Fodder problems

[mikki717]

Hello All,

I have been growing fodder for several months, Taking off the summer because it got brown, slimy mold from the heat. I finally got back started again, and after a few weeks of good fodder, I am having problems that I can't figure out. The root mat is super thick, but the grass sprouts are small. When I turn over the mat to cut for feeding, the mat is white, but has "dissolved" to a point.

I can see small white mold, but I don't know what is going wrong this time.

Any ideas?

 

[tigger19687]

What kind of seed ?
Maybe it is too thick a layer of seed and not enough light/heat ?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Maybe your type of seed? What are you growing. I use barley since it showed the least amount of mold issues during my research.

Agree with previous poster, that maybe your seed layer is too thick. It only get 60 degrees in my house and we have mold spores galore here on the north coast (60+ inches of rain per year). But I don't have issues with my fodder.

Maybe rinsing more often will help you? We do have the stove hood light on, so it gets fluorescent light in addition to the limited daylight we have right now.

Good luck, I enjoy growing fodder... but also feed out at sprout stage plenty of times. My birds often pick the seed off the bottom anyways and leave the green behind. Sometimes they come back for the green but with an acre for them to forage sometimes they leave it.

 

[lazy gardener]

I'm guessing you are putting too many seeds in your tray, and waiting too long to feed it out. How is your germination rate? What is your sprouting temp? And, why are you cutting the sprouts off the root mass? My understanding is that fodder is fed roots and all. FWIW, my understanding is that sprouts have more nutrition when fed at sprout stage, instead of waiting till fodder stage. Any time I have any kind of root break down in my sprouts, I consider them rancid and not worth feeding out. Into the worm bin or the compost bin they go at that time.

 

[aart]

Too much seed and/or not in the light soon enough?
Bad drainage causing rot away?