This Changes Everything!! | DIY Hydroponics | How to Grow Microgreens 

I’m sure this isn’t my first comment to you, but I keep coming back to watch your videos especially when I’m feeling defeated because seeds failed to germinate because I keep trying to do things in a different way trying to remove the need to use seed starting soil. But then I come back to why change what Mike has proven works time after time. So then I review exactly the way you teach “how to” in your videos and sure enough it works!! I love your enthusiasm and your can do attitude. It’s sooo to convince people that have never grown micro greens before how easy it can be and then taking it to the next step is even easier because you just have to pull on one little seedling and pop it into a pool noodle and into nutrient solution...and put it under grow lights or in a south facing sunny window. I mean how much easier can it be?? It’s so easy children can do it and I think you do excellent instruction on showing kids how easy it is. I live in an urban setting and my space is limited and I don’t have an outdoor space at all but I do have a hobbled together NFT system that I prefer over the straight kratky method because I find when the water just sits indoors especially it can become a bit funky smelling. Of course that has to do with the amount of water you are putting in the troughs at any one time and with my system the chances of running out of water is pretty impossible and the water is constantly moving with oxygen being added and that I believe is part of the way to keep it from getting funky smelling. I suppose the other way is to limit the amount of water in the troughs and then fill them a little more frequently but then you are also at risk of putting the plants under stress if the water isn’t refilled in time and if you over fill you can drown the air roots. So it’s just my little perspective on how to take your system to the next level with hydroponics for really not that much more money or ingenuity. Perhaps even creating more abundance because people have shown when an air stone is added even more produce grows. One thing I’ve learned recently with romaine lettuce and I’m wondering if you or anyone else has discovered this, I harvest my romaine lettuce from around the outside as it grows and I had three romaine lettuce growing at the same time and each time I would harvest the outer leaves on the three I would have enough salad for two dinner meals. What was happening was the romaine main stem was bare at the bottom and where I had harvested you could see the places where I had cut but the center stem continued to grow and would grow up and in to my grow lights to the point it was too tall to continue in my NFT system so I had two choices either cut the top off and use them and then begin my romaine lettuce from seed again or and what I finally got smart and tried was I cut the top third of the lettuce and removed any lower leaves and then just with my sharp scissors I cut lengthwise in the stem and scratched the outer stem just to reveal some of the inside of the stem with the hope of new roots would grow. Well much to my surprise the plant continued to thrive and survive and continues to grow tall again and is producing an abundance of leaves on the outer section. I even had one that had formed the beginnings of buds which would have contained flowers and seeds but as soon as I saw the buds I cut them off and the plant has continued to just grow more leaves and they are not bitter at all they taste the same as what I remember the very beginning lettuce leaves tasted like. Now one thing I did notice when I cut the main stem it had a milky white substance around where I had cut it, so I looked it up and learned that it’s perfectly normal that it’s a type of latex not the rubber latex that I’m allergic to which is a very serious allergy so I wanted to be sure, but please look it up for yourself and learn about it. It’s something I have never seen before when cutting lettuce but I’ve never had such fresh lettuce in my life before either. Very interesting and I’d love it if you did a video on this and show how lettuce can continue to grow as long as it has the correct nutrients.🥰🙏🏻🇨🇦

Mike, you do such a great job of showing us and explaining how/why you do what you do!!👍 Thank you so much! Your enthusiasm and encouragement for ANYONE to at least TRY it is really infectious! You gave me “the bug” and now I am doing it. I bought a couple of your kratky tubs for hydroponics from your site and it also included your little container for microgreens with the top having the two slits in it. The slits were for the paper towel to slide through. You show how to use it and explain it all very clearly. Thank you so much for your continued sharing and taking us followers with you as you evolve with your experiments (grow towers?, etc) I love how you always want suggestions and sharing from your viewers/followers!

Mike, I love how you encourage everyone. Your videos are uplifting and clear, easy to understand. Thank you for all you do. You have certainly helped me to understand basic hydroponics. I am slowly getting started but I hope to send you pictures soon. God Bless and happy growing!

We have 2 seasons in my area. Winter and road work season. Growing season is July and August. This is why hydroponics indoors is vital.

