Cold weather and sprouting ...

[MysticTree]

My wheat, chia and aduzuki beans are taking forever to sprout. The weather is quite chilly but they are "looking" healthy and in fine fettle so I am hoping they will be delicious nonetheless.

This weekend I want to try amaranth and millet but I need more jars/sprouting trays etc. and a sprouting "station". Not having a kitchen is a weird thing but I can't just have them on the ground due to the animals (my pets and the wildlife).

Does anyone have difficulty with ants when sprouting?

[Living Food]

My wheat, chia and aduzuki beans are taking forever to sprout. The weather is quite chilly but they are "looking" healthy and in fine fettle so I am hoping they will be delicious nonetheless.

Sprouts grow much slower when it's cold, just take care that they don't rot and they'll be fine.

Does anyone have difficulty with ants when sprouting?

Never had ants, although the local squirrels can be a real pain sometimes.

[MysticTree]

I'm not over watering them because of the risk of rot. I think they will be just fine but am keeping a weather eye on them.

[Living Food]

Try to find the warmest spot possible to put them in. I put many of my soil-based sprouts in my coldframe when it gets cold out.

At lower temperatures sprouts don't lose as many of the nutrient inhibitors, or have as great an increase in enzyme or vitamin content, so it's best to keep them as warm as possible.

I'm not over watering them because of the risk of rot. I think they will be just fine but am keeping a weather eye on them.

Not overwatering is very important; as long as you don't do that, the sprouts ought to be fine.

Also, some sprouts do better in warmer weather, and some do better in cooler water, just like all plants. Try sprouting plants that you would normally start during the colder months anyway, like broccoli, kale, etc. As a gardner, I'm sure you know which plants do better with colder temperatures.

[SunshineMN]

We don't have a problem with ants, but in the colder months we have a square plastic tub (like a Rubbermaid) we set the wooden dishrack we use to keep the sprout jars at an angle in and cover it with... well, frankly I'm using 2 older t-shirts that are made from thicker cloth than I like. We leave just the back top edge uncovered (the side where the jar mouths are) to get some air circulation, but the sprouts keep the inside on the warmer side and they take less time to sprout than if they are uncovered. The tub is almost as tall as the dishrack so it's pretty contained.

We sometimes have problems with amaranth when we do this because they seem to "heat" more than other sprouts and it goes sour. We discovered rinsing every 8 hours works best for us in this situation.

[streetsurfer]

MysticTree, I just love the diction you use in your posts. Things from across the pond.

In fine fettle
A weathered eye

I am also a big fan of midwest and western slang and terminology. How am I today? "Fair to middlin'."
Talking about sprouts makes me "so hungry my stomach thinks my throats slit."

[MysticTree]

Cold enough here for hot water bottles (summer ... Bah!). The sprouts are bearing up outside.

[MysticTree]

This morning the wheat grass is looking very cheerful and the mung beans and mixed sprout mix. The chia is patchy and the adzuki are on strike!

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

lt is getting to almost zero at night where l am. What is essential for winter is for me to drill many holes in all the trays for my sunflower and buckwheat greens, otherwise the soil trays become water logged and they all start to rot. The problem with sunflower greens is that the surface needs to be watered at least twice a day (morning and night during winter) because it gets dry easily, so if you don't have holes in the trays and sitting on pegs on top of another tray to catch the water, it will become a disaster (pics in the sprouting thread another day). Everything goes well in cold weather, but the hard things to start off are the sesame seeds (they need a warm kick start) and the chia, so l bring those inside for the first few days. The nuts use a special nut heater (a light globe heater) so l have a constant supply of nuts. l wouldn't dare try sprouting mung or adzuki beans in cold weather because mung beans take extreme extra care to pull off (very very hard to sprout in winter) and the adzuki beans are impossible to grow in cold weather...l can give both of these beans the top notch worldclass professional royal blue ribbon treatment, but they are still very hard to grow without rotting.

