Sprouted steas are a great way to give your plans a natural boost and they are basically a natural alternative to synthetic pgrs which artificially hype up buds to make them seem danker than they are, but once smoked produce a more chemically feeling high but less potent in all the things we want from the plant.

seeds themselves contain a booatoad of nutrients to get an early plant started but when sprouted theres a lot of enzymes released that promote growth so using a seed sprout tea for your plants is almost like giving them a shot of human growth hormones, but plant growth hormones and naturally made ones unlike most plant growth regulators on the synthetic market. Theres no need to spend big bucks or ingest harmful chemicals when everything we need is right around us. The natural Enzymes in seeds are a catalyst that assist the other nutrients and bring your living soil to the next level. you can use a multitude of different seeds but alfalfa is one of the most potent seeds  to use because it produces nearly twice as much of the  compound (auxin) triacontanol.  Alfalfa is  Rich in enzymes, vitamins, proteins and, most importantly, triacontanol, a potent growth-boosting plant hormone which increases photosynthesis by raising chlorophyll levels, increasing root mass, alfalfa seed sprout tea is a powerful plant stimulant that's perfect for the transition into flowering, when it helps to maintain close internode spacing and increase root mass. It can also be used in combination with Corn SST during vegetative growth and flowering as a general growth booster. More care must be taken with alfalfa as it is very powerful indeed and we recommend to either start the process with half the amount of seeds or to dilute in double the quantity of water before application.as many other seeds, organic corn is also highly comparible to alafalfa seed tea. Allalfa is also a great cover crop to be grown and chopped back into the soil  and it is great to use because it is readily available.  

Alfalfa also contains many Macro and micro nutrients that can help your plant in all stages of growth,  as you may have sen in my videos, i like to add alfalfa meal in with my other top dressings after every harvest. but a well balance compost is all i mainly ammend with now, so adding these teas is a great way to give an extra boost.  Making alfalfa seed tea is an easy and cost effective way to give your plants something extra. 2 great places i know of to get good quality alfalfa seeds is kelpforless.com or buildasoil.com.

How bad are pgr’s and should they be avoided? 
in my opinion yes, if you see bud that looks or smells and feels like its grown with pgrs, sometimes the only way to know is to smoke it 

How to Start the Tea 

Things you'll need to make 1 gallon or 4 liters of water ( 

•  a Decent Blender 
• 7g (1/4oz) of alflafa seeds to start, or 14 gs of your chosen seeds, beans or grains ( you can start to add a bit more of this after the first few applications  if you feel its too weak, or just make more! 
•  (optiona) 1/8 tsp Kelp meal
• Clean water
• Sieve
• Glass jar

alfalfa seeds or organic corn work best! ( you can use any seeds of your choice! but make sure theyre not poisonous)

STEP 1

First take your seeds and rinse them off in a sieve under the sink, this removes debris but most importantly   This also helps to remove any abscisic acid, a growth-inhibiting hormone that occurs on the outer shell of many seeds.

STEP 2 

Soak the seeds overnight in clean water, this is optional but if you add a quarter teaspoon of solulable kelp powder will infuse with the water adding growth promoting phytohormones annd help accelerate the germination process. I dont have any so im not using any. 

STEP 3 Drain and rinse & Jar

Drain and rinse the seeds in clean water after soaking for at least 8 hours and put them back into the jar. They should be wet enough so that the seeds will adhere to the sides of the jar, but not sitting in water. Cover the jar mouth with cheesecloth and fix with a rubber band. This gives ventilation while stopping any insects, or dust falling in. Placing the jar on its side allows for a greater surface area of the seeds to be in contact with the air.

Step 4  Sprout and blend 

Rinse and drain the seeds at least twice a day until the sprouting tails are as long as the seeds themselves. This usually takes a few days. Then blend the sprouted seeds in a decent blender or a food processor along with a cup or so of water. of course someting like a vitamix is going to pulverize the material better and lead to more efficient absorption, but pretty much any kind of blender or food processor will do the trick to a satisfactory level. you may want to strain the pulp out and add it to your compost binn or evennly disperse amongst the pot, but if you have a vitamix then things will be so pulverized you wont have much pulp to remove as it will be more evenly dispersed in the medium so ill just be diluting this right into a 5 gallon container and waterinng it down, now the rec, i use my vitamix for smoothies everyday this just happens to be a great use for it. 

Step 5

dilute the resulting liquid in one gallon of water, i use 15 gallon pots and i usually water about a gallon of water per plant every few days so ill give them their first half gallon as the  diluted sprout tea giving another dose of plain filtered water. Its best to water the plants as soon as youre done dilluting the mix.  Im using a 5 gallon bucket so i made enough for 4.5 gallons of water  which ill even disperse amongst 11 plants, ill use a air bubbler to evenly mix the water for 15 minutes before my lights turn on, then ill apply this immediately so this is a 4x batch so it will look like a bit more than a 1 gallon batch. i couldnt get a clear result on how much to use per plant, so im just trying to make sure they all get an even amount, and if i think this is too little ill add more next time until i feel its just enough. 

Now 

If you'd like to boost the SST with more micro and macronutrients, amino acids and other essential elements, you can mix in some more organic, natural ingredients. For example, you could mix in some nettle flour which is ideal for the growth period, or an infusion of dried comfrey leaves for a nutritional and health boost during the flowering phase.

What’s the difference between SSTs and PGRs? 

