Thank you for your curious minds and your strong dedication to sharing the results of your constant experiments - you've saved me a ton of time and money.
So the roots growing to reach the water on the shallow tray caused the peas to grow shorter. Thanks for that information. Summing up... Spacing between the water and root structure is important, when the roots can efficiently soak up water with less effort and not having the need to grow (by taking away mass from the seed) the plant in exchange flourishes.
What's up CJ!? I'm having mildew issues due to the shedding of the outside skin of the peas after soaking. Speckled has none of these issues but yellow are a fourth of the price. So I tried them. I'll watch the video. 🤙🏽😉
Love the experiments. I think the difference was in the space the roots could develop. Kratky had the deeper resivor vs the bottom watering didn't. Therefore offering the seeds more time and effort in root development.
I am currently running some tests using the Kratky Method. A key component of the method is that as the water level drops, the upper roots can gather oxygen from the air. Wondering if you keep topping off the nutrient solution and minimizing the oxygenation of the roots. That might also explain why the center was less successful. Your thoughts?
I wonder if part of the reason for the Kratky having less top growth and more roots was just the amount of physical space for the roots to form. The Kratky tray appeared to have a lot more room for roots so the plants took advantage of that and used the available space while the bottom watering tray ran out of root space real quick. Just a thought.
Yeah, that could be a possibility! I will have to redo this test and see if the results are the same and we can try and figure this one out! Thanks for sharing!
Do you reckon you might get a second crop from these peas ? I was thinking you might possibly prune the roots back by one third and maintain your nutrient / water additions. FYI, I use Epsom Salts ( magnesium sulphate ) as a nutrient. Not much required - just a few crystals dispersed in the water tray. It seems to function ok.
Along with oxygen helping the deep water peas, I wonder if the deep water peas get some extra nutrients since you give new nutrient rich water twice a day to the deep water vs Kratky using the same water for three days. Great work on this channel and very interesting to watch and learn.
The bottom watering tray probably received more oxygen since it was fed oxygenated water twice a day. The Kratky tray probably would have done better with a deeper reservoir since it looked like the roots were taking up most of the space.
Great comparison! It seems like you altered your method for watering on the bottom watering tray, as you went? Could you describe what you ended up doing exactly? Soak for 12 hours, then top mist (heavy or lightly?) for how many days (I’ve or twice each day?), then switch fully to bottom watering with 2 1/2 - 3 cups of water once daily? Oh! And (for the bottom watering) are those both the “shallow”, 1” trays? Thanks!
Great job you two. You have done nothing but feed me information and I am soaking it all in. Growing my third tray. This one is sunflower , all natural. Wait what. Yes outside natural sunlight once germination was done ,outside on day 5. I think they loved it because they were green at the end of the day. At night I placed a clear jiffy tray on top , just in case for protection. I used potting soil , 10 x 20 tray , purified water. So far so good. Anyways would like to see your opinion and maybe video of such. Keep up the good work and info. You both are my go - to information consultants. 👍🇺🇸
Well done comparison, non-circulating hydroponics (Kratky) is not the optimal productivity method in most cases. However, it wins for almost maintenance free growing and minimizing grow media needs. Another disadvantage might be moving trays around with water splashing around. That being said, I have continued to use the Kratky method over the past 10 years and enjoy it.
What about reducing the air space in Kratky method and filling the tray at the same level the Bottom Watering method does. The roots struggling could be the same in reaching the water in both methods, therefore the crop heigh would be the same. Interesting to put it into a test, it could get the best of both methods in one.
Hi great video again. Did you add water or nutriens to the Kratky or did you leave it as it was? Since you've been so extensive showing progress per day, it would have interesting to see the difference in root structure of the bottomwatered one as well. I am interesting in automation, how the NFT rack working out for you? Kratky as a passive system obviously remains very interesting, but it is suitable for all microgreens? Also, do you spray from the top when you check? Cheers.
Cool video ! I just ordered the mesh tray to give it a try : ) Couple quick questions? What (and how much) nutrients are you adding to the water? Also, do you like the knife that you use to harvest and if so, where can one find it? Thanks in advance and appreciate you guys!
I think the reason the kratky didn't do so well is that you had to refill the reservoir. That means the air roots drowned. If you had a larger reservoir, so big that you didn't have to refill, it might have worked better? Needs to be tested though. If there is a need of refilling a kratky reservoir it should not be all the way up. Maybe 50-60%...?
Great theory! Judging by the growth on day 5 though, it is clear that the Kratky was behind even before there was a reservoir refill on it. I still think that the plants just put so much energy into the roots that the top of the plant was delayed... You can see bottom water tray was taller than the Kratky on day 5 and the bottom water tray is using a tray that is 1.5" deeper than the Kratky tray. So on day 5, the bottom water had about a 2" height advantage. I'm pretty sure when we refilled the reservoir on this that we didn't fill it to the top... I've grown using Kratky for a while and I will always leave room for the roots to breathe. We can try and run this test again as well! Thanks for sharing!!
Hey I love the videos y’all post. I have a questions about speckled peas. How many grams/ounces if seeds per 1020 tray. I’m having a issues with finding information on seed density.
Hi, why don't you weight both root structures so you can tell if the total weight is the same for both or there is any growth difference? Thanks for your great videos.
Thanks for all these great video guys!!! I would like to know if you use nutrients in the water when you soak the seeds? If so what kind of nutrients do you use? Could I use General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Bloom and Micro? And before roots appear I imagine that you spray them so they don't get dry? Thank you in advance for answering my questions.... ;)
Seeds never need nutrients to sprout, just water. The seed provides all the seedling needs. Which day you should start feeding, I don't know, might be a nice experiment again. 😊
Love your videos great learning, but wish you would go back to the step by step where we see at what point you move from weight to black out to lights. I'm a new home grower doing one tray at a time in my kitchen hall.
