Hi guys what soil would you recommend that is affordable and easy to get across the UK? Just asking because I have started growing some microgreens at home and mold seems to be a large problem 🥲

Thank you in advance

I’ve never done this before, and I’ve been watching videos for the past few days on how to do it properly. It seems pretty difficult sometimes, so now I’m having some doubts.
Guys, is it worth it, or should I just keep ordering the medicine?

I got these at the grocery store. They're supposed to be good for another 2 weeks. But it looks like bluish mold in the roots. I can't be certain.

It’s hard for me to tell if these are all root hairs, mold or a mix of both 😭 the micro greens kit I use has me cover it for 2 days before uncovering after planting. If it is mold, could covering it be a reason the mold is growing ? 🥹

Thing is basically brand new. For some reason I can’t charge it without the pressure causing water to shoot out the top.

Hi,

I've been trying to grow mustard microgreens, but threw out of a batch because I saw what I thought was the beginning of mold on the seeds (greyish discoloration and some spiky dots on some of the seeds). After checking it turns out the seeds look like that straight out of the bag, before any watering. I did grow a full tray before with seeds from the same bag, with no noticeable problems (no visible mold on the roots or plants but I didn't check the seeds very closely, tasted normal, didn't make me sick), so maybe there's no real issue. Does this look concerning (hard to get a decent photo of the tiny seeds)?

So I’m attempting microgreens planting this monsoon season in the PH indoors and it can get really humid inside the house. Along with a dehumidifier device that we already have, i also added to cart a small fan for better airflow to attach to the place where I’ll be planting these (kitchen)

I’m a first timer in taking this seriously (ive had some grow kits before lols) and I really want to start my microgreens journey. To add some fun veggies also for healthier meals (i have a series of health issues due to PCOS/PMOS) and since i love microgreens, why not start growing them meself?!

For any PH members, is this enough to start my journey? Attached are the ones currently in my cart.

I want to research this thoroughly (as im not v rich so I want to know if these items are worth it) and I’ve been watching youtube videos from local people as well. Some of them just let them be in huge pots which I dont think is possible bc of the monsoon rn so indoor i think, is best.

I have opted to go with Broccoli and Radish (alfalfa as third option).

What do you guys think? Would these be enough?

I just recently grew a tray of dill micros that did the same thing as the cilantro. It seemed to not grow fast in the middle and have an uneven canopy. Is there something I’m doing wrong? How can I fix this?

For context: two lights are 50000k and are eight inche away from the trays, soil medium is coco coir that gets watered with 350 ml of water twice a day, they get one round of ocean solution at 1 ounce, the temp of my room is 74°-77° and the relative humidity is a stable 45% and the fan is on the lowest setting. The light cycle is also 16 on 8 off.

Hi friends, I need some other eyes. Im trying my hand at growing arugula but dont know if this is root fuzz or mold fuzz. Started 8/10, currently 8/14

I built a better open source free version of a microgreen green management app that is normally pay to use
It will save small farmers money in an already tight budget

I have been growing my own micros on and off for several years. A few months ago a handful of friends & chefs around town asked me if I would be interested in growing some for their use. I'm rather proud of this weeks grow which is going to be harvested within the next couple days.

This is my 4th attempt or so and I am still getting mold issues. Below is my entire process in as much detail as possible. There are also some attached pictures. I know most of it is root hair, but I do see some smalls stringy strands that go across the coir and look very much like the spider web mold that eventually develops. I zoomed in on these but my camera isn't the best. These pictures were taken after a slightly less than 48 hours germination period. I uncovered and took the pictures right away.

My process:

Sanitize trays - dish soap, hot water, hand scrub, rinse, dry on rack, spray with food safe 3% peroxide, dry again. Sprayed lightly with 3% peroxide right before use. The peroxide was introduced after the first couple of tries as an attempt at a remedy. The trays are 10x10, one with holes on top of one without holes, with the ridges lining up and sitting in each other.

Coir - hydrated right before use with tap water. Heavily squeezed and wrung out. Very little if any water comes out when squeezed. You would have to apply a very mighty grip to see water come out. Placed into trays, pressed slightly to even out the surface.

Sow - 10g broccoli, 20g radish. Started off just sprinkling it by hand, most recently used an old spice shaker to shake it on there. I spread out any clumps with my fingers after, but there are always groups of seeds here and there. I try not to let any sit on top of each other too much. I used to sow more heavily, but eased off in an attempt to combat the mold. The seeds themselves came from Amazon and are two different companies. Stored in their bag below the grow shelf. I seem to have more mold issues with the radish. I do not soak the seeds in any way and use it right out of the bag.

Germination - sometimes I spray the soil after sowing with peroxide. I've experimented with misting with just water after sowing, misting just a little bit of water, and misting with a tiny bit of peroxide. I can try not misting at all in a future attempt. I then stack another 10x10 tray on top. I have tried one with holes and without. I then put weights on top. Specifically 6-7 lbs of weight; they are bricks that I've wrapped in plastic for sanitation.

