CHEAPER ENZYMES

[Nosmo King]

Anybody ever make your own enzymes? Farmers have been doing it world wide for centuries

If the title of this thread is cheaper. Nothing cheaper then making your own.

 

[Caravaggio]

30 mls per 100 gals is the dosage on the bottle, i use about 1-2 mls every 10L sometimes i might go to 3mls, seeing though its natural i dont see the harm in increasing the dosage, also noticed the slime that accumlates on the bottom of the res, is no more.

Barley based enzymes all the way, nothing better than a natural enzyme.

I have a 50 gal res that never has more than about 35 gals in it. I picked up some of the Barley but not the one with Peat as well. How many capfuls (small bottle) would you say I should toss in? I tossed in 2 cap fulls which i would assume is about 8ml.

 

[Arminius]

Been Using barley clear from Pond care and with a higher dosage than normal, but i dont add the enzyme directly to the res, i dilute it in a old cannazyme bottle with distilled water.

Used to have Algae ontop of my coco, ever since upping the dosage, algae has gone and the coco is back to a nice brown colour, also have reused the coco for the 3rd time and the same genetics look alot healthier with the higher dosage.

I only recommend upping the dosage with barley/peat based enzymes, as it does not affect ph at all, ph will drop about 0.05 when using a higher dosage.

Exprimented with higher dosages using a used coco root ball, and its been soaking for about 1 month now, and the roots after turned into stringy lifeless strands, Its like the soft inner part of the roots have dissolved and left a hard stringy piece of root, concluded that this process might help when reusing coco, 2nd and 3rd run have proved this, with much healthier faster growing plants.

Peace.

Can you elaborate on your application please? What I am wanting to do is mix up a gallon at a concentrate level comparable to CannaZyme, MultiZyme, etc...
1-3ml per 10L doesn't sound very concentrated. I am using 35g rez's x8, and would like to incorporate it into my normal once a week soup mix...

 

[LittleAmsterdam]

I've been wanting to buy a 50lb bag of whole barley at the local track & feed store for $19 & make / brew my own hygrozyme. Same thing as what you're doing, but instead you're brewing it into a tea.

 

[Arminius]

No one has a recipe for Hygrozyme strength barley enzymes? The label is no help since the ratio would be too diluted to be used as an additive...

 

[Desert Hydro]

i just picked up some stress zyme from petsmart. gonna test it out on some small guys first. gonna run it through a small blumat res and see if it doesnt funk up the lines

 

[hope2toke]

I made some home made cannazyme by sprouting barley grains (the pale type) and pulling the sprouts when they are 1/2'' long. This is very short for barley, a medium-tall plant. The sprouts are soaked in water for 1-2 days, and I watered the plants with this solution (diluted in a few gallons).

works better than a store bought product in my humble opinion.

 

[LittleAmsterdam]

From my research the enzyme is in the grain not the sprout. I've heard of people soaking barley for 24hr and using the remaining liquid for an enzyme source.

I'll buy some barley tomorrow at the local track & feed and try myself

 

[SecondAttempt]

ShroomDR... I'm not sure if you'll see this but I got the same product you were using (pondzyme with barley (dry)) and was hoping for some insight. I put the gram of dried enzyme in my 35 gallon res, and I feel half of it is just floating on the surface and the other half drifted to the bottom and is sediment now. I put a little bit in a jar (to confirm my hunch) with water and it's cloudy and the enzyme settled on the bottom.

Should this product dissolve? Did I get bunk enzyme? Bottle says it doesn't expire until 2016 but it wasn't sealed.

The only other thing I can think of is my tap is killing the enzyme, I have some distilled water from the store I will perform my jar experiment with, but I feel nothing will change.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

[whatthe215]

hey all. just picked up some Pond-Zyme with Barley by Pondcare and I'm gonna be using it in my new coco stadium.. i think i'll try it on a couple plants first just to make sure there's no adverse reactions and then go from there.

i'll start at 1/2 strength maintenance dose and then up it every 3 days until i'm at 1.5x maintenance dose, depending on how the few plants look.

i dont have any regular hydro shop enzymes, ill try nd get a sample from a friend. but if anyone wants i can throw some old dead roots in a clear cup and see how it goes + photos... also control with RO and tap. just holler if anyone wants to see it or check the 5kw vert in my sig for updates on how its goin with the coco.

 

[SecondAttempt]

I got the same stuff... haven't been using it though. Did the old roots in a jar experiment.. totally unimpressive, let us know what you find please.

 

[doneit]

Any updates fellas?
Everyone keeps saying they are going to try it, but never come back to report?
Im going to pick some up at homedepot and see what happens.

Great thread

 

[doneit]

How are these pond cleaners at preventing root disease and things of that nature?