Really find your videos helpful. Question: I've tried a half dozen times to grow speckled peas and only had success once. No medium, mesh tray, 12hr soak, mist twice daily. The last batch started to pop the first feeler root, then all progress stopped after day 2, and they are a rotten and soggy by day 3. This rot/ stunted germination issue is possibly too much water? True leaf market seeds.. maybe soak them less time?
Great question! A lot of people have been struggling with pea over the past year. I think somethings up with seed, no matter which supplier it came from. Try less soak time and that could do the trick! Just know, most have been struggling with Pea, which used to be one of the easiest to grow.
Medium can be a waste depending on the crop variety! More delicate crops need something to grab onto unlike sunflowers and peas! We do a ton a different tests on our TH-cam with exactly what you’re asking! It really depends on the variety and your personal preference for which way to grow... we love hydroponics but sometimes we like to grow in dirt :) thanks for the support!
Nice. I want to reduce waste. Was the any space between the bottom watering tray and the mesh tray? So were the peas and then the roots sitting in water the whole time?
The peas themselves never sit in the water, that would make them rot really quickly and cause problems for the grow. There is a very small amount of space between the bottom watering and mesh tray, but over time as the roots grow on the bottom watering tray, it grows the gap larger and larger as the roots grow longer. You only want your roots to be sitting in the water...
Very informative. Thanks. I'm using coir and perlite mix for dun pea shoots. Is it safe to topwater them with a sprayer until harvest, or do you recommend bypassing the top leaves at some point and watering directly on the soil?
It’s not harmful to top water, though it can cause more moisture to stay within the canopy and does encourage mold if you keep it too moist. As long as you have decent airflow, there shouldn’t be any problems with top watering till the end! I know some commercial growers will intentionally not water crops for a day before harvest to dry up the moisture trapped below the canopy. Hope that helps!
Although you put this video up in August, I am just now watching it. I have been growing peas the same way. In my opinion, hydroponic peas are the best way to go since you don't have to pay for substrate cost or labor (time) dealing with it, but get similar results. I think you are correct in your assessments that the Kratky method didn't grow as full in the 10 day period because they were first establishing a huge root base since they had the room, which would be best for long term growth. The bottom watering method using 2 deep trays does work best for me for quick production of microgreens. Incidentally, I use Fox Farms "Grow Big" 3-2-6 exclusively for bottom watering all microgreens, and Fox Farms "Grow Big" 6-4-4 for all Kratky method production such as lettuce, etc. Out of all the videos I've seen concerning microgreens, your On The Grow productions have been by far the most helpful. BTW I am in Montgomery TX. Thanks.
Hello Fellow Texan! I will have to give the Fox Farms 3-2-6 a try for the micros! We used the 6-4-4 in the past for some of our kratky and cloning system in the past with great results! We're so grateful that you found our channel to be of value and we hope to continue providing valuable content! Thanks for the support!
Thank you so much for the support Brent! I believe they would work just as well with Sunflowers! We have a friend in Florida growing some sunflowers Kratky style with great results! We will try and make a video seeing if we can do the same thing. Merry Christmas and thank you so much again for the support!
I love your videos. Can you eat those or do you have to juice them? When I tried pea microgreens, they were chewey. But I buy pea greens from the asians and I eat the leaves but throw away the stems.
Kratky works, but the reason why your bottom watering was winning out was the oxygen factor and space. Roots need oxygen also, and if the water is being taken up and roots are breathing it will put more energy in growing.
I cannot remember for this test exactly where it was positioned... I know that from our other grows that peas are unfazed by the fans though. Anytime that we grow peas directly next to fans, they grow normally. Peas are pretty darn bulletproof which is why this was so odd to see. We will have to recreate this test to see if we can figure it out!
Hey there! Just wondering how much weight you used while germinating? I know you use 15# for sunflowers but not sure it would be the same for peas. Thanks, you guys! Love your stuff 😁
Great video! I only grow indoors...you would not try to compost the remains for indoor use? I guess that does make sense! I really hate to waste it tho!! I’m also trying a wick watering system with paper towels as a medium and wick! One with no soil one with!! 🤞🏼
Hi, a great way to compost indoors are large plastic boxe + 1. Atazyme which breaks down root structure via enzymes or 2. micorhize such as Ectovit or 3. special bacteria which I have no experience with such as Organico, which is supposed to create fertilizer when you add water. I personaly use Atazyme, it is cheap and it takes only 1-3 months to break down everything. The reason ppl don't recycle soil is sterility. I solve it by adding Ectovit to the last 2 weeks. The beneficial micorhize eat everything that would otherwise hinder future production such as mold or other fungy. Considering proper compost, it is not necessary since all seeds contain enough nutrients for at least 1 week of growth and the shear volume of biologically active materials may lead to: less roots and more stem/more roots and less stem + definitely different taste. I think that on the grow did an experiment with earthworm dung and it turned out the way you would think, not super good. There are a few gaps in efficiency of many microgreens growers such as inefficient use of light (no use of reflective materials on racks, leading to using more watts) and no soil recyclation. There is really not much else :-) Considering electricity prices are 2x lower in Texas than where I am from, there is really no need to be as efficient as I describe.
I’ve grown salon for a hydroponically and he gets a little weird and by that I mean, “leggy“ when it goes from the primary cotyledons to the first real leaves. The plants get top-heavy, at least, mine did.
Why i try to do like this but have to many mold on the seed. Because of water level in tray? or My country temperature? it's about 37 celsius. Answer me please Thank you. I will waitting for another clip about pea sprout Hydroponic i love it!!
Thank you for the support! at 37 Celsius, heat is probably the cause... we keep our space below 27 Celsius... You may try to more airflow and see if that helps and also try to keep water off of the seeds... so bottom water if possible. Let us know if we can help any further and we will do our best!
