Amino Acid study

Hello all!
I've been testing out amino acids as a way to increase ca/mg absorption and just came across this new study. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33255370/ Granted, it was done on celery, but if you read through the bulk of the literature already out there on feeding amino acids to crops, the results are similar across a wide range of plants. To sum it up, they tested the efficacy of both a plant based and animal based amino supplement-soy hydrolysate and some kind of weird beef extract. Both were impressive, but in different ways. To sum it up, both increased final weight, both increased potassium and magnesium content of the produce (yay), and both increased the phenolic compounds by up to 36%.

This study tracks with what a lot of us already know-specifically, that fish hydrolysate produces results way beyond it's NPK numbers. When my little hoodlum friends and I used to guerilla grow in high school, we used dry chemical nutes for ease of transport, but we always used fish hydrolysate as our "bloom booster"-that was based on advice given to us by an old hippy grower we knew. That advice always stuck with me. I'm testing out a dry, plant based product right now that is very similar to the "Raw Omina" brand, but much cheaper, just to see if it works as well as fish hydrolysate, but with a less pungent aroma for indoor growing. Not that I hate the smell or anything, it's just nice to have a break from your house smelling like a dumpster at Long John Silver's on a hot summers day.
Happy growing!

Would giving soy protein be just as effective ?

Soybeans have a bunch of amino acids so I guess soy protein would be cool. Maybe soybean meal might be cheaper though. Beans have good good micronutrients too.

I've been alternating weekly doses of fish hydrolysate and alfalfa/kelp tea to "spoon feed" amino acids every week. Maybe I'll work some soy in too.

youraveragehorticulturist said:

Soybeans have a bunch of amino acids so I guess soy protein would be cool. Maybe soybean meal might be cheaper though. Beans have good good micronutrients too.

I've been alternating weekly doses of fish hydrolysate and alfalfa/kelp tea to "spoon feed" amino acids every week. Maybe I'll work some soy in too.

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youraveragehorticulturist said:

Soybeans have a bunch of amino acids so I guess soy protein would be cool. Maybe soybean meal might be cheaper though. Beans have good good micronutrients too.

I've been alternating weekly doses of fish hydrolysate and alfalfa/kelp tea to "spoon feed" amino acids every week. Maybe I'll work some soy in too.

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Have you considered using pure triacanantol powder? I just bought some, about to experiment. Never tried fish hydrolysate though.

gkay723 said:

Have you considered using pure triacanantol powder? I just bought some, about to experiment. Never tried fish hydrolysate though.

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I've been using foliar spray of TRIA and aminos for many years. I use hydrolysed whey isolate as amino supplement. Amino acids is probably the most cost effective supplement there is. I like TRIA, Brassinolide and BAP.

BAP is the only real synthetic PGR per definition I use. I don't count mimicking or bio identical compounds like 24-Epibrassnolide and phytohormones like TRIA as PGRs even though they promote some of the same expressions in plants.

Just buy a cheap unflavored hydrolysed whey isolate powder and you're good to go. If I remember correctly it's 0.4g per gallon of foliar/nutrient feed. That's crazy low.

Amino acids, PGR's and phytohormones all triggers gene expression in plants to some extent.

When testing out any protein supplement made for humans on plants, make sure it's a true hydrolyzed protein. Some manufacturers, Advanced comes to mind, use hydrolyzed whey protein in one or more of their supplements, so that is definitely an option. You just want to be sure of a high inclusion of glycine and glutamic acid.

I just wanted to post this because of all the focus on "bloom boosters", many of which are just p/k supplements that are totally unnecessary beyond what your base nutes are giving your plants...OR EVEN WORSE, they are some "cool" sounding product with an even cooler label with no true ingredient list. Amino Acids have been proven through decades of study to improve the parameters of our crops that we care about-size and terpenes.

I'm a believer in triacontanol as well, or maybe in Alfalfa in general. I like GH Rapid Start, though I don't use it anymore. Outdoors I rake in alfalfa pellets for horses in my vegetable gardens in the fall after I harvest everything-I swear, doing that alone replaces most of what was lost, and sets my spring seedlings up for vigorous growth. Indoors I like Alfalfa SST-I think that's a good way to feed Tria. I do Corn SST a few times right at the end of veg and early flower, but I get the most obvious results from Alfalfa. I'm going to get some barley to see where that fits in. I actually find it less of a pain to keep a cup of a few tablespoons of seeds sprouting constantly, that way I get in a routine of rinsing them a few times per day.

Aminos are cheap to try, whether you go soy or fish hydrolysate, and if you get any results from other proteins, let us know!

youraveragehorticulturist said:

Soybeans have a bunch of amino acids so I guess soy protein would be cool. Maybe soybean meal might be cheaper though. Beans have good good micronutrients too.

I've been alternating weekly doses of fish hydrolysate and alfalfa/kelp tea to "spoon feed" amino acids every week. Maybe I'll work some soy in too.

Click to expand...

Soybean meal is a great fertilizer for veggie gardens, one of my favorite bulk ingredients to add along with alfalfa.

When you use soy protein, are you feeding it directly once a week? Never considered spraying it until Wastei mentioned it.

I think ill be trying this out - https://ca.myprotein.com/sports-nutrition/soy-protein-isolate/10852597.html