Dill Micro-Greens

Dill flavor in a tall and willowy Micro-Green. Dill is a curiously easy crop to grow as a Micro-Green, as long as you don't fuss with it too much.

This same seed can be used to grow Dill Sprouts.

Our Dill comes from a source which is certified organic.

Note: We sell Dill by the 1/4 pound. This is a very light seed. 1/4 pound is about a full cup.

Rating:
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$13.75 / 1/4 lb.
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Print Instructions

Plant 1-2 teaspoons of seed (for a 5x5 inch Tray) on thoroughly moistened medium.

No need to cover. Light helps Dill Germinate!

Keep your medium moist by watering lightly as needed. Don't drench!
Use Coconut Coir and you probably won't have to water at all after planting!

Harvest when the leaves are open and an inch or two tall (day 14-21).

Cut just above the medium, with a scissors or sharp knife.

Print Instructions

Yields approximately 10 times as many Micro-Greens (by weight) as seed "planted"
We put quotes around Planted because the seeds are spread atop a medium - not planted under.

Planting

PLEASE read the contents of Notes Tab (to the right)
for variations and a whole lot more information.

Grow your Micro-Greens on the ultimate medium -
Coconut Coir, mixed with Earthworm Castings, and maybe some Vermiculite.

My medium for Micros is made up of (by volume)
75% Coconut Coir
25% Earthworm Castings for added nitrogen (which is very good for green plant growth).
Mix it all up. I grow Dill - whether I'm going for Cotyledons (the first leaves), or True Leaves in a 5x5 Nursery Tray, unless I want a bigger crop, in which case I use a larger Nursery Tray, or our wonderful Stainless Steel Sprouter.
Given the unique method for growing Dill, I feel the depth of the tray is needed so the medium will stay moist longer.

Thoroughly moisten the Medium.

Measure your seed
For a thick crop of Cotyledon (first leaf) Micro-Greens plant the larger amount. For True Leaf Micros plant the smaller amount.
Stainless Steel Sprouter = 1 - 2 Tbs.
small Stainless Steel Sprouter = 1/2 - 1 1/2 Tbs.
5x5 Nursery Tray = 2 tsp. - 1 Tbs.
10x10 Tray = 1 - 3 Tbs.
10x20 Tray = 2 - 6 Tbs.

Spread seeds as evenly as you can - all over your thoroughly moistened Medium.

Do Not cover this crop of Micro-Greens. Dill's germination is aided by light.

Place your Micro-Garden in a fairly bright spot.
Since your seeds are out in the open (as opposed to covered), they may want a very light misting on days 2 and 4. The Medium (assuming you are using my recipe) won't want any more water for quite a while.

Growing and Greening

Dill wants little water.
Besides the light misting you won't need to water until at least a week has passed.
On day 7 - water the medium gently - around the edges. If you see any wilting earlier you should water then.

Room light will usually do quite nicely - and will not dry out your medium as quickly. If you go with sunlight you may need to water more frequently. You know when water is needed by weight. I feel the weight of my tray when I first plant. When the medium is thoroughly moist it is at its heaviest. When it gets light I water. Trust yourself.

When your plants have open leaves which are green, they are done - unless you're going for True Leaves, in which case you need to keep watering and tending your crop for another 2-3 weeks.

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 fairly quickly, 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.

Great Job Sprout farmer!

Dill seed planted on my thoroughly moistened medium: 60% Coconut Coir, 20% Vermiculite, and 20% Earthworm Castings.
Don't even cover your crop. Light will help it Germinate.

24 hours later....

48 hours later...
If you look really closely you will see a few roots. A little bit of germination happening.

12 hours later....
More germination.

12 hours later...

12 hours later...

12 hours later....
Substantial plant growth is going on.

12 hours later....
And yet further growth. Dill doesn't grow evenly, but it will end up relatively even by harvest time.

24 hours later....
Are plants not AMaZing!?

24 hours later....

24 hours later....

24 hours later....
This is a great time to harvest. Taste your crop. The leaves you see are Cotyledons - the stage at which we harvest the vast majority of Micro-Greens. If you want to go for more Dill Weed flavor you'll want True Leaves. It'll take another couple - three weeks - but it's pretty worth it.

If you are going to keep growing you'll need to water your medium (hopefully my recipe) once every 5-7 days. And, keep your garden in the light.

30 days have passed since this Dill was planted. True Leaves are now well established and the flavor of the crop is that of fresh Dill Weed.