You can get them directly from bootstrap farmer's website if they are not on amazon at the moment! www.bootstrapfarmer.com Let us know if you have any other questions!
Just read the label for Farmers pride and even though it says organic I cannot see any OMRi cert or any other organic association. Do we just have to take their word for it? What are your thoughts? Thanks Daniel Rising Roots.
Yeah, so I have found out since this video that there are so many different levels of "Organic" certification... I believe they just have an organic certificate, but not an OMRI certificate. It gets pretty confusing with all the organic labeling laws and there are so many companies that offer different certifications.
Great question! We get ours from a company called Bootstrap Farmer... Here is a link to most of their products on Amazon.com www.amazon.com/shop/onthegrowfarms?listId=DTGPX0RYY5R3
So when you water, are your roots constantly sitting in the water? As the roots develop and lift the tray up, when you water, does the level stay below the tray so the seed level/portion never touches water again?
Hello! Yes, so the roots are constantly sitting in the water for Kratky style... As the roots develop and lift the tray, the water level always stays below the seeds and never touches them, only the roots.
Clarification question. When you do the BW method. You mist the soaked seeds and add weight for 3 days, for roots to est and go into the mesh. Once roots go thru holes and weight removed, you begin bottom watering, keeping the nutrient solution right at the bottom of the mesh holes?
Kyle Siddoway only the Mesh style trays work well for the Kratky grows. The slits don’t have enough holes for all of the roots to come through. Here is a link to the trays: www.amazon.com/shop/onthegrowfarms?listId=DTGPX0RYY5R3
Awesome, thank you so much! And I have say thank you for all the incredible videos and info you guys put out. I’ve just started growing over the past couple months and your help has been invaluable:) keep em coming 🙌🌱
🙂Thank you so much for the support Lou B!! We are going to be making new content soon! 😄 Watch the video up to :56...there's an on screen chart...Nutes ~ Farmers Pride...Grow_20ml or Micro_7ml per gallon water
is it possible to do kratky with a larger tray so the pees have less volume that they can fill with roots? I know it requires a reservoir of water, but how much?
I know that you all do this dor sale but for a home grower, I often get up to three cutting from my pea shoots. I'm wondering if the kratky, having more biomass in the roots would give me bigger and better 2nd and 3rd cuttings? Of course I'm not growing as much as you are at once. Only about 1/3 the size tray at a time. Im the only one eating them most weeks so of course I scaled it to my needs. The roots are then tossed to my hens as a treat, so a bit bigger root mass isn't going to waste either and I'm sure they would love it.
Yeah, so when we bottom water, we are filling the tray below the seeds and the roots will usually pull up all of the water into the plants before the next watering period. If you over-water the tray, there will be some left over in-between watering. Let me know if you have any other questions!
So bottom watering uses a tray where there is only a small gap (about 1/4”) for the water to fill and the plants will absorb most of that water by the next watering period. Kratky has a much larger gap where you can fill up a reservoir and the roots will stay submerged for a few days or even weeks/months depending on the size of the reservoir. In microgreens we’re creating a gap that is about 2.5” deep so we don’t have to worry about watering for 3-4days.
What is the profitability of your procedures? A whole tray produces less than a pound of product. At what scale of production would it become profitable?
It costs about $1.00-$5.00 to grow a tray depending on your medium, labor, etc... sells for between $15.00-$50.00 depending on variety and who you’re selling too. It’s very easy to be profitable with microgreens if you have the drive to make it happen! 🤗🌱🌱
Zeebra237 ... even at grocery stores they sell for $3.99 for 2oz... it’s so incredibly easy to get $15.00 a tray and not charge more than $3.00 for a small 2oz container. Have you even tried or are you just saying that?
@@OnTheGrow I live in a county with 80,000 people. Only one place sells microgreens. I think they are $3.95 for 4 ounces. But they had to drive 200 miles to deliver it here. Some places are better than others for certain markets. Beer does well around here.
@@Horse237 That's still $16.00 a tray at $4.00/4oz container... and you could market it as a local crop and it would fetch a higher price... you could even sell it for cheaper and still turn a profit very easily. Sunflowers can produce 2-4 pounds per grow, which can easily reach $15.00/tray. 80,000 people is a lot of people... You only really need 20-30 individuals to order weekly to run a very healthy start of a business.
We’ve grown yellow pea on hydro mats before! We sow 300g per 1020, soak for 12 hours, mist and leave covered with a little weight (empty tray even works) for 4days, then use a tray upside down to blackout for 1-3 extra days until they push it up... then to the light! We will try another grow for those soon!
We grow the majority of our produce in artificial lights with no sunlight! You can grow them in the sun too, but try to keep them mostly shaded. These greens stay really short if they get too much light, which makes them hard to harvest.
Great question! It’s not really wasted, it is added to our compost... I have heard of people eating it but we prefer to feed it to the neighbors chickens or compost it.
It really depends on your preference! We find that using nutrients allows the greens to grow faster and healthier... Here is a video on us comparing nutrients to just water: th-cam.com/video/R5kPPW2D_Ic/w-d-xo.html
Great question! It really depends on personal preference... we like to harvest our speckled peas around day 12 or so once they’ve developed the tendrils nicely. If you let them grow for too long, they will become very woody and hard to chew. The best thing is to taste them daily once they get taller to see what tastes good for you...
🙂Thank you for watching Kvaliteetne!!! 😄 Glad you enjoyed it! We use basic 1020 tray shallow depth...sometimes we do use the 2.5inch deeper tray for taller crops like Peas!
Tom Lowman we use a very diluted anti-fungal. It’s 4 things into a liter of filtered water... 15 drops organic cold-pressed neem and 15 drops organic cold-pressed oil of oregano. 10 drops of Dr.Bonners hemp baby castile soap-unscented. 1 TBSP of food-grade potassium bicarbonate. Mix it all up and it’s a very light all natural anti-fungal!
