Working Out The Microgreen Kinks

Since I am starting my seed indoors in front of a window I think I will have success, starting seed. I think that after a few days the sprouts will benefit from more light. It is still getting up into the eighties and nineties here in eastern San Diego. That could benefit my sprouts and help them to grow quickly.

I am only on day three of my indoor experiment and having some thoughts of potential improvements before I even know if I will need to improve. I also am considering what will need to be done in December. I think that the indoor temps will stay warm enough to sprout but I am unsure how the seedlings will fare during the cold nights, outdoors.

One thought is to create some row covers. Another would be to use the mini greenhouse covers directly on the ground. I am liking the thought of that. It would be like growing in trays, size wise, and also like a square foot type of garden and just like a real earth planted garden. I have to think of some catchy name for it. The microgreenhouse method? Square foot microgreenhouse method? Whatever It is called I have to make sure I can get it to work first.

I have a library book about lasagna gardening for herbs. I think I will use the idea to start some plants to use as seed stock, and maybe a few beds of microgreenhouse size, for fun. I also need to make a plan to sell the produce. I need a steady customer base. Swapmeet is too general for selling microgreens. Farmer's markets are a little too much trouble with regulations. The same problem with chefs. I want to stay small enough to avoid government and get big enough to earn a living. I think I will need a few other income streams.

I am going to need some inputs if I am exporting from my land. I will deplete my resources if I am not replenishing with something else. I could set up some classes when I get a self sustaining system up and running. I need to stay focused on getting things done first then expand as I succeed. I need to have a plan too. I need to concentrate on a step, accomplish it and implement the next step. I am working on growing my microgreens without any terrible failures. Once I am regularly harvesting and eating my microgreens I can start planning on "growing" my efforts to include enough to give out some to friends and family.

That is my plan, step 1 is to get microgreens to produce enough for my household to have every day. Step 2 is to produce enough to give to my family and friends, one extra portion per day, so double up. If there are enough people who want more, if I am running out then I will consider stepping it up to a more commercial level. I am liking where this is going. I can already see a few obstacles coming up like how to package them. How to transport them. Should I cut them or should I use small amounts of soil in plastic containers and sell the as living plants to be cut when they are ready to be used, in customers' homes?

One more quick idea that just popped in my head. I could sell seed, planted seed, and sprouted seed, all the way from start to ready for harvest. Just an idea that needs some work and some time to see if it is even a good idea.

Going Indoors

Today I started an indoor experiment. I have an old hydroponic system with 10 four inch square pots. I am going to plant something new everyday. By something new I mean another pot. I put it in front of an east facing window. I am not employing the hydroponic aspect of the system. I can water when necessary. It is close to a water source and there are not as many bugs inside. I did bring in some soil from outside though.

Hopefully there will be no pest problems. I planted some broccoli today. Tomorrow it'll be radish again. I may have enough seed on my basil to do a pot of that and I also have some sunflower seed to sprout. I forgot about the pinto beans I bought from Sprouts grocery store, so I will add those into the rotation too.

If the microgreens are not ready in ten days then I am going to have to either put them under artificial light or get some more pots going. I haven't harvested any microgreens yet so I am still unsure what I am going to do with the soil that I harvest from. The outdoor radishes have been infested with stinkbugs so I will not be bringing that inside. Instead, I may begin a new earth bed as I mentioned yesterday. I could easily dump the used soil in a sunny location and plant a small batch of microgreens that I will cover with cardboard, or the pot that I had the soil in. That should give the seed enough darkness and keep enough moisture to sprout.

So, if the indoor 10 site system is not producing fast enough then I will need to have somewhere else to grow. Outside is the most economical, if I can keep pests away. I also have a large number of aloe plants that I am currently raising. There are a good number of what I believe are jade plants that I have been propagating. Gophers are good at taking down my aloe. If all goes well I should have enough mature aloe to sell and fund some more seed purchases.