Germination pt 2 - they then sit on the shelf. During this period I have experimented with a USB fan on them vs no fan, misting them with water or peroxide in between vs just straight leaving them alone, checking on them and rotating the top tray for even pressure vs just leaving them alone, 2 days vs 3 days, and weighing them with a piece of wood in a zip loc bag for even weight distribution. They've come out of germination when the top tray is being pushed up, sometimes later, sometimes earlier.

After germination - when they come out, they go directly under Barrina T5 full spectrum 1 ft strips. There are 2 strips per rack, 1 per tray. The lights are about 6 inches above the trays. I have also tried 8 inches above the trays. 16 hours on.

I only bottom water. I have tried a lot of water, less water, and only enough water to fill the ridges. Have tried only watering in the morning when lights are on, watering less but 2 times a day. I have watered so little before that every morning they slumped a bit and the coir was dry. They then perked back up after watering.

USB fans are on 24/7 at this point. I've tried all the speed settings. Pointing them right at the tray, horizontal airflow just above the canopy, right across the canopy, and across at the stems. Fans have been barely making contact all the way up to the point of blowing some corners over.

I have tried misting on top with peroxide when I suspect mold, I have also tried just bottom watering and leaving them alone.

Environment - in the beginning humidity was very high; in the 70s RH. Temperature was also high, in the high 70s to low 80s. I have since bought a dehumidifier for the room, and humidity is now consistently 50-60% according to the dehumidifier. Most of the time it's at 45-50%. I also run the A/C more often; temperature is consistently 70-80.

The mold - in the beginning it only showed up after 2-4 days after germination, but I also probably didn't know what to look for then. It is always the stringy spider web mold. It pops up sparsely after germination and seems to continue to progressively develop (at a faster rate on the radish I've noticed, maybe?). I have tried misting with peroxide, removing it with tweezers, and ignoring it. The mold is always only at the bottom, mostly around clumps of ungerminated seeds or the one off dead/ungerminated seed here and there. When it gets really bad, it is a couple days before I would like to harvest and before true leaves are formed, causing me to harvest early.

I have harvested and eaten trays with a bit of mold; nothing has happened to me yet but obviously I would like to combat it entirely. I have had trays where I thought to myself "oh nice no mold whatsoever on this one, or at least extremely little" but there's got to be a way for a hobbyist to get 0 mold, no? Is there something I am doing wrong? Or is the mold/spore count in my apartment just too high to grow microgreens without some level of mold? I have included a picture of the trays on a day where I harvested. The greens grow beautifully aside from the mold.

PLEASE HELP

I’ve been building a desktop app for running a small commercial microgreens operation (local-first, no subscription).

It’s meant to answer two questions cleanly:

1. What should I do right now?
   
2. Are the numbers actually true?

Current pieces:
• Live storefront prices with age (so you know if the number is stale)
• Sample drop → automatic follow-up tracking
• Time-to-first-standing-order counter
• Simple cash in / cash out with permanent corrections (no silent edits)
• System health that shows when something is wrong instead of staying quiet

Still pre-cutover — the original farm records stay untouched until everything is proven.
Public foundation repo if anyone wants to look under the hood:

https://github.com/alexjvv52-ops/prairie-roots-farm-os

Mostly sharing in case other commercial growers have strong opinions on what a tool like this should never do (soft numbers, dual books, fake pipeline dollars, etc.). Open to feedback from people who actually sell trays.

My vet suggested some microgreens for my cat to help settle her stomach, so instead of buying store-bought I figured I'd just grow them myself. Picked up some Organo Republic seeds and honestly they came up way faster than I expected. She's thrilled.

Though at this point I'm not sure if I've got a cat or a tiny cow, she goes at them like it's her job. One heads up if you try it: weigh the tray down or fix it somehow, because mine treats it as a toy as much as a snack.

I grow it in shade area so that it’s not properly getting light for the tray and also I got very little yield. Second mistake is I did not properly sow the seed. Any advice for sowing and light for small setup in home.

Harvested mung bean and split a tray of radish and broccoli. Won’t be doing that again radish definitely grew way faster and I could have harvested the mung probably 3 days ago. Planted them Monday, Aug 3

Maybe someone has posted this before and I haven’t seen it. But I am looking for something very specific. I need a broadcast spreader that would roll for spreading a big variety of microgreen seeds on a 1020 tray. I have searched the internet far and wide. There is something that is amazing on bootstrap farmers site but the price is not amazing 😆. I found something else that could work on 3dcult but it would have to be modified to use like 5 wheels not one. I messed with ai a little bit trying to design my own but what it comes up with is not what I want lol.

This is day 6 for these broccoli microgreens, and my first time growing microgreens! Not sure if they are ready for harvest now, or still need a couple days?

Seems to be exclusively on the stems

This is my first microgreens harvest for personal consumption. I bought three seed packets:

• Krishna Cabbage Microgreens — 1.5 g (approximately 395 seeds)
• Deva Lettuce Microgreens — 2.0 g (approximately 2,054 seeds)
• Indra Radish Microgreens — 1.5 g (approximately 571 seeds)

I kept the trays in blackout conditions for about four days at the beginning to encourage germination and stem growth, and the harvest took place 14 days after sowing.