Applause ... you are the best find of the day! In a new place, downsized ... this works for me. Thank you, you are amazing ... I am a fan!

I’m starting to wrap my mind around the process. Start with micro greens and then put them in a bigger container for hydroponics. I still have so much to learn! Thanks for inspiring.

You might think about putting together a Christmas present pack with a container and the sample pack of seeds and a link to your book, everything someone would need to get started!

Good on you Mike, this is really cool to see. Great message to move into not so depending on the system and take control yourself. Lots of love to you and the Mrs,,cheers Marty

Beets are pure vitamins! Tons of B9 which is good for cell growth, so very good for the heart and arteries.

I bought the 12 pack…love growing greens. Got a light box at a garage sale…on my fourth go round…so fun. Thanks

You always have some awesome info on how to grow your own food the simple easy way. Everything outside is kicking chicken buddy. Like that new tote ya made. Thanks for sharing all this information with us. Stay safe and have a great week!

Very cool dividing them up like that. I keep saying I need to start growing microgreens, I need to get off my but and do it! Great video Mike, thanks!

Hello there Mike, just a thought on WHY we all should be growing! When the crap hits the fan and the grocery stores are all closed, if we are growing our greens & such, we will still be eating!!!

keep rotating everything and you will always have fresh greens good video 👍🏼 Hehe the kitty that adopted you mike lol

Good divide of fun greens and flavor

Great video. I've been thinking of growing corn shoots to sweeten green smoothies.

Tell us more about those corn sprouts you just mentioned. Sounds intriguing. I love sunflower sprouts, but have trouble with them molding.

Omgoodness! I absolutely love your content! You are an amazing man! I have so many questions!

I just got my order today it’s came fast thank you. I’m so exciting and can’t wait to grow it.

Love it, Mike. You're doing all of us a favor!

Cat reminds me of my dog licking rain water off of my green s in the garden.

great channel and content - now we need a green chef channel teaching us how to juice, eat, replace bad eating with good eating - growing our med's !

Hi Mike, I'm one of those people who used to find cilantro tasted like soap, but I was able to get over it! Soneone I cared about unwittingly gave me a large buch of cilantro, and so I ate it over several meals and was able to acquire a taste for it!! Much younger, I was also able to acquire a taste for green olives 🤣 But I don't think I can ever do it for carbinated beverages. Too much severe pain, like eating a pin cushion.

Oooh hope you can do the fun seed packs again. Thanks for all your educ.

I heard that beats are very good for people with ulcerative colitis so I imagine it's very healing to the intestines

Beautiful cat!

Mike ,I really enjoyed this video,a lot of useful information. 👍

Hey there Mike,glad to see your channel growing well.Was one of your early day viewers,happy that the content is constantly high in quality..Ive got a question about germinating seeds-seedling stage for my hydroponic setup,can I know if you have any vids for that? specificaly

Beets would be an Artisan Microgreen...Plus it's packed with phytonutrients.

Great!

I'm a super taster. I cant tolerate a whole list of fresh plants due to the extra taste bud thing. Cilantro and arugula are top on the gross out list along with fresh basil(but its lovely dried yay!) Water cress and funnily enough the skins and seeds of tomatoes if dried and powdered(its a by product from tomato canning) the powdered tomato product is just extremely bitter to my taste. When I can my tomato sauces I have to peel and deseed them before cooking. Ive tried cooking with the seeds and skins and then run them though my squeezo machine and while the sauce tastes good it has a bitter after taste. If cooked down without no bitter after taste.

Mike, could you provide a link for the grow lights you’re using now?

Hi and Thanks for the info and video. 😊

Thank you for this. Your are very inspiring

For some reason, my RU-vid- not only isn't showing me the videos I've watched of yours- (but when I watch them I've stuck them into a private Playlist so I can keep track- somewhat) ... But that shiny, "cooler-like" set-up- I would REALLY, really like to see THAT video. Is there anyway you could show me which vid that IS? * or maybe a fan thats already watched it, could point me in the right direction?! Thanks in advance!

