mould on sunflower microw greens sprouts

[turflord]

Trying to grow sunflowers inside now that it is cold out side and I am getting mould on my stems soon after they pop up about a inch or so. Ive tried compost compost sand mix coco coir. Coir seems to work the best for mould but makes the stems skinny and weak. I am using 12+20 planting trays 1 cup proxide to 1 gallon water to spray tray bottoms. 12 hour soak then 2 days of rinsing before planting. What methods are you guys using....

[DebB]

I soak 1/4 cup of sunflower seeds overnight and sprout them for about 2 days. I rinse in RO water (reverse osmosis). Then I fill my 8" x 8" tray with organic soil (bought it at Lowe's) about 1" deep. The trays I bought from Hippocrates Institute, they do have holes in the bottom. I spread the s.f. seeds evenly on top of the soil, I do not bury them.

Now, I set another tray on top of the planted seeds. I weight this top tray down with small containers of water. I place this under a cabinet (good air flow - it's a free standing cabinet) for usually 3 days or until the s.f. greens have literally lifted this weighted top tray up. During these 3 days, I spray them with RO water from a hand held mister bottle twice a day. At this point, the greens have lifted the top tray up even with the bottom tray or more. Then I remove the top tray and put them in bright filtered light.

I use just the RO water, nothing else. I have never had any mold problems.

[DebB]

Here's a photo of the finished s.f. greens ~

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Trying to grow sunflowers inside now that it is cold out side and I am getting mould on my stems soon after they pop up about a inch or so. Ive tried compost compost sand mix coco coir. Coir seems to work the best for mould but makes the stems skinny and weak. I am using 12+20 planting trays 1 cup proxide to 1 gallon water to spray tray bottoms. 12 hour soak then 2 days of rinsing before planting. What methods are you guys using....
Yeah, growing sunflower greens can be a nightmare during the winter. Try soaking them in 1 teaspoon of hydrogen pyroxide per liter of very clean water water for no longer than 8 hours and then sprpout in a jar for 2 days, then lay the sprouts on the soil, cover over with a weight and leave in darkness. After 3 or 4 days uncover and let them grow. Use hydrogen pyroxide to spray them every second day. lf mould persists, grow them outside on trays.

But l think Deb may have the key here with having holes in the trays, this would help enormously and i'll probably get some too. Thanks Deb.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Here's a photo of the finished s.f. greens ~
Your sunflower greens look different to mine.
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Marc_au/Ron1/Ron2/Ron%204/Sunflowergreen1.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Marc_au/Ron1/Ron2/Ron%204/Sunflowergreen2.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Marc_au/Ron1/Ron2/Ron%204/Sunflowergreen3.jpg

l'll have to work out how to do thumb nails sometimes.

[turflord]

Thanks guys. I am doing pretty much the same things you guys are. Right now my sprouts look like your plus some mould. They used to have shorter thicker stems with much bigger leaves/cotyledons. I think it may be the seed. Ive been buying 20 lbs bags of black oil seeds for birds. Maybe its better to have certified planting seeds. If you check out a video on youtube titled....sprouts trial 2 over... posted by garlicpatch you will see thicker sprouts. Its my understanding that the leaf has most of the nutrition in it so bigger might be better.........

[DebB]

I have tried the bird seed as well, and didn't have luck with it. I buy organic seeds from Sprout People and they haven't let me down.

That's quite an operation Mr. Raw!! *Ü*

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

That's quite an operation Mr. Raw!! *Ü*
Yeah, l feel like l am visiting Hippocrates everyday lol. *smile*

DebB: l think it's absolutely awesome that you go to the trouble of sprouting sunflower seeds on soil. Anyone who does that is wayy cool in my books. Lets be mates forever!

Here's one last pic of part of the greens set-up, this time with pea shoots, sunflower seeds, thriving buckwheat lettuce and ryegrass. lt's a healthy treasure trove of the best foods known to man...extremely high bioelectrical frequency foods that makes mankind complete. All these foods are at least 30 times as nutritious as brocolli and spinach grown in your garden at home...a top bioenergetic scientist confirmed this. These four foods should be the base of all diets, especially the sunflower, buckwheat and pea shoots. Potent potent stuff!!!
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b151/Marc_au/Ron1/Ron2/Ron%204/Greensset-up.jpg

There is nothing quite like sitting under the back porch in the warmer weather at night with a light underneath looking at all the greens growing on soil. So peaceful.

