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I wasn't arguing it at all, I see it's the ratio commercial producers for retail use. Thanks.It's not a commercial product. It is a ratio that they use.
"In general, the STS is prepared with a molar ratio between silver and thiosulfate of 1:4, respectively. Nearly all of the silver present in the solution is in the form of
[Ag(S2O3)2]3-, the active complex for ethylene effect inhibition."
Thank you. Happy to share what works.At the time I did my forced males I used a retail Colloidal Silver Spray.
Several doses over a couple weeks and got my thunk to ball up and drop pollen.
I haven't done a forced hormonal since then, but when I do I'll try
the STS method.
Excellent thread, and DC ,well done.
I made both solutions and kept them separate.Any experience trying to reverse auto plants? I have a Malawi Auto x NL from Ace around week 3 in veg form seed that I would like to reverse to make some more of auto fem seeds... Plan was to spray this one, collect pollen, and next round pop a few more of them and polinate them with the fem pollen... I'm thinking maybe I should start spraying in a week or so, and then follow up every 5 days like suggested...
Any suggestions are appreciated, havent had the chance to play with STS yet but I have the things in hand here and I'm ready to start experimenting!
good post tycho, but I think you may be underestimating how long it can be stored.
I made sts solution 2 years ago. didn't keep A en B stored seperately, but mixed them immediatly and stored the mix. last time I used it(2-3 months ago), it was still effective, and I haven't noticed a decline in activity(like needing a higher dose), although I may just not have noticed it.
I have it stored in a brown glass bottle(beer bottle, cap pushed back on and taped shut with duct tape to make it somewhat airtight, I always used cutlery or lighters to remove the cap so it's not bent like you get with a bottle opener) in the fridge. as far as I can see through the glass it still looks clear, no precipate or suspended particles.
I have noticed that when I had some diluted to use leftover(with tapwater, original solutions for the undiluted mix were with distilled water only), and kept in a clear glass with a piece of saranwrap over it in the fridge, it got some dark/black colored suspended particles after a while(after a few weeks or so). but the undiluted mix doesn't have that.
"empty of visible pollen?" So that's what happened to mine. lol.another thing I'd add would be to consider other ways of aplication. I read most people applying sts through spraying, personally I find it much more convenient to drop a few drops on nodes/buds/spots were new flowers will form(not on leaves), using a 3 ml pipette. for larger or more plants spraying might be more convenient, but in my case I just reverse a few small clones, so by using a pipette I use way less solution, and I don't have to worry about the spray getting everywhere, or breathing it in. just one time aplying 3-6 drops of the diluted sts-solution is enough for plenty of pollen(usually I apply a little more than that though, more like 8-10 drops used per clone).
I also think spraying every 5 days is way overkill. my current practice is to apply once a day for 2 or 3 days, then leave it alone. maybe if after 3 weeks I see no effect, I will repeat that. but usually once(where once is actually twice, but immediatly on the following day) is enough. I think just actually once should be enough too, I just do the 2nd aplication to be sure it gets in the plant, since the drops of the first aplication may fall off if there's a bit of wind or so.
ime less is more, with too high dose/too many aplications the balls can end up empty of visible pollen, if the dose is low but is just high enough to form a few balls they will be just as full of pollen as natural males, even the first balls.
upon reading a bit more closely, I also notice you use a way higher concentration as I do.
your undiluted mixed solution ends up about 7 times as strong as mine(based on the amount of silver nitrate, mine is 0.5 grams of silver nitrate per litre mixed undiluted solution, yours is 3.4), and then you only dilute 1:4 before using, while the strongest dilution I've used is 1:6, but usually I'm closer to 1:8 dilution.
(btw, it's a while since I made my mix, but I think I did a molar ratio of 1:5 or 1:6. so a bit different from the 1:4 I saw mentioned somewhere in the last posts. not sure which is best, but at the time I made my mix I read comments that around 1:6 was the preferred molar ratio, so I stuck to that, through rounding etc to make the weighing easier I think I ended up a little closer to 1:5 than 1:6)
I think you may be underestimating how long it can be stored.
I made sts solution 2 years ago. didn't keep A en B stored seperately, but mixed them immediatly and stored the mix. last time I used it(2-3 months ago), it was still effective, and I haven't noticed a decline in activity(like needing a higher dose), although I may just not have noticed it.