This morning was very exciting, to say the least. When we went for our morning watering, we discovered germination taking place in both our red cabbage and red kale microgreens trays!!
These are our first-ever babies, so it was a special moment for sure!
As for our sunflower trays, we are seeing small signs that the germination process is starting, but I expected them to be slightly slower than the kale and cabbage simply because of the hard seed shells.
Our cabbage and kale trays had a little water sitting in the bottom pan, but not a lot. We dried what was left, and re-watered using slightly more water than before.
Our two sunflower trays had more water left standing, so after wiping out them out, we watered with roughly the same amount as last time, under the assumption that water consumption will increase as germination advances.
Here are the four microgreen trays as they looked on the morning of Day 3:
I’ll be back tonight with another update, and hopefully even more seed pops.
~ Mike
~ 11:45 pm update
Things are really starting to get exciting now! Our sunflower trays, which earlier today were just starting to show signs of germination, have really started to take off now.
Our red cabbage and red kale trays were already showing strong signs of germination, and we are now able to see a solid root system starting to spread below our reusable growing media.
You can see the root structure starting to form in this picture:
~ What’s next?
- I am going to keep a very close eye on both the cabbage and the kale trays over the next two days to make sure I’m not seeing any mold or other issues. I am not 100% sure what to expect here, as this is my first crop, but I am aware of the fact there has been standing water each time I went to re-water, so I am being conscience of that, and the possible implications of over-watering.
- The sunflower trays really enjoyed some progress today. I am expecting another two full days of germinating before these trays move to their next phase. I will continue to adjust the amount of water they are getting twice a day to help prevent mold or disease the best I can.
Note to self: I need to remind myself how to make a prophylactic spray using a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and water. I am not convinced I have an issue at this point, but the fact I am even questioning it makes me realize I need to figure that out now, before it becomes an issue.
Here is an updated look at where our sunflower trays are at this point on Day 3:
Look for Day 4 updates tomorrow!
~ Mike
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