Microgreens

[prairiegardens]

Was watching a video about micrgreens today and wondering if anyone has tried growing them for market and if so, how that worked out. There used to be a guy selling them at the farmers market but he quit coming and no one appears to have anything to say as to why.

[ferdzy]

I know someone who used to do it. I wrote it up for my blog. I don't know that she made a lot of money but it was a surprisingly viable little business and in the right place with the right space I would think it would do quite well. She sold some through a local small grocery but most of her customers were restaurants.

seasonalontariofood.blogspot.ca/2010/02/micro-greens-from-micro-farm.html

[Gianna]

I don't grow them to sell, but do grow them for personal use. I've also watched a lot of videos about growing them, especially market growers. I get the impression there is a nice profit selling them. But then only the successful are likely to be posting videos.

I now only grow sunflower and peas - fast, easy, and good. I've grown beets but they take too long for my usage though growers like it for color. Radish is another good one growers grow, but it's too spicy for my tastes.

[prairiegardens]

I know that someone had some contaminated ( E. coli) alfalfa sprouts and a huge fuss was made about how dangerous they could be... ignoring the commercial strawberries and spinach that made hundreds of people sick from E. coli. Anything small scale and/or slightly askew from the norm seems to generate hysteria... but that was the reason -supposedly - that the local chain store stopped offering them....at one time they carried alfalfa or broccoli or mixed sprouts.

[philagardener]

There is a cautionary note in one of the comments on ferdzy 's nice blog post that is good reading for anyone thinking of heading in this direction.

[prairiegardens]

The video I watched, they start with organic seed and when they plant it, they spray it with hydrogen peroxide, which presumably takes care of any nasties which wandered onto it. The water can be an issue, although they use municipal water, they still run it through two filters before they use it, which sounded like maybe a good idea. Using food grade trays which can be sterilized between crops also helps. supposedly the "norm" is to use the black greenhouse trays which might be harder to sterilize.

[reed]

I don't think I'v ever seen that kind of stuff for sale were you couldn't see little specks of black slimy stuff, if not on the leaves on the root tips. I would never buy or eat it nor those pre-packed lettuce mixes. Don't need too anyway, my garden is full right now of all kinds of volunteer and planted greens. I don't eat sprouts anyway, I prefer to let them get a little bigger. I think lettuce, cabbage, turnip, radish are all delicious in seedling stage, I trim off the root.

[prairiegardens]

Oh used to see them in their own little containers happily growing away. If they are let get too wet then you get the slime, but I've sprouted stuff for years and with a little care that shouldn't happen. It was just cheaper to buy the alfalfa sprouts than to buy the seed, given both were supposed to be organic, alfalfa seed is very pricey.

[Gianna]

There's a difference between microgreens and 'sprouts'. 'Sprouts' is what used to be sold in stores in little boxes (often slimy/smelly), and some were contaminated. The two can be used in similar ways however, though the production of both are different.

Microgreens - You cut off only the tops and generally leave the seed coat and roots behind in whatever mix you are using. Sprouts were entire seeds that were rinsed, etc - and the entire thing was eaten - roots and all - with greater risk of contamination. This is another reason many/most microgreen growers (those who are selling) do not cover the top of their seeds with any mix at all. First, it's not needed, and second, your seedlings are cleaner not having to push through anything.

There are many many videos about growing microgreens on YouTube - some quite good, some absolutely horrible. Of course, that could be said about anything on UT.

[templeton]

The guy who is growing out my purple snowpeas for me runs a micro greens business. A retired poultry farmer, his daughter made him go out and do something to keep himself occupied. Now employs 35 people, exports to china, singapore, & hong kong specialising in micro greens and flower garnish crops. He was really pleased when i gave him half a kilo of red flowered broadbean seed. One issue his customers require is continuity of supply.
T

[prairiegardens]

That's a bit more ambitious than I had in mind but good to know. ☺️

[oxbowfarm]

My personal take on microgreens, sprouts, and baby greens/mesclun is that the market window for small operators to be profitable is rapidly closing and has already closed for mesclun. Growing out a microgreen is basically glorified sprouting, which means its mainly a function of light, temperature, moisture and time. This makes it possible for large operations to figure out ways to mechanize production and bring massive quantities to market very cheaply. I try to avoid getting into crops where I'm likely to be competing against a robot in the near future. JMO.

[templeton]

Nov 28, 2017 20:38:33 GMT -5 oxbowfarm said:

My personal take on microgreens, sprouts, and baby greens/mesclun is that the market window for small operators to be profitable is rapidly closing and has already closed for mesclun. Growing out a microgreen is basically glorified sprouting, which means its mainly a function of light, temperature, moisture and time. This makes it possible for large operations to figure out ways to mechanize production and bring massive quantities to market very cheaply. I try to avoid getting into crops where I'm likely to be competing against a robot in the near future. JMO.

Good call, oxbow. The guy I'm colluding with with the big commercial operation reckons he is coming under increasing pressure from warehouse indoor farms in the city with the LEDs, conveyor belt trays, hydroponics, etc. By manipulating liht frequencies they can get greener greens, purpler purples, redder reds, that he just cant compete with. no transport costs either. and those robots have Siri-like charm...

[steev]

Say what you will about the indoor-robot farms, I'm sure we'll be glad when we go off-Earth, not that I ever will.