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G'day folks! I am posting here at Al's request to profile my home microgreens production system.
When I first moved to the US I was an installer & grower for an indoor hydroponics farm in Toledo Ohio. Sadly, that business only last 2 years due to the mismanagement of investor funds by my boss. During that time I did training and hands on with Crop King, a hydroponics supply & training company in Lodi, Northern Ohio. I learned and practiced NFT (nutrient film technique), bato bucket & microgreens. At our peak we had 40,000sq ft of growing space & we grew and harvested 7000 fancy bibb (butter) lettuce weekly, hundreds of pound of basil & lots of microgreens. Our produce was sold at local Kroger, Whole Foods and other grocery stores. After the company shut down I went back to nursing, but love to garden, and have had both aquaponics & microgreens production set ups at the different homes we have lived in over the past 8.
I recently set up a small recirculating system in our basement under lights that currently produces about 2lbs of greens weekly. I sell these to people from church & work. The system consists of a 30 gallon acrylic sump from a previous fish tank set up, 5' food grade PVC growing channels which were given to me when I left the company, a 200gph pump, irrigation line, stop cocks and emitters w taps to control the flow to the channels. The light is a T5 HO light, but I have used LED (blue/white) successfully also).
I use "biostrate" as my substrate which is a plant fiber based product. This seed mix is called "Organic Spicy Salad Mix" from Ture Leaf Market. It contains kale, red cabbage, kohlrabi, arugula & mustard green seeds.
Grow cycle is darkness 4 days, under light 12 hours/day for 7 days. Once cut, keep refrigerated & shelf life is approx 1 week from cutting.
Here are some pics...
Day 0, seed day. The seeds get covered and are in darkness for 3 days
day 3, germination, still darkness
Day 4 since seeding, day 1 with cover removed, with light 12 hours/day. The double stacked channel on the left side is the next seed batch in darkness. My cycle is a weekly harvest on Wednesdays when I'm off work. Sales on Wed evening, and Thurs morning.
Day 4 under light, almost ready to harvest!
Day 7 under light, harvest day!
The finished product! Yum
I am sorry the some of the images are sideways. I don’t recall cropping them, but who knows lol
The great thing about greens is that everything the plant needs for it's first 10 day of life are in the seed, which means no nutrients are required, just clean fresh water. I use a recirculating system and have a fan blowing over the crop to minimize the risk of mold & fungus growing in the root zone or amongst the stems under the cotyledon canopy. I also put 3ml of 29% food grade hydrogen peroxide into the 20 gallons of water in the reservoir every 2-3 days. HP (H2O2) turns immediately to water & oxygen when diluted so it give the root zone a burst of life and simultaneously provides anti bacterial, anti mold & anti fungus protection in the root zone.
Any questions or comments are welcome! Blessings!!
When I first moved to the US I was an installer & grower for an indoor hydroponics farm in Toledo Ohio. Sadly, that business only last 2 years due to the mismanagement of investor funds by my boss. During that time I did training and hands on with Crop King, a hydroponics supply & training company in Lodi, Northern Ohio. I learned and practiced NFT (nutrient film technique), bato bucket & microgreens. At our peak we had 40,000sq ft of growing space & we grew and harvested 7000 fancy bibb (butter) lettuce weekly, hundreds of pound of basil & lots of microgreens. Our produce was sold at local Kroger, Whole Foods and other grocery stores. After the company shut down I went back to nursing, but love to garden, and have had both aquaponics & microgreens production set ups at the different homes we have lived in over the past 8.
I recently set up a small recirculating system in our basement under lights that currently produces about 2lbs of greens weekly. I sell these to people from church & work. The system consists of a 30 gallon acrylic sump from a previous fish tank set up, 5' food grade PVC growing channels which were given to me when I left the company, a 200gph pump, irrigation line, stop cocks and emitters w taps to control the flow to the channels. The light is a T5 HO light, but I have used LED (blue/white) successfully also).
I use "biostrate" as my substrate which is a plant fiber based product. This seed mix is called "Organic Spicy Salad Mix" from Ture Leaf Market. It contains kale, red cabbage, kohlrabi, arugula & mustard green seeds.
Grow cycle is darkness 4 days, under light 12 hours/day for 7 days. Once cut, keep refrigerated & shelf life is approx 1 week from cutting.
Here are some pics...
Day 0, seed day. The seeds get covered and are in darkness for 3 days
day 3, germination, still darkness
Day 4 since seeding, day 1 with cover removed, with light 12 hours/day. The double stacked channel on the left side is the next seed batch in darkness. My cycle is a weekly harvest on Wednesdays when I'm off work. Sales on Wed evening, and Thurs morning.
Day 4 under light, almost ready to harvest!
Day 7 under light, harvest day!
The finished product! Yum
I am sorry the some of the images are sideways. I don’t recall cropping them, but who knows lol
The great thing about greens is that everything the plant needs for it's first 10 day of life are in the seed, which means no nutrients are required, just clean fresh water. I use a recirculating system and have a fan blowing over the crop to minimize the risk of mold & fungus growing in the root zone or amongst the stems under the cotyledon canopy. I also put 3ml of 29% food grade hydrogen peroxide into the 20 gallons of water in the reservoir every 2-3 days. HP (H2O2) turns immediately to water & oxygen when diluted so it give the root zone a burst of life and simultaneously provides anti bacterial, anti mold & anti fungus protection in the root zone.
Any questions or comments are welcome! Blessings!!
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