Question for anyone here in comments about Kratky method. * Do I just put the peas on the tray and the seeds will grow roots to the water on their own? * Or do I need to prepare them in some way first in the beginning?
Soak them first and let them germinate for a few days... once the roots are passing through the mesh tray, you can then introduce it to a large reservoir of water. That's the easiest way we've found!
For larger seeds, with proper seed density to support the stems of all plants in the whole tray, there seems to be no point in using a growth medium. Is that the conclusion of this experiment?
Well, a medium does help to keep the seeds up and out of the water during germination... if you can get the seeds germinated and standing up on each other's root structures, you could do without the medium. Basically we are testing what most wouldn't expect plants to grow abundantly on or in... as well as testing ways to reuse mediums repeatedly. 🤗🌱🌱
🙂Hello Dennis Tristan Putra Nugroho ! Here’s a link to the Trays we use, some can be found on Amazon, like the sprouting trays but the colorful 1020 trays along with the black trays are found through BSF. I linked both for you below! Thank you for your support! 🥳 Sprouting trays + some 1020 trays www.amazon.com/shop/onthegrowfarms?listId=DTGPX0RYY5R3&tag=onamzonthegro-20&linkCode=ic5 Colorful 1020 trays/1020 trays www.bootstrapfarmer.com/?sscid=21k5_45by1 Have you got things in place yet??? Let me know if we still can helpout...oh yeah...check us on Tik Tok!!!😉
💚Thank you so much for the viewing Mama Myrt!! In this video we are using two deep bottom watering trays with two different mesh trays for growing. Stay tuned...we are going to be making new content soon! 😄
Thank you so much for the support Dennis Tristan Putra Nugroho!! We are going to be making new content soon! 😄 We aren't selling our microgreens as a crop so to speak. We have a lot going into cooking ideas!!! 😉Watch our recipes coming very soon...ask your local chef what he can't find and why they add them into their restaurants?? Check us TikTok when you get time!!!
➽ Full Article with how to grow instructions & more now available: onthegrow.tv/H2Gpeamicrogreens
Thank you for your curious minds and your strong dedication to sharing the results of your constant experiments - you've saved me a ton of time and money.
🙂Sergey Kolokolov Have you signed up for our Master Class yet? Please get ready to take advantage of all the information we've assembled for you!!!
Wow cool, I'm in the desert and shipping medium is extreamly expensive so I'm loving these no medium and reusable medium videos.
So the roots growing to reach the water on the shallow tray caused the peas to grow shorter. Thanks for that information.
Summing up... Spacing between the water and root structure is important, when the roots can efficiently soak up water with less effort and not having the need to grow (by taking away mass from the seed) the plant in exchange flourishes.
I really like both of your videos. I like the science aspect of things in the fact that you try different things different ways.
Thank you so much for your support!! We really appreciate it! 🤗🌱🌱
What's up CJ!?
I'm having mildew issues due to the shedding of the outside skin of the peas after soaking. Speckled has none of these issues but yellow are a fourth of the price. So I tried them.
I'll watch the video.
🤙🏽😉
Love the experiments. I think the difference was in the space the roots could develop. Kratky had the deeper resivor vs the bottom watering didn't. Therefore offering the seeds more time and effort in root development.
Thank you so much for the support! Yeah, I totally agree with you!
you guys are the best mircrogreens info source across all mediums
I am currently running some tests using the Kratky Method. A key component of the method is that as the water level drops, the upper roots can gather oxygen from the air. Wondering if you keep topping off the nutrient solution and minimizing the oxygenation of the roots. That might also explain why the center was less successful. Your thoughts?
I wonder if part of the reason for the Kratky having less top growth and more roots was just the amount of physical space for the roots to form. The Kratky tray appeared to have a lot more room for roots so the plants took advantage of that and used the available space while the bottom watering tray ran out of root space real quick. Just a thought.
Yeah, that could be a possibility! I will have to redo this test and see if the results are the same and we can try and figure this one out! Thanks for sharing!
Love your comparison tests!
Oh my God ,, they looks so amazing
Rather stunning results in weight difference.
Agreed!! Watching this again, I almost want to do another test with two trays of each and see if we get the same results! May have to do that...
Do you reckon you might get a second crop from these peas ? I was thinking you might possibly prune the roots back by one third and maintain your nutrient / water additions. FYI, I use Epsom Salts ( magnesium sulphate ) as a nutrient. Not much required - just a few crystals dispersed in the water tray. It seems to function ok.
That probably doesn't work at this stage, as all energy went into growing. It will work with a mature plant.
Yes it works
Along with oxygen helping the deep water peas, I wonder if the deep water peas get some extra nutrients since you give new nutrient rich water twice a day to the deep water vs Kratky using the same water for three days. Great work on this channel and very interesting to watch and learn.
That's a great question! Thank you so much for the support!!
The bottom watering tray probably received more oxygen since it was fed oxygenated water twice a day. The Kratky tray probably would have done better with a deeper reservoir since it looked like the roots were taking up most of the space.
Thumb up! Thank you so much for posting such valuable content.
Glad you liked it! We really appreciate your support!
Great comparison! It seems like you altered your method for watering on the bottom watering tray, as you went? Could you describe what you ended up doing exactly? Soak for 12 hours, then top mist (heavy or lightly?) for how many days (I’ve or twice each day?), then switch fully to bottom watering with 2 1/2 - 3 cups of water once daily? Oh! And (for the bottom watering) are those both the “shallow”, 1” trays?
Thanks!
Great job you two. You have done nothing but feed me information and I am soaking it all in. Growing my third tray. This one is sunflower , all natural.
