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Old January 6, 2018   #218
Salsacharley
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Join Date: May 2013
Location: New Mexico
Posts: 2,052
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Lisa, You ask questions I've wondered about, but even as I proceed in the microgreen growing I can't answer with any certainty. I used some packets of seeds I've accumulated for the past 5 years to grow as microgreens and all have behaved like microgreens should, except I had some poor germination on dill seed.

I use the blackout tray to cause the seedlings to reach for light and get leggy, and the darkness seems to help germinate the larger seeds like sunflower, pea and buckwheat. I remove the blackout when most of the seedlings have sprouted. I think light will make the microgreens too thick and short for microgreens (the opposite goal compared to trying to grow tomatoes).

Now, as to grow medium, I am so far unhappy with coconut coir. Compared to growing in soil the microgreens grown in coir are puny and less vibrant looking. My dream was to have a nice, sterile, clinical microgreen growing in coir that I could stick in a bag when a customer bought it. I just ordered some felt, so I will experiment with felt and soil again.

My view is that you don't want any fert at all in your microgreens. The idea is to have a pure veggie that is 100% plant. The microgreens should have adequate nutrients in their seed to grow to harvestable status of 10 - 20 days. If you grow your greens to where they are producing true leaves they are no longer microgreens.
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