The best way to help sprout in cold conditions is to build a plastic tent and leave the small opening for air, this will keep the temperiture more constant.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

the adzuki are on strike!

they are more of a nice weather bean. Too cold and they won't grow and will rot, and too hot and they smell and rot. l only grow them certain times of the year.

[MysticTree]

warm weather today has the adzuki charmed. The Chia are looking happier and the mung also. Sun flowers are starting to emerge and things are looking rosy.

[phak-i-tu]

lt is getting to almost zero at night where l am. What is essential for winter is for me to drill many holes in all the trays for my sunflower and buckwheat greens, otherwise the soil trays become water logged and they all start to rot. The problem with sunflower greens is that the surface needs to be watered at least twice a day (morning and night during winter) because it gets dry easily, so if you don't have holes in the trays and sitting on pegs on top of another tray to catch the water, it will become a disaster (pics in the sprouting thread another day). Everything goes well in cold weather, but the hard things to start off are the sesame seeds (they need a warm kick start) and the chia, so l bring those inside for the first few days. The nuts use a special nut heater (a light globe heater) so l have a constant supply of nuts. l wouldn't dare try sprouting mung or adzuki beans in cold weather because mung beans take extreme extra care to pull off (very very hard to sprout in winter) and the adzuki beans are impossible to grow in cold weather...l can give both of these beans the top notch worldclass professional royal blue ribbon treatment, but they are still very hard to grow without rotting.

The best way to help sprout in cold conditions is to build a plastic tent and leave the small opening for air, this will keep the temperiture more constant.

Thanks for this info! I'd been wondering whether you needed drainage for those trays since I saw your pictures here last night. Is it alright if I use the cheap plastic (likely imported) ones from the 'dollar stores' around here? Another question I didn't see mentioned, though I may have missed it: I'm planning on picking up a large bag of sunflower seeds for-the-birds that a store manager tells me are certainly raw, in order to try spouting those - since they're cheap and available right now. Is there any reason I should not use those?

We definitely have cold winters where I live, in New Mexico close to Arizona line and about 8,000 ft. altitude, so your guidance in cold weather matters is worth a lot! I'm just wondering where on earth you live that it's down to 'zero' in June. Antarctica?

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

warm weather today has the adzuki charmed. The Chia are looking happier and the mung also. Sun flowers are starting to emerge and things are looking rosy.

lf you keep growing these foods you are going to be bursting at the seems. lt's quite a good lifestyle growing the sprouts, l am glad you are doing it, especially growing the wheatgrass. lt makes veganism easy, and soon you will realise that we eat far too much and that eating is just an emotional comfort (l am the same, l eat nuts and seeds instead of drinking only green juices because l am a comfort eater and weak willed). lt's now the afternoon here and i've only just had my first meal of wheatgrass juice.

Keep up the good work, your efforts are a delight to read.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Thanks for this info! I'd been wondering whether you needed drainage for those trays since I saw your pictures here last night. Is it alright if I use the cheap plastic (likely imported) ones from the 'dollar stores' around here? Another question I didn't see mentioned, though I may have missed it: I'm planning on picking up a large bag of sunflower seeds for-the-birds that a store manager tells me are certainly raw, in order to try spouting those - since they're cheap and available right now. Is there any reason I should not use those?

The sunflower might have chemicals in them due to the soil, but since they have a shell they should be o.k.

I'm just wondering where on earth you live that it's down to 'zero' in June. Antarctica?

Not far from it.

[MysticTree]

Growing sprouted foods is nothing new but I have never done it when there is no indoors. There just isn't room in the caravan for sprouts and not having a refrigerator means there is no waste heat to use for the more fussy ones. My father wrote a booklet back in the eighties about sprouting. Not a nutritional guide bur a how to best do it in the UK sort of guide. I might have to write about living where I am and all the problems you encounter. One that is annoying me at the moment is my driving licence issue. By law I must update my address but because where I live is a piece of ground with no residential status I can't. The authorities won't accept it. A solution is to register at my mother's address but that would not be an accurate description of where I am living. Grrrrr.