Sprouting Wheat

[RebelChief]

Do you have any photos of the indoor operation?

JT

I posted in this thread already

 

[jthornton]

I posted in this thread already

For some reason I was thinking you had some kind of rack system setup in the house... need more coffee I guess.

JT

 

[gtaus]

This experiment reminds me of one I read about growing barley. @gtaus made an article on growing fodder in a garage and a hilarious thread one growing fodder in the bathroom (secretly bc the wife should not find it).

Thanks for the shout out. I had a lot of success growing barley fodder in my rack system using dollar tree bins. If interested, here is the initial link of my My $10 Inexpensive DIY Fodder Tower with Dollar Tree Dish Bins . Picture of the basic tower follows.

I did a trial run of growing barley fodder in the garage in the summer to see if it would work for me. I had better than expected results and posted my fodder article at that time. The main reason I wanted to try to grow fodder was because I live in northern Minnesota and we have snow on the ground for about 5-6 months and I would not be able to give fresh greens to my birds during those months.

When the snow started falling last October, I brought my tower system into the house and grew it in our second bathroom. I posted a thread that people had a good time with following my adventure and attempt to keep my wife from knowing what I was doing....
Don't tell the wife, I'm growing fodder in the 2nd bathroom!

Anyway, I grew barely fodder in the second bathroom all winter long until the grass started growing in the spring. Now I am just cutting grass and feeding the grass clippings to the birds. I have commercial feed available to my birds 24/7, but I think that having fresh greens year round as a supplement was a good thing for my birds. My flood and drain fodder tower system took less than 5 minutes per day to grow barley fodder and I always had about 8-10 days of fodder growing in the racks. So, for very little effort, I got great results. I plan on growing barley fodder in the house this coming winter, too.

 

[jthornton]

After several successful attempts to attract gnats and grow mold I finally pieced the puzzle together for sprouting wheat.

Day 1 soak the seeds for 8 - 12 hours make sure you stir them up with your fingers so all seeds get wet.

Day 2 - 4 flood with water then drain and loosely cover. Day 2 and 3 I use another container to keep the seeds in while draining, after that they have a root mat and you can just use your hand to hold them in while draining. In my case the sprouts are at the top of the container lifting the lid at day 4 so they go to a window shelf.

Day 5 up to harvest flood with water then drain and put where there is some light.

Day 1 - 4


Day 1


Day 2


Day 3


Day 4


Day 5


Day 6


Day 7


Day 9 (yeah I skipped a day)


The window shelf, note the one on the far left is some wheat feed that does not sprout well.


I use 1/4 cup of this wheat seed in the container.


JT

 

[RebelChief]

JT

Are you mixing a little bleach in the water to keep the mold from growing? Also try turning your tray's the other direction so you can put two rows in front of the window. Use the left and right as your initial soaking locations. Rotate the growers so they get equal time in different spots in front of the sun.

 

[RebelChief]

Oh and your fodder looks amazing. I do the same thing but I'm using dollar tree plastic dish tubs....One has holes for drainage and I put a second underneath to catch water.

 

[RebelChief]

For some reason I was thinking you had some kind of rack system setup in the house... need more coffee I guess.

JT

I built the same system that Gtaus has above. I have since cut it in half to use as a table for my cooler watering system for the chickens.

Now I just use the top if my hedgehog's cage

 

[Lilokieescorter]

Some of you may remember me sprouting wheat a while back with a complicated watering and light system in a spare bathroom. While it worked fine it did take up the whole bathtub so this time I decided to sprout wheat feed in a way that anyone that has chickens can do. I have some 18 count styrofoam egg cartons. I put some wheat seeds in each compartment then give each one a spritz of water. I close the lid so the moisture stays in. I spritz them twice a day. For the first couple of days not much happens unless you look really close.

Day 3 you should see some seeds sprouting.
View attachment 2078625

Day 4 even more seeds are sprouting.
View attachment 2078627

Day 5 most should have sprouted by now that will sprout.
View attachment 2078628

Day 6 the sprouts are about 1" long and time to put them outside in a plastic tray and start a new batch in this carton.
View attachment 2078629

Day 7 the sprouts are starting to get a tad green. I use the mist setting on my hose to mist them a few times a day when I walk by.
View attachment 2078630

Day 8 and Day 9 they are very green and a couple of inches long.
View attachment 2078631

At this point you could start to feed them to your chickens.

Important that you use feed seeds and not planting seeds which may have chemical coatings.

JT

Thank you for sharing this, I'm going to try this, I just sprouted lintels

 

[RebelChief]

Thank you for sharing this, I'm going to try this, I just sprouted lintels

How did the lentels go? I have a couple bags and I'm curious. Did you use the ones you can get at the store to cook?

 

[jthornton]

JT

Are you mixing a little bleach in the water to keep the mold from growing? Also try turning your tray's the other direction so you can put two rows in front of the window. Use the left and right as your initial soaking locations. Rotate the growers so they get equal time in different spots in front of the sun.

I don't use any bleach. Not having standing water seems to eliminate the mold from growing. And so far no gnats have appeared out of thin air like the last time.

Until I take the lid off they are in the basement with little to no light.

I decided to not have any holes as the roots just plug them up, instead I just tip the tray upright and hold the sprout mass in with my hand.

The shelf is not deep enough for two rows and I plan on just giving 1/2 to each flock seeds and all on about the 10th day. I may build another shelf above the current one. But first the Cinnamon Queens are getting huge so I need to get the nest box finished quick... well I have a bit of time they are 12 weeks old.

JT