Wait what. Yes outside natural sunlight once germination was done ,outside on day 5. I think they loved it because they were green at the end of the day. At night I placed a clear jiffy tray on top , just in case for protection. I used potting soil , 10 x 20 tray , purified water. So far so good. Anyways would like to see your opinion and maybe video of such.
Keep up the good work and info. You both are my go - to information consultants. 👍🇺🇸
Well done comparison, non-circulating hydroponics (Kratky) is not the optimal productivity method in most cases. However, it wins for almost maintenance free growing and minimizing grow media needs. Another disadvantage might be moving trays around with water splashing around. That being said, I have continued to use the Kratky method over the past 10 years and enjoy it.
Very informative video! Where can I buy those black trays with mesh in your video? Thanks!
What about reducing the air space in Kratky method and filling the tray at the same level the Bottom Watering method does. The roots struggling could be the same in reaching the water in both methods, therefore the crop heigh would be the same. Interesting to put it into a test, it could get the best of both methods in one.
Love the videos all, keep them comin.
Thank you so much for the support!
They look great, can green peas also be eaten with the shoots, i.e. harvested with the roots?
Hi great video again. Did you add water or nutriens to the Kratky or did you leave it as it was? Since you've been so extensive showing progress per day, it would have interesting to see the difference in root structure of the bottomwatered one as well. I am interesting in automation, how the NFT rack working out for you? Kratky as a passive system obviously remains very interesting, but it is suitable for all microgreens? Also, do you spray from the top when you check? Cheers.
Cool video ! I just ordered the mesh tray to give it a try : ) Couple quick questions? What (and how much) nutrients are you adding to the water? Also, do you like the knife that you use to harvest and if so, where can one find it? Thanks in advance and appreciate you guys!
I think the reason the kratky didn't do so well is that you had to refill the reservoir. That means the air roots drowned. If you had a larger reservoir, so big that you didn't have to refill, it might have worked better? Needs to be tested though. If there is a need of refilling a kratky reservoir it should not be all the way up. Maybe 50-60%...?
Great theory! Judging by the growth on day 5 though, it is clear that the Kratky was behind even before there was a reservoir refill on it. I still think that the plants just put so much energy into the roots that the top of the plant was delayed... You can see bottom water tray was taller than the Kratky on day 5 and the bottom water tray is using a tray that is 1.5" deeper than the Kratky tray. So on day 5, the bottom water had about a 2" height advantage. I'm pretty sure when we refilled the reservoir on this that we didn't fill it to the top... I've grown using Kratky for a while and I will always leave room for the roots to breathe. We can try and run this test again as well!
Thanks for sharing!!
@@OnTheGrow Yes I agree. Great channel, very inspiring! :)
Great video
Thank you for the support!
Hey I love the videos y’all post. I have a questions about speckled peas. How many grams/ounces if seeds per 1020 tray. I’m having a issues with finding information on seed density.
Great question Dennis and we appreciate your support! We seed ours at 250-300grams per 1020 tray. 250 grams has been our go-to recently!
@@OnTheGrow Thanks for info.
Hi, why don't you weight both root structures so you can tell if the total weight is the same for both or there is any growth difference? Thanks for your great videos.
Great idea!! I’ll see about redoing this test soon and see the difference! 🌱🌱
Thanks for all these great video guys!!! I would like to know if you use nutrients in the water when you soak the seeds? If so what kind of nutrients do you use? Could I use General Hydroponics Flora Grow, Bloom and Micro? And before roots appear I imagine that you spray them so they don't get dry? Thank you in advance for answering my questions.... ;)
Seeds never need nutrients to sprout, just water. The seed provides all the seedling needs. Which day you should start feeding, I don't know, might be a nice experiment again. 😊
Love your videos great learning, but wish you would go back to the step by step where we see at what point you move from weight to black out to lights. I'm a new home grower doing one tray at a time in my kitchen hall.
Hey there... I’m loving your videos!
I’m wondering what you used for a nutrient in your water for the bottom watering. Im not sure what to look for.
Really find your videos helpful. Question: I've tried a half dozen times to grow speckled peas and only had success once.
No medium, mesh tray, 12hr soak, mist twice daily. The last batch started to pop the first feeler root, then all progress stopped after day 2, and they are a rotten and soggy by day 3. This rot/ stunted germination issue is possibly too much water? True leaf market seeds.. maybe soak them less time?
Great question! A lot of people have been struggling with pea over the past year. I think somethings up with seed, no matter which supplier it came from. Try less soak time and that could do the trick! Just know, most have been struggling with Pea, which used to be one of the easiest to grow.
Appreciate this! Seems like medium is a waste of money and time! Or would you get even more yield with some good quality dirt?
Medium can be a waste depending on the crop variety! More delicate crops need something to grab onto unlike sunflowers and peas! We do a ton a different tests on our TH-cam with exactly what you’re asking! It really depends on the variety and your personal preference for which way to grow... we love hydroponics but sometimes we like to grow in dirt :) thanks for the support!
Nice. I want to reduce waste. Was the any space between the bottom watering tray and the mesh tray? So were the peas and then the roots sitting in water the whole time?
The peas themselves never sit in the water, that would make them rot really quickly and cause problems for the grow. There is a very small amount of space between the bottom watering and mesh tray, but over time as the roots grow on the bottom watering tray, it grows the gap larger and larger as the roots grow longer. You only want your roots to be sitting in the water...
@@OnTheGrow Thats what I was thinking thank you!
Awesome!
Very informative. Thanks. I'm using coir and perlite mix for dun pea shoots. Is it safe to topwater them with a sprayer until harvest, or do you recommend bypassing the top leaves at some point and watering directly on the soil?
