<![CDATA[The Neelin's travels and adventures

<![CDATA[The Neelin's travels and adventures - MicroGreen Experiment]]>Thu, 14 Nov 2024 20:24:08 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[3rd lot of Radish]]>Fri, 04 Oct 2019 22:17:37 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/3rd-lot-of-radishPlanted the 3rd lot of radishes this afternoon, Scarlet White Tip. This time I know for sure they are spread above just water.

I was working outside planting bulbs so did not get a chance to go through my old seeds to see what I have on hand that could be used in this experiment.

I think I know what I have been doing wrong, having the seeds sit in the water is probably growing them so I will have to figure out some way to keep the screen tighter. The sunflowers in the shredded paper seem to be doing well, that may be another option. Also will see if the radish in just water do better and if so won't use the hydro solution.
]]><![CDATA[03 October 2019 - Radish & Sunflower]]>Fri, 04 Oct 2019 02:16:23 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/03-october-2019-radish-sunflowerSUNFLOWERS
Today (day 4) I took the cover off of the sunflowers and the seeds seem to be sprouting. Not all of them but there does seem to be quite a few. Hopefully there will be more in the days to come.
The seeds are from, at least, last year at this time. They are from a bag of sunflower seeds that we got to feed the birds.

RADISHES
Harvested the radish greens this evening on the 7th day. They certainly did a lot better than the first lot. I weighed them and got 123 grams of greens. Because they are growing on a window screen I pulled them up so there is not just the greens but the tiny roots as well. You can see that they did grow to be a nice height. Took a taste and there is a mild radish flavour. This type does not seem to be quite as strong as the first crop. It will be interesting to see if Heather finds the same thing.

SWISS CHARD
There were a few sprouts from the Swiss Chard and I harvested them and put them in the same container with the radishes.

The Spinach has not sprouted at all or the few that did sprout have all died. I think the seeds may have been drowned.

I will be planting another lot of radishes again tomorrow. Will take a look through my seeds and see what else I may plant.

I used my hydroponic solution with all of the seeds on the first experiment but I will only be using straight water on the next lot. The solution may to strong for the seeds.

Sunflower seeds Day 4 with the cover removed today

Radishes. Day 7 ready for harvesting

Radishes - Day 7 ready to harvest. 8 or 9 cms high.

]]><![CDATA[Day 4 - Radishes - 2nd try.]]>Mon, 30 Sep 2019 23:50:18 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/day-4-radishes-2nd-tryTook the cover off of the Sparkling White Tip radishes and they are doing very well. Much better than the first try. I planted more seeds and you can see that the crop is much denser than the first try.
It seems as if this is a quick and easy to grow micro greens indoors with very little effort. The biggest problem may be to be able to get bulk seeds over the winter. Single packs of seeds would not seem to make much economical sense unless you can get them at half price at the end of the season. May just have to make another buying trip to Home Hardware and get all that they have.
Later in the week I may just get rid of the other crops that have not done well and try something else.

Day 4 after removing cover.

]]><![CDATA[Day One for the New Sunflowers]]>Sat, 28 Sep 2019 19:20:09 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/day-one-for-the-new-sunflowersI let the sunflower seeds soak for about 24 hours and spread them over the shredded paper. Then put a thin, single, layer of shredded paper over them and covered to keep them in the dark for three days.
Not associated with this experiment but also planted some old basil seeds for the hydroponic setup.
]]><![CDATA[Something New]]>Fri, 27 Sep 2019 19:15:36 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/something-newI gave up on the sunflowers and threw them out in the garden. There were only 3 or 4 sprouts and the rest seemed to be quite water logged so that was the end of that. I am going to try something new and I have not seen on the net. I am going to try the next lot of sunflowers in shredded newspaper soaked with the hydroponic solution.
I already had some shredded newspaper so put that in the cleaned out original container and soaked it with the solution. I spread a little dry shredding over the top to try and get the surface more or less even. If the paper is still dry tomorrow I will wet it again.
Put some sunfl0wer seeds in a measuring cup to soak for about 24 hours. Will spread them on the newspaper tomorrow.
The Swiss Chard and Spinach are coming along but I may get rid of the spinach and retry it later.
I am pretty sure the reason the three others did not work out as well is because the seeds got water logged due to the screen sinking a little into the water.

Shredded newspaper for the next sunflower experiment.

