Blue Cheese - DWC Perpetual!

@@motaman311, i use it in my nutrient mix for soil and it always seems to mix fine, also put about 1ml per gallon as a folier feed spray which is great in veg but i have never used it in hydro. I tried hydro a few times before i knew about the silica and i could never get it right so just stuck with soil.

@@motaman311,i hear that coco more work and I'm gonna try hydroponics one day.m

@Cannibalgardens, I make it more difficult than it needs to be sometimes lol. It isn't so bad.. I thought about trying coco out, but you are supposed to water them a lot and it seemed like a lot of work at the time... while I do 10 gallon reservoir changes with a liter bottle. 😂

@CRiSPrGrow, Thanks! 👊

@Med_in_Tropic, By the way the leaves looked. At this point of flower all the leaves should still be mostly green. I started to see the discoloration of the leaves, I have some pics on there to show what I saw. Also, there seemed to be some spotting on the top of the plant (looked like calcium deficiency). I think my buds stopped bulking up also, this is hard to know for sure because it is my first time growing this strain. The buds are very dense, but they seemed to stop growing for 7-10 days. Looking back now, I believe it was mainly a calcium issue/or a combination. My PH kept dropping, calcium is fed better at 6.0+, and my PH pen was off by .3-.5, so even when I thought I got her to 5.9/6.0 PH, she was still low.

@GrowBeforeHoe, Thanks!!

@DILLIGAF, I was having the same issues when I removed all the nutrients except the base and cal-mag.. a little less of a swing, but I think that had more to do with how much she was feeding/drinking then anything I did. Thanks for the info about cyco.. I have been seeing nothing but good things about it. I am probably going to make the switch to cyco nutrients eventually, but I have a lot of botanicare left and I don't want to spend another couple hundred on a new nutrient line right now.

@@motaman311, could well be that the silica doesnt mix well with organic nutes?? If I could choose one brand it would be cyco silica only because it really does act as a buffer and you can literally feel the difference in the water . It gives it a velvety feel once its in the water . Ive tried a few brands now including the armorsi but the cyco wins hands down. I also agree it's not NEEDED in your mix but the benefits outweigh the costs and the inconvenience of mixing differently .

@Wicked_Stix, @DILLIGAF , I've found it being a great addition to my feed for my other plants, especially the ones that have had it since early on. It is still early but my thinking on silica is: you don't NEED silica, but I wouldn't grow without it. I've done some more nutrient/PH testing and I think some plants don't like certain nutrient ratios and with botanicare. It is very difficult to optimize when you can't because the nutrients come in 1 bottle (for the base). Some plants I have little to no PH issues and others I am all over the place. I always have a natural rise of PH after a reservoir change too. I think part is the Liquid Karma has bat crap and other organic stuff that has natural PH buffers, so maybe when those micros run out, or the organic stuff dies/decays it causes the reservoir to act differently. I add the silica with some PH down and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. My water is naturally ~7.5 PH and the Armor Si rasies that. I've read that silica turns into a brownish goey substance at 8.0 or higher, I've gotten the PH to be a bit more steady, but I think it was just the plant not being overly happy with the nutrient mix, which in turn caused my PH issues.