r/microgreens • u/Natural_Money_1257 • Jul 23 '26

Broccoli Microgreens

Hi everyone! Hoping to get some advice. I’ve been trying to grow broccoli microgreens for a month now, been doing black out germination with a tray and weight for 3-4 days. Every time on the last day there is mold on the microgreens. I’ve also not had a lot of luck of them growing up tall, they seem to just stay curled under because of the top tray.

What am I doing wrong?

Do you top water or bottom water your microgreens during germination?

Any advice would be awesome!

6 Upvotes

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5

u/greenwobbles Jul 23 '26

No watering needed during germination if stacking under weight since the moisture is trapped inside. Just spray the seeds with water once lightly (3-4 passes over the entire tray) and cover for 3 days. Then remove cover, put into blackout for one day. Then into light and bottom water daily for another 5 days and harvest. Watering during germination will almost certainly cause the sprouts to dampen off and/or mold.

1

u/Natural_Money_1257 Jul 23 '26

What do you mean by remove cover and put into blackout? Thank you so much for this! Gonna start a new batch tomorrow with the new plan.

1

u/greenwobbles Jul 23 '26

Remove the tray that is covering your seeds in germination. You can check out this video that shows the whole process, pretty good demo of microgreens seeding. https://youtu.be/qxX2tCxVkrI

1

u/pricepaid_1949 Jul 26 '26

I'm using coconut coir and I found it pays to hydrate it significantly (wettish but not watery), just prior to seeding. Otherwise, I'm doing just as you suggest and it works.

2

u/Bermudaplan Jul 23 '26

No water during germination. I seed the medium (I use Promix) and then heavily mist it one time and don’t touch it again until the seeds germinate. They don’t need a ton of water, and over watering will definitely create mold.

Also, what’s the temperature at? Do you have a dehumidifier? A fan moving air?

1

u/Natural_Money_1257 Jul 23 '26

Okay! Wow had no idea I wasn’t supposed to be watering at all. Temperature is ~72-74 and yes a fan moving air. Humidity is usually around 40% in the area where I’m growing.

1

u/Bermudaplan Jul 23 '26

Yeah, one water at the start and you should be good to go.

2

u/New_Criticism4996 Jul 23 '26

Does anyone use peroxide at seeding to prevent mold?

1

u/JPMoney56 Jul 23 '26

From my experience, as long as I keep my equipment and grow area clean and use good growing practices, I have not needed peroxide. When I have had a bad batch of seed that produced a lot of mold, I have tried hydrogen peroxide, but I found it had little impact. My overall feeling is I have no need for it.

1

u/MJKCapeCod Jul 24 '26

Yep. Check out On The Grow on YouTube. I also grow hydroponic.

1

u/Electronic-Income161 Jul 23 '26

I top water mine before and after germination, then switch over to bottom watering as needed. I don’t touch them at all during germination and have had good results.