Anybody know how to extract silica from bamboo?

Like the thread says, how do you extract silica from bamboo?
From what I have read it's in the stems.. Do I boil it? Ferment it? Innoculate it with something? Rub it between my girlfriends thighs?
Help a brother out.
I also have horsetail too, but i'm not sure i'm getting the benefits from that... I very well could be messing that up too.
(shaking head) should probably just buy protekt...
I scoured the internet and all I end up with is expensive dietary supplements for womens hair...

This is actually a really cool question. So, I'm bumping.

Whats it for?

Definitely a cool question. Bamboo grows and spreads/reproduces super fast. What else may it be good for besides silica?

Boil it?

Ferment it?

Break it up and mix with soil and let the microbes take care of it?

I dunno!

Soak the bamboo in a silica solution that you buy at a hydro store, then when it is totally saturated with silica remove that silica and use it.

use the bamboo leaves. Compost them, brew botanical
fermented tea, brown sugar method. , etc... Just like comfrey

greasemonkeymann said:

Like the thread says, how do you extract silica from bamboo?
From what I have read it's in the stems.. Do I boil it? Ferment it? Innoculate it with something? Rub it between my girlfriends thighs?
Help a brother out.
I also have horsetail too, but i'm not sure i'm getting the benefits from that... I very well could be messing that up too.
(shaking head) should probably just buy protekt...
I scoured the internet and all I end up with is expensive dietary supplements for womens hair...

Click to expand...

id pay to never deal with bamboo ever again. ever, even eating it usually sucks. powdered silica in bulk is cheaper and mere efficient. bamboo is asian tourture.....on the back! boil kombu and dashi stock.

I got a lot of bamboo what should i do with it

MartaStuart said:

I got a lot of bamboo what should i do with it

Click to expand...

CC Dobbs said:

Soak the bamboo in a silica solution that you buy at a hydro store, then when it is totally saturated with silica remove that silica and use it.

Click to expand...

well whats the point of that?
I mean, all the love man, but the whole concept of silica in the bamboo is so you can source it naturally, pro-tekt isn't a natural thing.
I'm not an elitist i'm not against un-natural things.. just curious considering that bamboo is so full of silica, and so much more than horsetail also, not to mention I have access to an unlimited amount..

hyroot said:

use the bamboo leaves. Compost them, brew botanical
fermented tea, brown sugar method. , etc... Just like comfrey

Click to expand...

But from what I've read the silica is not in the leaves, it's in the stalks?
Am I wrong there?
Let me go check again..

youraveragehorticulturist said:

Definitely a cool question. Bamboo grows and spreads/reproduces super fast. What else may it be good for besides silica?

Click to expand...

Diabolical666 said:

Whats it for?

Click to expand...

It's sole purpose would be for it's silica, but you could compost the leaves also. although speaking from experience those leaves take a loooonnnnnng time to compost, WAY longer than my redwood needles..
But I looked again, and it says from multiple sites that it's the knots that has the silica, not the leaves, or at least that's where they get the silica from.
Personally I wouldn't recommend using the bamboo leaves for anything, if you want leaves there are faster and better ones to use. In my opinion anyways.
It's not even a big deal, i'm not against using pro-tekt, in fact I may have to get it to fully make the neem spray I want, but I was curious if somebody had seen or knows of a way they extract it from the stalks/knots..
I even have horsetail, but bamboo is SO much higher in it's silica content

What application are you trying to use it for? Soil amendment? Foliar feeding?

You could reduce the bamboo stalk to ashes, that would probably free up the silica contained in it. That'd only work for use as a soil amendment though. For a foliar application, you could try boiling it down and then fermenting it...?

The horsetail is a nice one, haven't used it in a while.

Mix 1/2 ounce horsetail powder to a half quart of water, let steep cold for 4 hours.

After, boil for about 20 minutes, let cool and pour into a half gallon mason jar. Top off with some fresh water and put it in the fridge for about 12 hours.

The tea will separate and you will have a layer of silt at the bottom. Pour the clear from the top into your spray bottle and have at it.

i personally prefer agsil16, much easier and wayyyy cheap

MistaRasta said:

The horsetail is a nice one, haven't used it in a while.

Mix 1/2 ounce horsetail powder to a half quart of water, let steep cold for 4 hours.

After, boil for about 20 minutes, let cool and pour into a half gallon mason jar. Top off with some fresh water and put it in the fridge for about 12 hours.

The tea will separate and you will have a layer of silt at the bottom. Pour the clear from the top into your spray bottle and have at it.

i personally prefer agsil16, much easier and wayyyy cheap

Click to expand...

yeah but how do I make horsetail powder? I mean I have a horsetail plant...
whew...
I may have to just get some pro-tekt or something.

Seriously?

Pinworm said:

This is actually a really cool question. So, I'm bumping.

Click to expand...

greasemonkeymann said:

yeah but how do I make horsetail powder? I mean I have a horsetail plant...
whew...
I may have to just get some pro-tekt or something.

Click to expand...

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Shultz/publication/222567714_A_simple_method_for_production_of_pure_silica_from_rice_hull_ash/links/0c9605189514741df5000000.pdf
That's what I found just after a quick google search of how to extract silica, you may have to get into peer reviewed journals to find your answer, and then use their techniques to extract the bamboo. Very interesting question though.

Check out this old thread I started on BIM

It doesn't (from what I can rememeber) go into detail on how to extract sillica from bamboo (although sources can lead to it), there is all sorts of information about bamboo..

Couple copy and paste qoutes concerning bamboo
"Another method of gathering microorganism is through burying your container with cooked rice on bamboo plants litter. Apparently, bamboo through observation and experience in the East, attracts powerful beneficial microorganisms as the roots of the bamboo exude sugary substances that attract beneficial microorganisms. The same procedure is followed as described before in its culture."

Bamboo: very active microbes. Collect leaf litter and colonize your rice with m.r. fungi from a healthy bamboo plant, and then use their incredible digestion properties in your grey-water system.

cannakis said:

http://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Shultz/publication/222567714_A_simple_method_for_production_of_pure_silica_from_rice_hull_ash/links/0c9605189514741df5000000.pdf
That's what I found just after a quick google search of how to extract silica, you may have to get into peer reviewed journals to find your answer, and then use their techniques to extract the bamboo. Very interesting question though.

Click to expand...

An interesting link. But I think their extraction method is less than organic, which is sorta my whole goal here, but honestly I have resolved to just using pro-tekt.

greasemonkeymann said:

but honestly I have resolved to just using pro-tekt.

Click to expand...

Welcome.

We went around and around with this topic a while back on here. Silica appears to be one of those items where it's really tied up unless a solvent is used. I would prefer to go about it 100% organically too, but Im not sure that the juice would be worth the squeeze. Pro-tekt is so effective, and so little of it is used, that I just can't see myself fiddling with bamboo or horsetail trying to unlock the same goodies.