Growing Sprouts & Shoots

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Sprouts are nature's fast food, ready to eat in a few days. Even if you don't have room for a garden, or don't have a garden because of rat lungworm, or maybe have a garden but cook all your vegetables - -

Sprouts are a good source of raw, fresh vegetables in your diet.

When I first moved to Puna, a had a great deal of difficulty growing sprouts due to the heat. The high temperatures can cause low germination rates, as well as bacteria growth in the unsprouted seeds. I threw out many trays of sprouts for a long time. The secret is keeping your seeds (most seeds) cool for the first few days.

Here's my method.

1) Get the Bioset tray, or mason jars with a screen that covers the opening. I prefer the Bioset tray:
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/tools-suppli...9280K.html

2) Buy seed. If you get the Bioset tray from Johnny's you'll find they have a large selection of seeds for sprouting:
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/vegetables/sprouts/

3) Measure out about 2 tsp of seed per tray. My favorite varieties are alfalfa, radish, and broccoli. You can monocrop or mix varieties.

4) Water, allow the tray to drain and then place in a large jar. I have both acrylic and glass:
https://www.amazon.com/Prodyne-AP-98-Con...000ZIBO3Y/ (The Bioset tray just barely fits into the outer bucket of this set, but not the inner bucket)

Target has a 2 gallon glass jar which I use. I'm not sure if the smaller sizes are large enough for the Bioset trays
https://www.target.com/p/heritage-hill-g...A-10620266

5) In the bottom of the jars place several ice packs cooled in the refrigerator. You can probably use ice packs from the freezer if insulated from the Bioset trays. I change the packs 2 or 3 times a day depending on the temperature in my kitchen. This will provide an ideal temperature for germination and early growth.

6) Allow the sprouts to grow about 3/4" - 1" high in the cool jar, usually about 3 days. Then you may grow for another 2 days or so at room temperature.

7) Alternate methods:
You can start in the fridge but early growth will take longer, They'll be fine for a few days without light.
For those of you the DYI 1% - start in your electric wine cooler with the tinted glass door. Either the white wine or red wine setting are appropriate.

It's best to grow near a kitchen window but not in direct light


I'll be adding more information as time allows (sunflower shoots are next on my list).
If you have any questions please ask, I'll be glad to post suggestions here.
If any other Puna Sprouters have tips, hacks, or suggestions please let us know.

[Hotzcatz]

There's things other than temperature which may cause low germination rates. First thing is to get good seed. Then, keep it away from humidity. I store my seeds in the refrigerator. When seeds are kept in high humidity, there's enough moisture for them to start to sprout, but not enough for them to actually get anywhere. In the process, they die.

We have two mason jars, both of them wide mouth half gallon jars. There's one solid plastic lid and one lid with a screen. I'll put seeds in one jar, put the screened lid on it, add a couple inches of water and let it soak for an hour. Then pour the water out and set it in the windowsill. This particular window doesn't get any direct sun. In the morning and evenings, I'll pour some water into the jar, swish it around and dump it out again and set the jar back in the window. When whatever was sprouting is grown enough, I'll rinse it well and let the seed hulls float out. Then drain it, put the solid cap on it and put it in the frige. Then start the next jar of sprouts with the screened lid. This pretty much keeps us in sprouts.

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