It’s not harmful to top water, though it can cause more moisture to stay within the canopy and does encourage mold if you keep it too moist. As long as you have decent airflow, there shouldn’t be any problems with top watering till the end! I know some commercial growers will intentionally not water crops for a day before harvest to dry up the moisture trapped below the canopy.
Hope that helps!
Although you put this video up in August, I am just now watching it. I have been growing peas the same way. In my opinion, hydroponic peas are the best way to go since you don't have to pay for substrate cost or labor (time) dealing with it, but get similar results. I think you are correct in your assessments that the Kratky method didn't grow as full in the 10 day period because they were first establishing a huge root base since they had the room, which would be best for long term growth. The bottom watering method using 2 deep trays does work best for me for quick production of microgreens. Incidentally, I use Fox Farms "Grow Big" 3-2-6 exclusively for bottom watering all microgreens, and Fox Farms "Grow Big" 6-4-4 for all Kratky method production such as lettuce, etc. Out of all the videos I've seen concerning microgreens, your On The Grow productions have been by far the most helpful. BTW I am in Montgomery TX. Thanks.
Hello Fellow Texan! I will have to give the Fox Farms 3-2-6 a try for the micros! We used the 6-4-4 in the past for some of our kratky and cloning system in the past with great results! We're so grateful that you found our channel to be of value and we hope to continue providing valuable content! Thanks for the support!
I love your videos! Would these methods work with Sunflower? Thanks and Merry Christmas!!
Thank you so much for the support Brent! I believe they would work just as well with Sunflowers! We have a friend in Florida growing some sunflowers Kratky style with great results! We will try and make a video seeing if we can do the same thing. Merry Christmas and thank you so much again for the support!
Cool.
I love your videos. Can you eat those or do you have to juice them? When I tried pea microgreens, they were chewey. But I buy pea greens from the asians and I eat the leaves but throw away the stems.
Kratky works, but the reason why your bottom watering was winning out was the oxygen factor and space. Roots need oxygen also, and if the water is being taken up and roots are breathing it will put more energy in growing.
Agreed! We haven't tried any kratky videos in a while... might be worth bringing these back!
So are you saying a tiny air rock/pump to oxygenate the nutrients might increase the topgrowth?
Now I am more confused than ever. The seeds sit in the water? Above the water? How do the roots get to the water?
Was the kratky tray closer to one of the fans on the edge of the rack? That could explain the dip in growth in the center.
I cannot remember for this test exactly where it was positioned... I know that from our other grows that peas are unfazed by the fans though. Anytime that we grow peas directly next to fans, they grow normally. Peas are pretty darn bulletproof which is why this was so odd to see. We will have to recreate this test to see if we can figure it out!
Hey there! Just wondering how much weight you used while germinating? I know you use 15# for sunflowers but not sure it would be the same for peas. Thanks, you guys! Love your stuff 😁
at 0:52 they post all of that info. 250 grams.
Add a float valve.
Great video! I only grow indoors...you would not try to compost the remains for indoor use? I guess that does make sense! I really hate to waste it tho!! I’m also trying a wick watering system with paper towels as a medium and wick! One with no soil one with!! 🤞🏼
Hi, a great way to compost indoors are large plastic boxe + 1. Atazyme which breaks down root structure via enzymes or 2. micorhize such as Ectovit or 3. special bacteria which I have no experience with such as Organico, which is supposed to create fertilizer when you add water. I personaly use Atazyme, it is cheap and it takes only 1-3 months to break down everything. The reason ppl don't recycle soil is sterility. I solve it by adding Ectovit to the last 2 weeks. The beneficial micorhize eat everything that would otherwise hinder future production such as mold or other fungy. Considering proper compost, it is not necessary since all seeds contain enough nutrients for at least 1 week of growth and the shear volume of biologically active materials may lead to: less roots and more stem/more roots and less stem + definitely different taste. I think that on the grow did an experiment with earthworm dung and it turned out the way you would think, not super good.
There are a few gaps in efficiency of many microgreens growers such as inefficient use of light (no use of reflective materials on racks, leading to using more watts) and no soil recyclation. There is really not much else :-) Considering electricity prices are 2x lower in Texas than where I am from, there is really no need to be as efficient as I describe.
I am waiting for the cilantro grow..... thanks
So are we :D
We are still struggling a little with cilantro, but as soon as we get close, we will post a video on it!
I’ve grown salon for a hydroponically and he gets a little weird and by that I mean, “leggy“ when it goes from the primary cotyledons to the first real leaves. The plants get top-heavy, at least, mine did.
What are temperature and relative humidity for pea sprouts growing. Thank you ^_^
We keep our temperature between 75-80F and the humidity is an average of 35-40% with a maximum of 50%. Thanks for the support!
do you cook any of your microgreens? that's your favorite cookable green? thanks
Why i try to do like this but have to many mold on the seed. Because of water level in tray? or My country temperature? it's about 37 celsius. Answer me please Thank you. I will waitting for another clip about pea sprout Hydroponic i love it!!
Thank you for the support! at 37 Celsius, heat is probably the cause... we keep our space below 27 Celsius... You may try to more airflow and see if that helps and also try to keep water off of the seeds... so bottom water if possible. Let us know if we can help any further and we will do our best!
@@OnTheGrow Thank you.
Also, mold can be avoided by using hydrogen peroxide before seeding
if you don't use soil, can you eat the roots of microgreens too? or should i still be cutting off every single root?
Im trying Sunflower-Microgreens the same way day 3 and working with no soil looking good maybe you can try
Did you preload your yellow peas prior to and if so for how long?
Where did you get the shallow mesh tray from, I looked on the link to Amazon you provided but only saw the deeper one. Thanks
You can get them directly from bootstrap farmer's website if they are not on amazon at the moment! www.bootstrapfarmer.com
Let us know if you have any other questions!
