Sprouting tray ideas- where do you get your trays?

I would ideally like to find a bunch of restaurant trays, but I haven't found anything like that cheap or free. So for now I have been making mini trays out of the bottom of milk jugs. They stack really nicely so a can drill holes in a dozen or more at a time. Plus each one has a ridge that runs from corner to corner, so I can create an air space by turning the tray on top 90 degrees.I would like bigger trays, I think, but free is good and most of the people I work with are SAD so I can get all the milk jugs I want for free.I would ideally like to find a bunch of restaurant trays, but I haven't found anything like that cheap or free. So for now I have been making mini trays out of the bottom of milk jugs. They stack really nicely so a can drill holes in a dozen or more at a time. Plus each one has a ridge that runs from corner to corner, so I can create an air space by turning the tray on top 90 degrees.I would like bigger trays, I think, but free is good and most of the people I work with are SAD so I can get all the milk jugs I want for free.

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What is a restaurant tray? I used to use plastic steamer trays that I got via freecycle. They stack which is useful. I have now got a bunch of black seed trays. They cost about 50p each. They are not very robust but should last a few years.

build furring strip frames that you staple nylon mesh cloth to

then build a rack you slide frames into

i also use big cheap dollar store plastic colanders , i'll post a picture of mine later

for sprouting i like air circulation to prevent mold so dont use solid containers

included is old pic of my garden soil , notice all the straw heaped up on both sides of bed

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Originally Posted by MysticTree

What is a restaurant tray?

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Just a hard plastic tray that they through the SAD on over here.

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Ah I see. I think we'd just call it a tray. I would have thought they'd be too shallow. I bought more seed trays today and a water spray bottle. Planted them up and by using half of them as covers I have already run out again.

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Originally Posted by michigan roman

build furring strip frames that you staple nylon mesh cloth to

then build a rack you slide frames into

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I had given some thought to this idea. I will probably give something like that a shot

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i also use big cheap dollar store plastic colanders , i'll post a picture of mine later

for sprouting i like air circulation to prevent mold so dont use solid containers

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I guess I thought of colander sprouting as an alternative to jar sprouting. You put soil in them? Actually as nicely as my jug trays stack it doesn't take long to put a great many holes in the stack of them. so I could with a little more effort, pretty much turn them into colanders. I do like the fact that they are more square than round and I like that they are free instead of $1 a piece.

Pea shoots I am growing directly in soil in the veg patch. Very cheap and much easier than trays of any sort.

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Originally Posted by MysticTree

Pea shoots I am growing directly in soil in the veg patch. Very cheap and much easier than trays of any sort.

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I tried growing sunflower greens in the soil outside. I even put a fence around them but I still had critters get in and eat them all. I might give it a try with peas but I have some very persistent, well fed wildlife on my property.

i took old 2 x 8 boards and built a frame on edge , sides come up 8"

about 2' x 3' rectangle

then i used roofing nails to nail hardware cloth over it

put the sun seeds in ground and place the frame over them and theyve 8" to grow before hitting hardware cloth

That should work, though I do hope this thread can stay more on finding or making trays than sprouting and growing.

Here is something I tried that has promise. I bought some plastic canvas for needle point, folded the corners and fastened them with zip ties.

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For some reason I can't enlarge that photo but I get the idea. What I don't get is why, if you have to buy any materials, you don't just buy seed trays. I have some bigger trays that I can't even remember where I got them though it was probably off freecycle. I love freecycle. These bigger trays need son holes punching through the bottom though.

The trays I have seen are a couple dollars a piece, but I could be shopping in the wrong place.

Yes, I think you are shopping in the wrong place unless the trays are 6-8x as big as the ones I get. Where are you looking? John Kohler is always going on about home depot but even our dollar store equivilents have something usually.