How I sprout sunflower seeds part 2 (and wheatgrass too)

I think it's appropriate that I discuss green things today. Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! 

Here's the growth continued from the previous post.

I should have uncovered them a day before I did, see they are kinda leggy and looking for sunlight. It really doesn't matter much.

This is day: 7
Picture taken on Monday the 14th. I flipped the lid and kept the sprouts in the dark for an additional day or two. Not really necessary, but I'm just experimenting.

Here they are pretty much ready to eat or harvest, the hulls come off easily with a light tug. To harvest I cut the whole sprout off at root level.

This is day number: 10 Picture taken today Thursday the 17th.

Here's the breakdown of days: Sunday the 6th washing and soaking them over night, sprouting from Monday the 7th through Wednesday the 9th. (previous post) Then the sprouts are covered and grow out from the 9th-13th. Uncover and let there be light from the 13th to today the 17th.

10 days total. These will continue to grow and green up. I can keep them in the tray for about 1 more week before they either start to mold or the sprouts start growing the second set of 'true' leafs. After that point they get tougher and the nutritional level goes down.

For wheatgrass I follow the steps for soaking, and sprouting but they sprout FAST!!  I soaked them on the 9th and began sprouting on the 10th. This is the wheatgrass in it's tray right after I planted it on the 12th. It keeps on par with the sunflowers while sprouting but once it hits soil it grows like a weed. It should be called wheat weed!

This picture was taken today Thursday the 17th, only 8 days total.  It can be harvested now, but I wait another 2-3 days until just before the second blade of grass starts to grow from the root, which is it's optimum nutrition.

Here's some video links to where I got most of my information.

Secrets of Longevity has a 3 part video on growing sunflowers, peas, buckwheat, and wheatgrass for microgreens. Here is part one of his series.

This is SproutPeople's video on growing wheatgrass, there channel has TONS of sprouting info. They do plug their stuff but hey I would too. For sprouting I use sprout peoples "easy sprout" they show it in the video, it's a cool plastic contraption that makes rinsing sprouts easier.

Jacob and I juice the wheatgrass and eat the sunflower greens. I am going to try my hand at pea sprouts next, should be tons of fun. Oh when I am done with a tray, I give it to the chickens, they eat any seeds left and tear the tiny greens apart. This way nothing goes to waste, after I muck out the chicken run it'll all get composted anyway.

How I sprout sunflower seeds part 1

When I sprout sunflowers I use the "black oil" sunflowers that come in bulk at the feed store. I could probably find a more organic resource but since I am not eating the shell or the seed I figure these will be OK. I did use some of the sunflowers that I saved mixed in with the black oil and I couldn't tell the difference, so I assume any sunflower will do.

For one big growing tray (the plastic kind you find near most seed starting racks) I used just shy of 1 cup of seeds. I am still playing with that measurement, I think next time I'll try a heaping 1 cup. The tray I just did seemed a little light on the sprouts. Anyway, rinse the seeds off and soak them over night. After that it's the traditional sprouting technique, of rinsing the seeds so they stay moist (about 2-3 times a day), until they look like this: (it takes about 2-3 days to sprout)

Here they are close up after I put them on top of the soil in the tray.

Then I get a tray ready with about one inch of soil mix, and evenly spread out the sunflower seeds. I have heard they grow better or at least have stronger roots if you simulate the weight of the dirt they'd normally be pushing up through. Since I don't cover my seeds with soil, I add an extra tray or two and maybe a book just to add weight. Water them well, make sure they stay moist and leave them until they start to push the weighted tray off them (seeds are strong!)

Here's the sunflower seed tray before I put the covers on. They've been watered and are ready to go.

After. (Just so ya'll get what I'm talking about)

Now just make sure they stay moist. I keep them in the dark until they are around 1-2 inches tall. Then I put them under the grow lights. I'll do a part two and take more pictures as they grow.

Sprouting

I've started trying to grow micro-greens. In the winter time we get virtually no green things because we don't have a winter growing set up for outside. That being one of the many things I intend to do late fall of 2011, but that's a long way off. In the mean time we've been looking into sprouting greens.  This tray of sunflowers is over crowded, I started too many sprouts... oops.

I have 2 trays of sunflowers and wheat grass in varying stages of growth. The sunflower for things like salads and the wheat grass for juicing. We don't have a juicer but intend to use our new blender (whenever it arrives) to get the juice!

Our sunflower sprout salad, with feta cheese, roasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Topped with homemade vinaigrette. When I first started this Jake had is doubts... "this is going to taste yucky..." but it turns out we both really like it. I like the texture so much more than lettuce!  

In other sprouting news the baby onion starts are up, I put them all in one giant tray this year with the intention of transplanting them. I put the onions outside last year and they were no bigger than a red stir straw. Maybe I should have started them earlier and also transplanted them? I have to do some major research into the best way to proceed. Last year they did ok but I'd like some bigger onions so I'll have to think on that some more.  

I don't have to much else started, as much as I want to! I started the tomatoes a bit early and had GIANT tomato plants to haul in and out while hardening off.