A Guide To Colloidal Silver?

Introduction:
Ok, so a lot of people around here have been asking the same questions about Colloidal Silver over and over, and I
don't blame them. The information is generally scattered, and if you manage to find a good post here and there,
chances are you will find a few more contradicting it, making it difficult to sort the useful information from the
myths.
What is Colloidal Silver:
Colloidal Silver the mixture of pure distilled water, and pure (0.9999) silver. It is created by running current through
silver electrodes that are placed water, which causes microscopic particles of silver (colloids) to break off and
become suspended in the water.
How does Colloidal Silver work on cannabis plants:
Many people believe that Colloidal Silver spray works by burning, or otherwise stressing a female plant, forcing it to
"hermie", or make pollen sacs. This is completely false. As you will see later in this post, real Colloidal Silver
doesn't harm the plant in any way, shape, or form.

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Colloidal Silver works by being composed of particles so small, that they can easily pass through the plants cells.
Once the Colloidal Silver particles are in the plant, they bond to the existing copper molecules. Normal female
cannabis plants, use these copper molecules to produce the hormone Ethylene, which is what "tells" them that they
are supposed to make normal female flowers (calyxes with pistils). When the Colloidal Silver bonds with the copper
molecules, this is inhibited and the plant instead produces pollen sacs.
*Note: These are still female flowers. Just female pollen sacs. Not male flowers.

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Why are seeds made with Colloidal Silver "feminized":

First of all, "feminized" is a bad term. That implies that something was done to the seeds to cause them to turn out to
be female. This is not the case. All of the pollen you collect from a Colloidal Silver reversed plant will be
completely normal except for one thing. There is no chance of it carrying a Y-chromosome because it was created
by a female plant and female plants have double X-chromosomes. Therefore, when you use this female pollen (all xchromosomes) on a female flower, it forms a double x chromosome offspring (a female).

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Store-bought "Colloidal Silver":

Why is "Colloidal Silver" in quotes? It is in quotes, because most of the stuff you buy that is pre-made, is either:
A) Not real colloidal silver
or
B) Very little real Colloidal Silver with other stuff added.
This means it is usually very weak, and not very effective. Often times, the particles in these mixtures are far to large
to permeate the plant's cell walls, or not pure silver. Either way, the stuff will most likely sit on top of your plant's
surface, and burn/suffocate/deform it. If you end up getting pollen sacs to form, it MAY be because of the limited
real Colloidal Silver in the mixture you bought, or because the burning effects of the spray stressed the plant to the
point of making emergency pollen sacs (hermie). Often times these plants look burned and in overall terrible
condition. They also usually produce a lot of pistils even on the sprayed areas, amongst the forced pollen sacs.
Can you use store bought "Colloidal Silver" spray and get Female Seeds? Yes.
Should you? No.
Why? You risk just killing your plant without getting any reversing, sterile pollen sacs if you do get any, and still
very little pollen if you manage to get some that is viable.

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How can I tell if my Colloidal Silver is real:

Pour yourColloidal Silver mixture into a clear glass with smooth walls, and shine a cheap laser pointer
through it. You should be able to see the entire beam (it reflects off of the silver micro-particles), and also a lack
of floating debris (often black bits). This is called the Tyndall Effect.

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It should look like this. (Note the ppm. Some store-bought stuff says 240+ but the beam is barely visible if at all,
let alone multiple times brighter like it should be.

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What does a Colloidal Silver generator look like / How do I make my own:
Colloidal Silver generators can be either bought, or made. If you decide to buy one, aim for the one with the
lowest possible voltage between (5-30v) and try to stay under 1000mA. The weaker current will help create
smaller particles even though it takes a bit longer (only hours so it doesn't matter).

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It can be made from a simple cell phone charger with the end cut off and stripped to look like this.

The exposed wires would then be taped (using electrical tape) to silver electrodes (pure .9999 silver wire), which
would need to be kept apart (they can't touch), and spaced evenly/parallel in the water without touching the bottom
or sides. A distance of 1-4" is best depending on your generators power.

