Welcome to my weekly microgreens update, where I talk about the latest information about my microgreens journey. I started playing with microgreens in March 2021 and found the process fascinating. Now, I am trying to experiment more with microgreens and see where it takes me.
Coconut coir “waste” update
Last week, I talked about how the coconut coir medium for our seeds becomes a “waste” once we harvest our microgreens and how we compost it as a solution. I also mentioned that this approach might not be feasible in the long run because we do not have a big compost pile for the potential amount of coconut coir “waste” we would have.
This week I tried handling the coconut coir rest of a tray by exposing it to the sunlight for a couple of days. I separated the still attached roots to the medium and made two piles, one with only coconut coir and one with a mix of roots and coconut coir. These two piles were under the sunlight for quite a while and are almost dry by now.
The question arises, should I re-use the coconut coir to grow new microgreens? After reading a couple of articles about it, I am convinced that the answer is yes, we can re-use coconut coir to re-grow our microgreens. There are some things to consider, and I will dig deeper into this topic before mentioning anything here. If you are curious, these are some of the articles I read about reusing coconut coir:
- https://www.advancednutrients.com/articles/reusing-coco-coir/
- https://cocoandcoir.com/blogs/gardening/how-to-re-use-coco-coir-in-gardening
- https://www.zamnesia.com/blog-reuse-coco-fibre-n1612
New seeds!
This week, I got my new batch of seeds to play with to experiment a bit and expand my knowledge. This is the list of seeds I got:
- Basil, Italian
- Mustard, White
- Fenugreek
- Beet, Red
- Cabbage, Red
- Radish, Rose
The basil, fenugreek, and beet are new to me, and I am curious to see the results of producing new microgreens from these seeds!
Microgreens I started
Last week, I started broccoli and red cabbage microgreens because I wanted to get better at the process of doing seeds that I knew already. They are both growing well, but the broccoli seeds are way faster than the red cabbage seeds.
Broccoli
The broccoli microgreens are growing wonderfully this week. I tried following my method to the letter, and it went even better than expected. The seedlings grew very fast and strong in no time.
I wrote a detailed page about my methodology and how you can grow broccoli microgreens from sowing to harvest if you feel like trying yourself.
Red cabbage
The red cabbage seeds are considerably slower than the broccoli seeds, but that doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with them. I am documenting the process daily with pictures and comments to produce a guide to growing your red cabbage microgreens.
Microgreens that were already there
Arugula
The arugula microgreens grew incredibly fast, and in no time, we were eating and enjoying these spicy and tasty microgreens. These are definitely one of my favorite microgreens to grow.
Red clover
I had some trouble with the red clover microgreens. They were growing well, and suddenly they seemed to halt and not progress anymore, or ever so slightly. Unfortunately, some mold started growing in some sections of the tray, so I ended up harvesting what I could and ditching the rest.
Somehow, it seems like my setup is prone to mold, and I believe it is because of the high humidity in the garage where we grow them. I am planning on getting a humidity sensor and getting the humidity right in the following days.
Next microgreens
Since I got new seeds, I want to experiment with fenugreek and red beet microgreens. It will be a new challenge for me, and I am very excited to test these two seeds out!
Thank you for your time, and see you next week!
Dani
