MicroGreens - Pac Choi

One of the things I wanted to try was growing MicroGreens. I mean how hard can it be? I watched a couple of Youtube videos and learned the following:

1. Microgreens need to be grown in a tray that can drain and the roots don't sit in water.

2. When first planting the seeds they need to be kept dark and weight applied on top.

3. You need to spray water on the seeds and seedlings not water the roots.

4. You need to give it a few days after the seeds have sprouted. Let the sprouts push against the cover - simulates pushing through the soil.

I got some great tips from the microgreens expert at Gardenworks in Burnaby. He recommended starting out with something mild like Pac Choi. I've never eaten Pac Choi but love Bok Choi so what the heck.

My first attempt, I use these Green Seed Germination Trays I found on Amazon.

They come in a pack of 5. So I used a hemp mat and planted the seeds. As you can see the hemp mat isn't consistent in both trays.

I used bottom trays to press down and black out the seeded trays. Then I placed some bricks on top to apply weight. Within a day the seeds sprouted and started growing. I waited three days before exposing to light. A week later this is what I had.

As you can see while I have good growth, it's very patchy and they're really not growing that thick. The trays, while they looked nice are not a standard size. That means having to use a grow media other than a hemp mat or cut the hemp mat down to size which didn't work well. Also this tray not being standard has no readily available humidity dome which I think hindered the growth.

So I decided to try again but this time I went with a standard 10x20 tray. I have a local hydroponic store that I go to because their prices are usually way cheaper than Amazon. So a couple of grow trays and some microgreen inserts and more hemp mat. The nice thing about using standard size trays is that everything else fits - hemp mat and humidity dome. I planted the seeds, blacked them out for 4 days. I put them out in the light last night and this morning I had this.