Podcast Episode 4: How to Grow Microgreens

Episode Description

Do you want to know how to grow microgreens?

In this episode I give a high level overview on how to grow microgreens. I go through all the steps, from start to finish. 

Starting from choosing trays, seeds and a growing medium and taking you all the way through planting, germination, maintenance and harvesting.

Links mentioned in this episode:
Leave me a voice note: https://www.speakpipe.com/Microgreensentrepreneur 
Free seed density calculator: https://microgreensentrepreneur.com/seedcalculator 
Online Seed Companies:
USA: https://www.trueleafmarket.com/
Ireland: https://www.fruithillfarm.com/

Episode Transcript

Microgreens Entrepreneur Episode 4: How to Grow Microgreens

* * * Intro Music * * *

[0:09] You’re listening to The Microgreens Entrepreneur Podcast, where

the aim is to help you start, grow, and improve any microgreens business.

I’m your host, Brian, owner of a microgreens business that I

operate out of my own home. Stay tuned and welcome along.

[0:27] Hello, there. Thank you very much for tuning in wherever you are. On

this week’s episode, I’ve got a tutorial on how to grow microgreens. I’m

going to go through all the steps from seeding to harvesting.

[0:39] I can appreciate that some of you listening already know how to grow

microgreens, but stick around anyway, and there might be something that

you can take away from it. Or else, you might spot something that I might

forget, and you can let me know at the end. Explaining how to grow

microgreens is usually done visually, so we’ll have to see, does it work out

doing it as a podcast?

[0:56] In this episode, I’m going to go over general guidelines for all

microgreens, but every microgreen is a little bit different in a certain way.

So, this method that I explain today is going to have to be changed maybe

in some small little way for each microgreen.

[1:11] And if you like this episode and people find it useful, I’ll make other

episodes that go specifically into different types of microgreens. Okay, so

let’s get started.

[1:19] The first thing we’ll go through is what you’re going to need to grow

microgreens. On a basic level, you’re going to need some trays, seeds, a

water source, some soil, and a form of sunlight. We’ll start off with the

trays.

[1:32] When growing any microgreens, I recommend using two trays. One

with holes and one without holes. The reason for this is that when the

microgreens have sprouted, and there are leaves there, you’re going to be

able to water them from the bottom, so you’re not keeping the foliage wet

by watering it from the top.

[1:48] The reason we want to water from the bottom and keep the foliage

dry is that by doing that, you’re going to help reduce the chances of your

microgreens getting mould or disease. You’re going to need a third tray for

covering the microgreens after you put the see in, but I’ll go through that

again in a minute.

[2:02] The next thing to think about then is your growing medium. I

recommend growing microgreens in soil. I use a compost that’s mainly

made up of coconut coir, and it’s very fine. I will make another episode in

the future that discloses all the different growing mediums and how they

work out for microgreens.

[2:20] The main thing about your soil is that you need one that’s very fine.

You don’t want any large particles or clumps in your soil because this is

going to be a problem for microgreens. The finer the soil, the better.

[2:31] Once you’ve sourced your soil, you’re going to take your two trays.

You’re going to put the tray with holes inside one without holes. You’re then

going to fill the tray with holes up with about 1½ inch of soil. When you’ve

done that, you want to break it up with your hands and just make sure it’s

as fine as it can be with no clumps. Then you’re going to smooth it out with

your hand and make it even.

[2:52] After that, you’re going to press the soil down. You can press it down

with your hand, or you can use a piece of wood or something flat to make

the soil flat.

[3:00] The next thing then is to water the soil. You want the water droplets

that are going onto the soil to be fine, so I recommend using something like

a watering can that has a sprinkler head on the end of the spout. That’s

probably the cheapest option.

[3:14] The main thing is that you’re not pouring big droplets of water on the

soil. You want to try and disturb the soil the least amount as you can, so it

remains flat. Like, for instance, you wouldn’t water the soil from the top like

with a cup or a glass or something like that where the water just pours out

onto the soil.

[3:30] Once you’ve got your watering can or whatever you’re going to water

with, you’re going to soak the soil before you go seeding it. The aim at this

stage is to try and get the soil as wet as possible without there being a

puddle there. So, you really do want a good bit of water in the soil at the

start to help that seed get germinating.

[3:45] Next, we’re on to the seeding. One thing I want to mention about

seeds before we get into it is a question that frequently comes up about

microgreens. That is, are microgreen seeds different to normal seeds?

[3:57] The answer to that question is no. Microgreen seeds are the exact

same as the seeds that you use to sow in the field or wherever. The only

difference with microgreens is that we sow the same seeds, but we sow

them much more dense.