]]><![CDATA[September 26th, 2019]]>Thu, 26 Sep 2019 19:24:05 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/september-26th-2019The radishes that were planted were, Cherry Belle. From the videos I saw days 10 to 12 should be harvest days for radish. Therefore, I was going to harvest the radishes yesterday but time seemed to run out. Went to Old Farts for lunch and then to the OLT to see a play in the evening. I did take the photos for day 10 though and they are below.
It was a simple process of simply cutting the sprouts at just above the level of the screen with a pair of scissors. I tasted one and it had a very distinctive radish taste but a little milder than the root. Because these are grown on a screen over water I am sure that, unlike seeds grown in soil or coir, the roots can also be harvested. In fact I did get some roots as well as the stems and leaves.
After cutting I strained the water put the screen back on but ensured that it was tighter than this experiment, spread two packages of Sparklers White Tip Radish, replaced the water and topped up with some more hydroponic solution. The two packages of seeds covered much more of the area than the single package from the first attempt. Covered over and will leave covered for three days and see how these work out.
I bought eight packages of seeds from Home Hardware at 49¢ a pack (1/2 price) because it is the end of the season. Also these are a different type.

As you can see from the photo the other seeds do not seem to be doing well. I am thinking of trying the sunflower in shredded paper with the hydroponic water solution. I have lots of sunflower seeds so that is not a problem. Still wondering just what to do about any other seeds. Because it is the end of the growing season getting seeds is a little more difficult but I have seen where I can order bulk seeds on line so that is an option. I will also go through the seeds I have on hand from previous years and give them a try.

Day 10 - 25 September 2019

Day 10 - 25 September 2019 - The day before harvesting.

]]><![CDATA[DAY 7 - 22 September 2019]]>Mon, 23 Sep 2019 15:51:55 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/day-7-22-september-2019Day 7 of the experiment was yesterday but the only thing I did was take a couple of photos. The radish is growing quite well and the Swill Chard is coming along. Not so sure about the Spinach and now I am pretty sure the Sunflowers are done in.
I will have to get better containers if I am going to keep doing this. Not only that but will have to get bulk seed as well. The single seed packs do not have enough seeds and the cost do make it worth while.
The radish should be ready on day 10, or at least that is what I have seen in the videos. Will have to do a bit better co-ordinating timings to get things to come pickable at the same time. In some of the videos they have 3 or 4 different crops all growing together but that seems odd because of the difference in the harvesting times.
No matter it is just a bit of fun and hopefully things will work out and the effort will be worth while.

Day 7 - 22 September 2019

]]><![CDATA[DAY 4 CONTINUED]]>Thu, 19 Sep 2019 21:18:52 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/day-4-continuedLater Thursday afternoon - I set up another grow light for the greens. I put two pieces of tinfoil with the shinny side down over the bulb to reflect and hopefully diffuse the rays more evenly over the containers.

With grow light installed. Tinfoil over the top to help diffuse the rays more evenly.

With grow light installed. This light does not seem to emit as much red and blue light.

]]><![CDATA[Thursday, 19 September 2019 - Day 4]]>Thu, 19 Sep 2019 19:20:53 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/thursday-19-september-2019-day-4Thursday - Day Four. I planted the seeds on Sunday afternoon. I took off the cover and now the seeds are exposed to the grow light that is over the hydroponics. I will have to get another grow light (one in the garage) and set it up over the experiment. I don’t believe that the existing light is going to give sufficient coverage.
As you can see in the photo the radish seems to be coming along as well as the Swiss Chard has sprouts as well. The sunflowers and spinach may take a few more days under the light before they come to life.
I am afraid that I may have drowned the sunflowers as they seem to be quite ‘deep’ in the water.

As this is the first time I have tried this I am learning as I go along. Hopefully it will work and the sprouts will get eaten. They are supposed to be good on sandwiches, as a garnish and in smoothies.

Not part of the experiment but I took two cuttings from an Impatiens plant and put them in hydroponic rock wool cubes along with some hydroponic solution to see if they will sprout roots and we will have impatiens in the house over the winter. Possibly if these do sprout I will do a couple more cuttings.

Day 4 - Thursday - 19 September 2019

]]><![CDATA[This should be DAY TWO....]]>Tue, 17 Sep 2019 16:09:24 GMThttps://www.neelin.net/microgreen-experiment/this-should-be-day-twoSeeing as how I started the project, first day of planting, on Sunday the 15th of September today, 17th of September should actually be day two of the experiment.

Tuesday - TWO days after planting for the experiment.

I am not sure how things are going to work out. I originally thought that there was to much water in the containers but when I checked today the screen has slipped. The rim did not hold the screen tight enough. If i try this again using the same containers I will get the screen tight and then tape it down so that it does not slip with the weight of the seeds - especially the sunflower.

I see that the radish has already sprouted. Radish is one of the fastest growing vegetables so that was to be expected.

2 days after planting.

Radish - 2 days after planting

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