Absorb? Hmmm, I didn't know cannabis was one of the plants that absorbs SiO2, which is the most common compound in the Earth's crust. Most consider it an inert part of the environment, but some can uptake SiO2 crystals. They aren't nutrients, but some plants use it in their cells walls. We aren't really sure why, but it may ward off predators, or help strengthen stalks. Generally speaking, Si02 is a solid and doesn't dissolve in water. Plants have no known way of using it in any of their biological processes. It's truly inert. Humans even put it in their own drinking water, sometimes. But not because it has any nutritional value. DE is truly inert and reacts with almost nothing known to man. Only a few very specific ultra strong acids and bases can mess with it. It can be altered with high levels of heat, but not by the mild heat of our bodies. Watering it into the soil is great for killing bugs in your roots, but I had no idea it was taken up by cannabis. Do you have any good reading on that? I'll do a little 'digging' (hah hah), and see what I come up with.
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Actually silica has been listed as a nutrient. I believe only in the last few years. But yeah silica is a very important thing to have. It helps it take more light, it makes your plants more resilient to drought, the list goes on. Check this out here. Not sure if I will switch, but it sure does sound amazing
That sounds great, but the science doesn't support it. If there's any good research on the topic, I'd love to see it :)
https://www.greenhousemag.com/article/gmpro-0610-silicon-plant-growth/
I also see it first hand. I now let my plants go completely dry before watering, without any worries of them shriveling up. Maybe not the best example. But the secret of silica has been known to farmers way before the science. Surprisingly, since there are many myths in growing, such as flushing, watering your plants with ice water at the end to bring out trichomes.
That's how it often goes, those on the front lines see things first hand, and others come along later to take measurements and call it official :P
But SiO2 doesn't seem to be a nutrient (something used in biochemical processes). I think what is probably happening is the plants are taking up some of the SiO2 and using it as structural reinforcement. Quite brilliant, really. Several types of plants are known to be able to do this. I think the SiO2 deposits found in plants are called phyoliths. They aren't nutrients, and the plant can survive without them (if there's no SiO2 around), but they can definitely be advantageous. Maybe that's what you've experienced first hand? Are the plants even more strong than normal, even once they're harvested and dried out?
If that's what's happening, then cannabis must be one of those species with the ability to create SiO2 phyoliths. I had no idea! I'm going to give it a shot.
How much per unit of water? Spoonful per watering jug? I'll give it a shot. I've already got some in my soil mix, but I got enough DE now to play around with some in the water, too ;D
EDIT: Just saw your link, haha. Checking it out, thanks.
EDIT2: Unfortunately, that's a non-scientific and non-peer-reviewed study, conducted by a magazine for a story. Their results might be legit, but we can't know from reading that article. And even if what they're saying is true (that stem thickness increases under the conditions they used), we have to remember that they gave their plants a very different form of Silicon, specifically, a soluble form. As we were saying earlier, DE is insoluble. Think of DE as tiny flakes of glass. They're small, but they're still glass, so they can't dissolve in water. They can't even dissolve in most acids. Long story short, more research and experimentation required!