Microgreens

Anyone here mess with growing them? I've just started dabbling in them a little, here's a tray of pea shoots I just harvested. I probably could have used 2-3x as much seed, I think I used 100 grams of seed and yielded around 150 grams of product. Nice to throw in salads.

I ordered some more seeds, sunflower and radish and just planted a tray of Buckwheat to test. From what I understand with the pea and sunflower you should be able to yield about 1-1.5lbs per tray if you use enough seed, and the radish around a lb.

The micros sound like they fetch a pretty good price and I'd like to start selling them at the Farmers Markets for $3 an oz to $20 or so a lb. and maybe pickup some restaurant business... and make some money selling little bags of green stuff.

I just grew these under a single CFL bulb (I had 2 trays under 2 CFL bulbs). I'm going to setup a proper 4 shelf setup with 4ft fluorescent shop lights that should do 16 trays at a time.

Seeds I've been getting from a site called Mvseeds which look to be about the cheapest on most things.

I'm considering growing bean sprouts. Those things are tasty l.

farmerfischer said:

I'm considering growing bean sprouts. Those things are tasty l.

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I've considered some bean sprouts too but it sounds like there's more of a chance of breeding some salmonella. I think there are some guidelines one can follow to reduce the chance of that sort of thing though.

Dave's Not Here said:

I've considered some bean sprouts too but it sounds like there's more of a chance of breeding some salmonella. I think there are some guidelines one can follow to reduce the chance of that sort of thing though.

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Good point .. Salmonella is no joke .

Good point.. Samonella is no joke..

I made these after watching some Vids on YouTube by Mr duzee1
you fill the top with coco coir and seed. The grey things are old cotton tee shirt to wick the water up from the bottom. The seed and put another thin layer of coco coir on top and cover for three days. Then set them in the sun. I'm on the second day covered. Will post pix when it sprouts. I did lettuce, some okra, and cilantro to start. I have some chive seeds to try and some pok Choi and beet seeds ordered to get on some more bins I bought.

got them at the dollar tree. And I found the shammy to try on the next ones.
I have high hopes. We will see what they produce.

unburied

I think it is just too cold for them to make. I don't think I used enough seed and will try to leave them covered longer. Maybe 5 days instead of just three. Just some 'Gangly" sprouts. They were harvested and eaten. I'm waiting on some more seed I ordered.

Don't bother with growing micros in soil, use burlap. You don't even have to grow them in light. They can be grown in complete darkness and stack the trays on top of each other.

check out curtis stone on youtube for microgreen production. dude kills it. i'm going to starting some this year as well. sunshine mix #4 all you need.

b4ds33d said:

Don't bother with growing micros in soil, use burlap. You don't even have to grow them in light. They can be grown in complete darkness and stack the trays on top of each other.

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Is burlap as useful as the expensive biostrate pads? Biostrate pads is diffucult to find in my country. The lack of suitable grow media is the only thing that stops me from growing microgreens. I have tried with soil, perlite and various media, problem is impossible to harvest the microgreens effectively when growing in soil.

Burlap is available everywhere.

MikeGanja said:

Is burlap as useful as the expensive biostrate pads? Biostrate pads is diffucult to find in my country. The lack of suitable grow media is the only thing that stops me from growing microgreens. I have tried with soil, perlite and various media, problem is impossible to harvest the microgreens effectively when growing in soil.

Burlap is available everywhere.

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Coco matting is great for micros, or even paper towel works ok. Soil is too messy imo.

Dave's Not Here said:

I've considered some bean sprouts too but it sounds like there's more of a chance of breeding some salmonella. I think there are some guidelines one can follow to reduce the chance of that sort of thing though.

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wash everything you grow this way in water with a little h2o2 in it, takes care of salmonella and most anything else nasty

MikeGanja said:

Is burlap as useful as the expensive biostrate pads? Biostrate pads is diffucult to find in my country. The lack of suitable grow media is the only thing that stops me from growing microgreens. I have tried with soil, perlite and various media, problem is impossible to harvest the microgreens effectively when growing in soil.

Burlap is available everywhere.

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I’ve always just use burlap strips. I’ve done some large scale grows when I was in school for my horticulture degrees using different medias. Burlap has the best bang for your buck and you can compost it. Don’t use nutrients, just water. The micros that you let grow a little longer than 4 or 5 days benefit from light but the ones you cut young I did them in complete darkness and even stacked the trays on top of each other. It’s amazing how expensive micros are to buy but how cheap and easy they are to produce.

b4ds33d said:

I’ve always just use burlap strips. I’ve done some large scale grows when I was in school for my horticulture degrees using different medias. Burlap has the best bang for your buck and you can compost it. Don’t use nutrients, just water. The micros that you let grow a little longer than 4 or 5 days benefit from light but the ones you cut young I did them in complete darkness and even stacked the trays on top of each other. It’s amazing how expensive micros are to buy but how cheap and easy they are to produce.

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This week I found large sacks for storing things like wheat and corn. Do I have to look out for chemicals or pesticides when buying burlap?

Since you have have a degree in horticulture, perhaps you can tell: Is it possible and realistic to grow enough indoor microgreens to replace all vegetables in a persons diet? I am trying to find out if I can have a grow system in my kitchen that makes me self sufficient.

MikeGanja said:

This week I found large sacks for storing things like wheat and corn. Do I have to look out for chemicals or pesticides when buying burlap?

Since you have have a degree in horticulture, perhaps you can tell: Is it possible and realistic to grow enough indoor microgreens to replace all vegetables in a persons diet? I am trying to find out if I can have a grow system in my kitchen that makes me self sufficient.

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Seems like you could supply all the nutrients a person needs. To supply a goodly amount of mass looks to be a challenge tho.

MikeGanja said:

This week I found large sacks for storing things like wheat and corn. Do I have to look out for chemicals or pesticides when buying burlap?

Since you have have a degree in horticulture, perhaps you can tell: Is it possible and realistic to grow enough indoor microgreens to replace all vegetables in a persons diet? I am trying to find out if I can have a grow system in my kitchen that makes me self sufficient.

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if it's been used already i'd wash it just to make sure, i doubt they treat the burlap, but it could be contaminated from what was in it

MikeGanja said:

This week I found large sacks for storing things like wheat and corn. Do I have to look out for chemicals or pesticides when buying burlap?

Since you have have a degree in horticulture, perhaps you can tell: Is it possible and realistic to grow enough indoor microgreens to replace all vegetables in a persons diet? I am trying to find out if I can have a grow system in my kitchen that makes me self sufficient.

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It tough to give you a 100% answer as to whether the burlap bags are chemical free. Your best bet is getting the pertinent info from the bag and checking with a local feed store. There’s always a possibility it could be treated with a fungicide and waterproofing agent or that it might have been exposed to something externally inadvertently.
It’s absolutely possible to grow enough. Just get a good mix of seed types so you don’t get bored. And I would get straight seed instead of mixes or medleys. Depending on counter space, trying to grow it in your kitchen might be tough. But it is totally possible. When it comes to micros, you are only limited by space and your imagination.

Dave's Not Here said:

I've considered some bean sprouts too but it sounds like there's more of a chance of breeding some salmonella. I think there are some guidelines one can follow to reduce the chance of that sort of thing though.

Click to expand...

sprouts are grown different than microgreens sprouts dont use soil and have the root attached when you eat them something with the soiless causes the salmonella.