Grow Microgreens Using Sand!?
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- Опубликовано: 3 окт 2021
- Ever look around and wonder what you can and can’t use to grow Microgreens? It’s hard not to imagine the possibilities - even if it seems a bit odd. That’s why we decided to test out some "not so typical grow mediums” such as Sand to see if you could grow microgreens successfully… because who knows if you’ll ever be in the middle of the desert or stranded near a beach that just happens to have a bag of seeds laying around? - haha of course the chances of this happening are pretty obsolete…. yet it doesn’t make it any less fun!
To top it off, we also had the idea of what if sand could be a reusable grow medium for microgreens, since technically you can wash it out and then heat it to sterilize it... so of course, we couldn’t not test that out too!
Usually, you’ll find sand mixed into soils to help with increasing aeration, drainage and loosening up the soil for planting various vegetable crops. We’ve even tested out a local Dallas, Texas soil in the past for growing microgreens that was amended with sand, and it did a wonderful job. However, outside of being mixed into soil - you don’t see sand as a stand alone grow medium for microgreens… and that may be because of a few reasons which we discuss in this video.
However, before we get carried away - the results speak for themselves as you will see, and it was a fun way to grow microgreens without traditional soil! There are TIPS and TRICKS sprinkled throughout the video to help you have successful harvests if you want to try this too!!
We hope you enjoy and please let us know your thoughts below :)
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#Microgreens #sand #hydroponics 
Хобби
33:08 Mmmm, sandcake.
Lol, I thought the same thing when it came out of the oven 🤣🤣
My mind went to sand pancake. 🤣
Topic idea: Nutritional analysis of the end product grown in different growing mediums, potting soil, sand or stainless steel mesh and ocean, trace minerals etc… Those of us who are growing for our health really need this knowledge. Thank you for your informative experiments.
She can't do that; the cost is in the thousands, and it needs to be done in a lab to be an accurate analysis. If you want an end product that is super healthy, use mulched leaves, they feed forest trees without any help from us humans.
Nice experiment. I have done a lot, but this is one I have not tried. I may have to try it.
I am experimenting with how long I can go without changing the soil or sanitizing the tray. I use redworms in my trays, so it ends up being its own little ecosystem. For home use you can not beat it, as the worms eat all the mold and dead plant matter. They also give you castings in return. I started out hoping to reuse 10 times, but I am still going strong at 56 times. LOL
56 times not changing the soil? any updates?
@@jeffroberts1649 Yes, I ended it at 63 times, here is my update video ruclips.net/video/LhZONQ-IKIc/видео.html
@@jeffroberts1649 I just came to ask the same question 😁
@@papablueshirt Wonderful. Thank you for sharing.
@@NomaD_203 You are welcome, it was a fun experiment : )
About 50 years ago when I was in 4th grade, a farmer taught our class about starting seeds in sand. Of course, that was long before the micro-greens craze, but our starts grew quicker in sand than potting soil or plain ol' dirt from the playground, but as they continued to grow the more nutrient rich media allowed the plants to mature whereas the sand starts started to look sickly, so we transplanted them to potting soil and they caught up to the other plants in a couple of days. Placing your root mass in a coarse colander or 1/8th inch sieve over fine sieve or large bowl and running water through it might work to clean the sand out faster/easier. Plant matter stays in the colander; sand collects in the fine sieve...
Love that @Jezze2
Funny how the old ways are new, but sad how they weren’t passed down.
Word -- write it down.
Only physical, touchable things will last time.
I would absolutely use the collander too. Would be much quicker. Also, Ive grown starts in sand too. It works very well and easy to pull out to transplant.
Great video! Why not just boil the sand, strain it and let it dry?
