Sprouting Seeds with NO Mold

[rjmyooper]

Nice looking microgreens, I assume for people consumption? FWIW, when I grow fodder for my chickens, I don't use any growing mat in my bins. If the fodder grows well as it should, then it makes its own root mat. My chickens eat everything from the tip of the blades to the bottom of the roots. I would think that using a growing mat for fodder would just be an extra step and expense that is not needed.

Having said that, do you find growing greens in a coco coir growing mat to be better and worth that extra effort? You are the first person to raise such a question that I know of. I honestly have never considered it, myself.

Yes. I make smoothies and cook a lot, I pull up the mat and cut the greens just above it, can't get any fresher. It needs to be used quickly after you start cutting it because it disturbs the whole area. I really like the radish sprouts. I'll pull out the bags of seed that I get either from amazon or true leaf and take a pic. I always try to buy somewhere other than amazon, but sometimes it's difficult.

 

[rjmyooper]

 

[jthornton]

Yes. I make smoothies and cook a lot, I pull up the mat and cut the greens just above it, can't get any fresher. It needs to be used quickly after you start cutting it because it disturbs the whole area. I really like the radish sprouts. I'll pull out the bags of seed that I get either from amazon or true leaf and take a pic. I always try to buy somewhere other than amazon, but sometimes it's difficult.

I have some Spicy Salad Mix from True Leaf.

What's your procedure for watering and grow lights?

The grow mats I got are made of wood fibers and just falls apart when wet.

JT

 

[rjmyooper]

I have some Spicy Salad Mix from True Leaf.

What's your procedure for watering and grow lights?

ummm.....just soak the mat, then add water once they sprout and mist them after that. The deal with them is they grow fast and they need to be consumed or they get "spindly". As for light I just put them in a South facing window.
Not a "green thumb" anywhere on me.
I can't wait to try the beets. The radish is spectacular and I just eat them by the handful.
The micro greens need water and air. I don't even talk to them.

 

[xochitle]

And then you get a bag of wheat grass seeds that grows mold no matter what you do.

I figured out the mold was different than the previous mold by looking at it under the microscope.

So I started trying different things to stop the mold and by the end of the bag I figured out that only keep the seeds in a warm 80°F place until you see the first bits of green then move them to a cooler place to finish sprouting.

JT

Thank you so much for all your input- I've begun to hydroponically grow wheatgrass in my kitchen to juice for myself, and am trying to go 'mold free' so that I can take the leftover sprouted wheat berries to the school where I work, as there are chickens who don't get much in the way of 'fresh' anything. The info you're sharing is very helpful- thank you!

 

[jthornton]

Seeing how @rjmyooper brought up micro greens I started some more and as an experiment I put some in a small container without a grow mat. I put enough seeds to cover the bottom about 1 layer deep. So we'll see if the micro greens make a nice root mass on their own.

JT

 

[rjmyooper]

I'm going to try the same thing. I thought about using shallow glass tart dishes. They look like small pie plates. About 6" in diameter. They're Pyrex, but maybe too fragile for a duck pen.

 

[jthornton]

I use these plastic food trays from Kroger. They are inexpensive and have lasted a long time.

JT

 

[jthornton]

I have no idea what happened to the next to last tray. They are in order from newest to oldest.


This is pretty much what happened when I had too much PH Down in the water. Very poor root growth on the bad one.



I mix the water and they all get watered from the same jug...

JT