Brabant Farms

So Much Color! A Gorgeous Microgreen

Microgreens are largely used to set dishes apart with their bright colors, powerful flavors and beautiful features. Few Microgreens offer colors as bright as Rainbow Beets, also known as Detroit Beets Mix from True Leaf Market, though rainbow beets is a much better name. With stems of bright yellows, deep reds and brilliant pinks these beets are sure to make your plate stand out and provide for an incredible presentation.

That Microgreen Beet Flavor

Rainbow Beets pack a strong beets flavor without being over powering. Beets are strong in flavor by themselves, while adding these Microgreens to just about any dish really tames that beet flavor and they become more of a garnish, adding flavor without taking over. Rainbow Beet Microgreens are great in salads, paired with any meat and make a beautiful garnish

A Challenging Microgreen to Grow

A challenging Microgreen to produce, they are easier to grow than rainbow chard. Chards and Beets are challenging due to the seeds being a “cluster” seed Microgreen. This means more than one plant will sprout from each seed, and the seed hull is not easily shed from the little plants making harvesting difficult. Both chard and beets being difficult, beets are less prone to damping off issues and germination is more even than rainbow chard. While a low yielding crop you can expect 5 – 6 ounces from a 10″ x 20″ tray. The low yield can be made up by the high desirability of this Microgreen, so expect this little gem to cost more than your average Microgreen.

Purchase From us or Grow Your Own

Brabant Farms is not only committed to providing Microgreens of the highest quality but also to teaching others how to grow them themselves. Follow these grow tips to increase your chances of getting a quality crop.

Soil
Use a light fluffy soil with a fair amount of perlite and excellent drainage. Stagnant water is the enemy of all Microgreens, especially Beet Microgreens. We love Sunshine Mix #4, this soil is a very high quality soil perfect for a long term growing Microgreen like Rainbow Beets. Place a 1020 tray with holes in a 1020 tray without holes and spread about 1″ of soil in it.

Planting Rainbow Beet Microgreens
Water the soil heavily then evenly spread 60 grams of dry Detroit Beets Mix onto the soil. Use the Microgreens Calculatorto find out the cost of seed per ounce of Rainbow Beets produced! Very lightly cover the seeds with a layer of soil, keep the soil super thin and nearly transparent, you want just enough soil to stick to the seeds without creating a solid layer over them. Use a spray bottle and gently mist the soil enough to dampen it. Use an upside down 1020 tray without holes over the trays a blackout dome and place in an area between 70 – 90 degrees Fahrenheit for about 5 days. Once most of the Rainbow Beets have germinated and some are 3/4″ tall, remove the blackout dome and place under lights for 16 hours a day. Lightly mist the Microgreens daily, adding water to the bottom tray only when the soil begins to dry out. A fan keeping a steady breeze on the Rainbow beets and a humidity of < 60% will ensure a healthy crop. After 2 weeks under lights your Rainbow Beet Microgreens are ready to harvest!

I often get people asking me what the best microgreens to grow are. The answer isn’t as simple as some would like. The only way to give a good answer is to ask why are you asking? In this post I will cover the best microgreens to grow for 4 different scenarios. Some microgreens will be in every category while others might make just one list. I will then tell you how to know what the best microgreens to grow for you would be.

Our Favorite Microgreens

These would be the microgreens my family and I enjoy consuming the most. I will list out some of our favorites, maybe you will want to try some of these yourself. We enjoy many different microgreens though the three below rank high in our house.

Sunflower Shoots:

Easily a family favorite. If you have never had a sunflower shoot, they are a little difficult to explain. Sunflower shoots have a nutty sort of flavor with a nice crunch. Everyone in our house loves them and our kids even take them to school as a healthy snack. These are a very popular microgreen due in large part to all the ways they can be consumed. They can be added to a salad, eaten on their own or even used to make a fancy pesto.

Pea Shoots:

Pea shoots are a very close second to sunflower shoots for many of the same reasons. Pea shoots taste, well, just like a sweet pea. If harvested early they are extremely tender with very little fiber. We grow two types, the pea shoot (Speckled pea) and pea tendrils (Green pea). The tendrils are a little sweeter than the pea shoots, though the pea shoots are a little fluffier and may be better as a snack. Pea shoots are great in a salad, in recipes or just added to your plate for a beautiful and tasty garnish.

Radish Microgreens:

Radish microgreens, like many microgreens taste exactly like their adult crop. Everyone who ever tastes a radish microgreen for the first time is also shocked at the strong radish flavor. Again this is a microgreen our kid love as a snack though they can be a bit spicy. Radish microgreens come in many varieties and mainly in three colors, all of different shades. Daikon radish has a nice white stem and is known to have some significant health benefits. China rose radish has a beautiful pink stem and a spicy bite while Sango radish has deep purple leaves and stems. We grow many different kinds of radish and love them all.

