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.

Experimenting with water

So far, we have done several experiments with watering when doing our microgreens, but somehow, it seems like we never get to the perfect combination to produce the best results. As we learn more about the craft of growing microgreens, we realize that it is not as simple as it seems.

We experimented with three different watering techniques for growing red cabbage microgreens. The idea was to understand which technique would yield the best results. Here’s what we did with the three trays:

  • Tray A: Put the coconut coir layer as a medium, then sowing the seeds, and then spraying with water.
  • Tray B: Put two cups of water on the lower tray, add the coconut coir medium, then sow the seeds and spray them with water.
  • Tray C: Put the coconut coir layer as a medium, spray with water to make it moist, then sowing the seeds and spraying with water once again.
Red cabbage seeds germinating
Red cabbage seeds germinating.

 

After a couple of days, all of the trays were looking similar. Potentially trays B and C were looking better. By day three/four, both trays B and C developed mould in several spots, so we had to treat them with hydrogen peroxide to kill it. By day 7, we exposed them all to the light, and they were doing ok.

Conclusion of our watering experiment

Tray A gave us the least trouble during the germination and blackout process, while trays B and C produced mould because of how much water they had. However, all of the trays had poor and weak roots because we didn’t add any weight on top of the trays when germinating. This takes us to the next experiment, playing with weight!

Red cabbage microgreen roots
Red cabbage roots

 

Weight experiments

This week, we started again experimenting with weight by growing red cabbage and broccoli raab. We will see if the roots develop better because of the weights. We added about 5kg using bricks we had at home. If the experiment works well and the roots go deeper and stronger into the coconut coir, we will be applying weight to our trays from now on.

Two bricks putting weight over a microgreen tray
Weight over tray

 

Microgreens update

Last week, we started the experiment with red cabbage and different watering techniques, here you can see the three trays, one next to the other right when we exposed them to the light for the first time.

Three trays with red cabbage microgreens on a rack
Red cabbage microgreens
Red cabbage microgreens exposed to the light for the first time
Red cabbage microgreens

 

We started a new tray with red cabbage (with a weight), one tray of red beet (no weight), and one tray of broccoli raab (with weight).

Three trays with microgreens covered with a top tray on a rack
Three trays on the rack

 

We still have radish china rose, and we will test a storage technique to see how much they can hold fresh in the fridge.

Radish China Rose microgeens on a steel container
Radish China Rose microgeens

 

Thank you for your time, and until next week!