My next task is to figure out how to sell plants. My only plan right now is to list them on craigslist. I have lots of them that need to be sold. I should be able to generate enough income to purchase a good amount of seed for microgreens. Once I have a steady supply of microgreens I am going to need to find a good way to sell them too. Succulents are easy to propagate. Microgreens are easy to sprout. I just need to find a good dependable system to keep me supplied and keep orders flowing in.

Another potential idea is to use youtube to advertise. I guess its a real idea not just potential. I just need to keep after it. I need to be serious. I need to stop thinking about ideas and start implementing those I already have thought about. In other words, I need to start acting on my ideas in a real, measurable way. I need to plan my work then work my plan.

10 Days Into Microgreens

I didn't scrap the first set of microgreens because of the fungus that also sprouted. The spot filled in with sprouts and there is no sign of the fungus. It is full of radish sprouts. There are a few that are showing the first signs of true leaves and a blanket of cotyledon leaves. 

The basil sprouted and also is showing a blanket of cotyledons. The sunflower seeds are sprouting slowly, I saw 2 confirmed taproots. I need to add more pots of seed to continue gaining experience and to be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor on a more frequent basis.

The fungus that I spotted at first, I believe, was due mostly to the wet condition I used to sprout them. I am taking more care now to be certain that I am not over watering. I need to run more "tests" and see how things are going to progress.

Today we are expecting rain. That will be good for the whole garden all over the property and the area in general. Since I live on a hillside I am not sure how to keep my garden fed. Although it does not rain often here I suspect that the majority of the nutrients placed on or around my gardens are easily washed away due to rain and irrigation. I am planning on adding irrigation to the lower part of my property and seeing if that has a beneficial effect on my gardening endeavors.

One other problem I am facing is stink bug pests. I saw a few of them in the radish sprouts yesterday. I am using only organic methods to produce my food so sprays are out of the question. I am attempting to follow the practices of Massanobu Fukuoka. The pests I have are being allowed to proliferate because there is an imbalance somewhere in my garden. 

I notice that they like the same stuff I do. They do seem to leave my basil alone and my other herbs. They love all brassicas though and those are what I like too. Maybe, I can deter them by planting directly in the ground, using the earth as a pot, and planting my brassicas in between small plots of herbs.

I will implement this strategy soon. One major obstacle is seed supply. I have not saved enough seed to plant herbs daily the way that I want. As I am realizing this I need to plan for that. I need to plant more of the plants that I want to raise as microgreens and allow them to go to seed, or order large amounts of seed and start selling my microgreens. I want to be certain that I can produce large crops of microgreens, outside, in the ground, during all seasons.

With that in mind I guess I need to focus on growing what I have and producing seed to perpetuate my plants. I need to continue to track my activities and the conditions I am experiencing. I know that my success depends on my ability to adapt and know how to deal with repeating situations. I need to record what I do and what seems to work. Right now I know that when I plant something in the brassica family of plants, the stink bugs are going to eat them before me. Herbs seem to be left alone by pests. Fungi grow quickly in a dark, warm and moist environment.

I think that's enough for today. I need to go out and plant!

Just A Water Day

I didn't plant yesterday or the day before. The radish sprouted well. There was a small area that got some fungus and didn't do too well. I thought it was root hairs at first. I didn't carefully inspect but it only took a small portion. Since it's a fungus or mold and I don't have any proper training on identifying molds or fungi I will probably not eat this round.

I am going to cut the whole batch down and recycle it. I am going to put it through the worm bins, the whole pot of soil. Anything under five gallons needs to be recycled after every crop. If it's a tree that's different. I don't have many trees. I don't know how to handle or read them very well yet. That means I need to go out and plant some more micro greens. I am going to work out a system to grow my worms my soil and my plants.

I have a 65 gallon smart pot with all kinds of manure from chickens and horses. It's mostly horse now but I also have two worm factory, 4 tray stackable systems, full of worms and different stages of decay. I need to streamline things a little and start making money. I have plenty of room and plenty of local fertilizer near my house. I don't have any working systems to utilize those resources profitably.

