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SST's (Enzyme tea) What seed are you using?

I've been experimenting with different types of seeds for my SST's. So far I've used Wheat berry, Sweet Pea, Alfalfa, Pinto bean, Rye Berry and Corn. All these seeds made great teas and the plants love it everytime. What kind of seeds have you used with great success? I know Barley or Malted Barley seems to be most popular, Just curious!
 

Polygon

Member
Alfalfa, Heirloom Corn and Barley are the only ones I've tried. I would consider that alternating alfalfa and barley with intermittent watering of coconut water/water mixture at a ratio of 1/4 cup C-h20 x gallon H2O if using fresh coconut water.

One of the reasons people use corn instead of (IMO) easier to sprout seeds is because of its high cytokinins. But, the same if not higher levels of cytokinins can be found in coconut water, so it's really a different strokes type deal of getting to the same result.

Alfalfa and barley mix is my preferred for veg. It takes a little planing to get them to sprout at the same time, but combining them gives a rich enzyme profile, PGR's, and the lovely triacontanol. An interesting study for triacontanol can be found here in a 1982 journal of American rhododendron society paper. Granted it's written specifically for its use on rats and rhododendron, its benefits apply to a great deal of flowering plants from cannabis to roses.

Alfalfa SST foliars cut to a ratio of 1 part water to 3 parts SST with an added 1/8t of AgSil 16 and 1/4t of hydrated puree'd kelp can greatly enhance budset, inter-nodal shortening and overall vigor if the plant if applied twice weekly in the first two weeks of flower as the lights go off. Just make sure to not go too far into the budding cycles or go too hard on the kelp as the gibberellins in it and triacontanol in the alfalfa can lead to stretching and foxtailing in otherwise dense structures in sensitive cultivars or if over-applied IME.
 
Thanks for the info Polygon, I never thought to mix seeds together for an application. I'm going to try that. I don't use coconut water often so I wonder if it would be beneficial to add corn in the mix to boost cytokinins. I love experimenting with these teas. Do you think twice a week during veg is overkill? I veg for a very long time, if that makes any difference.
 
I've used alfalfa, barley, and flaxseed. They all work well. I bought some chia seeds but whenever I try to sprout them they turn into gel.
 

Polygon

Member
In veg or in the first 4 or 5 weeks depending on cultivar - once a week is the max I'll do SST soaks
 

Heusinomics

Active member
Alfalfa SST foliars cut to a ratio of 1 part water to 3 parts SST with an added 1/8t of AgSil 16 and 1/4t of hydrated puree'd kelp can greatly enhance budset, inter-nodal shortening and overall vigor if the plant if applied twice weekly in the first two weeks of flower as the lights go off. Just make sure to not go too far into the budding cycles or go too hard on the kelp as the gibberellins in it and triacontanol in the alfalfa can lead to stretching and foxtailing in otherwise dense structures in sensitive cultivars or if over-applied IME.

Thanx for the info on your experiences w SST's!
I'm very interested in trying some of these w my upcoming no till tent.
I already love brewing up AACT's for my Dwc and hav seen especially good results using T's as a foliar!!
Wich led me to ask this in another enzime thread.
I figured I'd add it here n see what you all think about foliars of SST?..

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=301163

Here is my post and the reply by the op.
Thanx again all ic is the best!
Big ups, respect, and happy growing!!

I keep hearing a lot about SST's. Esp in place of bottled enzime products.

I hav def heard that the barley can b bad, bc of that possibility of becoming a plant killer(wich seems bad for sure)
Others Iv seen are usein popcorn and alfalfa seeds...
But I swear I read that corn can b bad too, not sure if popcorn is that dif or what.
In addition I hav also seen dried malted barley used in place of fresh sprout...
So it seems that there are many dif methods floating around out there.

Everyone who I hav written or spoke to me about the sst they use are over the moon excited about the results they get, so I gotta figure there is something good going on in throes sprouts! So I'm excited to find a place for this tek in my tea brewing rutine.
My first Q is weather these zimes have any benifet to foliar applications?
As this is my fav reason to brew teas!..

The second Q is wether the enzymes are intended for old/dead root breakdown in the media?
Or are they GROTH PROMOTING properties for the plant?

And thanks for asking such a great Q to get the discussion going!
It's tea time somware let's set down and share ;D


Im going to do my best to answer your questions but the science of it all is over my head to be quite honest with you. I simply take the advice of a crazy old Coot from another forum. (wink wink to those who can guess who I'm talking about). I've been having great results as well as plenty of others that I know of.

