Sprouts!

[Riftaxe]

A quasi-hydroponic adventure.

A few years ago, when ABBA was still popular on the radio, I worked at a soup and sandwhich kitchen, and as food prep one of my duties was to make sure the alfalfa sprouts were rinsed and turned.

While all nostalgic, I priced the things at the market.

So buying them was a bit beyond anything I am willing to do.

All it is is a jar, a bit of water, etc...surely i can grow my own then? Might as well order some seeds....


So as I await the seed delivery, it dawns on me i really did not pay too much attention back then to....pretty much anything.

Any tips for an amateur sprouter?

I decided to start off with lentils, I figured they look rugged surely they can survive my care.

[kathysart_decoration]

1. What do you know?

I'm not certain how much information you already have. There is a great deal of info on the web. I don't remember whether I have worked with lentils, but I have done a lot of sprouting.
Any good glass jar will do. If you are working with lentils, you need something large enough to allow them to expand a bit. I use canning jars of several different sizes, depending what I'm sprouting. If you don't have any special jar tops used for sprouting - which you can get online or at a health food store - I have also used a rubber band wrapped around cheesecloth to top the jar. It just has to be a fabric which will allow some air to get in the jar and allow you to rinse the seeds a few times a day.
Put 3 times more water in your jar than the seeds. Maybe do about a quarter cup of seeds, but you decide. Again, once they start sprouting you need enough room in the jar for their growth. Soak the seeds the first day for 8-12 hours or overnight. I usually rinse my seeds at least once during that soak.
After the first soak, you are rinsing the seeds, but not putting water in the jar. Work hard to get as much water out of the jar with each soak and rinse. I try to find a way to lay the jar on its side and lift the back end so any water left on the seeds will find its way out. Keep the jar out of the sun. It should be in a shady spot with no sunlight. You will begin seeing them sprouting a day or 2 after first soak. I find that the larger the seed, the longer it takes to get that first sprout to show, so be patient. They are ready after the sprouts get an inch or 2 long, depending on how you like them. I do put my jars in sunlight on the last day, just to get them green enough.
Small seeds are a bit trickier to deal with and I won't go into it, but you can find good info online.
I also grow microgreens, which you might be interested in looking into later on. They are more work because they are grown, usually, in a bit of soil, but they are actually even more packed with nutrients than sprouts are, but they are more work.
I probably gave you more info than you needed, but you were kinda of vague. Good luck. I love sprouts and now I am going to get some going, thanks to your post.

[Riftaxe]

4. Thank you very much!

The information is great, I am looking forward to putting it to use!

As well as the sandwhiches and salads too

[bahrbearian]

2. Rinse with Food Grade H2O2

[Riftaxe]

3. Artesian tap water has managed so far

one of the benefits of being in a rural area with an overflowing aquifer (the detriment is having 3 sump pumps, a backup and a spare)

Used to have a ground well, but the state had to replace it back in '77 after they poisoned it. Fortunately there was no shortage of rocks ti fill in the hole.