Growing Sprouts can be divided into 2 categories.

1- Loose Sprouting- (Alfalfa, Fenugreek, Broccoli, Lentils), this is where you soak then rinse seeds once a day for several days then you eat the whole sprout. The best seeds we have found for this are Chickpea, & a mix of Alfalfa & Radish. There are many different sprouters available the best we have found is also the cheapest & that is a plastic colander which has very narrow slots & comes with a drainage bowl. We have now added a larger similar quality colander which has larger holes and works perfectly with the smaller colander i.e. after about 3 or 4 days the smaller colander is full, you then transfer the sprouts to the larger colander for the next 3 days, having larger holes, the seed husks are more easily removed, and if you like you can restart the small one for a constant supply, this is a very easy and efficient procedure. Each colander comes with a cover which allows for stacking and also ensures the sprouts do not dry out meaning that you do not have to rinse twice a day.

The sprouting method that we use involves soaking the sprouts daily in nutrient rich solution see below.

Slide Show- colander > Alfalfa, Radish, Fenugreek, Broccoli, Sunflower Sprouting Sequence

2- Vertical Sprouting- (Wheat Grass, Barley Grass, Snow Pea, Field Pea, Sunflower, Cress, Mustard, Broccoli, Radish), this is where the seeds are grown like a seedling & you just eat the green tips, this is where you get your mega doses of Chlorophyll from. The most well-known example of this method is Wheatgrass, where you squeeze it and drink the juice, the most proficient source of green leaves in a sprout is Snowpea. We use shallow trays, both rectangular or round, 30mm deep and come with germination covers,  S have also designed a range of stands which these trays fit into, allowing you to maximise limited resources such as space and light i.e. on a sunny window ledge or under low power LED grow lights (see Plants Indoors).

Slide Show- round tray > Mustard, Cress, Broccoli, Chia Sprouting Sequence

Slide Show- rectangular tray > Snowpea, Radish Sprouting Sequence

Slide Show- rectangular tray > Sunflower, Buckwheat Sprouting Sequence

The base kits include the coconut fibre, which you grow the seeds in, there is an optional grill insert which goes into the trays, it has 2 functions (we have made it an optional extra, to keep the cost of the base kits as low as possible, as it is not a necessity it just makes it more economical and easier).

1.     It creates a miniature self-watering pot, where you have a very thin layer of coconut fibre in which the seeds germinate, they then grow through the grill to the nutrient rich liquid below, the advantages of using the grille insert is that you use less coco-fibre and watering is made easier, as there is an opening at one end and it is easy to see when you need to add water.

2.     You can use the larger seeds i.e. Snowpea and FieldPea without using any coconut fibre, when using this method you do not add any nutrient to the sprout tray until about 10 days, I use this method to grow the Snowpeas.

Nutrient rich solution

The sprouting systems use org. certified liquid Seaweed fertiliser (high in Iodine and trace elements) which is mixed with potassium humate from Gippsland in Victoria, described as 50 million year old compost, the best of its type in the world. We also add Dolomite which is extremely high in magnesium, essential for healthy cell activity, and Azomite, a volcanic ash super-rich in trace elements, and Magnesium Chloride, the best way to get Magnesium is through eating leafy greens (i.e. the central atom in the chlorophyll molecule), so we make sure that ours are rich in magnesium. We have also added Beneficial Micro-Organisms, sometimes called Em or Effective Microbes, a collection of microbes that are found in both soil and food such as yoghurt, cheese etc, when added to the soil/coco-fibre or mixed with the fertiliser they break down the organic nutrients making them even more bio-available to the plants.

The simple procedure is to mix the above ingredients in 2 x 500ml bottles, while you are using one the other one is processing i.e. a fermentation process, turning the organic compounds into a rich soup of bio-available nutrients for your sprouts & therefore you. The procedure is:-

·         Add 9ml MgCl +  30ml EM + desert spoon of Blackstrap molasses, dissolve in warm water (if no molasses then reduce Em to 10ml) + 50ml Seaweed + 380ml H2O to make 500ml sauce bottle, add flat teaspoon of Azomite & Dolomite, cycle 2 x 500ml bottles, this gives the bacteria more time to breakdown the nutrients in the Seaweed, Azomite & Dolomite, increasing bio-availability. Another option is to use the yogurt maker to accelerate the fermentation process, I now use my yoghurt maker to make fermented vegetables, so I leave my 2nd 500ml bottle on my kitchen windowsill, which gets a few hours of sun which keeps it warm, one thing to remember is to screw the top on and give it a shake once every day or at least every 2nd day, and remember to loosen the top slightly so any gases can escape. The only thing we do not supply is the blackstrap molasses which you can purchase at any supermarket or health food store.

Growing your sprouts using these organic components takes Hippocrates famous saying "Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food", to new heights, giving you the richest vitamin and mineral supplement & more importantly the most easily absorbed, you could ever wish for. There is a range of stands which can be used next to a sunny window and/or equipped with low powered LED grow-lights to allow you to maximise your available growing space. (see Plants Indoors)

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