Onion is one of the slowest of sprouts. As Micro-Greens they can be even slower - but they're worth it! They have an awesome flavor and they are - as we think all our crops are - beautiful!
Your finished crop will look like Micro-Scallions. Very Cool!
We don't carry any specific variety of Onion. We buy based on seed quality, and the crop it produces. You can find Onion in our Leafy sprout mix - Russian Mix as well.
Onion is a very expensive seed - which means the crop you grow from it is also very expensive. Supply is always much more limited than the demand - hence the high price.
See our Notes section (below) for details of all sorts.
Yields approximately as many Micro-Greens (by weight) as seed "planted"
We put quotes around Planted because the seeds are always spread atop a medium - not planted under.
These seeds can benefit from Soaking and a tiny bit of Pre-Sprouting prior to planting.
You don't have to do this, but it may help produce a better crop if you do. To Soak a seed is to save it the time it takes for it to drink up its fill of water from the medium it is planted atop,
so that alone will save you a day, but wet seeds are more difficult to work with when Planting. As always, we suggest you try variations and see what you like best. Learning is half the fun!
Pre-Sprouting
Put seed* into a bowl or your Sprouter.
Add 2-3 times as much cool (60-70°) water.
Mix seeds up to assure even water contact for all.
Allow seeds to Soak for 8-12 hours.
Empty the seeds into your sprouter if necessary.
Drain off the Soak water.
Use it to water plants, or anything else - it has nutrients in it.
Rinse thoroughly with cool (60-70°) water
and Drain thoroughly.
Set anywhere out of direct sunlight and at room temperature (70° is optimal) between Rinses.
This is where your sprouts do their growing. We use a counter top - in the corner of our kitchen, but where the sprouter won't get knocked over by cats, dogs, kids or us. We don't mind the indirect sunlight or the 150 watts of incandescent light, because light just does not matter much.
A plant can only perform photosynthesis when it has leaves. Until then light has little if any effect, so don't hide your sprouts. When leaves appear this will be plenty of light for them to green up!
When we're sprouting Mung Beans we may choose a darker corner, but 99% of the time we just don't avoid light.
Rinse and Drain again in 8-12 hours.
Repeat this for 3-5 days (approximately) - Rinse and Drain every 8-12 hours.
The goal is to have a very small root - or even the first sign of a root - before planting.
However many Rinse and Drain cycles it takes to get to that first sign - or up to a 1/16th inch root - is how long you should Pre-Sprout.
Planting
(see Notes (below) for variations)
Grow these on soil or Baby Blanket (a soilless medium) in a Tray, on a Hemp Bag,
a Miniature Garden (which is basically a small set of trays - each which holds a medium) or on virtually any moisture retaining medium
(theoretically as minimal as paper towel or fabric - like cheesecloth) you can think of.
Whether you have soaked, pre-sprouted or are starting with dry seed, this is the way to proceed:
Thoroughly moisten the Medium upon which you are going to grow.
Whether you are using a Hemp Bag, Baby Blanket, or another medium - lay it on a plate or in a pan or something -
so that you don't end up watering your counter. If you are using a Tray with drainage slits to hold your medium, put it on a plate or in a solid (Drip) Tray -
or use a plate or pan to capture the water runoff.
Spread seeds sparsely on your thoroughly moistened medium.
There should be a bit of space around each seed but you are not expected to place them one at a time - just spread them out as much as you can and as evenly as you can, within reason.
You may cover your seeds:
If planting on soil or another medium in a Tray use another identical tray - up side down.
If using a Miniature Garden you can slide the tray into the central unit for the first 2-3 days (just 1 or 2 days if you soaked or pre-sprouted your seeds).
If using a Hemp Bag, Baby Blanket, or another medium - be creative. If it's on a plate then use an identical plate (upside down) as a cover.
It is not mandatory when growing Micro-Greens to cover them at all. Experiment for yourself and see what works best in your climate/location.
Place your Micro-Garden in a low-light, room temperature location (70° is optimal).
Keep the medium moist - but not soggy - by watering or misting with a Spray Bottle every day.
When your plants grow up and begin to shed their hulls they are ready for light so move them (if necessary) to a well lighted location.
If you go with sunlight be prepared to water more frequently. Room light will usually do quite nicely - and will not dry out your medium as quickly.
Keep the medium moist but not soggy by watering regularly.
Water from the side if possible to prevent injuring the tiny plants - especially if you are not using a Spray Bottle.
When your plants have open leaves which are green, they are done.
Harvest
Cut the plants just above the medium upon which they have grown.
During the final 8-12 hours minimize the surface moisture of your plants - they will store best in your refrigerator if they are dry to the touch. So if you water try to keep the water off the plants - just water the medium.
When you are ready to store them (I'll remind you that these degrade fast, so eat them instead of storing them if you can), if they are still damp - lay them between some paper towels or anything you prefer, and dry them very gently.
Transfer your crop to a plastic bag or the sealed container of your choice - glass is good.