After harvest, It seems to me that reclaiming the sand might be a less messy process, and easier, if the whole works was dumped into a larger tote container all at once (so no grabbing small tufts one at a time and transferring them over to another container), or just placing the whole tray in a tote, as-is, and using the spray nozzle to loosen each handful as you go separate the organic from the sand... probably wouldn't take much water... basically all the water and "mess" would be contained in the tote... of course that's just a theory LOL... It really is an interesting idea to re-use the medium countless (free) times... great experiment. Thank You.
this is the research that I'm looking for so far, thank you very much
Love how you try new things. I now always have 24 microgreen trays on the go and follow your channel to see how to improve. Love you guys.
Love the T-shirt. Reminds me of burning man.
I love your videos. You do the experimentation so I don't have to. I love your little GIF inserts, too.
Excellent idea seems proven ! Thanks.
I love that you guys do all kind of experiments! greetings from Mexico
I thought of that but since I've seen no yet videos on it I assumed it was a no go. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! AWESOME!!! 😃
Love your shirt! Great video!
Another fabulous video thank you!
Love your videos, you guys rock! 👍👍
Thank you so much for the support!! 🤗🌱🌱
Awesome stuff! Love your videos. Can you recommend the specific sand product used or is it just generic course sand?
I enjoyed watching this experiment.
Thank you for trying this. I thought about it last night and decided to research it
First time watcher, preparing to enter the market.
I have a few observations I would like to share.
Firstly, you are stunning. Has to be said.
Secondly. You can get a large size sieve with ample capacity for a whole tray, with hole size optimized for the size sand you are using, place it over a sand catcher pan. Gat a boiling water hose with a strong shower/hose head and boil wash the sand off the plant matter which will land in the bucket along with the boiling water. This is sufficient I am sure to qualify as pasteurized.
No need to dry, just drain it off and let it cool enough to put directly into the next growing trays damp and ready to be seeded!
You could add a cold wash step at the front to get rid of the sand if you wanted to sell the whole plant, root and seed included. cold jet shower through sieve should get the sand off enough, the boiling water is just to pasteurized the sand.
Thirdly. have a google of 'single sided hedge trimmers', combined with the strip of plastic and ramped tray for cutting, you have yourself many manhours saved.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Gold panning supply mesh screen, you can get ones that fit a bucket and just wash the sand through. thank you for showing this really great!
Interesting idea using sand as a medium.
@On The Grow Maybe it would help separating the used medium when put into a salad thrower (one to separate greens from water) but instead submerging the system 50-100% in water.
In my head it should whirl around the mixture while letting the sand sink to the bottom as opposed to the other parts mostly pushing gainst the walls or floating above.
On day 8 I really felt sad cause you looked so disappointed but it was great to see you successful at harvest. Well done I'm really motivated going into my microgreen project
5 gal bucket filled with bleach water, strainer to filter roots and let sand fall to the bottom, let trays dry in the sun....time, water, and electricity cost money. You need to streamline the process over 50-150 trays.
You could put a thin layer CoCo Coir over the top of the sand. As you said the water is holding well. Interesting growth.
Gritty brownies Loved the videos a lot of work and great results,
hahah glad you enjoyed it!!
Very interesting. My mind is racing with ideas on separation as well as the drying and sanitation process to make it much faster.
Good job! ❤
Great video really cool experiment 👍
Thank you
Well done !
Thank you!! 🤗🌱🌱
I have used coarse (builder’s) sand for years. I use recycled styrofoam containers with 2-3 inches of sand to root pineapple tops. It works great. I have used it to root other plant cuttings as well. Haven’t tried it as a seed growing medium however. I will try that now.
Một khu vườn ươm di động tuyệt vời. Cô chủ vườn xinh đẹp. Cảm ơn vì đã chia sẻ!
Works surprisingly good !
1) does germination continue as good after several cycles of using the sand ?
2) did you consider adding some fertilizer to the water. Silica sand is as nutrient poor as it can get.
3) 30-60 min in the oven is a lot of time and energy and probably becomes cumbersome with a larger quantity of sand. Did you consider sterilizing with a conc. H2O2 solution instead ? That should get rid of (most) germs and doesn't leave any residues.