The Easiest Microgreens To Grow

Some microgreens really stand out for being either extremely easy to grow or just down right difficult. Below I will list what we find to be nearly fool proof microgreens that anyone interested shouldn’t be afraid to try growing.

Radish Microgreens:

One of our favorites as listed above and quite possibly the easiest of all microgreens to grow. We use the exact same growing techniques on radish as we do many other microgreens. However radish microgreens are consistently the easiest to grow. Radish microgreens have extremely high germination rates, consume the perfect amount of water needing a heavy dose once a day. Lighting requirements are minimal with radish microgreens and can be grown easily on a well lit window sill. Also a very fast growing microgreen, radish is ready to harvest in 7 – 10 days from planting.

Pea Shoots:

Another microgreen making a showing in at least two of the four category’s are pea shoots. We have found soaking the seeds in water for 4 to 5 hours increases the harvested yield though it is not required and we typically plant them dry to eliminate the step of soaking. Watering pea shoots is very easy as they can be watered from above without knocking down the shoots, this also help’s keep them nice and clean. Harvesting pea shoots is also very easy because they are tall and not too delicate. Pea shoots are ready to harvest in 7 – 10 days while pea tendrils take a little longer at right around 14 days.

Brassica Microgreens:

This is a large family of microgreens that includes cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower. All of these tend to be easy to grow, the same method used for radish is used on brassicas. These microgreens can require a little more light than radish but can still be easily grown on a well lit window sill. Brassica microgreens are best watered from below to avoid knocking over the tender plants. Brassica microgreens seed hulls tend to be very small and don’t stick to the microgreens making them very easy to harvest.

Favorite Microgreens for Chefs

This is the category most people asking are interested in. This is also the most difficult category to answer because there are so many different restaurants and cuisines. The chefs that purchase my microgreens may like something totally different than what your chefs will want. In my experience, you can’t really go wrong with colorful microgreens as chefs tend to use them to brighten up their plates and really separate themselves from competition. Microgreens can take an average dish and make it look like a dish that should sell for twice the price. We eat with our eyes first, if it looks delicious, its more likely to taste delicious.

Bulls Blood Beets Microgreens:

We never have any trouble selling bulls blood beets. With their bright red stems and leaves with multiple shades of red these are just gorgeous. We have not yet had a chef tell us they no longer want bulls blood beet microgreens. Not only do they look amazing, they also taste great, just like a full grown beet but maybe a little better due to being small. As a grower beet microgreens are one of the most difficult microgreens to grow, however with the right process this problem can be lessened.

Sunflower Shoots:

Chefs love sunflower shoots for all the same reasons we love them at home. That flavor, that crisp crunch combined the many things they can use them for makes them a favorite. Many chefs have never heard of a sunflower shoot microgreen, though once they try them they are hooked. Sunflower shoots have a pesky seed hull that can be difficult to remove making them time consuming for harvest. They can be watered from above which really helps them break free of the hull and gives them a nice wash down daily.

Red Garnet Amaranth Microgreens:

Red Garnet Amaranth microgreens are another one of the most beautiful microgreens you can grow. These beautiful little plants are bight red and pick, they look very similar to and can be confused with bulls blood beets. In the past when we have struggled to grow bulls blood beets we would offer chefs Amaranth. Many times chefs were not familiar with Amaranth but once introduced would ask for it. Amaranth is a difficult microgreen to grow consistently, though mastering them is not too difficult. Amaranth microgreens are very small and yields can be as little as 4 ounces per 1020 tray.

Basil Microgreens:

Basil microgreens have a great, fresh and powerful basil flavor. Chefs can use basil microgreens in many different dishes, especially Italian plates. Basil microgreens come in many different varieties and colors. A personal favorite of mine (Didn’t make my favorites list), basil can be tricky to grow consistently. Basil microgreens need to be planted lightly, avoiding seeds touching each other. When basil seeds get wet they form a gel like coating that makes them stick together making harvesting difficult if planted to heavily.

Cilantro Microgreens:

On its own Cilantro microgreens tend to be a love it or hate it microgreen. They have a very strong flavor, those who don’t care for them say they taste soapy though I love them and so do chefs. Cilantro microgreens are great in Mexican dishes and many others. This is another difficult microgreen to grow, though once a successful process is in place they become much easier. Cilantro microgreens can take a long time to be ready for harvest, sometimes as much as 3 weeks is needed so it is important to plan ahead.

