Ok Kids... I was making an SST the other day and thought about this thread.
I'm going to briefly explain without any science how and why I make SST = Sprouted Seed Teas and as important when I use them.
SST = Sprouted Seed Tea... the name pretty much spells it out. This is but just one tool in my green tool box that I feel can be very beneficial at specific times in my grow routine/cycle.
First off I'll explain how I go about making one and how I use it.
Step 1 = sprout some seeds ... easy enough right, OK what seeds? In this example I'm using Organic Alfalfa Seeds:
Alfalfa meal many of us organic soil makers use the meal as part of the soil mix. We can also use the sprouts from the seeds.
I mainly use Alfalfa spouts - for the young plants in VEG and also at flip from 18/6 or what have you going into flower and the best part I use Alfalfa sprouts at the end of the cycle for 2 reasons.
1) Alfalfa sprouts promote flowers and flower building and
2) also promote maturation and shorten the finish time..
When I use this recipe late in flower it is specifically for building bigger buds.
Ok so get some seeds
Put them in a flat container and water them. I use a 4 tray round seed sprouting kit from Amazon:
Amazon: Kitchen Crop 4 Kitchen Sprouter VKP1014 with 6" Diameter Trays
So to sprout seeds - put a bunch of seeds in the 4 trays and stack them up and fill the top tray with water - the water will trickle down into the bottom white tray that you do not put seeds in (5th tray).
You need to water every day one time - dump the first water out -
very important to dump the first water out. The next 2-3 waterings you can use that water to water your plants with.
The 2nd day you will see the seeds start to sprout. I rotate the trays every watering, top to btm to even out the time for seedlings to be ready for use.
Usually after the 3rd day or 4th day they will be ready to use. The most benefit will be had when the sprouts are still white in color. If they start turning green - don't stress it's all good.
Take the sprouts and grind them in a food processor with the water in the btm tray!
Grind up - strain the liquid into a jar - top off jar with water - into the fridge for safe keeping. This mix will last at least a week usually 2 in the fridge.
What I do with the liquid run-off is mix that in with my water when I water in and also use it in my IPM routine = spray it one the plants at about a 1/4 cup to 3 gal water and 1/4 cup to a gal of water for IPM (of course with other IPM ingredients).
Like this:
Sprouts ready for the food processor - notice the water run off in the white base - that's goodies right there and I add that to the food processor and grind it all up fine:
Ready to chop:
Strain thru a screen don't throw out the ground up material - you can top dress or feed the worms FTW. I fed the worm bin and my 4' tall bin dropped down 12" in a few days... red wigglers; go wormy go - nothing wasted :
Put liquid strained off into jar:
Top jar off with RO water:
Water in on the plants and watch the magic. This is not feeding plants per say. Getting close tho and the mycos LOVE this almost as much as an EWC/kelp tea. Spraying on with the IPM the nutrients and most importantly, the growth hormones from the sprouting process are directly absorbed right into the buds and leaves. This will generate immediate response from the plants (well over night anyways). This will happen even if just watering in.
I'm going to show you a few pics of a plant that is a 70-75 day flower cycle plant that is easily in day 85 or so.. she's over ripe (I like this cultivar this way "for me"). You will see it the pics she bulks up weight in the buds AND finishes - this takes about a week or so.
She's hanging on ... still nice and light green she's in senescence first application after this pic:
After 1st watering in and IPM - she's noticeably lighter yellow - helps finish process
after the 2nd application - buds bulked up and are now leaning over - fresh smell of sweet canna in the house, I know she's ready for chop any day. Just like that. I chopped her today all her fan leaves were a light light green and her buds are sparkling with resin and THC.
I posted this because I was reading journals and someone asked how to "bulk up the buds?" - this is one way I do it ... the most important way, IMHO is mix a proper soil ... this SST just adds to the QUALITY of finished produce.
Keep em green!
Cheers
I re-read about a dozen books already, both 'Teaming' books included. Good stuff, Canyon. Hope you enjoy them.