[4:10] That being said, I recommend buying your microgreen seeds in bulk.

The best place to do this is usually online. There are plenty of good seed

companies out there, and I’ll recommend a couple in the show notes.

[4:21] The reason you want to buy them in bulk is because you’re going to

use so many of them, and it’s much cheaper to buy them in bulk. If you go

down to your local garden center or hardware where they sell the small little

packets of seeds, you’re going to need a lot of those packets to sell

microgreens, and it’s going to cost you a lot of money to buy your seeds

there.

[4:39] Okay. So, you’ve bought your seeds, and you’re ready to go. There’s

just one thing you need to know before you sow them. Some people soak

some of their seeds before they plant them.

[4:48] Like, for instance, a lot of people soak pea seed before they plant

them and sunflower seed. Personally, I don’t soak any seed. I just find that

it takes a lot of extra time and effort to do it, and you really don’t gain much

from it.

[5:00] Let’s take pea shoots, for example. If I’m going to soak them, I’ve got

to go get a bucket. I’ve got to fill it with water. I’ve got to weigh out the

seed, put the seed in the bucket of water. I’ve got to time it, so I don’t leave

it soaking for too long, and the seed could possibly rot. Then, I’ve got to

come back and drain that seed.

[5:17] Really, in my experience, what you gain from soaking it first is

probably a day or two at the max. So, I just don’t think it’s worth it. I work it

into my schedule that I sow these seeds a day more in advance, and I sow

them dry.

[5:30] So, when you are going to plant your microgreens, the seed density

for each microgreen is going to be a small bit different. Now, I’ve actually

made a seed-density calculator, and you can get this and use this too.

[5:42] The way it works is, you input the size of your trays into the

calculator, and it will output the seed density that I use in the ten most

popular microgreens that I grow. You can get that over at my website,

microgreensentrepreneur.com, and I’ll leave a link for it in the show notes.

[5:57] Once you have your seed density, and you’ve weighed out your

seed, you’re going to start to seed your tray. Now, I recommend you seed

the edges of the tray first because usually, the edges are forgotten, and a

lot of the focus goes into the middle of the tray.

[6:10] One thing to note is that the middle of the tray gets the least amount

of airflow, so if you’re going to have anywhere in your tray that’s extra

dense with seed, you want to have that on the outsides.

[6:20] But the goal is really to scatter the seeds evenly over the whole tray.

Once you’ve done this, you’re going to press your seeds into the soil. You

can either do this with your hand or some kind of piece of wood or a press.

[6:31] After that, then you’re going to spray the seeds with a mister bottle.

That will get the seeds a little bit more wet and help them germinate.

[6:39] So, now, it’s time to cover them. There are only two microgreen

seeds that I’ll bury. They are pea shoots and coriander. I bury the pea seed

with soil, and I bury the coriander seeds with vermiculite. Maybe I’ll do

another episode on growing coriander, specifically using vermiculite if you

like this episode.

[6:58] For the majority of watering microgreen seeds, you’re not going to

bury them, but you’re going to trick them into thinking that they’re buried.

The way you do that is by putting another tray on top of your seeds.

[7:08] The reason you’re doing that is, you’re providing darkness to the

seed by covering it with the tray, and you’re also putting pressure on the

seed. That’s one thing to mention, actually.

[7:17] Once you put the tray on, you’re going to put a weight in the tray.

You could use the bag of seeds that you use to seed with as the weight

that you put on the tray. By doing this, you’re artificially providing the

pressure and the darkness that soil would naturally provide for the seeds.

[7:31] The reason you’re not going to bury the majority of microgreen seeds

is that you don’t want your microgreens coming up through the soil and

making them dirty. By the microgreen shooting up directly from the seed

and not having to go through the soil, it’s just much cleaner, and it gives

you a better product.

[7:45] So, now, you have your seeds sown, and you’ve got your extra tray

on top of them. If you’re sowing a few trays, you can place all of these trays

on top of each other, and that will help keep the seed weighed down.

[7:57] Now, it’s time to wait for a couple of days and let nature take its

course. I usually check the trays after a couple of days, and I’ll spray some

water on them just to keep the seed moist.

[8:07] Depending on whatever crop you’ve sown, some of them are going

to take longer than others to germinate. When they start to germinate,

you’re going to see root hairs coming out of the seeds, and they’re going to

start to sprout upwards.

[8:18] At this stage, you want to keep your eye out for any mould. It’s at this

stage that your microgreens are going to be at their most vulnerable with all

that dampness around the seeds and the soil and the new shoots. I’m

planning on doing another episode specifically on mould and all the

problems that microgreens face.