We sell an amazing Produce Storage Bag that actually extends the shelf life of produce, if you're interested in the best of the best =;-)
Whatever you store them in; put them in your refrigerator - if you must.
* Dry Seed Volume
See our Notes (below) for Variations.
If using Sproutpeople's Single Harvest Pack and a 5x5 inch Tray; use the whole bag.
2 Teaspoons for our little 5 inch tray.
2 scant Tablespoons for an 10 inch square tray.
4 Tablespoon for an 10 x 20 inch tray.
The first time you grow these you should stick with our suggestions on volume - because the seed is so expensive, and because it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with a plants' growing habit. If you like growing them and want a denser crop, here is the way to determine how many seeds to start with:
Spread dry seed on the bottom of your Tray or plate (or whatever is a good representation of the area of your medium) so that the seed is spread evenly and fairly sparsely
(about 1/16 of an inch of space between seeds is the goal, but don't sweat it, there is no way you can do that even close to exactly - it is just a goal. The idea is that when your seeds are swollen with water, they will completely cover the medium).
Sprout Note:
You can also grow Onion using conventional sprouting methods as described on our Onion page.
Seed Storage
Alliums have the shortest shelf life of any sprouting seed. Since they are also so painfully expensive we strongly suggest that you freeze your seed.
The only concern is condensation. All you need to do to avoid condensation is to return the seed to the freezer within a few minutes - after you've removed what you need, to grow your current crop.
Also, Keep them in any sealed container. A plastic bag is fine. Glass is better. You do not need to thaw the seeds - just go ahead and Soak.
Crop Note
These are very slow to grow when compared with most other Micro-Greens. When sprouting them, they can take 2 weeks - as Micro-Greens they can take even longer.
It's hard to know when to stop with these. Mostly they just grow taller. These are Monocot plants (each seed contains one embryonic leaf - aka Cotyledon); initially the seed sends its root down, and its leaf up.
It will grow additional leaves in a garden, and its roots will multiply as well, but as a Micro-Green it will likely grow no more than one leaf. Like all Alliums its leaves are long thin tubes that grow straight up.
We plant these more densely than other Micro-Greens because the seeds are bigger than the tubular leaf they put out, and we like a nice big crop when we have to work this hard =;-)
We first grew Micro-Greens back in 1994. We were way ahead of the curve. Nobody was interested in them - not our farmers market customers, not our food stores (co-ops, natural food stores and grocery stores we delivered to every week), not our restaurants, nobody!
That did change some as the years passed, but we were always Sprout People first. Frankly, we prefer Sprouts to Micros, but we keep working with them. We want to like them more.
Soaking and Pre-Sprouting
Though our instructions above suggest these steps (for non-mucilaginous seeds), we have found them less and less necessary as we've worked with Micro-Greens.
We skip both now, concentrating first on thoroughly moistening our medium. We then plant the seeds (which are just spread atop that thoroughly moistened medium),
and mist them with a Spray Bottle. We then cover our planted seeds. We mist them with a Spray Bottle at least once a day until they sprout, and they bury their roots
in the medium. During those first 3-4 days we are misting heavily, to keep the medium thoroughly moist as well as the seeds.
We uncover the plants when they are firmly rooted - and about 1/4 - 1/2 inch tall.
Micro-Green Variations Don't Apply to Onion
There are varying opinions of what constitutes a Micro-Green. Traditionally it is just a plant grown to the Cotyledon stage, and cut above the medium upon which it is planted.
When we grow to this stage; we either grow on Baby Blanket or soil (any kind will do). Baby Blanket is less messy and works fine and dandy. We cut a piece to fit a plate, then
we follow our own instructions for keeping the medium and seeds-plants thoroughly moist. We use another of the same size plate - inverted - as a cover. We uncover our plants when they are about 1/2 inch tall, or when they are hitting the covering plate.
We then expose them to all the light our kitchen has to offer. We even use direct sunlight when available. We have to water them more often when we do this. When it comes to watering, We mist them with a Spray Bottle until the seeds have firmly rooted. After that -
when growing on a piece of Baby Blanket on a plate; pour water directly onto the plate. We gently tip and turn the plate so as much water as possible gets soaked up by the Baby Blanket, and then pour off most of the excess.
When growing on soil; we continue to spray with the Spray Bottle, but we keep the medium moist by adding water directly to the plate or solid tray it is sitting on.
We allow the medium to drink up what water it can, and then gently pour off the excess. Leaving a little water on the plate is fine - it will get sucked up before your next watering. If it doesn't, you are leaving too much water behind.
In the case of Alliums, the leaves are all the same. With all of our other seeds (with the exception of Peanuts), the plant that would be produced (if the seed were planted in a garden) bears its "fruit" above ground.
As Alliums are Bulbous Plants, they grow a Bulb below ground. There will be no bulb in the case of Micro-Greens, but the nature of the plant this seed would become is such that it puts less energy into leaf growth.
For that reason we don't grow these any more than to get them to the height we want. They'll not produce additional leaves soon enough to make them a candidate for a longer growing period. They are singular among our Micro-Greens for that reason.
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