Thinking About Growing Microgreens In The Van
Anyone else done this? I remember @vanholio writing about sprouting beans which has a somewhat similar process, but a fairly different end product. It'd be a good way to have a steady supply of fresh leafy greens and fairly cheaply from what I can tell. Also the microgreen variants of the vegetables are generally more nutrient dense than their mature counterparts.
I'm thinking of getting two 10"x20" growing trays, a package of 5"x5" hemp growing pads, and some seeds. The 10"x20" tray can hold 8 of the 5"x5" growing pads. If the microgreens can be reliably harvested in 8 days from planting then you could pipeline the tray by planting a new pad per day and have a 5"x5" pad or 25 sq in of microgreens harvestable every day after the initial 8 day filling period. You'd just be harvesting a pad and planting a new one every day after that point. Also would want to swap trays after a certain amount of time for sanitization. I'd plan on just leaving the tray on the dash and parking so that it got enough sun. You could cover up the early seeds with the other tray to block the light.
The growing medium and roots are biodegradable and can be composted. If you had a composting toilet you could probably dry it out and use it in that and kill two birds with one stone. Otherwise, you can just get rid of it.
We do it ghetto style with wet paper towels and a square tub. I secretly think they enjoy the nightime condensation and humidity 😊
Excellent source of free-ish vitamins and color.
Nice. The paper towel gives enough support for the roots? What varieties do you grow? I'm thinking maybe radish and something else.
Paper towels make it a breeze imo. I am a huge fan of broccoli, radish and sunflower sprouts. We also came across cans of red wheat berries so we sprout that too. The roots create their own mat and the paper towel stays totally intact so instead of cutting them we can eat the whole plant. Hope you give it a go, I’d love to hear how it works for ya.
I never done it, but heard of it bein' done.
I asked a friend who's done it. She said: "I've done it in the truck. But it was pretty roomy so I did trays. Microgreens are just sprouts allowed to grow.Now it's super easy with small trays and grow mats. Doing on the cheap is tougher. I would think if you were going all in I'd do plastic gutter along both sides of the van. Take them in and out for the sunlight or just use the gutters in the windshield."
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Hmm, now when she said use gutters I'm assuming that's primarily because she assumed that a lot would be grown or that space was an issue? You'd still need a growing medium of some sort so I don't think cost would be any different, it'd just be a matter of having more space I think. I guess I'm not looking to get any giant amount per day, just enough to fill a bowl to put in a noodle dish for dinner and maybe a small salad. Thanks for getting her feedback.