Microgreens Gardening

Experiment #2 - Radishes growing on wet paper towel. They are doing well and are being harvested. The paper towel wick is working very well to bring water up from the container to the top of the lid where the plants are located. 

Experiment #3 - Flax seeds sown on brown paper which is on top of Mel's Mix (MM). This was a failure. As of last night the seeds were sprouting nicely. However, this morning it looked like there was some kind of mold in the container. This was not the small root hairs that one sees on radish sprouts. I have terminated the experiment.

Experiment #4 - Sunflower seeds ... organic seeds from Mumm's Sprouting Seeds. These were soaked overnight in water. The water was drained off and the seeds sown on top of MM. A thin layer of MM was placed over the seeds. The plastic container was covered with another inverted container and the whole thing placed in a dark location. The seeds are sprouting (see photo below) and hopefully they will not suffer the fate of the flax seeds in experiment #3.

Experiment #2 (radishes on paper towel) is being admired by the Black Sheep of the family and his sidekick.





Experiment #4 (sunflowers on MM) has been moved to a sunny window location.




sanderson ... please note the use of colours (colors) in the descriptions. Thanks for the advice on how to do that on the "Our Newest Regional Hosts" thread.

I just have to get started on this.  I planted some daikon radishes in my garden to try to break up the clay under my beds.  I just broadcast them around the bed as if I was planting grass seeds.  But of course they are way too thick.  I was not trying to grow micro-greens but just get good coverage in the bed.  They are just starting to form their first set of true leaves so I decided to snip off one and it was delicious. Who woulda thunk that they tasted just like a radish.  And you don't even have to wait until they form a bulb to get a radish taste.  I can't wait until my cover crop of winter peas that I planted in another area gets growing to try a few as micro-greens.

Peas are fantastic microgreens, but seem a vastly more expensive one to grow unless you manage to get one heck of a bulk deal.

yolos wrote:I just have to get started on this.  I planted some daikon radishes in my garden to try to break up the clay under my beds.  I just broadcast them around the bed as if I was planting grass seeds.  But of course they are way too thick.  I was not trying to grow micro-greens but just get good coverage in the bed.  They are just starting to form their first set of true leaves so I decided to snip off one and it was delicious. Who woulda thunk that they tasted just like a radish.  And you don't even have to wait until they form a bulb to get a radish taste.  I can't wait until my cover crop of winter peas that I planted in another area gets growing to try a few as micro-greens.

Oh I love this idea! Thanks!
And I love daikon, the greens, seed pods and the fruit.  There's a whole thread on daikon on this website if you're interested in doing a search.

CC

Yeah, we wrote a fair amount about daikon a year or so ago. The pods are great! And you get a huge amount of them from a single plant.

Beautiful radishes! I've never seen sunflowers sprouted before. That's amazing. Will you wait for true leaves before eating those also?

Love your 2 side kicks!
CC

Thanks CC.  I'm already harvesting the radishes (e.g., put a few on top of some potatto soup today).  As for the sunflowers, I'm not sure I'll wait for the true leaves. They can be harvested after the cotyledons come out.

With sunflowers I find it takes time to remove the seed husks. Sometimes they never seem to fall off.

Experiment # 2 has concluded successfully.

Lifting off the paper towel c/w microgreens rooted into it.



Experiment #4 keeps on going.

Looking good!

Yes, it does!

So let me make sure I'm reading correctly, TD.  You're just using paper towels as the rooting medium, putting them in clear containers to get sunshine.  Correct?

AM ... Only Experiment #2 used the paper towels. There are actually two paper towels. The first one sits on top of the lid. Then on each of the long sides of the lid the paper goes through slots cut into the lid. The ends of the paper go down into the water in the bottom of the container. This paper acts as a wick to bring water up to the top of the lid. A second paper towel (cut to fit the top) is placed on top of the first paper towel. After being soaked for a few hours the seeds are sown on top of the second paper towel. The whole thing is then covered with a second container that is placed inverted over the first container. It's a good idea to spray water on the seeds and on the inside of the second container before putting it in place. The whole thing is then kept in a dark place (I covered mine with a dark towel) while the seeds sprout. I checked twice per day to make sure everything was staying wet and sprayed over the seeds and inside the inverted top container. After two or three days and after the seeds are well sprouted, the contraption is taken out of the dark and placed in a location that gets plenty of light. In my case that is a south facing window. The microgreens and the inside of the top container are sprayed with water twice per day. After some time the top container can be removed but spraying the microgreens a couple of times per day is still a good idea.

