Fodder growing too slowly?

Hi all,

I got started with barley fodder a few weeks ago since I have heard so much praise about it's affordability and quality as a feed, I've been giving it in addition to pellets to my buns. I've heard it can grow indoors just fine, I have mine next to a big south-facing window, but they seem to grow much more slowly than I've been led to expect from pictures online -- at 7 days, mine have the 'look' of sprouts that have only been going for about 3-4 days, a small green stub coming up. If I let them go two weeks they get to the full grassy goodness, but by that time they are moldy and I can't feed them to the rabbits, just chickens One one of my buns shows any interest in them when they are in this early sprouting stage, but they all like the green grass.

I water 2-3 times a day and they look fine except the slow growth rate -- I live in coastal california where the temps are very moderate. I do not have central heat in my house but it's typically 10 degrees warmer in the winter or cooler in the summer in the house than outside (big concrete slab) and we make a fire in the woodstove on particularly chilly nights. Perhaps it's day length since it's winter? But we are getting about 10 hrs right now, which I would think is enough... anyone else have this issue?

What is your average indoor temp? Mine grows best at around 65 degrees. I water 2x a day. Soak my seed for about 8 hours but that part is not too fussy. Over-soaking will cause seed drowning (looks like unsprouted fat stinky beer smelling seed) and will be more prone to mold growth. For me that is about 12 hours max. I add a dash of vinegar to the soak water to kill off some of the mold spores. I also add a dash of vinegar to my watering water. I have a spray bottle as well that I load with 25% vinegar and 75% water. I spritz the growing fodder every so often, more as temps rise and summer approaches. I've been unable to grow fodder once temps reach 75-80. Then I have slow sprouting and just grow mold. Ten hours of light should be fine.

Check your seed. Make sure it is animal feed whole barely and has not been heat treated. My fodder looks like the internet advertised 6 day growth on the morning of day 8. For me, wheat always molds like crazy. Barley works well here, no mold at all once I was finished tweaking everything.

I'll add that it took me a good amount of experimentation and fiddling to eliminate all the problems. Just think of your house as an individual micro climate. Every house in every region of the country will be slightly different, and fodder is fussy. It's totally worth it imo. I've been feeding it for two years now and the bunnies do very well on it.

I found barley much slower growing than wheat and more prone to problems.

Increasing air flow with a small fan may help. If mould is just starting, removing the mouldy bit and rinsing with a hydrogen peroxide solution then with plain water may help.

I sprout wheat--by default because I can't get barley from my feed store. This year I had to wait longer to start because it was so warm so late in the fall and I had mold issues at first which I hadn't had last year. Many thanks to MaggieJ who advised that mold is less likely when it's cooler. I soak 12 hours and then feed to rabbits on day 8 at which point it has at least a couple inches of "grass".
Good luck--and keep experimenting. It's frustrating to put the time in and then get the mold. At least you have chickens so it isn't wasted

I grow wheat fodder in my basement. Its about 55F down there this time of year. A CFL bulb gives it all the light it needs. I use cleaned wheat, and haven't had any issues with mold even though I only water once a day. Its usually the right height on day 8. I soak mine for 24 hours, and I don't add anything to the water.

Ms. E":2r6hj0ja said:

I grow wheat fodder in my basement. Its about 55F down there this time of year. A CFL bulb gives it all the light it needs. I use cleaned wheat, and haven't had any issues with mold even though I only water once a day. Its usually the right height on day 8. I soak mine for 24 hours, and I don't add anything to the water.

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Yes I forgot, I use recleaned as well, but barley. The uncleaned stuff has lots of debris. Seed crops no doubt vary by region and season. Worth it to try wheat if barley is giving you fits. It was the opposite here. We have low humidity so that probably has some effect. Mold likes darkness, dampness and warmth.

My indoor temp is probably about 55-60 degrees, average. It's pretty dry in the house. I don't have any problems with germination, just with slow growth. I've switched over to a smaller container and that seems to have helped some. The barley I bought is whole seed barley, not any kind of 'cleaned' as far as I can tell, but very pure. I do soak for 24 hrs typically though, perhaps that is too long? I've gotten great germs from this soak though.

I will try adding ACV to the mid-day spritz, that is a good idea The room they are in has good ventilation, but I'll try adding a fan or opening the window next to them.

I'd just keep experimenting. It took me a month of fiddling to finally get consistent results. Right now I am dealing with a bad batch of seed. It looked dark instead of golden and yep, riddled with mold. Starting over with a new bag.

I would say your temp is the issue. 55-60 degrees is cool, closer to 70 will grow a lot better. Light won't really have much of an impact on growth. Light will make it green though. What is your depth? Should only be about 1/2" deep seed bed.

I had good results when I did grow it, after working the kinks out. I stopped growing cause it was very time consuming and my meat rabbits got skinny on it.

I grew in my basement where it was steady in upper 60's lower 70's. I had a light on all times but only the top shelf got the light for the last 2 days. Had a small fan circulating air. It grew fine without light down below, just not as green. I rinsed my cleaned barley several times, then soaked for 12 hrs. Adding a splash of bleach to the soak. Drained and spread 1/2" in trays. I flooded the seed trays 2 times a day. Trays were harvested at day 7 and had about 5" of green barley and about 1"-2" root mat. It would get sour if left longer.