The way I understand it is when a seed sprouts a ton of enzymes are produced or released...not really sure. Those enzymes act to break down organic matter The interesting part is that each type of enzyme breaks down something different. For example, Chitinase specifically breaks down chitin. Since these enzymes break down organic matter it's not advised to be used as a foliar. As far as what grain you use it doesn't really matter. Malted barley is great because it's cheap, convenient, readily available, and the brewing industry is huge so there is a lot of effort put into their malting process to achieve the highest enzyme levels possible (enzymes play a big part in beer brewing). I also use malted corn. Corn contains high levels of cytokins which a lot of people use coconut water for (coconuts are just big seeds...think about that for a min).


The only dangers I've found is if you brew too long you run the risk of fermenting and creating acetic acid. Don't worry about it, I just try not to go over 4 hours with a commercial 1 pump in a 5 gallon bucket. Sometimes I'll only bubble it for 20 or 30 minutes if that's all my schedule allows. I've heard of a lot of people going 24 hours but I dont.

Mr Roseberry
 
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The English Cut

Well-known member
So far I've been using a barley/wheat mix for SSTs. I know barley is good, but I'm not sure about wheat. I'm only using it because they are already mixed together to feed our chickens and I don't have time to sit and seperate the barley from the wheat. Anyway I've made and applied 3 or 4 brews with no obvious ill effects yet so I guess wheat is at worst benign.

I wanted to try corn/maize to but the only organic corn I've been able to get round here is animal feed and a lot of the grains are cracked or damaged in some way so I'm not getting a great germination rate and it's awfully slow to sprout. Can't get coconut water round here, so as far as I know corn is my only option for cytokinins.

I saw a video of someone making a sst from lentils for auxins. I didn't try it yet, but did anyone else? I suppose all kinds of pulses could be used. Huge asturian faba beans could be interesting.
 

Polygon

Member
Barley is the most standard as it is easy to come by, easy to sprout, better researched (comparatively) and cheap as dirt.

@the english cut - If you cannot get coconut water locally, I'd suggest ordering freeze-dried coconut water powder. It contains the same benefits and is cheap as all hell. Just use it at a rate of 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. Auxins are all fine and dandy, but from what I understand, kelp meal gives a very high amount and you can avoid the sprouting of lentils and use them for soup. I'd be interested to see what the results are!

if one dilutes and alfalfa SST, they can see the effect of triacontanol which is most effective when applied directly to the meristem, but yes, too much SST can really fuck a plants leaves up like they've been burnt or crisped.
 
J

justsmoke

Is there any other benefit of using corn sprouts other than the cytokinins? Can coconut completely replace corn sprouts?
 

Avinash.miles

Caregiver Extraordinaire
Moderator
ICMag Donor
Veteran
alfalfa, wheatberries regularly and corn as well.
altho
recently I was gifted about a dozen bags of sprouted mung beans.... threw them in the blender and mixed with aloe and fed to the roots.... figured it can't hurt.
 

The Revolution

Active member
Veteran
Im germing 3 different types of popcorn now for my first SST. I soaked them for 24 hours drained and rinsed thoroughly and returned to the jar to sprout. Theyve been sitting drained for a total of 30 hours now and im not seeing any type of sprouting action yet. IM starting to worry about mold, should i be patient? Does it take a cpl days for them to sprout? I want to apply a AACT within the next 24 hours, followed by the popcorn SST 2-3 days after to observe effects of each. How long will the SST remain effective once blended in water solution?
 

Avinash.miles

Caregiver Extraordinaire
Moderator
ICMag Donor
Veteran
i've had corn take a few days to show tails, and yes some of it kind of rots as the others sprout
 

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
subscribed...I wanna try corn as soon as I get a food processor lol...I will sprout my corn the moonshine way in burlap..yeehaw...
 

The Revolution

Active member
Veteran
Nice, there ya go stoned trout! Never heard of that technique! Seems like a little bit of the corn goes a long ways. I was told to sprout 1 cup of corn, and once it was blendered mix it into a solution of 5gal of water. I didnt read this until I already started germing a quart jar full! Does this sound accurate to you guys that have used the Popcorn sprout tea? 1cup/5gal? IF this is the case Im going to have to dilute this down to 20gal..
 

I wood

Well-known member
Nice, there ya go stoned trout! Never heard of that technique! Seems like a little bit of the corn goes a long ways. I was told to sprout 1 cup of corn, and once it was blendered mix it into a solution of 5gal of water. I didnt read this until I already started germing a quart jar full! Does this sound accurate to you guys that have used the Popcorn sprout tea? 1cup/5gal? IF this is the case Im going to have to dilute this down to 20gal..

Freeze it in one cup increments.
 

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