Sprouting Grass problems

[ReiLossefalme]

I've been growing grain grass (oats and wheat) for my rabbits for several weeks now, and I'm having some more or less minor difficulties with mold. I use a bleach solution for the soak water, rinse all the jars and trays twice a day, store them in a dark pantry until the last two days when they go in the sun for greening, clean the jars with soap and water at every rinsing, and the trays at each batch change, and live in ARIZONA where there's no humidity and we don't have much mold problems...and I can't figure out why I continue to have mold problems. I've tried solid bottomed trays with holes drilled in them, and wire mesh trays, but I seem to get most of the mold near the top of the grain and root system, below the grass sprouts, from about day 3 1/2-4 on (feeding it at day 7). I pick out the moldy pieces before each rinsing so it doesn't get much chance to spread, but it's very time consuming and annoying, and wasteful. I don't use any kind of soil or growing medium, because I want to be able to give the rabbits the whole plant, grain pods, roots and all.

Anyone have any hints or suggestions? My rabbit adore this stuff and I like growing it for them, but spending 30-40 minutes twice a day for 7 trays is getting to be excessively time consuming.

 

[Joe n TN]

Leave the tray out the entire growing time. Use a 10x20" tray with holes to grow in and another w/o holes to set it in. Only soak seeds for 8 hours, spread over 2" of organic planting soil with a dusting of azomite.

Once seeds are in grow tray place another tray with holes on top of it. leave in place until sprouts push tray up to rim of tray. Then flip tray over to continue blocking sun out. About day 5, givve or take, sprouts will push flipped tray up,now remove tray completely. Let grow until you are ready to harvest.

Other tips, drain any leftover water after 10 minutes from catch tray. Keep a fan near the tray, or place tray near good circulation. I don't use bleach for the soak water, try using just purified water. Water the catch tray, not on top after the sprouts start growing. Hmmm...still thinking what I do...

Only use enough seed to just cover the soil, don't crowd the tray. I only grow one type of seed at a time, not sure if that makes a difference though and that's all I can think of. Good luck and let me know how the next batch goes.

Joe

 

[MaggieJ]

I gave up on trying to grow grain grass without soil because of mould. Now I take a plastic dollar store dishpan, no drainage needed, and put in about two inches of soil, plant thickly with grain and put a thin layer of soil over the grain. I've tried wheat, oats and barley and wheat gives me the fastest, easiest result. I cut the wheat grass when it is ready and let it come again. When it gets sparse, I give the root mass to the chickens. Especially in winter, they are delighted to get it.

 

[Piper]

Air circulation. Though MaggieJ posted something that I have not seen in any of these links. MaggieJ's way of doing it will give you a 'lot' more bang for your buck!

http://familycow.proboards.com/index.cg ... read=47939
http://sproutpeople.com/seed/wheatgrass.html#video
http://www.workdaychickenpictures.com/w ... wheat.html
http://www.workdaychickenpictures.com/w ... wheat.html
http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/43711 ... out-feeder
http://www.peakprosperity.com/blog/grow ... dder/72618
http://pinterest.com/laurall21/feeds/

 

[ReiLossefalme]

Air circulation may be a thought, the pantry is more like a tall cabinet, so I suppose that could be something to test.

Joe - what is Azomite?

Maggie - Where do you cut the grass down to? All the way to the roots? Or higher up so there's still green? How long does it take to grow back? The idea of a second crop from the same seeds is appealing, but on the other hand I have no chickens and the root mass would likely end up in the compost. I suppose I could just whack as much of the soil out of it as possible and let the rabbits drag out what they can get from it. I'm not sure how much nutrition there is in the roots and what remains in the grain shells after they sprout.

Piper - Thanks for the links! I've seen a bunch of them, but the family cow board is new and will take me a while to get through! opcorn: I've also seen the workdaychicken feeder before but I didn't notice that they do it with a single layer of grain on the bottom, although it takes them a twelve day cycle to get a decent length on them :roll: I suppose something else to experiment with.

 

[Piper]

Air circulation may be a thought, the pantry is more like a tall cabinet, so I suppose that could be something to test.

http://sproutpeople.com/seed/wheatgrass.html#video
"You will learn for yourself that Grass produces a plant that takes up less room than the grain did, and so to maximize your yield your seeds must lay atop each other to some degree. The thing to watch is this: If you find mold or fungal problems in your Grass then lessen the amount of grain you plant. The hotter/more humid your climate is the more of an issue the mold/fungus is. As always, you need to adapt to your own climate and seasonal conditions."

 

[MaggieJ]

Maggie - Where do you cut the grass down to? All the way to the roots? Or higher up so there's still green? How long does it take to grow back?

I cut it down to about an inch. It takes about 2 weeks for the first crop and maybe 10 days for the second one. Another thing you could try if you want to serve the roots as well would be to rinse them well, washing away most of the soil. I figure in nature the rabbits would not be eating the roots, so I don't bother feeding them. The mass of roots will be a real tangle by the time the grass has been harvested twice.

 

[ReiLossefalme]

If using soil, can you grow it using a bit of rabbit fertilizer or will that encourage cocci problems?

 

[MaggieJ]

Not sure about using rabbit poop in the soil, but it really isn't necessary with such a short-lived crop.