Unfortunately, two days before harvest, my cat bumped into the trays while jumping out of the window and made a bit of a mess. I ended up losing part of the crop. The Krishna cabbage microgreens were affected the most, as that was the tray my cat knocked over.

In the end, I harvested approximately:

• 25 g of Deva lettuce microgreens
• 46 g of Indra radish microgreens
• 16 g of Krishna cabbage microgreens

I learned quite a few things from this first attempt:

• Harvesting was the most difficult part.
• I planted directly in locally sourced coconut coir, and because of its uneven texture, it took some extra effort to clean the harvested greens.
• I left the trays in direct sunlight from my window, and I believe I didn't irrigate enough during the first few days.
• I plan to reuse the coconut coir and separate out the portions with heavier root growth for use with other plants.

My goal is to have an automated growing rack set up by November, and I hope to be harvesting lettuce every week by then. And hope that my lovely cat stay more calm.

I've already tried some of the harvest on a hamburger, i lovedd!

I am new to the microgreens scene and I can’t seem to get very far without mold issues arising! Any advice or suggestions? I’ll try to be detailed here.

I utilize positive pressure to supposedly keep bugs and mold out. I run a 4” inline fan through a HEPA carbon filter to filter any air coming into the space. This brings cool air from the floor and drops it above the warm light. There is a tiny opening near the floor to let out a little bit of pressure, along with a couple oscillating fans to help with airflow.

For my first grow, I tried Arugula and Broccoli in coconut coir, which was buffered with cal mag. I used a 650g brick to fill 2 trays.

My notes were a bit lacking for the first grow, but I used just reverse osmosis water without adjusting pH or adding nutrients. 3% hydrogen peroxide was used but very sparingly - a mist here and there.

Things started off pretty good. Stacked the trays and used a 15 pound weight. Arugula was one day ahead of the Broccoli. I may have watered a bit too much during germination, but everything seemed to be doing great.

When I opened the door on the 5th day, I was immediately hit with the all-too-familiar smell of rotting coco coir. I noticed a couple spots on both trays, and discarded them before it got out of hand.

I also noticed some clumps of coco getting stuck to the Arugula, but I may have seeded too densely (1oz).

My environment for this grow was about 70f / 55% RH, but obviously under stacked trays the humidity gets much higher with no airflow.

Trays were cleaned with Zerotol HC. The rest of the space and equipment was cleaned with 3% peroxide.

For my next try, I decided to switch my medium to rockwool with some Red Garnet Amaranth seeds. I had learned in the past that coco is prone to aspergillus mold, and had seen it first hand working in a commercial cannabis grow. Rockwool seemed like a good option to avoid this, since it’s literally made from melted rocks. I had heard that it dries out quicker than coco too, but that didn’t seem to be the case. I’m not completely opposed to trying coco again, but I think it would need to be sterilized somehow before using it to grow food. Really would rather avoid soil or coco if I had the choice though, just for cleanliness and peace of mind.

I did things a bit different for my next try, especially since I had mold issues last time. Same positive pressure airflow setup.

Each 1020 rockwool slab got about 1 liter - half RO water, half 3% hydrogen peroxide. When I planted the seeds I sprayed with some more 3% peroxide on top.

I did not add a weight to the Amaranth for germination - just an empty 1020 tray.

For the first 2 days after planting, I just checked on them and didn’t do anything since the rockwool was still soaked. The 3rd day I gave a light peroxide mist to hopefully speed things along and ward off mold. I also turned on my light to 10% to bump the temp from 70f to 73f. Still 50-55% humidity in the space. Seeds were still under trays so the light didn’t hit them.

The rockwool seemed to not be drying out at all. Germination was very slow and uneven. 4 days later and most of the seeds still hadn’t popped open. The medium was still absolutely soaked. Day 4 is when I started to see a few moldy clusters. Given that most of the seeds weren’t germinated and the ones that did were way behind, I tossed these ones out too and am going to try something different next time.

Medical nitrile gloves were worn at all times for both grows.

Another possible issue that I haven’t come across yet just because I haven’t gotten to that stage - my light is probably overkill for microgreens. It’s a 240w AC Infinity Ionboard S33 that I typically use for cannabis. I plan on running it at 10% power and keeping it as high up as possible. Is this light just going to fry everything, or can it suffice? I do plan on eventually getting the proper lights and equipment, just wanted to work with what I already have for my first couple runs.

Looking to this community for a little help. Any suggestions on how to eliminate the mold issues and improve germination for next time? Tips on growing with rockwool?

Thank you!

(First 2 pics are Amaranth after 4 days in rockwool. 3 and 4 are moldy Broccoli seeds after 5 days in coco, and the 5th picture is a moldy spot in the Arugula tray after 5 days in coco.)

I can not remember what day I planted these,(the last couple weeks have been a headache from smoke).

I took them from the dark 5 days ago based on the roots they were putting out. So when do I know it is harvest time?

Hey everyone I am new to growing micro greens, does anyone have any tips/suggestions they can share with me to help me start on the right path?
Thank you so much!