Love when you twist your words! You’re too cute!
Im keeping harvie time for harvest time, beautiful purple and green, very cool.
The micro-dose shirt is perfection
I seen a video of a guy who basically broadcasts seeds in sand and grows them in sand as starts. It absolutely works really well. I did it ., and its so easy to pull them out to transplant.
pull the whole plant and rinse the sand from the roots, then trim the tops, less refuse in the sand, more plant harvested, just an idea!
Hej There. Thank you for the sand idea : ) Thats really awesome : ). I’ve got an idea for your sand cleaning process. If you start with covering the hole tray with a fine metal net (fine as 6mm by 6mm) and fold the edges down the sides of the tray, I think you can separate sand and roots easily, by flushing the sand directly out off the tray. What do you think?
Best regards, Sven from Denmark
Great suggestion! We will have to give that a shot and see how it goes... in theory it sounds like it would work. Thanks again for the support and the suggestion! 🤗🌱🌱
@@OnTheGrow You’re so wellcome : ) Looking forward to see how it’l work. 🍀🤗
Very cool! The recycling and sanitizing process seems quite time consuming, how's it compare to mesh grow screens or trays?
Mesh grow screens seem to work so well, it's really hard to beat it in time efficiency. The benefit of the sand seems to be the ability to retain the water better and actually allows for slight overwatering...
In aquaponics, you use a radial flow filter to separate the fish poop solids. It might be a great way to clean your sand after use.
Great video!!
Thank you so much for the support!! We will have to check that out, thanks for the suggestion!
Thanks for the video
Thank you for the support!!
Thanks for your videos. I have a question. How can we eat or cook microgreens's roots? What will affect to our health? Regard
Dang! Nice greens 😉
Thanks for the experiment. Acording your long experience, which media is better ?
I just ordered the Scott's 2 gallon sprayer. Did you cut the long wand or buy a special attachment for for the sprayer? I noticed the trigger is really close to the spray nozzle and I really like that idea. Thank you for all you do! I always enjoy your videos.
To separate your sand from roots, get a 5 gallon pail, fill maybe 2/3 or 3/4 full with water. Then add an air stone with a commercial air pump. The bubbles will help to agitate the roots/sand mixture and the sand should fall to the bottom. You could put one of those screens in the bottom, that car detailers use so not to get sand/dirt on their wash rag. Then lay the air stone on top of the screen in the bottom. I haven't tried this, but Im speculating, I have many years experience with DWC/Hydroton growing and airstones. Im from Canada so you have a pretty good guess what I grow. Great Video! Cheers. 8)
a good three way blend is 1/3 sand 1/3 oyster mushroom sawdust 1/3 coco coir. the mushroom substrate will grow and hold the soil together better.
Is it reusable?
Need to do a mix with some sand not sure what type but some have had really fast growth
Due to the sand having a diamagnetic effects on the plant so they grow faster and thicker
Liked it, and thanks for making it. You started with 4 cups of sand. What was the ending amount of sand after sterilization?
Can you eat the roots when you wash the sand off of them, with some of the rest of greens that you cut.
No they don’t taste good
Am new to the channel, have you tried calcined clay (the stuff that they put on baseball fields)? Turface, soil master red, akadama, etc.
It is also the main ingredient in kitty litter. But be careful when using kitty litter... you want the true generic without any additional chemicals (used for scent control, clumping, etc).
Also for the sand, you could use your regular trays but line the bottom with an old sheet or pillow case, etc. Just a thought.
I love this idea. There has to be a way to get the sand to stay. Maybe soaking the sand in the tray before harvest. Using the water to weigh the sand down.
Mix in a little cement?
It looked pretty wet when she was harvesting.
Thank you
I was thinking about testing sand mixes
We love experimenting with different ways of growing! Let us know how it goes for you if you try it!! 🌱🌱
@@OnTheGrow Testing a deeper bury of the seed in a compost mix. Looks like I need a finer grind of media. My hypothesis is that the more nutritious the media, the more flavorful and wilt durability of the shoots.