 

[whatthe215]

i have been using it for over a month now and have had zero issues. Pond-zyme pond clear powder at ~~ 1/4tsp/30gal

3gal pots of coco watered twice a day, 23 days into flower right now. every watering.

im thinking that it may benefit from being dissolved better or even brewed before being added to the res. its flaky like fish food almost.. probably a few hundred flakes in a 1/4tsp and they don't dissolve any further.. just float around. gonna try a couple hours in a mason jar with warm water.. if it changes the color of it i think that's a good sign it helps.

 

[SecondAttempt]

Did the mason jar thing, the stuff doesn't dissolve. I have quite a bit built up in my res as well, res water is clear but I have enzyme fuzz on my pumps. I've started dechlorinating my res before adding and although I've seen no ill effects I'm not sure it's doing anything. I plan to inspect my root balls after chop to see if there is any advantage, if not I will likely discontinue. $17 experiment.

 

[Nosmo King]

Hey now just thought I would jump in. Here is some info

www.slideshare.net/taymuimui/4-the-role-of-enzyme-in-agriculture/

Let me turn the rudder to help you make your own enzymes. There are many links to making enzymes AKA garbage enzymes. Here is one

www.ecowalkthetalk.com/blog/2011/02/27/how-make-and-use-garbage-enzymes/

The fermentation process takes 90 Days LEAVE THE CAP LOOSE I found out the hard way.

If you want to cut the fermentation time down to three weeks add yeast

 

[doneit]

Nosmo,
The first link is no good?
Thanks for the help!

 

[SecondAttempt]

neither links is working for me... I'll just google "garbage enzymes".

 

[Nosmo King]

D'oh....try try again
www.slideshare.net/taymuimui/4-the-role-of-enzyme-in-agriculture/

 

[habeeb]

I found this really interesting.. I guess we need to ask, what enzymes are in these products. second, I think after reading this, bacteria is the answer, which I know is in some products. But also I guess we need to ask if any of this is needed, from what I know bacteria are present in every media with exposure to air / time ??? :

"


Bacteria or Enzymes?

1. What are Bacteria..

Bacteria are single-celled organisms that do not have well-defined organelles such as a nucleus. The cells are typically enclosed in a rigid cell wall and a plasma membrane. Bacteria contain all of the genetic material necessary to reproduce, and they reproduce by simple cellular division. Bacteria show a wide range of nutrient requirements and energy-related metabolism. Some bacteria require only minerals and a carbon source such as sugar for growth, while others require more complex growth media. Bacteria play an extremely important role in recycling nutrients in the environment. Bacteria break down organic matter into simple compounds like carbon dioxide and water, and they cycle important nutrients such as nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus. Bacteria can migrate to areas that are rich in specific nutrients that they require for growth. Bacteria can also attach themselves to surfaces and form communities known as biofilms.

2. What are Enzymes...

An enzyme is a protein that acts as a catalyst. The enzyme is responsible for accelerating the rate of a reaction in which various substrates are converted to products through the formation of an enzyme-substrate complex. In general, each type of enzyme catalyzes only one type of reaction and will operate on only one type of substrate. This is often referred to as a "lock and key" mechanism. As a consequence, enzymes are highly specific and are able to discriminate between slightly different substrate molecules. In addition, enzymes exhibit optimal catalytic activity over a narrow range of temperature, ionic strength and pH.

3. Do enzymes break down any molecule or just specific ones and how specific do they get:

(Above). The specificity of an enzyme for it's substrate is generally a function of the enzyme's "active site" or binding site. The structure of the protein determines the range of substrates or "keys" that can fit into the lock. Most enzymes are exquisitely specific. That is, they react only with one specific substrate. Some enzymes, however, have a more flexible active site that can accommodate molecules that are closely related to the target substrate. In this case, there is typically a preferred substrate with which the enzyme reacts at a higher rate than with related compounds.


4. Can Enzymes adapt to different conditions and to different grease, oils and food:

Enzymes are not living things. They have no ability to adapt to changing conditions or substrate sources. Their level of activity is a function of these conditions. If they are not in optimal conditions, their activity decreases or stops.

5. How do bacteria break down any molecule or just specific and how specific do they get:

Bacteria have the capability of producing many different types of enzymes. They are living organisms that respond to their environment. In general, bacteria are capable of producing enzymes that degrade a wide variety of organic materials such as fats, oils, cellulose, xylan, proteins, and starches. It is important to note that all of these materials are polymers that must be reacted with more than one type of enzyme in order to be efficiently degraded to their basic building blocks. Nature provides a specific "team" of enzymes to attack each type of polymer. For example, there are three different classes of enzymes (endocellulases, exocellulases, cellobiohydrolases) that are required to degrade a cellulose polymer into basic glucose units. All three types of enzymes are referred to as cellulases, but each class attacks a specific structure or substructure of the polymer. Acting individually, none of the cellulases is capable of efficiently degrading the polymer. Bacteria can produce the complete "team" of enzymes that are necessary to degrade and consume the organic materials present in their environment at any given time. Moreover, bacteria can produce multiple "teams" at the same time.