Just read the label for Farmers pride and even though it says organic I cannot see any OMRi cert or any other organic association. Do we just have to take their word for it? What are your thoughts? Thanks Daniel Rising Roots.
Yeah, so I have found out since this video that there are so many different levels of "Organic" certification... I believe they just have an organic certificate, but not an OMRI certificate. It gets pretty confusing with all the organic labeling laws and there are so many companies that offer different certifications.
What you usually do to those leftovers?
Very interesting, may i ask where did u got your trays fom?
Great question! We get ours from a company called Bootstrap Farmer... Here is a link to most of their products on Amazon.com www.amazon.com/shop/onthegrowfarms?listId=DTGPX0RYY5R3
Appreciate it, thanks for amazing and useful videos and researches. Keep it up guys 👍👏
@@rezaabasi2187 No problem! Thank you for watching.👍
So when you water, are your roots constantly sitting in the water? As the roots develop and lift the tray up, when you water, does the level stay below the tray so the seed level/portion never touches water again?
Hello! Yes, so the roots are constantly sitting in the water for Kratky style... As the roots develop and lift the tray, the water level always stays below the seeds and never touches them, only the roots.
Clarification question. When you do the BW method. You mist the soaked seeds and add weight for 3 days, for roots to est and go into the mesh. Once roots go thru holes and weight removed, you begin bottom watering, keeping the nutrient solution right at the bottom of the mesh holes?
Exactly!
Can we use bottom watering with all seeds ?
you give them just wather or nitriens too?
Lots of material left in the tray. Can that still be cooked and eaten ?
For the kratky method are you waiting to add water to the bottom tray reservoir until the roots are starting to poke through the top tray with holes?
Exactly!
Thank you for the tip! Would this method would work with bootstrap farmers trays with the slits or do I need the mesh bottom?
Kyle Siddoway only the Mesh style trays work well for the Kratky grows. The slits don’t have enough holes for all of the roots to come through. Here is a link to the trays: www.amazon.com/shop/onthegrowfarms?listId=DTGPX0RYY5R3
Awesome, thank you so much! And I have say thank you for all the incredible videos and info you guys put out. I’ve just started growing over the past couple months and your help has been invaluable:) keep em coming 🙌🌱
Which Farmers Pride did you use, and at what dilution, please?
🙂Thank you so much for the support Lou B!! We are going to be making new content soon! 😄 Watch the video up to :56...there's an on screen chart...Nutes ~ Farmers Pride...Grow_20ml or Micro_7ml per gallon water
is it possible to do kratky with a larger tray so the pees have less volume that they can fill with roots? I know it requires a reservoir of water, but how much?
Great question! We will be experimenting with Kratky more in the near future!
heyy...could you please let us know how to deal with mould break
When i try to do Snow pea, and sometime Early Frost, within 3 days they turn to mush and begin to rot (smell bad) what would be the problem?
I know that you all do this dor sale but for a home grower, I often get up to three cutting from my pea shoots. I'm wondering if the kratky, having more biomass in the roots would give me bigger and better 2nd and 3rd cuttings? Of course I'm not growing as much as you are at once. Only about 1/3 the size tray at a time. Im the only one eating them most weeks so of course I scaled it to my needs.
The roots are then tossed to my hens as a treat, so a bit bigger root mass isn't going to waste either and I'm sure they would love it.
Great question! We will bring back these kratky tests and see how many cuttings we can get!
I didn't fully understand the bottom watering. Does all the water evaporate from the bottom watering one before you refill it?
Yeah, so when we bottom water, we are filling the tray below the seeds and the roots will usually pull up all of the water into the plants before the next watering period. If you over-water the tray, there will be some left over in-between watering. Let me know if you have any other questions!
@@OnTheGrow so kratky is when the water is filled up touching the seeds and bottom water is when it touches the roots?
So bottom watering uses a tray where there is only a small gap (about 1/4”) for the water to fill and the plants will absorb most of that water by the next watering period.
Kratky has a much larger gap where you can fill up a reservoir and the roots will stay submerged for a few days or even weeks/months depending on the size of the reservoir. In microgreens we’re creating a gap that is about 2.5” deep so we don’t have to worry about watering for 3-4days.
@@OnTheGrow its mean that you dont watering seeds every day? just fill up bottom by water?
What is the profitability of your procedures? A whole tray produces less than a pound of product. At what scale of production would it become profitable?
It costs about $1.00-$5.00 to grow a tray depending on your medium, labor, etc... sells for between $15.00-$50.00 depending on variety and who you’re selling too. It’s very easy to be profitable with microgreens if you have the drive to make it happen! 🤗🌱🌱
@@OnTheGrow Nobody in this town pays that much for microgreens.
Zeebra237 ... even at grocery stores they sell for $3.99 for 2oz... it’s so incredibly easy to get $15.00 a tray and not charge more than $3.00 for a small 2oz container.
Have you even tried or are you just saying that?
@@OnTheGrow I live in a county with 80,000 people. Only one place sells microgreens. I think they are $3.95 for 4 ounces. But they had to drive 200 miles to deliver it here. Some places are better than others for certain markets. Beer does well around here.
@@Horse237 That's still $16.00 a tray at $4.00/4oz container... and you could market it as a local crop and it would fetch a higher price... you could even sell it for cheaper and still turn a profit very easily. Sunflowers can produce 2-4 pounds per grow, which can easily reach $15.00/tray. 80,000 people is a lot of people... You only really need 20-30 individuals to order weekly to run a very healthy start of a business.
Could you do a Yellow pea on the Hydro mat.. I’m having some difficulty with my grows
We’ve grown yellow pea on hydro mats before! We sow 300g per 1020, soak for 12 hours, mist and leave covered with a little weight (empty tray even works) for 4days, then use a tray upside down to blackout for 1-3 extra days until they push it up... then to the light!
We will try another grow for those soon!