Hello Mike thank you so much for these great videos , I did every thing exactly the way you did regarding planting seeds in growing boxes then transplanting them into the nutrient solution but nearly 70 percent of my plants got root rot specifically part of the stem or the conjunction between the root and the stem turns thin and brown what is it that I am doing wrong? I am so frustrated. would you please make a video about the things which can go wrong while you are making hydroponics..

I have always thought cilantro tasted like something familiar that i did not like in my mouth. Now i know that flavor. Soap. It was always soap. Just did not place it

Thank 👍

Can this be done in Leca instead of dirt?

Thanks!

You might want to put together a high nutrition pac including beets and amaranth...

I just found your channel and I’m learning so much. Not to sound dense, but micro greens grow into full size plants when transplanted?

Thanks for your videos, Mike, and sharing your ideas. Since I found your channel, I’ve been trying out your micro greens with great success! Thank you 👏🏻👏🏻 I’ve also just bought some downspouts to try out your system! One question, which of your microgreens methods do you prefer ... with the soil ? ... or just the wicking fabric and piece of grow mat? I tried both and the greens seem to grow bigger in the soil, though both are tasty. I prefer the "non-soil" method as I am plagued by fungus gnats here in Australia but is that ok to transfer to baby green and full green setups? I started "growin'" in March using wicking beds and have been fighting fungus gnats and possums too, the latter as hungry as your peacocks!! Ended up building a suspended aeroponics tower to deter them! With 40° C summers on the way, temperature will be my next battle I’m sure! I only have a courtyard and the surface temp of my pavers exceeds 55° C in a heatwave, so the indoor ideas are appealing!

Wow! You grow a ton of greens. I don't know how big your family is but what do you do with such a huge amount of produce that you are unable to consume yourselves? Very good content on your channel.

Hi Mike did you make a video how to grow celery sprout in a mason jar? Please let me know if you make it before. Thank you I really appreciate ;)

Mike, enjoy your videos. Learning a lot, but I couldn't find these micro seeds on Esty? Maybe you are not selling them anymore? Thanks for your help and sharing your knowledge 🙏🏼

Do you have any vids of how to grow microgreens without soil? I am trying to grow in apartment, tried with soil and had baaaaad fungus gnat infestation. I purchased the Masterblend, epsom salts, and calcium nitrate for nutrients, have containers and wicks...thank you, I always look fw to your videos and dream about having outdoor space again to keep on growin'!

Can I let one of my plants go to seed and collect the seeds? Instead of buying new seeds each time?

Final step should be to learn weather each plant is annual or biannual. So you can learn to let some of each fully mature, harvest their seeds and complete the cycle, becoming self sufficient.

Ive tried using the swim floats/ but I keep pinching the baby lettuce off when I transfer to my rain gutter, sigh, now Im waiting longer befor transplanting

Does rainwater get into the downspouts? do you have a drain hole?

You can buy seeds just for micro greens are they different in any way from regular seeds

Do you preserve the extras? Which method do you use?

beets are fun! :-)

Can you do growing hydroponics in a greenhouse?

am so upset my plants in dwc and kratky all got root rot which is odd because i change water/nutrients weekly, any reasons why? they in tubs seperate and plenty of space and in tent and tsl2000 light and airpumps with 4" airstones, fan and invent

I went to Etsy and your micro green samples are all sold out. Can you please add more samples of nutrients and the packs if micro greens? I found your channel recently. I know this video is 2 years old but I hope you get this message

I need a link to get the grow lights. I signed on for monthly scenes today!

Do you have videos where you make the water you put in your planters

How about bean sprouts?

When cilantro taste like soap, it is because the person (me included) is allergic to cilantro.

How many gallons of water does the down spout hold?

Can we pull some out and plant it into hydro tower??

Mike at what point do you take your lids off your seed starters and put them under light?

great video! what's the name of the food grade pipe you pointed out and where can it be purchased. concern about vinyl has been the only thing holding me back. thanks :-)

Do I need an air-conditioned room to grow Microgreens? Can I grow them outside sunlight?

Hi do you mail seeds to Australia too?

May I know what is the substrate you use in the potted microgreens?

How will they grow in fogponics ?

How i can grow my seeds? I don’t know how to do that

Love your microgreens. I went to FB to join groups can your wife accept me to join your group. Thanks.

I want some micro greens now. Yum.😋