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Old January 14, 2018   #226
bower
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I finally got a light up and starting a few trays of micros and other stuff.
Oakley, I was wondering if you use a heat mat for the slower micros - thinking of dill, cilantro, celery and parsley at the mo. I often put those on the heat mat to speed them up, but don't want to cook the poor things with the thin amount of soil. Just a half inch of soil and they are tamped on top.
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Old January 15, 2018   #227
oakley
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Bower, those little fussy herbs love some heat for germination. But that is where it ends.
They take patience as you know. Slow to grow but so worth it. Once up they don't mind
cooler temps and a sunny window. Yet dry out so fast with such a small amount of soil.
(I use a cut piece of cotton t-shirt on the bottom of my trays as a wicking cloth to hold some
moisture under the soil)

Having an herb tasting at the kitchen table, with neighbors, and fresh spring rolls, during
a late Spring snow fall and ice in the harbor Newfoundland, ...priceless.

Pic of my crop failure. Placed on my heat mat by mistake. I had a tray of pepper starts and
micro toms on the mat earlier but thought it was unplugged. Used some sample coir mats
for a test and were fine just hours before. The herbs do like the coir being such tiny seed but
do dry out fast. I can't stress enough, once germination happens, and being so densely
sown, they are daily more and more thirsty.

Good contact with your soil, the tamping, also important. Otherwise the cotyledon and the
root get confused and grow a bit wild.

These trays were bone dry when I found the mistake.
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Old January 15, 2018   #228
oakley
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A rare bit of sunny window. It has been so overcast and foggy. These trays
have been fantastic. Thought I had gotten ahead of myself again....too much
to consume, but made a killer roasted garlic/leek soup last night and used near
half the radish and mustard trays in the blender when I pureed the soup.
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Old January 15, 2018   #229
bower
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Thanks for the advice, Oakley. I'll keep the piece of t shirt in mind for next time.
Last night I put warm water in the mister for their first wetting. And since it was cool I decided to put them on the mat just for a couple hours then unplugged at bedtime.
I noticed before that herbs in particular seem to like a warm/cool day/night cycle for quickest germination, especially celery. So heat mat in the daytime then off it at night.
Will take them right off it when germination starts, as you said, and be patient.
I'm planning to scavenge a few plants from the edges to pot up , so round two of herb munching will be more substantial and sustainable. The purpose of the micros for us will be something fresh quickly, until we get baby greens big enough to cut and come again.
Except for a pack of radish seed, everything I'm using for micros is seed I harvested myself and have a lot of, the herbs and lettuce and kale. One thing I will do, is think about micros when I decide what I'm saving seed from this year, so I can try some different ones. Those radish sprouts look really substantial, I'm looking forward to them!
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Old January 20, 2018   #230
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This thread inspired me. I started a couple trays yesterday. Old trays, an old bag of potting soil, and old bags of seeds (cherry belle radish, and broccoli raab), so additional cash outlay (that day, anyway) was zero.

I just bought a bag of pre-cut jute pieces. Is the jute supposed to be single-use?
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Old January 20, 2018   #231
oakley
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If your seeds are healthy and germinate, the root mass will be substantial
and penetrate the jute mat quite solid. I suppose it could be left to dry out,
then rub somewhat clean and sterilize. Oven heat. I've been sterilizing my
soil in those foil baking roasters. My soil is a large bag stored in the garage
from last Spring so I just want it clean.
Jute is compostable.

Older seed, or not stored properly, could cause some seed rot but most micros
grow so fast I've not had much issue. Some of my seed is on two years but
most is fresh one year.

I've got a good system down finally. Measuring in grams per 5x7. Adjusting
the final mixes. Only soaking the sunflowers and the peas, giving them a
peroxide/vinegar/water soak and rinse...
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Old January 20, 2018   #232
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So far so good... I'm pretty happy with the growth after 5 days. If I was starving I could eat em already. Radish (commercial) is slowest to shuck the seed. My two kales are 2 year old seed from the garden, and the lettuce Merveille des quatre saisons also. Still very good and not slow to germinate. The size of radish sprouts is impressive, however. May have to grow myself some seed.
I am just using a commercial compost about a cm deep in these little "evil treat" trays which I've been saving up. Oh yes, once I thought of using them for micros, it became an excuse to buy "O Henry Squares" and the like. They are very shallow and have a clear lid, which I used for tamping and kept upside down for the first couple of days, then flipped to give them room to stretch after they sprouted. No holes so it's top watering with a mister every morning.
Celery, parsely and cilantro are still taking their time, but the dill has sprouted nicely with intermittent heat mat warmth.
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Old January 21, 2018   #233
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Sounds like the jute *can* be multi-use, but its intention is single-use. Thanks for the explanation.

