- Not all microgreen seeds need to be soaked,
and in this video,
I'm gonna share exactly
what microgreen seed varieties do need to be soaked,
along with the reason why some do need to be soaked
and some don't.
For the best microgreens content,
be sure to subscribe to my channel and ring the bell,
that way you get notified
when I come out with new microgreens videos on Tuesdays.
I've been growing various microgreen seed varieties
for over four years now,
and it's become very obvious
why some seeds need to be soaked and some seeds don't.
It's actually rather simple,
and spoiler alert, it has to do with the size of the seeds.
Let me explain how the size relates to the need for soaking
right in this video,
along with a quick list of the microgreen seed varieties
that are commonly soaked before planting.
Okay, so the seeds that typically need to be soaked
are the seeds that are bigger.
These seeds require more water to get started
because the germination process
is really just absorbing water,
so that way the seed can get fully hydrated
and start its journey of life.
Naturally, smaller seeds need to absorb less water,
and larger seeds would need to absorb more water.
So this makes perfect sense.
In nature, the seeds start underground
and start taking in water in the springtime.
They're fully surrounded by moist soil
which allows them to take in all the water that they need
and achieve thorough germination.
Now, why am I mentioning this?
The reason why is because microgreen seeds
are typically grown a little bit differently
than how seeds would grow in nature.
The microgreen seeds
are typically being planted above the soil,
rather than underneath the soil.
And this is where the second factor comes in, surface area.
Take a second right now just to leave a comment below
and let me know which seeds you prefer growing,
seeds that you don't have to soak beforehand,
or seeds that you do have to soak beforehand?
Which microgreens growing process do you prefer?
Okay, so back to the surface area thing.
When the seeds are planted above the soil,
like with microgreens,
there's less contact between the seeds
and the growing medium,
resulting in less surface area
and less ability for the seeds to take in water
from the growing medium.
In nature, when they're underground,
they're fully surrounded
so this really isn't an issue,
but surrounded by that moist soil,
and it's able to take in water
across the whole surface area of the seed.
Now with microgreens and planting on top of the soil,
this really isn't much of an issue for the smaller seeds.
Because like we talked about before,
one, they need less water to germinate anyway,
and two, because they're so small,
they kinda nestle down into the growing medium
and they're able to get enough surface area contact
with the growing medium,
to absorb water into the seeds.
The bigger seeds on the hand need more water to germinate
and they also have less contact with the growing medium
because only a portion of their seeds
are actually touching the growing medium.
This reduces their chance
of taking in all that water they need,
to be fully hydrated
and turn into a strong healthy plant.
Now, like I promised,
here's a quick list of the microgreens varieties
that typically get pre-soaked before seeding into the tray.
So we have peas, we have sunflowers,
we have grasses like wheat grass and barley grass,
we have nasturtiums,
popcorn chutes,
and fava beans.
These all are typically pre-soaked
before being planted into the microgreens trays,
and I'm pretty sure that covers all of them.
Now you know exactly why some microgreen seeds
need to be soaked,
but what if you want more information
about the crop cycles of microgreens,
like seeding rates
and growth times,
and even expected yields?
I actually launched a product
with Dave from Micro Acres back in January,
that covers all of this information
and it's actually included in this product as a free bonus.
If you want to learn more about this product,
it's called, Microgreens Mentors,
and you can go right to microgreensmentors.com
and watch the little video on there
to learn exactly what it is that you're buying.
To learn the best way to soak your microgreen seeds,
watch the video below
or watch the other video
if you want to learn why microgreen seeds
even need to be soaked in the first place.
If you like this video,
hit that like button, subscribe to my channel,
and be sure to share this video
with anybody you think it may help.
Thanks again and I'll see ya next time.