“A foliar application potassium silicate product that basically puts a coat of armor on your plants (protecting against pests & diseases). As a bonus, it maximizes resin glands too.”
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Indoor, I use potassium silicate regularly, but with outdoor it is plentiful in native soil and I don’t worry about it. I don’t use AN Rhino Skin, too costly. I just buy dry K2SiO3, $7/lb, 1 lb makes 3 liters of concentrate, vs $20+ for a quart of something that is 90-95% water.
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Very wise! Do you use it as a foliar spray as well?
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For indoor, when overwintering my mother plants for next year’s clones, I use it both as a foliar and fertigated. Aside from the benefits of silica to plant health, it is a well researched pesticide. Sil-Matrix is a pesticide that is just K2SiO3 at 29%, mixed to 10-40ml per gallon, a pretty strong dose for pesticide action. I am not sure how the weaker doses do on pests, but it certainly can’t hurt.
I make a 7.8% solution from a product called AgSil 16H. At that concentration it is 5ml/gallon foliar or fertigated. I use it with almost all foliar products anytime I plan to spray something, and I fertigate with it every other week.
There are web-based store that will break the giant bag of AgSil down for sale as pounds, but the commercial bag is 50lbs for $250, which is somewhere around 40 gallons of concentrate at 7.8%. I don’t want to deal with the storage so I buy a repackaged 2 pounds for $14 and make 6L, which lasts me through my mother plants and cloning cycle.
I did foliar with outdoor once, but I was worried that it may kill beneficial insects, so I stopped. My stems are plenty strong, so I don’t think they need additional silica in native soil. If I were growing in potting soil, I would use it in my fertigation schedule. I may use at the higher pesticide concentration with my final biofungicide spray before harvest this year.
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I just saw this post. I have lots of experience with silicas. how can I help?
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97% water, to be exact! You’ve chosen well!
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I think if your going to use a liquid Silicate you may as well use one that has the best value and bang for your buck. Of course the dry one mentioned is going to be cheaper than a liquid without a doubt. If you are comparing the value of liquids that Rhino skin low on the totem pole at roughly $20/qt with just 3% strength silica. Our brand of liquid silica is 11% slicon dioxide. Called Europonic Silicate HDI’s brand has a 0-0-5 npk ratio and retails for about $15/qt. The GH brand is also strong at 10% and a good value as well. I think its a great product to help strengthen the plants and build in a bit of drought tolerance for higher heat or dryer medium conditions. @mastergrowers @GrowOpEmployees @growopowners
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I’ve used the Europonics Silica from HDI. It works well, and, all things considered, there’s a lot of bang for your buck in that bottle (1 gal sells for $31.54 at GH!!) ! Thanks @Hydrodynamics_Josh!
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Basically, $5.45/qt, if it were ANRS dilution rate. 
I thought RS was 5%, 3% is a bit worse at $4.09. That’s pretty good price for pre-mixed, comparatively, and not a whole heck of a lot more than DIY.
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Thank you! I am trying to learn more about the right dosage of Potassium Silicate either as a root feed or as a foliar spray. I love the idea of DIY and how @Farmer_Dan always makes his own formula. But I guess then the trick is how to provide it to the plant to maintain the pH balance and nutrient absorption.
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True. Be careful to monitor pH before and after adding your silica, regardless of which one you use. You will have a better understanding of the relationship between your water and the silica. If you are adding silicas as part of a nutrient mix, make sure you add the silica first and allow the water to aerate for 15-30 minutes before adding your other nutes.
DIY nutes can be tricky at first, but I highly advocate for the practice as it makes you a better grower and helps you develop a fundamental understanding of the relationship between micro and macro nutrients and your plants. Like @Farmer_Dan, you have to think outside the bottle! If you are not comfortable going the DIY route, there are an abundance of silica products out there.
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pH and silicate is an interesting relationship. It is a good pH up product. I do use it as such, when needed. It does have the problem of dropping out of solution if pH is too low when it is added. I have the Future Farmers of Amerca motto burned into my brain and it always pops up in these discussions. “Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve”
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Good point, @Farmer_Dan! Some pH Up products are actually derived from potassium silicate. This is the same base that many silica products also use.
Great motto! You exemplify it in every fiber of your farmer existence!
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Beautiful!
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@Growernick @Farmer_Dan Thank you both for always offering your valuable experience and practical details that I know it is very hard, if possible, to get from any other sources. I appreciate any single word.
And I absolutely agree, any work will be much more satisfying and beautiful with “Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve”
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It’s our most sincere pleasure. We have dedicated our lives to farming and cultivating knowledge. We are here to share that knowledge and make better growers! Happy to help 
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