 SSTs contain natural pgrs vs the synthetically formulated PLant Growth Regulators or PGR's  that are often used by many cannabis cultivators too fatten up harvests and bring in an artificial gassy smell. some are made better than others but for the most part synthetic pgrs are like creatine for weed, so like creatine in humans they don't increase strength or potency but they swell water in the cells causing the buds to bulge to abnormal proportions which makes for an appealing bud, but youll notice the smoke always leaves you feeling like you need another hit because its actually less potent in terpenes and cannabanoids and rather than a wel rounded high produces a more chemically feeling more burned out high. Synthetic PGR's are also known for creating a signature artificial gassy smell that often was used with this platinum kush thats been around my area for years because the natural gassy notes of the og did well at covering up the signs of the pgrs. I'm sure theres better versions out there now but from what ive read pgr's should be avoided not only for a better more natural product but for health reasons as well. When used correctly, SST's  can be a powerful tool for the self-sufficient organic grower, not only giving great results but also rewarding the grower with the satisfaction of having created their own plant stimulators in a natural way.

 

The most common synthetic PGRs used for cannabis cultivation are:

• Paclobutrazol
• Daminozide (Alar)
• Chlormequat Chloride

Paclobutrazol impacts a plant cell’s ability to elongate, which in cannabis means cells pack much tighter and denser on the flower. It also hinders the development of key terpenes on the plant, and reduces the ability of the plant to produce THC.

When buds which contains paclobutrazol are smoked, it breaks down into nitrosamines — the most carcinogenic compound found in cigarettes. Studies say paclobutrazol can negatively impact fertility, as well as cause liver damage.

Daminozide, also known as Alar, is used by growers to maximize bud yields by slowing the growth of leaves and stems. But, like Paclobutrazol, it also decreases the production of terpenes, as well as cannabinoids like CBD, CBN, and THC. Basically, it severely restricts resin production in the plant overall, meaning fewer trichomes.

Daminozide is listed as a probable human carcinogen by the EPA. It was banned in the U.S for use in consumable plants in 1999, because researchers showed it could be classified as a carcinogen in high doses. It’s been banned from human consumption since 1989 and has led to several agricultural recalls. Many synthetic PGRs have been similarly banned as further tests have been done. Researchers will not approve it for food products, and therefore it should NOT be smoked or ingested.

Chlormequat Chloride meanwhile slows down plant growth in certain areas, which in turn helps to encourage flowering. Adding it to plant also can make their size much shorter and more uniform. Although there is no evidence that this PGR is carcinogenic, testing is still being done. There are reports of organ damage, along with skin and eye irritation, as a result of ingesting large amounts it.

How can you spot PGR cannabis?

No drug use is the safest drug use. PGR cannabis can be very dangerous to people’s health, both in the long and short term, and is best avoided.

There are a few tell-tale signs of PGR cannabis from natural cannabis including:

• Rock-hard dense and heavy bud (flower, herb, etc.)
• Brown or red hairs (pistils) – this is a natural feature of cannabis but with PGR cannabis there is often excessive amounts that are visibly different from trichomes.
• Spongey/wet feeling
• Lack of crystals found on the leaf
• Low THC content
• Harsh chemical taste
• When broken, it emits little to no smell
• A fast-acting chemical high that may cause lethargy (low energy and motivation) and headaches 

(Click here for source of pgr info)

 

Natural pgrs are allso responsible for the different growth periods involced in tissue culture,

 

some natural PGR’s include 

 



Auxins

Auxin causes several responses in plants:

• Bending toward a light source (phototropism).
• Downward root growth in response to gravity (geotropism).
• Promotion of apical dominance (the tendency of an apical bud to produce hormones that suppress the growth of the buds below it on the stem).
• Flower formation.
• Fruit set and growth.
• Formation of adventitious roots.

Auxin is the active ingredient in most rooting compounds in which cuttings are dipped during vegetative propagation.

Gibberellins

Gibberellins stimulate cell division and elongation, break seed dormancy, and speed germination. The seeds of some species are difficult to germinate; you can soak them in a GA solution to get them started.

Cytokinins

Unlike other hormones, cytokinins are found in both plants and animals. They stimulate cell division and often are included in the sterile media used for growing plants from tissue culture. If a medium's mix of growth-regulating compounds is high in cytokinins and low in auxin, the tissue culture explant (small plant part) will produce numerous shoots. On the other hand, if the mix has a high ratio of auxin to cytokinin, the explant will produce more roots. Cytokinins also are used to delay aging and death (senescence).

Ethylene

Ethylene is unique in that it is found only in the gaseous form. It induces ripening, causes leaves to droop (epinasty) and drop (abscission), and promotes senescence. Plants often increase ethylene production in response to stress, and ethylene often is found in high concentrations within cells at the end of a plant's life. The increased ethylene in leaf tissue in the fall is part of the reason leaves fall off trees. Ethylene also is used to ripen fruit (e.g., green bananas).

 

Abscisic acid

Abscisic acid (ABA) is a general plant-growth inhibitor. It induces dormancy and prevents seeds from germinating; causes abscission of leaves, fruits, and flowers; and causes stomata to close. High concentrations of ABA in guard cells during periods of drought stress probably play a role in stomatal closure.(found naturally on many seeds and the reason why i have to rinse my alfalfa seeds before sprouting, this helps seeds make it through the winter.

Used to induce a state of dormancy in the plant until woken up for division

 

 

I hope this article has been of interest to you, please don't hesitate to leave a comment with your own experiences, suggestions or any questions you may have!

-Z