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You will also want to run an air pump with aquarium tubing and an airstone in the generator jar to keep the water
moving around which will do these three things:

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1. Prevent/slow down buildup that forms on the wires during the generating process.
2. Stir the solution to keep the silver particles from bunching up and agglomerating around the electrodes which
will create larger particles, and possibly cause the solution to turn amber any time from when it is being made, to
the next few days.
3. Allow for a creation of higher ppm Colloidal Silver (you only really need 15 but can use up to 40 if you want to
spray less than 3x daily).
A store bought Colloidal Silver generator often looks like this:

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And is run like this for 5-15 hours: (Note the air pump + air stone in the jar)

Throughout these hours, the wires will get discolored (esp the negative electrode which will turn blackish) and
some buildup may collect on them as well (once again, the negative electrode is most drastically affected by this).
Simply unplug your generator, remove it from the water, and wipe the electrodes clean. You can use a paper
towel only, but it helps to have one of those green, non-metallic Scotch-Brite scrubbing pads (no chemicals added
such as soap or anything). You should do this every 30-60 minutes or when you see buildup forming. The first
few hours may only cause a rise in ppm of 1-2 if that, and little discoloration on the wires, but as time passes, and
the ppm rises, the process speeds up exponentially. By the end, you may have to wipe your wires every 15-20min
depending on your generators power level.
Once the ppm has reached the desired level (tested with a TDS meter), the generator is removed and the mixture
is filtered through a 2 unbleached coffee filters, into another jar. This should filter out any larger silver particles
that can and probably will form around the wires during the generating process, as well as any dust or anything
else that may have found its way into the jar while the Colloidal Silver was being made. When you are done, you
shouldn't see anything floating around in the mixture. It should look like pure water, except that a laser beam
shows up when you shine it through.

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What is a plant treated with Colloidal Silver supposed to look like:

It should look normal until a couple days after spraying, when you may see some unusual flower growth. After
about 2-3 weeks, the plant will be growing almost exclusively pollen sacs, and should look just like a regular
male with clusters of "balls" lacking many stray pistils.

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The following plant was completely doused all over (including the tops and undersides of the leaves) 2-4x daily
with homemade Colloidal Silver, and it wasn't burned in the least bit.

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Q&A / Troubleshooting:
Q: When should I start spraying my plant?
A: If it is a photoperiod plant, start spraying a week before flipping the lights to 12/12 (or whatever flowering
schedule you use). If it is an auto wait until you see pistils and then start spraying the day the first couple appear.
Even if you bought the seeds as autofems, I still recommend waiting until you see the first couple pistils because
there is always the chance that you were send seeds with males in them and you wouldn't have any way of
knowing until you started popping males out of your "female seeds".
Q: Why is my Colloidal Silver amber/yellow/grey colored?
A: The silver particles are slightly larger than they would be in a clear solution. They can still work for cannabis
reversal, but I don't recommend ingesting the stuff. Amber/yellow is the first color you should notice. As it
begins to get darker, or greyer, that means the the particles are larger and larger. The plant above was reversed
with only amber Colloidal Silver as a test and it worked fine.

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Q: How do I fix that color problem?

A: Add an air pump and an air stone to your generator jar, and clean the wires more often (every 30min, or when
you see buildup forming). Discoloration on the wires (esp the negative electrode turning dark) is fine and
expected, but if you leave it for too long you will notice that more and more silver particles build up on the
negative electrode and start breaking off and floating around your mixture causing it to be cloudy and lower
quality.

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Q: How long does Colloidal Silver last / How do I store it:

A: Colloidal Silver remains at the desired potency for at least a month.
It should be kept in glass (plastic can attract the silver particles and ruin the mixture), and in the dark.

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Q: Can I only spray one part of the plant to force pollen sac to form there and only there?
A: Yes.

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Q: Can I then take that pollen and pollinate pistils somewhere else on the same plant, or will that cause hermies?
A: Yes. properly made Colloidal Silver does not carry over into the pollen or the seeds created using it, nor does
it cause unwanted changes in the plant, its DNA, its offspring (and their DNA), etc. If you used a low quality
spray and ended up stressing the plant to the point that it "hermied", and then used that pollen, you would be
inadvertently selecting for the low stress tolerance gene that allowed the reversal, but if you start with solid
genetics, and a good quality spray, you should have nothing to worry about.