I went thru some old seed I have, looking for more stuff to micro. I found a few pounds of Austrian field peas, that I used as a cover crop ... maybe *10* years ago.

Assuming they germinate, has anyone tried Austrian field peas before?

I also have ten-year-old stashes of fenugreek, and hairy vetch, more cover crop seeds. Don't think I'll try to micro hairy vetch.
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Old January 21, 2018   #234
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Looks like MV Seeds has been taken over by 'True Leaf Market'. Anyone have feedback on that company?
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Old January 21, 2018   #235
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I've been using them for the past month. They ship promptly. They emailed me for feedback on their parsley and I gave a bad review because I had zero germination in 5 days. They telephoned me to explain how to germinate parsley. I am pretty impressed with them. They aren't cheap but they have good stuff.
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Old January 21, 2018   #236
oakley
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Looks great Bower. I know those 'evil treat' trays. TrinityBakery uses the same trays.
Every house guest has to try them. Must be a dozen varieties and they look like
something from a bake sale. And they are! Homemade locally. Not factory packaged.

Soilsniffer, lol, (I just got that reference avatar.) A page or two back I posted what variety
of pea to maybe stay away from. Post #210...avoid pea species from Genus Lathyrus.

I have a good supply of older seed. Not so much greens anymore. For years I was buying
1/4 lb amounts from Johnny's of their salad mixes. Smaller packs of many other varieties.
I can keep-cut-and-come-again going all summer in the garden using shade frames.
Pretty much where I
began the micro Winter game 4-5 yrs ago. Always had lots of seed leftover. Lots of trial and
error though. I even grew some old corn seed. Fussy and needs babysitting as it needs dark
the entire grow like endive. Delish shoots but way to much care needing dark AND good
air-flow.
All is good in my new system with gram measure notes. Just about where I need this to be.
Mixed salad is now 6g instead of 8grams. Mustard is 7g instead of 9grams....etc.
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Old January 21, 2018   #237
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How are the buckwheat greens? I have a 5lb bag of seeds and keep forgetting it can be eaten as greens.
I just started a tray of mustard last night. I bought a bunch of mustard seed for the kitchen and figured I’d give it a try since we like spicy greens.
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Old January 21, 2018   #238
akgardengirl
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Oakley,
What are the size of the 3 trays up front? Are your measurements for this size of tray?
Thanks,
Sue
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Old January 22, 2018   #239
oakley
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Buckwheat is a mild, fast grower, good bulk green. I'm growing it with my peas being similar
size and growth habit.

The containers are what NYC restaurants use. They post their daily menu specials on-line
and use them for delivery service. about 5x7inches. Looks like its going to be about 12 in rotation for
a steady supply.

My coriander took 9 days to sprout and celery 11. I about gave up on them. Herbs are slow
growers.

I like TrueLeaf. I think.
I purchased some trials this time last year. I find the prices good if you
know what you want. A tiny one oz packet can be 3-4$. An entire pound 6$.

I have 4 handsome late 20's early 30's boys at work that are growing dwarf tomatoes this
season. (my students, lol). They are now full-on with the micro greens. They are 'hot pepper
boys', (probably pot growers), and know all about fungus gnats and troubles starting seed.

I gave them 'homework'. A few websites to cruise...tatiana, SampleSeed, Johnny's, the
DwarfProject links, TrueLeaf....etc...., one night last week. They are going to spit the order and
get most in bulk 8oz or 1 lb. I think TrueLeaf is 45$ free shipping.
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Old January 22, 2018   #240
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I didn't like the flavor of the tray of arugula I started. Blah! I munch on a pea shoot when I visit the garden window. My pea shoots tasted very bright when 3 inches, but I let them grow to 6-7 inches and they are losing their strong flavor.

The felt pad was a disaster. I did keep it dark and pressed down at first, and many seeds still rolled off the felt. It looked like stringy sprouts but then they finally grew upright. To me the sprouts tasted like soap compared to the coir grow medium! I'm not sure what to use the remaining pads for, but I may experiment with starting peppers.

My next trial will be a side by side microgreens/baby greens comparison to see which works best for my taste.

- Lisa
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