What problems are you having? We can try to help troubleshoot!
Thank you guys, trials and tribulations
Problem could be the batch of peas, I won’t give up
What do you do with the remaining peas and roots?
They make good compost fodder or you can use it in something like the urbanworm bin
So does it still have to be in sunlight
We grow the majority of our produce in artificial lights with no sunlight! You can grow them in the sun too, but try to keep them mostly shaded. These greens stay really short if they get too much light, which makes them hard to harvest.
What nutrients do you use
Can the the roots and the pea be eaten? Seems like so much waste. In a smoothie?
Great question! It’s not really wasted, it is added to our compost... I have heard of people eating it but we prefer to feed it to the neighbors chickens or compost it.
Weigh the initial setup (without water) and then weigh afterwards (without water) to compare quickly the differences in biomass...
Are the roots not edible or have a bad taste?
Dude! Yummm
Right!? 😄🌱🌱
Could have been an oxygen issue that caused the difference? Would be cool to see a kratky experiment that uses a air pump.
Does tap water is just okay to used or really need a nutrient water?
It really depends on your preference! We find that using nutrients allows the greens to grow faster and healthier... Here is a video on us comparing nutrients to just water: th-cam.com/video/R5kPPW2D_Ic/w-d-xo.html
@@OnTheGrow Thank you so much for this information.
After harvesting, will they keep on growing or start over?
They will grow back, but you get about half the harvest every time they grow back.
We prefer to start over for commercial growing. 🤗🌱🌱
How many days the peas should be harvest?
Great question! It really depends on personal preference... we like to harvest our speckled peas around day 12 or so once they’ve developed the tendrils nicely. If you let them grow for too long, they will become very woody and hard to chew. The best thing is to taste them daily once they get taller to see what tastes good for you...
@@OnTheGrow Thank you!
Are you in dublin?
Are yellow peas the same as dun peas?
What is in the nutrient solution water?
In this video it is Farmers Pride nutrients mixed at this rate:
Grow-20ml/gallon
Micro-7ml/gallon
Whats the difference between these two? One tray is deeper, that's it?
🙂Thank you for watching Kvaliteetne!!! 😄 Glad you enjoyed it! We use basic 1020 tray shallow depth...sometimes we do use the 2.5inch deeper tray for taller crops like Peas!
what do you do with roots or what ever is left from the harvest?
We toss them into our compost pile and reuse it in our outdoor garden only 🥳
@@OnTheGrow i assume that you will reuse..have you guys ever reused it? and if so what were the results? contamination? disease?
cheers
Hello, what type of natural anti-fungal are you guys using? Thanks, - Tom at TeenyGreenz
Tom Lowman we use a very diluted anti-fungal. It’s 4 things into a liter of filtered water... 15 drops organic cold-pressed neem and 15 drops organic cold-pressed oil of oregano. 10 drops of Dr.Bonners hemp baby castile soap-unscented. 1 TBSP of food-grade potassium bicarbonate. Mix it all up and it’s a very light all natural anti-fungal!
Appreciate the quick reply!
@@OnTheGrow do you use oil mix as a anti-fungal?????
@@zhukovgnt Yes! You can also use hydrogen peroxide!
What's nutrient water ? How to make it ?
What's remove weight ?
Question for anyone here in comments about Kratky method.
* Do I just put the peas on the tray and the seeds will grow roots to the water on their own?
* Or do I need to prepare them in some way first in the beginning?
Soak them first and let them germinate for a few days... once the roots are passing through the mesh tray, you can then introduce it to a large reservoir of water. That's the easiest way we've found!
@@OnTheGrow Do you mean completely submerging them in water for a few days?
What is your room temperature?
Lástima que ya no hay traducción al español 😢
For larger seeds, with proper seed density to support the stems of all plants in the whole tray, there seems to be no point in using a growth medium. Is that the conclusion of this experiment?
Well, a medium does help to keep the seeds up and out of the water during germination... if you can get the seeds germinated and standing up on each other's root structures, you could do without the medium.
Basically we are testing what most wouldn't expect plants to grow abundantly on or in... as well as testing ways to reuse mediums repeatedly. 🤗🌱🌱
Where we can get that tray?
🙂Hello Dennis Tristan Putra Nugroho ! Here’s a link to the Trays we use, some can be found on Amazon, like the sprouting trays but the colorful 1020 trays along with the black trays are found through BSF. I linked both for you below! Thank you for your support! 🥳
Sprouting trays + some 1020 trays www.amazon.com/shop/onthegrowfarms?listId=DTGPX0RYY5R3&tag=onamzonthegro-20&linkCode=ic5
Colorful 1020 trays/1020 trays www.bootstrapfarmer.com/?sscid=21k5_45by1
Have you got things in place yet??? Let me know if we still can helpout...oh yeah...check us on Tik Tok!!!😉
Essentially, they are both bottom watered, just different height trays.
💚Thank you so much for the viewing Mama Myrt!! In this video we are using two deep bottom watering trays with two different mesh trays for growing. Stay tuned...we are going to be making new content soon! 😄
an air pump would boost growth in the kratky forsure
Absolutely! But then it’s no longer Kratky and it’s Deep water culture 🤗
Did you sale it?.. can we get money from farming this micro green?
Thank you so much for the support Dennis Tristan Putra Nugroho!! We are going to be making new content soon! 😄 We aren't selling our microgreens as a crop so to speak. We have a lot going into cooking ideas!!!
😉Watch our recipes coming very soon...ask your local chef what he can't find and why they add them into their restaurants??
Check us TikTok when you get time!!!
Do you not eat the roots?
🙂Thank you so much for the support Kim Melton!! No... we discard this into our compost pile. 💚We are going to be making new content soon!
Bottom watering got more aeration
Try adding sugar to the water.
Interesting.... We will have to give this a try!