The bottom container does not have to be clear but the top cover (like a greenhouse) does need to be clear. If the bottom container is clear then it allows the level of water in the reservoir to be monitored. I did not need to add any water during this experiment but the water did go down considerably.

Hope that helps.

Tremendously, thanks, TD.  Interesting method.  I've copied it for my use.  I'll let you know how it goes...

Mrs TD decided today that if I am going to be doing indoor gardening then I need an indoor greenhouse!  We got this (see photo) at IKEA.

By the way, I was just talking to my neighbour who was raking leaves ... three more bags coming my way. She is new to the neighbourhood and works at the Costco Canada HQ which is only a few miles from us. She told me she is a produce buyer for Costco and tomorrow she is going on a two week trip to Chile and Peru to visit farms where they purchase produce. Nice job!

Aaaawwwww!  What a cute little greenhouse!  Way to go, Mrs. TD!

AtlantaMarie wrote:Aaaawwwww!  What a cute little greenhouse!  Way to go, Mrs. TD!

+1

Very cute!

I have been following this thread for some time and have finally decided to try my own test growing microgreens.  So, here is my adventure into microgreen growing.

I already had all of the needed supplies.  One 10x20 tray with no holes to catch any water.  One 10x20 tray to act as a dome on top to increase humidity and keep out the light.  Three 6x9 inch trays that I drilled 1/8 inch holes in the bottom.  Seed starting mix (½ jiffy and ½ miracle grow).  Seeds of daikon radishes, sugar snap peas, buckwheat

Here is the set up with the 10x20 tray without drain holes and the three smaller trays sitting inside with drain holes.  There is 1 inch of soil in the three smaller trays.




And a picture of the setup after seeding.  The left tray is sugar snap peas (looks like there may be too many seeds but we shall see), middle tray is buckwheat (maybe not quite enough seeds), and on the right is daikon radishes (looks just about right in terms of number of seeds maybe).


After adding the seeds, I just barely covered with more soil.  Then I put the second 10x20 tray on top to act as a dome.  Now I am going to sit back and wait except to spray twice a day with a mister until germinated and then bottom water after germination.

Thanks for getting me started on this venture TD.  I hate the winter season so this might just keep me busy and entertained somewhat.


I watched a gazillion videos.  Everybody does it slightly different but this method with the soil appealed to me and I have all the necessary supplies to do this.  If this works, I will then try using the Sure to Grow hydroponic pads.

yolos ... that looks great and also a nice variety of seeds.  Be sure to post more photos as your crop grows.  I've harvested some of my sunflower microgreens. I'm letting others continue to grow as they start showing another set of leaves.

OK, vicarious gardening......might make me ask the kids for an Aerogarden for Christmas, like Kelejan does.....

Here is an update.  Near the end of day three.  Radish are almost 100% germinated.  At the end of day two, I put a small tray on top of the radish tray and then a dish towel to add some weight that is supposed to stress them and make them stronger.  When the radish were about 1 inch tall, I removed the tray and put the radish under the light under the cabinet.  No sun outside and I don't want to set up my 4 foot light.  This is a picture of the radish microgreens just after I put them under the lights.  


The buckwheat (middle tray) is about 50% germinated and the peas (left tray) only have a few sprouts showing. They are both still under the black dome.

Looking good yolos.  

I'm still letting sunflower microgreens grow. They are now getting their second set of leaves. I have harvested a few along the way.

Hot dog.  In just a couple of hours the radish greened up and taste delish.  I will let it grow for 3 or 4 more days to get more bulk for my efforts.