I could rent space to landscapers to grow what they need or I could grow what they need and sell to them. I could even start my own landscaping business. I just need a plan and some focus. I need to factor all costs and all profits and what I need to do to get those profits. I need a plan.

I have a pound of radish and broccoli seed, each. One pound each. I like to plant things and harvest things but the daily chores, doing the same thing everyday gets to me quickly. That means I need to automate the watering, or only plant what doesn't require daily watering. I need a goal, something that I am aiming for today, like plant one pot of microgreens.

Next, I need a plan on using those greens. Salad? Sell it? Eat some and plant some for more seed? That leads to what comes next, the next round. I am going to run out of seed, pots and soil and I don't have any money flowing in to replace what I use. How can I sell profitably? Do I need to sterilize everything for market?

This is getting overwhelming already and I've only planted two pots of microgreens. I need to focus. First of all, my first crop grew mold. I can't have that on my food and definitely not on marketable food. That means I need to grow more and figure out how to eliminate the problem. Was it from the seed, pot or soil? Does it matter? Can I create better soil and eliminate the problem?

I need a system. What can I consistently do to get consistently healthy results? I believe my worms are healthy. I believe that the fungus is part of a healthy soil. Maybe, the pot had some fungus, or maybe I wet the soil too much or maybe the seed was a little weak. Back to a system. What do I do to get it going right?

Different seed is going to take different amounts of time to grow. Since I am growing microgreens I plan on a two week or less turn around on my pots. So, if I plant one new pot everyday I need at least 14 pots. Then I am going to need to have a constant supply of new soil for those pots. That means setting up my worm bins to cycle through 14 containers of soil every 2 weeks.

For now, I am going to focus on my planting. One pot per day. I am using pots that have at least 12" of diameter. If I use my 15 gallon cloth pots I may be able to get away with not recycling the soil. I will just top dress with worm castings. That takes me back to systematizing my worm bins. I need to do something to keep everything flowing nicely.

I need to start right now. Updates will follow.

Today's Microgreens Update

the first batch of radish seed is sprouting up nicely. Today I gathered some basil seed and planted that. I am hopeful for success. I am planting or acquiring plants of some sort more often these days. I am shooting for a new plant or planting every day. Yesterday I bought 3 ginger plants for $3 at the swap meet.

I should probably put up some pictures of what I'm doing to help me better track what I'm doing.

Microgreeens Experiment Begins

I took some old pots and dumped them in a bin. I added an equal amount of old soil, worm castings and rice hulls. I mixed it up well and used that to fill a new pot. I topped it off with about an inch of screened worm castings. I packed it down and spread a layer of radish seed on top and wet it down. Then I placed a piece of cardboard over the top and now I must wait and see what happens.

I have been having problems with stink bugs or harlequin bugs or whatever name they are called. They have decimated my kale and are working on my tomatoes. I am not sure what to do about that but I am not giving up yet. I have read about treatments and I know that there are poisons that will get rid of them but I want them to be controlled by the environment.

If they ruin these microgreens that I am planting over the next few days then I will have to try growing something different. I have read that they do not like herbs. I have basil that seems untouched. I will concentrate efforts on growing more strong odored herbs and plants to deter them and flowers to attract beneficial predator bugs.

I plan on keeping track of my findings here since it is convenient. I am sad that I haven't been able to produce my own food or even much produce at all in the past three years. I attribute it to laziness mostly but the pests add a layer of discouragement that is tough to beat. I refuse to give up hope and I know that I can succeed if I keep at it. Record keeping and organization are my weaknesses and this blog is a good tool to keep me doing both record keeping and organizing.

I want to provide healthy nourishment for my family and produce an income from the land I control. first is providing for my family. Once I create a balance of good insects to combat the "bad" ones and help my plants to thrive in this environment the money should flow in easily. It will just be a matter of what do people want to buy. That will be another balancing act too.