I love your joy filled relationship.
Laugh and play = human essence.
Love the video. Personally I think the cost of electricity has to be factored into the end price. An oven at 180 for 30 minutes to an HR would cost about a dollar in Australia. Just saying.. i would maybe just boil it for 5 minutes.
Great video. I plan on starting my garden seeds this year. Do you mind if I could ask what nutrients you use for your micro greens? thanks,
Thank you so much for the support! Our favorites are Fox Farms Happy Frog nutrient for soil... or Ocean Solution (2-0-3). Our blogs on our website cover this I believe! www.onthegrow.net/blog
after cleaning the roots, what do they tast like compaired to the
nice. please post follow ups on how this works out in the future. thanks.
Will do!! Thank you for the support!! 🤗🌱🌱
Q: What is better than watching food growing videos?
A: Watching food growing videos hosted by a hot, friendly chick.!
It seems that you could put your strainer over your bowl, then put the material in the strainer and run water over it to wash the sand into the bowl while the organic material remains in the strainer.
How are you? Would it help to place seed in a shaker and then spread it by shaking it out systematically over the tray or it doesn't work vs use of your hands in terms of spreading it evenly?
What do you think of adding a thin layer of sand over the top to let the roots have something to head south
Excellent video! Thank You! Do you think is it recommendable a mix of soil and sand? Does it provide a better nutrients for the micro greens? Thanks and Regards!
Hard to reuse I would imagine...
I think microgreens generally use the nutrients stored in the seeds. These guys use a bit of fertilizer in their water, though.
This looks excellent! This sand media is very promising.
Why do microgreens rather than sprouts? It appears half your plant is cut off and left with the medium. Also, with the plant cut, the product's shelf life may be shortened. Is it easier to do large quantities of microgreens?
I would try sun drying the tray then burning the sand to remove debris from 1st grow and it will also sterilize at the same time. Do you put any fertilizer/nutrient in the sand mix prior to seeding?
This is great! Being able to re-use the medium saves lots of bucks and space. I am not sure, but if you are going to heat sterilize the sand anyway, maybe you do not need to clean up the sand from previous batch too much.
Looks like the work just isn’t worth it if you were to do that for all your grows all the time. Thanks for pumping out another video it’s always great to see you guys experimenting again.
how warm are you keeping them? and is it 1 cup per day or twice a day?
It would be awesome if you have chickens to just toss the sand and roots to the chickens. Or compost all of it. Sand is cheap enough. I would find it more valuable in the chicken coops or the garden
Maybe on bottom tray use a mesh with paper towels to contain the sand?
Would I be correct in guessing that the 1lb bag would make approx. 29 trays? 15 grams per tray?
On The Grow I have a question about the sprouts that you throw in the compost bin. I would plant them rather than waste them and get a whole cabbage from my effort. My question is Do they continue to grow in the compost and make cabbages?
Tape a thin plastic to the back of a longer knife, tilt the tray, and cut upwards from the lower edge.
That's a great suggestion! Thank you for sharing!
What size pc fans are best for growing microgreens?
Know you were experimenting, but would you de-sand and then de-root now that you know?
Interesting, but I imagine you definitely CANNOT skip rinsing your greens, and using a salad spinner, if you use sand ... unlike coco or RGM, where being lazy isnt a show stopper.
As for recycling the sand, i'd be inclined to try this: fill a 5 gal pail half with water, add the spent root mat, then use a power drill fitted with a paint stirrer, to threash out all the sand. The sand would stratify to the bottom, and roots would sit on top ... just fish out and compost the plant matter with a small sieve whose mesh is big enuf to let the sand thru.
To prep the sand, drain it, put into a heavy pot atop a cajun cooker, and heat it until any remaining plant matter carbonizes, after which it will be dry and sterile, and simply needs to cool.
14:00 Does the water have any additional nutrients? during this step you are testing which PH?
