Guess what season it is in the Northern Hemisphere?! - Its FODDER Season! 🍀

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I went into town town today and stopped by at the Dollar Tree. They had a shelf full of plastic dish bins stocked. So I bought a couple more just as extras. I don't know if the resupply chain from China has been reestablished, but our local store had the shelves restocked from somewhere.

BTW, I use the Dollar Tree plastic dish bins for lots of stuff around the garage. I put my oil cans and anything else that may leak in those bins. I use them as totes to carry loose tools to a worksite because it is easier for me to just look into the plastic bin then to have to rummage around in my tool bag. We use them to hold gardening items, such as seeds, string, markers, etc... but also they are good for mixing up small amounts of potting soil. Lots of other uses too, and, of course, for growing fodder.

The same here: I use those bins for everything, i have one for loose nails, one for wood screws, one for machine-screws and nuts, one for …
They are just the right size and dirt cheap!
Sadly our Dollar Tree was not re-stocked, i was there yesterday and bought 10 stackable green bins, which i will use for BOSS-sprouts.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

BOSS has a lot of debris but sprouts well. Debris means mold, but it also filters out on the first soak moderately well. The better filtered it is the less mold.

The water that drains out from the BOSS bins just looks pretty disgusting for the first couple of days, black and oily.

 

[RLockhart68]

Without reading the whole thread. Just wanted to share what I am sprouting as my winter fodder. After 3 days I'm seeing lots of sprouts. My method has been - soak for 24 hours, rinse, put in trays, spritz with hydrogen peroxide, spritz daily with water (instead of drench and drain) cover with a second tray to maintain humidity. Putting approximately 3 cups in black grow trays. Might reduce it to 2 1/2 depending on end result of the first batch.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Without reading the whole thread. Just wanted to share what I am sprouting as my winter fodder. After 3 days I'm seeing lots of sprouts. My method has been - soak for 24 hours, rinse, put in trays, spritz with hydrogen peroxide, spritz daily with water (instead of drench and drain) cover with a second tray to maintain humidity. Putting approximately 3 cups in black grow trays. Might reduce it to 2 1/2 depending on end result of the first batch.View attachment 2442256View attachment 2442257

I think i have to go to TSC or RK this weekend! That is a great idea to get some cheap greens. I just typed in "Food Plot Seed" into the TSC homepage:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/food plot seed?

 

[RLockhart68]

I think i have to go to TSC or RK this weekend! That is a great idea to get some cheap greens. I just typed in "Food Plot Seed" into the TSC homepage:
https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/food plot seed?

I would definitely recommend this one over this one https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...t-7-card-stud-full-season-forage?cm_vc=-10005 that one has coating on the smaller seeds. I tried it in the spring when I got my chicks to introduce them to foraging. While I loved the mix in it, it was a royal pain in the neck getting the coating rinsed off

 

[gtaus]

Well, I have run into some problems with growing barley this year. The barley seed I had left over from last year did not germinate at all (about 2%) so I had to mix that in with the chicken scratch. No problem. No waste. No worries, or so I thought.

I went to buy some "new" barley seed from the local feed house. Unfortunately, the barley seed I got this time is not much better. Germination is at about 50% (compared to last year at +95%) and I am fighting mold issues. I called the local feed house and talked to them about this issue and they said they have no control over the "quality" of the seed. They buy directly from the farmer out of their grain bins, and they don't know how old the seed actually is when they buy it. Also, they said, some years the crops are better than others and that can affect the quality of germination of the seed. They assured me that the bags of barley I got were recently filled from their supply and they don't have stockpiles of old, unsold bags of grain.

The best they could do for me was to give the telephone number of a seed company that sells certified barley seed which should be better for growing fodder. Unfortunately, that's a 100 mile round trip for me.

So, here I sit, broken hearted, with barley seed that is producing poor fodder, having mold issues, and not worth the effort to continue with this seed. Maybe I was just lucky last year and got good fresh seed. At this point, with doing everything the same as last year, my germination rate is about half of last year, I have mold issues this year and none to speak of last year, and will probably have to hit the road if I want anything better for the rest of the winter.

