silicic acid

I have spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out what the natural process to solubilize silica into biologically available forms, on land. There are tons of  articles about sponge and diatomaceous formation but I don't have either one. I don't see dumping diatomaceous earth as a sustainable solution, and I don't want to have little shards on the ground in general.

I have been thinking the addition of igneous rock dust will provide the raw materials , but is it promoted in an acidic environment? Are other minerals used as cofactors in the catalysis?

Bryant? Obi-wan Redhawk, you are our only hope...

I do not know much about this. Some plants do that for you - equisitum and grasses, i think.



Why do you want to do that? And where (climate) ?

There have been several mentions of silica in different posts, and honestly I attributed it to legend rather than science. Until I read some of Bryant Redhawk's posts about it. Put it this way, if he takes it seriously I take it seriously. I've spent a couple hours reading some hard science stuff about it but it is sparse.

It is not silica we are talking about any more than "nitrogen" in soil is gaseous nitrogen that makes up ~80% of the atmosphere. Silica is essentially inert, it is the oxide of the most common element in the crust. So something has to do some chemical work to make it incorporable in tissues (plant or animal). I don't know about human silica, it certainly appears to be a very minor component by dry weight , but even small minerals have a critical role such as fluoride (gonna get beat up for that probably. The evidence I have seen is that well/spring water probably have adequate fluoride but municipal and softened probably don't. My suspicion is that water soluble silicates may be similar.

I would love to have some tough, bug resistant plants. I would love for those plants to give me some of this stuff as well, since I probably eat less dirt than people did historically. So that's the background.

I don't have horsetail, or nettles. I do have some bamboo, which is not on this table, but is supposed to be a good source. I am trialling foliar feeding with a solution of minerals, humic acid, protein and sugar, so why not have some silicates in there if I can figure out how to solubilize them!

Hey TJ

My post does not pass - i says some googlydook about abreviations not being OK. Well of course - i had this dutch link you might find usefull after applying google translate or so. So of course it's not propper english

So in short. Follow this link from a dutch prepper site - search on the word 'silica' and follow the links to english source material.

http://preppers.nl/forum/archive/index.php/t-5057.html

hau TJ, Receive it you shall when you ask.

Silica found in Diatoms is formed the same way as calcium is formed in sea shells, as a carbonate. This is good for gardeners since carbonates are water soluble meaning we don't really have to do anything to make them available to the plant roots except to get it there.
DE is a great way to do this, since the food grade is just about as fine a powder as we mortals can make. This doesn't mean we can use other forms such as sand, it just means that if we want to use sand (ground up rocks) we need to make sure there are plenty of sand eaters (bacteria) in the soil first.
The best place to find the right bacteria strains would be, sandy loams, the best would probably come from an already built garden bed or a place along a shore line that had green plants growing in it. (sea oats for an example, sedge grasses for another example).

So, since you have acidic soil, you can; 1. use DE and worries not will fill your head.  2. a nice sandy loam from; a. near by your land.  b. the right spot near a shore line.
These are the "best choices", you can always improvise when needed. and remember that diversity is our mothers way.

Igneous rock dust (particularly granites) that contain mica particles are great for adding to soils.

May the silica be with you

Redhawk

hello, i take it that you are trying to increase the levels of silica available to plants  for healthier plants and by eating these gaining this benefit as well, well worry no more, according to some studies done  ,we as humuns obtain most of our silica in its acidic form , from water and foods like oats ,barley and grains ,rice -all the grassy stem type foods . The study says that most adult men obtain about 44% of their dietry needs from beer , so i figure if we double our intake plus a bit more , we could be close to getting all our daily requirement ,  and so besides the beneficial side effects /enjoyment level of this , we would have a legitimate excuse for doing so as well.To a more adult level, i have been working with a hempcrete type material and the substitute for hemp that i have used was decried as wrong and not suitable, so i read a few reams of internet sourced information, and to cut the story down , it all comes back to to silica levels contained within the differant species of plant being trialed for biocretes, the way industry measures or quantifies the levels of this is from the ash residue left after burning. So for instance miscanthus grass has SIO2 and K2O of around 70% in its ash , so perhaps if you harvest high silica content plants ,dry them  then burn and harvest the ash you would have the makings of a concentrate .