Great video!!!!!!!
Great question! Yes, we did add nutrients to the water that we poured into the tray. They would grow without it, but by adding a light nutrient mixture, we can help the plants root faster and grow taller quicker. When we make the water-nutrient mixture, we PH balance it to 5.5 range... hope that helps! 🤗🌱🌱
@@OnTheGrow
Your videos are note 1000.
Congratulations for the videos
Peroxide needs to be kept in the dark to stay viable. Thanks for all your info.
AWESOME IDEA. I gotta do this. I’m going to use a little more sand just to give the roots a larger, maybe more comfortable home to snuggle into. And you thought of everything - even recycling the sand. You guys are truly awesome! Just wanted to say, in my opinion, you are prettier without the heavy eye makeup (just my opinion). Go Go On The Grow.
Thnak you for all your videos. I have a question, what's the percentage of H2O2 you use? is it 3.5%, 35%?
Tomas, if you calculate the conversion from imperial to metric, it will come out to right around 3%. (2 TBSP=29.57ML) Conversion to percentage from there is easy...
@@jasoneggers9572 thank you so much!
Does this mean you start with 35% and dilute that?
We use 12% and use 1-2TBSP per liter
@@CH-iy4go we started with 35% then we diluted to 3.5% then we add 1 part 3.5% to 10 parts water.
How horrible did the sand smell up the house? Also wondered if some sort of spinning drum would wick the water out of the sand faster and dry it like centrifugal force?
Hello from Ukraine!
Would putting the sand in boiling water get the sterilization done?
Why are you not using green net in the bottom as a buffer and water through the bottom tray
I would suggest a hypo-chloride soak and rinse and direct use afterwards. Drying sand takes too much energy.
Why fo you sanitize the sand? What dies the sanitization process do for the growth medium?
how would it do in bB's or some small heavy metal balls that won't rust too much. I think sand is a bit too much work to clean out
Or perhaps calcined clay.
Can you eat the roots? Could you just pull and blast them with water to drop the sand for reuse?
Hey, do you use organic microgreen seeds?
thumbs up & subscribe.....Nice job..Im going to try some corn starch. Mixed with water. So the movement of the sand from harvest . will cause corn starch to solidify slightly. keeping the sand in the tray. The greens .... Well I take green to the bank..😊 . Know what I mean? No? try mixing corn starch & water. THick. Add little food coloring for added fun😁 . talk to you on the flip flop..
V. B.
Why not use 2 trays. Holes and no holes. This is important as you can buy a yard of sand at relatively low cost.
Im thinkin that you could pull all the plant up roots and all and rinse the sand and have all of it to eat
Also do you happen to know what the nutritional value is in the remaining stems after you cut?
Probably quite a bit! People will feed their leftovers to livestock as an extra nutritional boost to their diets. If you cleaned the sand out well enough, you could also use the roots and remaining stems.
For chickens it’s perfect food and grit for the gut. Wash as much or as little sand out as you like.
I'm just unsure --when sterilizing the used sand in you oven, are you talking centigrade or farenheit ?
Generally, we use Farenheit as it's our standard metric.
the sand i have here is grey and dark even wash it still different but i will try something like this today
What nutrient are uou using?
Where did you get the sand from up please
Thought: Try running your harvesting knife on top of a large hair detangling comb.
Great idea! CJ actually 3d printed a comb like device to try and do this. It kinda worked, but we lost passion on it and moved on to other videos. Let us know if you figure out a good technique!
Happy growing,
-Mandi
I think you run a risk of having sand in the produce the other issue that happens in fish tanks using sand you get algi growing in the sand.
I think that is why she baked it.
❤
I would love to see a grow of sorrel microgreens if y'all haven't already done it, I havent found it if you have
We're actuallying working on one at the moment! Great timing on the comment 🤗🌱🌱 It's a slow grower though, so not sure when the video will drop!
@@OnTheGrow awesomeeeee