How do you begin Sprouting?

[emmanuelle255]

Greetings,

I would like to know how to begin sprouting, and what is the best fertilizer to use, and to keep my sprouts growing all year around.

I am a raw newbie

Emmanuelle255

[Revvell]

I went up top to the lil banana and found this for you ~ http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/forum/sho...ight=sprouting

[sweetgoddess]

oh, you dont need to fertilize sprouts, and you only grow them for a few days.
Alissa has a section on sprouting in her book and also Anne Wigmore has a good book on sprouting. There are tons of sites on the web too if you google it.

Best wishes~

[misslinda]

Greetings,

I would like to know how to begin sprouting, and what is the best fertilizer to use, and to keep my sprouts growing all year around.

I am a raw newbie

Emmanuelle255

Your too funny Emmanuelle!!! Fertilizer??? That's something I would have asked (meant that will all love and respect)......I'm new to sprouting too. ;) This is gonna be fun!


Sprouting class 101 "Emmanuelle, can I copy your notes?"

raw frenz,
ml

[rawpriestess]

Hi,

What a great question.

Sprouting is really easy, all you need is a big glass jar, and something to cover the top, that water can pour out of, but the seeds that you are trying to sprout won't. Like a fine mesh screen, or some nylon or cotton cloth, with a rubber band to hold it on.

the easiest way to sprout:

Take the jar, let's say it's a 1 quart jar, (this is kind of small, but we'll use it, because you may have one about that size already)
place 1 tsp of seeds (we'll say alfalfa, because they are super easy to sprout and easy to find) then put about 1 cup of water in the jar, at least a few hours, let's say 4 hours, then pour of the water, and leave the jar, facing kind of slanted down, so any leaft over water, runs off.

the point from now on will be to keep the seeds moist, but not sitting in water, until they sprout.

so, you will rinse a couple of times a day, and then let the water run off, and don't worry about if it is in the sun or shade at this point.

Then after a couple of days, you will see little sprouts shooting out of the seeds, this is the time to get excited, and once the little shooting sprouts are about 1 inch long, you can place the jar with the sprouted seeds inside in the sun, (still need to keep moist not wet) this will green up your sprouts and add tons of nutrients.

Then you can just eat them, or put in the fridge, then eat, Voila' how easy is that?

This basic concept works with most seeds, beans, nuts etc.

You can buy lots of different seeds etc at the health food store, you can ask them if they are sprouting seeds, nuts etc.

Good luck

[misslinda]

Christing--thank you so much for the visual.....I thought the seeds could only be one layer and not many layers like in a jar :)

So when a recipe calls for seeds, or nuts (if they are the soaking kind) then is it suggested to sprout until a one inch growth or as I'm hearing, wait for the tail to grow??

luv,
ml

[PixieGreen]

Greetings,

I would like to know how to begin sprouting, and what is the best fertilizer to use, and to keep my sprouts growing all year around.

I am a raw newbie

Emmanuelle255

This may be obvious from the posts above, but when we sprout nuts, grains, or legume seeds [like alfalfa, clover, radish], we eat the whole darn thing once it's sprouted. That's why there's no need for fertilizer. They don't grow long enough to need more nutrients than plain water has to offer before we chow them down, and since the most nutrients are gained by eating the first growth we eat the "roots" and all and start over for the next batch.

When growing full-on grasses like buckwheat [eaten like lettuce], wheatgrass [juiced], or barley [juiced], you can juice the whole stalk with roots if grown hydroponically or cut off right above the soil level to juice then compost the roots and soil. Does that make sense?

That said, when I grew wheatgrass and sunflower seeds hydroponically I experimented with using hydrogen peroxide and an organic vegan liquid fertilizer. I'd read that sunflower seeds have a bland taste when grown with just water. The hyd peroxide was to inhibit mold and naturally occuring bacteria. But for a number of icky reasons I had to abandon my sprouting project...Please keep us updated on your sprouting and feel free to ask questions as you go!

Christa

[rawpriestess]

Christa is absolutely right,

I sprout my seeds/nuts grains etc.

some I see little tails, some not.

I see tails on alfalfa sprouts, and those tails are about 2" long
also on mung been, lentils, etc.

but on grains, I see the sprouts about 1/4" or so, wheat berries, rye, spelt, kamut,

quinoa is curly and like a cute little piggy tail, soooo cute, also about 1/4 " long

nuts, I sprout but don't see tails, I usually sprout only almonds, hazelnuts,

I do soak, but don't sprout cashews.

Sunflower seeds sprout really nicely, and it depends on the recipe if I sprout them, and how long.

I don't soak, brazil nuts, macademia nuts, pine nuts, pistachios, walnuts, pecans.

hope this helps.

[VeggieMel]

Using mason jars with sprouting lids or gauze is really simple. I've never tried anything else because I've had a lot of success sprouting this way, and it's so easy.

[LeanAndHungry]

Let's say you want to grow other things, such as vegetables. Would sprouting in this manner be a good idea, as opposed to just putting them in the ground first? It seems this way that you will know for sure whether or not the seeds have germinated, saving some potential frustration.

[misslinda]

* Excited *

Starting my sprouting endeavors today. :)