[8:33] So, after germination, the newly-sprouted microgreens are going to

start to push the tray that’s covering them up into the air. Now, it actually

surprises me, every time, how much power that there is in microgreens

when they’re just sprouting up looking for the sunlight. It always surprises

me to see them pushing up four heavy trays that are stacked on top of

them. They are powerful little things.

[8:53] Just one thing to note is that by the microgreens having to push

these trays up and struggle a little bit by pushing them up, it’s making them

that bit stronger.

[9:01] At this stage, when you’re seeing the microgreens pushing up the

tray that’s on top of them, the microgreens are going to be yellow, and

that’s completely normal. The reason that they’re yellow is because they

haven’t gotten any light yet, and they haven’t had the chance to

photosynthesize and turn green.

[9:15] Once they’ve grown like this where they’re about an inch to an inch

and a half tall, that’s when I take the tray with the weights off them, and I’ll

put them under the light.

[9:23] Now, there are various different sources of light that you can use.

The most obvious one being sunlight. So, a greenhouse or a window will do

for that, but most professional growers will use some kind of electric lights.

Fluorescents and LEDs are the most popular. I’m actually planning to do a

separate episode solely looking at the different types of lights that are

available for growing microgreens.

[9:44] Once you’ve got your microgreens under the lights, this is where

your second tray is going to come into play. From this point on, you’re

going to water by lifting up the first tray with the holes in it and pouring

water into the bottom tray.

[9:57] You’re just going to pour in enough water that it fills the bottom of the

tray where you can’t see the plastic of the bottom of the tray anymore.

You’re going to need to do this maybe once every day or two. It depends

on the climatic conditions of your grow room.

[10:09] The ways that you can tell if your microgreens need water are by

checking the soil for the moisture of the soil. If it feels damp, they should be

fine, and if it feels dry, you need to water them.

[10:19] Another way is that you’ll also get used to the weight of the trays.

So, if a tray is on the shelf, and you lift it up, and it feels light, it probably

needs water. You’ll get to know the feel of when your trays need water by

knowing what kind of weight they should be.

[10:32] You’re going to continue to water them and keep an eye on them

every day until they’re ready to harvest. This could be within a week from

planting them, or some of them can even take up to three or four weeks. It

just depends on what microgreen you’re growing.

[10:45] For the majority of microgreens, the way that you’re going to know

that they’re ready to harvest is that they’re going to have both of their

cotyledon leaves, which are the first two leaves that the microgreens

produce, but they’re not going to have their true leaves yet.

[10:58] The true leaves are the next set of leaves that come out after the

cotyledon leaves on the microgreens. When the true leaves start to come

out on the microgreens, there can be a bitter taste from them.

[11:07] So, there’s a sweet spot there where you let the microgreens grow

for as long as you can in the cotyledon stage before the true leaves come

out, so they grow enough that you get the most of them, but you don’t grow

them for too long that the true leaves come on them.

[11:21] When your microgreens are ready to harvest, you’re going to need

either a really sharp knife or scissors, and you’re going to cut the

microgreens as close as you can to the soil without actually touching the

soil. You don’t want to get any soil in the bottoms of the microgreens.

[11:34] Once you have them harvested, you want to store them in your

fridge as soon as possible. Then, they really should be eaten as soon as

possible after that. Some microgreens have a longer shelf life than others.

Like, peas shoots seem to last forever, but generally, most microgreens will

only last a week or two after harvesting.

[11:51] So, that’s the tutorial. I don’t know how that worked out as a vocal

explanation. It would be interesting to hear if you found that it worked or it

didn’t. If you felt that it did work, I’ll make more how-to episodes like this.

[12:03] There’s a link in the show notes where you can leave me a voice

message directly on SpeakPipe, and that will come straight to me, or you

can leave a review on iTunes. I’d really appreciate any type of feedback,

good or bad.

[12:14] If you did like the tutorial, I’ve actually got some videos on YouTube

that go into growing specific crops of microgreens, and you’ll be able to find

them on my website, microgreensentrepreneur.com. There are only a few

there at the moment, but hopefully, if you’re listening to this, in the future,

there will be a lot more there.

[12:29] So, that really brings us along to the end of the episode. I hope you

liked it, and I hope maybe you found something interesting or you learned

something in it. If you feel like I left anything out or I missed anything, you

can get in touch with me and let me know that too.

[12:41] So, look, that’s it. Thanks again for listening. I hope you have a

great week and all the best.

* * * Outro Music * * *

[End of episode 13:27]