Welcome to the weekly oh nènè microgreens update, where we talk about the latest information on our microgreens journey. We started experimenting with microgreens in March 2021 and found the process fascinating. As we discover the wonderful world of microgreens, we feel inclined to share with you our progress.
Yet another sunflower seeds test
Last week, we experienced some problems with our sunflower seeds during germination. After contacting our provider, they sent us a small sample from a different batch to see if we would find any differences in the germination. Unfortunately, the difference between the two batches was minimal. Most of the seeds didn’t germinate, regardless of if we soaked them or not.
Results of the experiments
Like in the last experiment, we wanted to test the germination of sunflower seeds when soaked for different periods and without soaking. The new batch of sunflower seeds performed better than the previous batch, but we still had severe germination problems. In terms of the amount of time the seeds were underwater, it didn’t seem to impact the germination.
Based on the low germination rate of the seeds, my conclusion is that we need to find another method to grow sunflower microgreens since we are constantly running into problems.
No growing trays to grow microgreens?
Since we switched to using only reusable meshes to grow our microgreens, we started experimenting a bit more to see if we could be more efficient with our material usage. We wanted to test growing some types of microgreens with only a reservoir tray and no growing tray. The reason for this was that we felt the mesh was like the growing tray already, so it seemed redundant.
After about a week into the experiment, we noticed that it was possible to grow microgreens without the growing tray. Still, the logistics around the watering are not trivial and having an extra tray would help us a lot.
When we use two trays to grow microgreens, the bottom tray is merely used to hold water. The purpose of having a separate tray to keep water comes in handy when you want to have a bit of control over the amount of water you use, but also to not directly water your microgreens when feeding them. In the end, we want the roots to get the water and not the microgreens on top.
When we eliminate the growing tray from the process, we are forced to water our microgreens from the top, so they get enough water, and that’s a big no-no for us.
No mesh to grow peas, follow up
Last week, we talked about an experiment where we didn’t use a mesh to grow our pea microgreens. The results were terrific, and we saw a consistent growth on our microgreens without using a mesh. From now on, we will only grow pea microgreens without any medium, just using the growing and reservoir trays. The most significant advantage of this? The ease of cleaning the roots from the trays compared to removing them from the mesh.
Radish China Rose and Broccoli Calabrese opening problems, follow up
Last week, we also discussed the minor issue with Radish China Rose and Broccoli Calabrese that do not open their leaves on their mature microgreen state.
We wanted to check if adding more water from the top to feed the roots would help the development of the leaves, and good news, it did!
We will try to feed water to some of our microgreens from the top so that the roots that extend up can also get some water.
Drying meshes to remove root structure after harvesting
One of the problems we had when using reusable meshes was the debris left of the root structure after harvesting. Taking out the roots attached to the mesh was a painful process until we read about a technique that could help us. After harvesting, to facilitate our lives, we hang the meshes like wet cloths and wait a couple of days until the roots dry out. At that moment, we take our scrapper and remove the roots in a breeze.
After removing the roots, the meshes are not pristine clean, but we are ok with that. We need to disinfect them with H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) to ensure that there are no pathogens on the mesh.
Thank you for your time, and until next week!
