.

 
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JimmyIndica

Well-Known Member
Growing cannabis = $ is no issue to me! Just my opinion! Go all in or don't go at all! Just my opinion ya know!
 
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Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
How about making some threads on micro elements that are actually important and vital, like iron? So much time is waste discussing the homeopathic anecdotal results they get from using soluble glass.

I never hear anyone talk about experimenting with different iron levels, even though the plant will die fast without it.

It's just one more pointless variable for noobs to waste time with...
Damn good point. How many times have I seen some cannabis snake oil void of this very important contributor to chloroplasts/chlorophyll. Without Fe, you can kiss those leaves goodbye. For example, 0.125% in this food I recommend often. http://www.jrpeters.com/Products/Jack-s-Professional/Jack-s-Pro/General-Purpose-Formulas/25-5-15-High-Performance.html

Speaking of micros, trace elements, if you can get your hands on some of this, get it. It will drop your pH a bit so watch for that. I was gifted 5 gals. of the 350DP. http://www.keyplex.com/images/specimen-labels/KeyPlex-350DP.pdf
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
Damn good point. How many times have I seen some cannabis snake oil void of this very important contributor to chloroplasts/chlorophyll. Without Fe, you can kiss those leaves goodbye. For example, 0.125% in this food I recommend often. http://www.jrpeters.com/Products/Jack-s-Professional/Jack-s-Pro/General-Purpose-Formulas/25-5-15-High-Performance.html

Speaking of micros, trace elements, if you can get your hands on some of this, get it. It will drop your pH a bit so watch for that. I was gifted 5 gals. of the 350DP. http://www.keyplex.com/images/specimen-labels/KeyPlex-350DP.pdf
Keyplex looks great. I wish I found it 5 years ago! It looks like someone using GH flora 3 part could replace GH flora micro bottle entirely with calcium nitrate and keyplex.

I think the keyplex would be slightly better without the magnesium sulfate.
 

Uncle Ben

Well-Known Member
Keyplex looks great. I wish I found it 5 years ago! It looks like someone using GH flora 3 part could replace GH flora micro bottle entirely with calcium nitrate and keyplex.

I think the keyplex would be slightly better without the magnesium sulfate.
Seems like a perfect match to me considering cannabis likes Mg.
 
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