Radish Microgreens:

All of our chefs enjoy radish microgreens and use them weekly. Due to their bright colors and bold flavor radish microgreens are a clear favorite among chefs. Radish microgreens are an excellent addition to salads and many different plates. Whether as a garnish or a main ingredient, radish microgreens are a favorite for many reasons.

The Most Profitable Microgreens:

When growing microgreens as a business, this is the most important category. When trying to figure out what microgreens are the most profitable there are several things to consider. Below is a list of the most important factors to consider.

• Seed Cost per Ounce of Produce: The primary cost of producing microgreens is the seed cost. When considering the cost of seed it is important to know how much weight in microgreens you can expect per ounce of production. If interested, check out my handy calculator here Microgreens Calculator
• Can you sell them: Microgreens that have low seed costs and high production are only profitable if you can actually find customers for them.
• Cost of labor: Profitable microgreens tend to be easy to grow microgreens. They need to be easy to harvest as that is the most labor intensive part of growing microgreens.
• Grow time: In order to be profitable, microgreens need to have a short grow time. Lighting costs are a major factor in growing microgreens, the less time they sit on the grow rack the more profitable they will be. A microgreen that takes a long time to grow may also be taking up space a more profitable, faster growing microgreen could be using.

With the list of factors above, you should be able to figure out which microgreens are the most profitable. Two of our most profitable microgreens are radish and pea shoots. In many cases you cant just sell the most profitable microgreens. If you refer to the chefs favorites list you will see many microgreens that are not highly profitable, though they are necessary to sell in order to keep the client happy. I hope this blog post was educational and helpful for many growers.

In this blog post I will cover many of the different grow mediums used when growing microgreens and cover some of the pros and cons. Lets get started with my all time favorite microgreen medium.

Soil

Good old tried and true soil, by far my favorite grow medium for microgreens. There are many reasons to love soil and I will break down exactly what makes this earthly substance the best for growing microgreens. First off, soil is inexpensive. When using a quality soil for microgreens you can expect to pay right around $1 per 1020 tray making this the most inexpensive medium on the list. When using soil to grow microgreens, its easier to grow organically when using a quality organic soil, there are movements to designate growing in soil the only organic method for growing microgreens. Soil also holds moisture extremely well, especially if the soil contains a fair amount of perlite making watering a breeze. Watering microgreens when using soil is typically a once a day task. Growing microgreens on soil is also very predictable, I have found soil to be very consistent from one batch to the next and the results are very predictable.   Some microgreen varieties such as sunflower and beets really prefer soil over hydroponic methods. When growing microgreens in soil you wont need to add any nutrients, again making it easier to grow organically as organic nutrients can be difficult to use though for very long term grows like Sorrel a nutrient may be helpful. Soil however does have a couple down falls. Soil is messy, using soil to grow microgreens means more time cleaning and sterilizing trays. Your location is also a factor when growing microgreens in soil because you need to do something with it once you have used it. I pile up my soil outside and allow the microgreens roots to break down then it gets reused in outdoor gardens. Many people do not have the space to pile up soil outside and finding a way to get rid of it could be a problem many people don’t want to deal with. Soil also makes it difficult to sell living microgreens as chefs don’t want or can’t have soil in their kitchens, an understandable request. Therefore soil grown microgreens need to be harvested and packaged when selling to restaurants.

Soils I recommend

Microgreens will grow in just about anything, though some soils definitely out perform others. The soil I use the most is ProMix BX series Promix BX this soil is light and fluffy, charectoristecs I look for in a microgreens soil. This is also an easy to find soil and is carried by many gardening stores and hydroponic stores. I also really like Sunshine Mix #4 this mix is loaded with perlite and is a fantastic choice for microgreens, this might be my favorite soil though its a little harder to come by in my growing location.  An organically listed soil that works great would be Black Gold this is just an all around great soil for Microgreens and can be found fairly easily, even at some Ace Hardware stores. Soil can be found in any big box store and will grow Microgreens just fine but the ones listed above are among the best in my experience.

Soil Pros

• Easy to buy locally
• Can be used organically
• Can be reused for outdoor gardens
• Holds water very well
• Consistent growing results
• Inexpensive
• Doesn’t usually require added nutrients

Soil Cons

• Soil is messy, almost like it was dirt…
• Can be hard to figure out what to do with used soil
• Can’t be sold live to restaurants (Most of the time)

Hemp Grow Mats For Microgreens

My second favorite grow medium for microgreens is hemp. Hemp grow mats are very similar to soil in many ways. The hold water fairly well but will need to be watched more closely than soil. I have found when growing Microgreens on Hemp mats nutrients were not necessary though they may help. You can grow on hemp and call it organic though nothing is more organic than soil. When growing Microgreens on hemp, you can sell live microgreens to restaurants as it isn’t “Dirty” and can be brought into the kitchen.  In my experience growing on hemp is consistent as compared to soil, you can easily predict how the crop will come out.  Hemp can also be composted down like soil and reused in outdoor gardens or it could be disposed of in the trash if you are growing a small amount, a little hemp in the landfill wont hurt anything and could actually be beneficial. Growing on hemp does require a little more attention than growing on soil as it can dry out faster, watering may be needed more than once a day. Hemp is fairly expensive, more than twice the cost of soil. The cost of growing Microgreens on hemp is the biggest reason I prefer soil.

