Microgreens Anonymous 2024

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-11-12: Day 0

Seeds: AG Spicy Microgreens
Aerogarden: Harvest Elite
Location: North 40, kitchen
Water: tap
Grow Medium: food-grade silicon mesh
Preferred pH: 5.8–6.0
Preferred EC: 1.0–1.5
Nutrients: none yet, add at day 3

This will be a thread for my 2024 microgreen experiments, tray, AG, whatever.

Right now, the plan is to use two Harvest Elite models in the kitchen and stagger plantings. The first section (right) has been planted with the AG Spicy Microgreens seeds. (Next time, I think I'll go L to R, wasn't thinking so much when I planted.)

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-11-14: Day 2
Germination has begun.

2024-11-15: Day 3
Seeing some green already! Time for a water change and some nutrition. Time to plant the left-hand side with broccoli microgreens. 1-1/2 tsp of seeds.

Meanwhile, I’ve unpacked the open box eBay Harvest Elite, it’s working, and I’m running a sanitization cycle on it (it may have been on display or possibly tested, as it was dusty and looked like it might have had water in it at some point) and the new Microgreens tray kit from Amazon. That came with AG Superfood Microgreens, which is new to me, but sounds nice. The plan is to have it clean and ready to roll so I can plant in another 3 days.

Nutrients:
1.5ml GH CALiMAGic
5.6g GH MaxiGro
5.0ml 3% food-grade Hydrogen Peroxide

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-11-16: Day 4
Rolling along! Some signs of germination on the broccoli sprouts (left) already and lots of nice growth on the right!

[pfunnyjoy]

2024-11-18: Day 6
The AG Spicy Mix greens are coming right along. The plain jane broccoli microgreens on the left are on Day 3, and you can see that they are nicely on their way as well. I did a water/nutrient change again today and got the second Harvest unit started on microgreens, this time, seeds from the Rainbow Heirloom Seed Company, their Eastern Sun Asian microgreens mix. Purchased on Amazon.

L–R: Broccoli day 3, AG Spicy Mix day 6


For those new to growing microgreens with the Aerogarden Microgreens Kit, the AG instructions suggest changing the water at least weekly, or better still, twice a week. I've found that I don't like to go more than 4 days, and 3 seems optimal. At 3 days, the reservoir water looks funky, but does not yet smell bad. At 4 days, it usually starts to smell for me.

I think this is especially needful if using other grow media than the AG felt pads, which, now that AG has essentially gone out of business, will be in short supply for most quite soon. Using reusable silicone grow media like I do, or even Micro-Mat Mini grow media pads, some seeds/sprouts WILL escape and fall into the reservoir to start decaying. Do bear in mind that the water pictured is not quite as bad as it looks, some of the color here is from the nutrients. The cloudiness however, is NOT from the nutrient water.

Reservoir water after 3 days:


Sorry for the reality picture, but it's good for folks new to microgreen growing to know. Cleanliness is a good idea with microgreens! And if you leave this reservoir go for an entire week, you almost certainly will get less than pleasant smells.

[pfunnyjoy]

So, I harvested my AG "Spicy" microgreens, or what I "thought" was Spicy microgreens, actually, they are the "Super Food" mix. Oops!

It was interesting, the broccoli microgreens planted 3 days later caught up with the AG microgreens and were actually taller! Those got harvested a day late at Day 10 and were lovely. Hubby and I finished them all up today.

Broccoli microgreens, day 10, right before harvesting:


Harvested and placed in a Rubbermaid Food Saver:


Sadly, the other garden of microgreens has been a complete failure. I had great germination of my Asian microgreens, but by day 5, I could see spots of mold. I'm not sure why, but I do know some seeds slipped below the silicone grow medium, and that may have been where it started. I'll try these seeds again, but next time I'll use a hemp mat and see if it works any better.

Because of the mold, and because I wanted to try to save the pea shoots that were started in the next tray a few days later and that were looking beautiful, I removed the very slightly molded Asian microgreens, and did a full vinegar sanitization on the garden. Unfortunately, it didn't save the peas. They developed mold a couple days later and I tossed them this morning. This time, I've sanitized the garden with bleach.

I haven't decided just what I'll plant in that garden, I'm not sure I'm in the mood for another disaster, so it might be AG microgreens and broccoli again.

I think the pea seeds might need a sanitization soak in vinegar before soaking overnight, and I also think they might benefit from a slightly less wet environment than the Aerogarden, so I might try those in a separate tray.

[lynnee]

I love your microgreens story and photos! It's interesting that you got mold in some of your trays. Maybe it would help if you planted fewer seeds? That's what I'd try, anyway.

Are the Harvest growing trays available somewhere on Amazon? The Harvests excel at microgreens, but the trays went out of stock at AG at one time.

[pfunnyjoy]

Nov 28, 2024 10:08:13 GMT -5 lynnee said:

I love your microgreens story and photos! It's interesting that you got mold in some of your trays. Maybe it would help if you planted fewer seeds? That's what I'd try, anyway.

Are the Harvest growing trays available somewhere on Amazon? The Harvests excel at microgreens, but the trays went out of stock at AG at one time.

Fewer seeds is what I've been trying, LOL! I think the AG instructions suggested 2 teaspoons, but those broccoli sprouts were a teaspoon and a half, as were my AG microgreen seeds. I went still less (teaspoon and a quarter) for the current AG microgreens planting, and I will definitely limit the broccoli sprouts to a teaspoon in the future. 

I bought the extra Harvest on eBay for $60 prior to the brand new ones going on sale for Black Friday, oops! Then I promptly ordered the microgreens kit from Amazon, before they could run out. I'm not sure it's available there anymore, as I searched just now, and it didn't come up. That'll leave eBay for folks wanting them. I'm glad I got the extra! I love having the light from 2 Harvests in the kitchen this time of year!

I'm not sure if I'm going to like the Asian microgreens seeds I got from Amazon or not. They had good reviews, but they grew not terribly uniformly, some, (I suspect of the radish family) grew a LOT taller than the others from the get go. I do plan to try again, but I've got a busy week or two coming up, so I'll probably stick to the known successful seeds for the next batch.

[lynnee]

I have trouble using up microgreens, pfunnyjoy, because H has trouble eating them--they fall out of a sandwich too easily. But I like them a lot, and it's fun growing them in an AG setup!