The local feed store did say they will be making a new purchase, from a different farmer, in a couple of weeks and that may be a better batch of seed. I might try a bag from that new purchase. In the meantime, I guess I bought another 100# of barley seed to mix into the chicken scratch.

I thought I was so good at growing barley fodder from my experience last year. It now looks like maybe I was just lucky and started off with some good seed. Certainly, if I would have had the fodder results I am currently getting this year when I was experimenting with growing fodder last year, I don't think I would have continued. Maybe this is a good thing, because now I know how vital the quality of the seed is. I am doing everything the same this year as last year in growing the fodder, but not getting near the positive results as last year.

 

[RLockhart68]

This is the day 4 (5 if you count the 24 hour soak) tray. Mass is almost 3 times what I had on day one. So far no mold issues. Will set in a window later today to help with greening it up.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

I would definitely recommend this one over this one https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...t-7-card-stud-full-season-forage?cm_vc=-10005 that one has coating on the smaller seeds. I tried it in the spring when I got my chicks to introduce them to foraging. While I loved the mix in it, it was a royal pain in the neck getting the coating rinsed off

Thank you very much for the warning! - So there are feed mixes out, that contain coated seeds!? That sucks! Do they even give you a hint on the bag?

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Well, I have run into some problems with growing barley this year. The barley seed I had left over from last year did not germinate at all (about 2%) so I had to mix that in with the chicken scratch. No problem. No waste. No worries, or so I thought.

I went to buy some "new" barley seed from the local feed house. Unfortunately, the barley seed I got this time is not much better. Germination is at about 50% (compared to last year at +95%) and I am fighting mold issues. I called the local feed house and talked to them about this issue and they said they have no control over the "quality" of the seed. They buy directly from the farmer out of their grain bins, and they don't know how old the seed actually is when they buy it. Also, they said, some years the crops are better than others and that can affect the quality of germination of the seed. They assured me that the bags of barley I got were recently filled from their supply and they don't have stockpiles of old, unsold bags of grain.

The best they could do for me was to give the telephone number of a seed company that sells certified barley seed which should be better for growing fodder. Unfortunately, that's a 100 mile round trip for me.

So, here I sit, broken hearted, with barley seed that is producing poor fodder, having mold issues, and not worth the effort to continue with this seed. Maybe I was just lucky last year and got good fresh seed. At this point, with doing everything the same as last year, my germination rate is about half of last year, I have mold issues this year and none to speak of last year, and will probably have to hit the road if I want anything better for the rest of the winter.

The local feed store did say they will be making a new purchase, from a different farmer, in a couple of weeks and that may be a better batch of seed. I might try a bag from that new purchase. In the meantime, I guess I bought another 100# of barley seed to mix into the chicken scratch.

I thought I was so good at growing barley fodder from my experience last year. It now looks like maybe I was just lucky and started off with some good seed. Certainly, if I would have had the fodder results I am currently getting this year when I was experimenting with growing fodder last year, I don't think I would have continued. Maybe this is a good thing, because now I know how vital the quality of the seed is. I am doing everything the same this year as last year in growing the fodder, but not getting near the positive results as last year.

At least you can feed the barley to your chickens, soaked or not! Man that sucks! ☹
It won't help you, but might ease your pain: It seems that the quality of the Winter weed i have bought (also 100lbs) sucks too. The Germination rate is ok, 70-80% compared to the 95% from last year, but it takes so much longer this year to grow. After 10 days there are barely green tips. Maybe it is colder in my garage this year or too much light - i had to move the tower away from the sink to the other end of the workbench. 2020 is a sucker!

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

This is the day 4 (5 if you count the 24 hour soak) tray. Mass is almost 3 times what I had on day one. So far no mold issues. Will set in a window later today to help with greening it up.View attachment 2443887

Lot's of sprouts, but also lot's of un-sprouted seeds. How many days are you planning for the green-up phase?