6. Can bacterium adapt to different conditions and to different grease, oils and food:

Bacteria can adapt to a range of conditions and food supplies. They can change the type of enzymes that they produce if the food source changes. They can protect themselves from changes in environmental conditions by forming colonies, biofilms, or spores. Importantly, bacteria live in "communities" made up of different species. Each species fills a biological niche, and the population of each species grows or declines in response to the environment. For example, a community may contain certain species that efficiently degrade grease, and other species that thrive on cellulose.

7. How long do Enzymes work compared with Bacteria:

All enzymes have a limited half-life (minutes to days, depending on conditions). They are proteins that are biodegradable and are subject to damage by other enzymes (proteases), chemicals, and extremes of pH and temperature. An important difference between enzyme-based products and bacterial products is that the enzymes can't repair themselves or reproduce. Living bacteria, however, produce fresh enzymes on a continuous basis and can bounce back following mild environmental insults.


8. How quickly do high enzyme producing bacterias (Protease, lipase and Amylase are what are commonly used in Naturclean-33) produce enzymes.. and in what quantities:

Production of enzymes begins as soon as the bacteria begin to grow. The cells must obtain nutrients from their surroundings, so they secrete enzymes to degrade the available food. The quantities of enzymes produced vary depending on the bacterial species and the culture conditions (e.g., nutrients, temperature, and pH) and growth rate. Hydrolytic enzymes such as
proteases, amylases, and cellulases, etc. are produced in the range of milligrams per liter to grams per liter.

10. Are these quantities enough to start to compare to straight enzyme products:

Since we don't have any information on the enzyme content of current "straight enzyme" products, it is difficult to answer this question. It is also a function of dosing of the product (i.e., how much, how often). In general, one can assume that the customer could have more control over initial enzyme concentration by adding a prepared enzyme product. However, bacterial cultures can produce competitive amounts of enzyme after a short colonization period. Bacteria can grow very quickly, doubling their populations in as little as 20-40 minutes. In some applications, it is common to "boost" bacterial colonization by adding a small amount of prepared enzyme to begin degrading the available food. This is often done in composting processes to jump-start the bacterial/fungal growth.

11. If you use just Enzymes, how many different enzymes would you need to use to effectively eliminate grease, oils and food in a waste stream:

Again, somewhat difficult to answer. This depends on what you mean by "eliminate". Significant degradation would require, at a minimum, several of each of the hydrolytic enzymes: proteases, cellulases, xylanases, amylases, lipases, pectinases, and esterases. Ideally, you would also need oxidative enzymes to degrade recalcitrant materials. Oxidative enzymes are expensive and impractical to manufacture and they require complex co-factors. This type of enzyme is needed to degrade fatty acids, for example.

12. If grease and oil are broken down will they regroup in the pipe or lift station again and reform to clog pipes and wet wells:

This depends upon how far the grease and oil are broken down. Fats are mainly composed of molecules called triglycerides. Triglycerides contain 3 long-chain fatty acids linked to a 3-carbon backbone (glycerol). The first step in the degradation of triglycerides is the cleavage of the 3 bonds that link the 3 fatty acids to the glycerol backbone. Lipases and esterases are the enzymes that catalyze this first step. While the reverse reaction is possible, it is energetically unfavorable, and the bonds will not re-form (expect under special circumstances). Generally, lipases will cleave one bond at a time to generate free fatty acids and mono- and di-glycerides. The free fatty acids can combine with calcium ions to form insoluble salts. These salts could cause clogs. However, bacteria, unlike straight enzyme products, have the ability to further degrade and utilize the free fatty acids.

13. What does happen to food particles and cellulose in the trap:

They are degraded over time if bacteria or appropriate enzymes are present. The more complex the "food", the more time and enzyme it will take to break it down.

14. Will oil break down when you have just a few strains of grease enzymes:

(see answer #12) The wider the variety of enzymes, the more effective and efficient the degradation. Lipases, for example, vary in the range of fatty acid chain length that they can accept as substrate when attacking triglycerides. Some prefer triglycerides with short-chain fatty acid substituents, others prefer long chain fatty acids. One or two lipases in a product will not be effective for all triglycerides.

15. If you have cooking oil in the water, will it encapsulate the enzymes or bacteria:

Most enzymes and bacteria are hydrophilic, or water-loving. They naturally repel oil but can exist at an oil/water interface. Under certain conditions when the oil concentration is much greater than the water concentration, an emulsion can form in which water drops containing enzymes/bacteria are dispersed throughout the oil.

16. Does aerobic or facultative anaerobic bacteria contribute to odors or eliminate them:

Aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacteria do not generate the offensive compounds (e.g., hydrogen sulfide) that cause odors."