Sprouting greens for winter.... Photos

[Nicole01]

Winter is soon approaching and the lovely green grass will no longer be available.

Last year I took up sprouting as a supplement for my hens to keep the yolks nice and orange. Well, it worked and it worked well.

Here are a few photos of my sprouts in process. The wheat and oats were bought at a mill for $13 for a 50# bag. The alfalfa was more expensive, but we eat them ourselves too and take less seeds to use.

Wheat and oats

Corn

Alfalfa

In a mason jar(alfalfa)

I will try more things to sprout this year for a better variety. If you have suggestions, I'm all up to hear about them.

 

[devora]

That looks great. It'll be gone fast!

In California winter is the time of green grass, isn't that funny? Right now I should be growing sprouts b/c all the grass is dead.

 

[Stumpy]

I've never grown sprouts. Do you just soak the seeds for a while and then put in the container?

 

[Nicole01]

Some seeds I soak, some I don't. I always rinse well before sprouting. I rinse off in the coldest water possible 3-5 times a day. I do soak alfalfa always for 8 hrs.

I use sprouting tiers, mason jars and milk nut bags. My hens really enjoy the greens. I also have the sprouts growing at different rates, so they have some everyday.

 

[hoffmanslabs5]

I have never grown sprouts either. Do I just soak the seeds and put them in a mason jar? Not sure how to get started.

 

[BeccaSmith]

I would like to try sprouting for the winter time as well for our girls. Are those special containers you are using? I'm also wondering how much to sprout at a time for my 17 girls if I were to feed them sprouts on a daily basis during the winter?

 

[laura625]

Havrnt done sprouts in Years and years, but as I remember,
1 soak seeds overnight,
2 drain, rinse a couple of timess, and leave damp.
3 I used a canning jar, any glass jar works but you need a Screen top.
chresecloth mightwork, or you can make or buy screen jartops for sprouting.

4 leave the sprouts in dark room temp and rinse daily. Warmer temps, more
Rinses.
5 in a few days you should see seeds sprouting. Sprouts will be whitish. if you want green primary leaves to start, put the jar in the sunlight once the sprouts are 1/2" long or so.
continue rinsing in cold wster, store in fridge.
As I recall, just a fewtablespoons in a quart jar. Start therr anyway, and see how much you get. Better too few than too many.
Thay should get you started till someone with better answer comes alonh, or you could search online for "how to grow sprouts)

 

[Nicole01]

I use milk nut bags in place of cheese cloth. Works wonders!

 

[Nicole01]

I bought a 4 tier sprouter from Amazon. It's a bit smaller then I expected, but I love it. I use mason jars with milk nut bags to cover it.

I don't soak all my seeds(wheat and oats). The others I soak 8-10 hours in cold water and drain often then add more water. I figured out a system that works well for me.

I can not sprout sunflower seeds for the life of me. They mold like crazy.

I love sprouting! I just found a 50# bag of oats at the fleet farm store(sprout brand).

Here are some of my seeds. Wheat, oats, alfalfa.

 

[mickey328]

Awesome idea! I do have questions though...what the heck is a milk nut bag? LOL And when they're what, a couple inches long and green, do you just toss them to the birds?

If I understand correctly, they need to be moist, but not wet, and ventilated and rinsed a few times a day...kept dark till the sprout is going well, then given light?

I'd really like to try this; our grass is already starting to die back and I'd love to keep those yolks purty and tasty