Hemp Mats I Recommend

I have used these Hemp Mats and have found them to be excellent.

Hemp Pros

• Hold water well
• Nutrients are not normally needed
• Easy to dispose of and compost well
• Consistent growth
• Microgreens can be sold live
• All Microgreens grow well
• Can be considered organic

Hemp Cons

• Expensive compared to soil
• Requires more care than soil (Watering)
• Not always easy to find locally
• Does’t perform quite as well as soil

Coco Coir Mats For Microgreens

Coco Coir is fairly similar to Hemp and is a great alternative to soil. Coco Coir tends to be more expensive than soil and while fairly easy to find it is more difficult to find than a quality soil. The only thing I have found different from hemp is that added nutrients seem to be more necessary than with Hemp mats. Coco Coir comes in a lot of different varieties. You can get it compressed where water is used to fluff it back up Compressed Coco Coir or you can get it as a mat where its woven similar to the Hemp mats Coco Coir Mats Coco Coir mats are typically considered a clean way of growing and live Microgreens can be allowed into a kitchen when grown on Coco Coir.

Coco Coir Pros

• Less expensive than Hemp though more expensive than soil
• Holds water well
• Doesn’t always require added nutrients
• Fairly consistent growth of Microgreens
• Can be fairly east to find locally

Coco Coir Cons

• Doesn’t hold water as well as soil
• Fairly expensive as compared to soil
• May need added nutrients for optimal growth
• More difficult to find than soil, though easier than Hemp.
• Microgreens growth isn’t as consistent as hemp or soil.

Biostrate Mats For Microgreens

Biostrate is a woven mat felt material. Biostrate could be a good option if you do not have the room to dispose of soil. Biostrate is considered a clean method and should be allowed in most kitchens. Biostrate is pretty thin and easily disposed of after growing on it. In small quantities it is about 50% more expensive than a quality soil. I have found that Biostrate absolutely requires the use of a nutrient supplement in order to get a decent crop. Some crops such as beets and sunflower really struggle to grow in Biostrate and anything that is not soil.  Biostrate requires a very careful monitoring of watering, it can dry out very quickly. If you want to give it a try find it here Biostrate Mats.

Biostrate pros

• Fairly inexpensive compared to Hemp and Coco Coir
• Easy to dispose of

Biostrate Cons

• Drys out very easily
• Requires nutrients to get good Microgreens growth
• Fairly expensive compared to soil
• Not readily available locally

Wood Fiber Grow Mats

These are mats I had very high hopes for. The main reason I so badly wanted them to work is the cost. Wood fiber grow mats when bought in bulk are very similar to the cost of soil. These mat have a consistency very similar to several paper towels stacked over each other. One of my biggest issues with these mats has been mold growth, I have had to completely toss out several trays because of mold with these mats. I have heard of others that enjoy these mats so I don’t want to be completely negative here but for me they just haven’t been good. For that reason I will not be recommending them or showing a list of pros and cons for these.

I hope you enjoyed this little blog on different grow mediums for growing Microgreens. If you appreciate this, consider becoming a Seed Club Member through Patreon where you will get seeds sent straight to you and access to detailed instructions! Join here Become A Seed Club Member

A Customer Deserving of Special Recognition!

Chef Brent Battis of B&W Catering Company

A favorite customer of ours, Chef Battis has been purchasing our Microgreens for over a year now. Chef Battis and his wonderful wife, Whitney have been the owners and operators of B&W Catering since 2014. This incredible duo and their assistants have been serving the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire spectacular cuisines ever since. As a long time student of culinary arts, Chef Battis earned his associates degree in 2010 from Southern New Hampshire University, however he has been in the customer satisfaction business for more than 20 years.

In 2013 Chef Battis authored a book of gourmet recipes titled The Easy Gourmet. He has been the executive chef and general manager at several local establishments such as 3 Guys Basement BBQ and Murphy’s on the Green. As a super fan of local food, he became in instructor at a local Coop. During his 3+ years teaching students, Chef Battis focused on educating students on the importance of locally grown food. He learned early that nothing beats local food for freshness, flavor and nutrition.

We would like to thank B&W for being such fantastic customers and exceptional contributors of the community they operate in. Thank You!

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