[Non]

if you don't use soil, then what do you use?

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

if you don't use soil, then what do you use?
Many people use nothing at all. They just put the seeds in the trays and spray once or twice a day. lf that doesn't work you could always try growing the seeds on organic cloth, and then later scrub with a brush to keep the cloth clean (sometimes if neccessary).

A real easy way to get some sunflower greens is to also sprout them shell-less in plastic sprouters for about 5 or 6 days. The germination rate is lower than seeds with the shells, but you will get easy made minature sunflower greens...just pick them out of the mess. But really, 1 day sprouting should be enough for hulled sunflower seeds.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

lmagine how costly it would be to buy that much green as vegetables from an organic shop. And given that organic vegies from a shop are half dead, you are paying top dollar for greens that are probably only 1/60 - 1/100th as nutritious as these.

[Non]

Yea to grow my own sprout greens is my top goal now. When I find the time.. and resources. Well I guess I'm not all that saavy when it comes to knowing where to get things, and how to use them but I'll visit my local hardware store this weekend most likely and see what I can find. Looks like you do use soil though...

My chia greens aren't growing on the clay plates I bought for them :(.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Yea to grow my own sprout greens is my top goal now. When I find the time.. and resources. Well I guess I'm not all that saavy when it comes to knowing where to get things, and how to use them but I'll visit my local hardware store this weekend most likely and see what I can find. Looks like you do use soil though...
lt takes time to get all your sources for seeds togeather. Just ask people in the health business where to buy good seeds, it's amazing what people do know and contacts they may have.


My chia greens aren't growing on the clay plates I bought for them :(.
Two issues here:

1). did you grow the seeds on cloth placed over the clay plate?
2). maybe the seeds were irradiated. Most chia is irradiated unless it is local or unless a certain business has loop holes to get it through customs. Most organic health food shop chia (from Mexico) is irradiated. You need to find a business which are really health food connoisseurs.

[MysticTree]

http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/print/chia.html
(http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/print/chia.html)http://sproutpeople.org/chia.html
(http://sproutpeople.org/chia.html)
this chia seed will grow

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/print/chia.html
(http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/print/chia.html)http://sproutpeople.org/chia.html
(http://sproutpeople.org/chia.html)
this chia seed will grow
You are very fortunate to have it all so easy with seed sources. ln the old days before google was invented it took me 2 years to find all my seed sources.

Strange enough, l have tried ordering sprouting equipment and seeds from a special local sprouting company and they have ignored my calls and emails each time, same goes with `sproutman' in the U.S.A. They have lost thousands by ignoring my requests for equipment and seeds, not just my business but me directing lots of other people there too.

lt would be nice to order online but most places don't sell seeds in bulk, but good for part time sprouter.

Non: most shops only think sprouting seeds come in small labelled packets, but most aren't aware that many raw organic seeds can sprout./ You need to buy small amounts and experiment. lt takes time.

The U.S.A has everything for sprouting. ln Australia it is very very difficult to locate sources. Some of my sources come from one man operations and aren't advertised.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/print/chia.html
(http://www.sproutpeople.com/seed/print/chia.html)http://sproutpeople.org/chia.html
(http://sproutpeople.org/chia.html)
this chia seed will grow
That's an interesting link about growing chia on soil. l'm going to try it on soil, but not soak it.

[Non]

well I just read somewhere that u can grow chia on clay just like u would on chia pets. Just get real terra cotta plates, or pots, either soak them in water for 15 mins before hand or keep it in a bowl of water and spray the seeds twice a day with water to make it grow.

Well... I put my clay pot in a bowl of water but the water didn't steep through the pores, so I guess it wasn't porous enough. I also was using seeds that I tried sprouting before for a day by soaking in very shallow water but it didn't work.. so maybe I just needed to change the seeds.

The one person wrote that you don't even need to soak the clay in water, just be sure to have a real clay pot that will retain water after you spray it.. it just makes it more efficient to soak it in water.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

well I just read somewhere that u can grow chia on clay just like u would on chia pots..
lt makes sense, but l guess that it would need watering alot more frequently. l'm going to try it.