Here is a close up of the True Leaves. Mmmmmm!
FYI - You do eat the entire plant, above the medium. Don't forget too chew =:-D

Dill requires - in fact demands little attention. Plant it and leave it alone and it grows. Light seems to speed Dill's germination so it doesn't even need to be covered. Its hulls are so light and tender that their presence is of zero consequence to the finished crop. It takes a long time to get to True Leaves, but the dill weed flavor makes it worth the wait.

This years crop grows wonderfully and quite uniformly.

Seed Shelf Life: 1-2 years. Store in cool, dark, dry spot. Store in freezer to extend shelf life.


Sproutpeople and Micro-Greens

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 because we find them plumper and more texturally pleasing -  but we keep working with them.  Some seeds (especially mucilaginous seeds)  won't grow as sprouts and Micro-Greens are SO gorgeous and offer a lot of unique and really cool possibilities.

Soaking and Pre-Sprouting

Though our instructions (in the Growing Instructions Tab - to the left) used to 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, when appropriate.  We then cover our planted seeds.  We mist them with a Spray Bottle at least once a day until they sprout, and then bury their roots  in the medium.  During those first 2-3 days we are misting heavily for some - - not at all for others. We uncover the crops at different stages, depending on what we are doing with a particular crop.  Keep reading to learn more.

Fertilizing Micro-Greens

When growing on a soilless medium like Hemp Felt - it is advisable to use Liquid Kelp Feritlizer to give your plants  additional nutrients to draw upon.  When we use Kelp we dilute 1 tsp. in 1 quart of water (this is a higher concentration than the product label calls for).  We use it in a Spray Bottle or by watering the medium directly.  We use it every time we water.  The perfect container for these soilless mediums is our inexpensive Compostable Tray. If you plant on soil - or better yet with Coconut Coir (our FAVorite), mix in 25% Earthworm Castings  for the ultimate nutrient rich, moisture retaining planting medium.  Mix them together thoroughly before moistening.

Micro-Green Variations

There are varying opinions of what constitutes a Micro-Green.  Traditionally it is just a plant grown to the Cotyledon (first leaf) stage, and cut above the medium upon which it is planted. When we grow to this stage; we either grow on Hemp Felt, soil (any kind will do) , or our favorite -  Coconut Coir.  Hemp Felt 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-sprouts 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  Hemp Felt 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 Hemp Felt, and then pour off most of the excess. When growing on soil or  Coconut Coir; 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/in.   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, cut back a bit next time.

There are some nowadays who want a Micro-Green to be a plant which puts out a True Leaf before they'll call it a Micro-Green.   We find that concept Very interesting, so we have worked to make that happen.

True Leaves

The first thing is to plant less seed.  Just how much is the question.  The general rule is this: The more space your plant has to grow roots - the bigger it can grow. We are currently using 1/4 teaspoon in a 5x5 inch tray.  That leaves quite a bit of room between the seeds-plants, but gives them enough space to grow to the True Leaf stage.  This can take 2 weeks or more.   The main thing that is needed is More Light.  Plants get "leggy" when they need to reach for light.  We use that to our advantage in all other circumstances in the Sprout World, but here we want to minimize the legginess of the plants.  If you can put a light right above your crop -  or keep it in direct sunlight, that will help.  Keep everything adequately moist. Remember - the more light the faster the medium and plants will dry.  This may sound like a lot more work, but really it isn't much more than usual. We cover the seeds only until they have sprouted when growing this way.  We plant on Coconut Coir (which hold moisture like nothing else we've ever worked with)  enriched with 25% Earthworm Castings, which add nitrogen that a plant uses to grow leaves.  When making up the mix,  do not exceed 25% Earthworm Castings as too much nitrogen can burn your plants (they actually whither and die when the soil is too "hot" - which means it has too much nitrogen).   Mix the castings into the base  Coconut Coir, or soil (any kind will work, though we do not advise mixes that are heavily peat moss as we find it hard to work with and we don't find the crop turns out as well) - it is the roots that will need access to the rich medium. If growing a mix, not all of the plants will grow True Leaves at the same time.  Keep growing until most have them.  Harvest then and eat them up.  Though you can store Micro-Greens,  they degrade quickly, and since you have put so much work in these - you should enjoy them at their peak.

The Next Variation

The next obvious step (to us anyway) we find really exciting.  It is to grow even fewer seeds into even fewer plants.  Those plants will grow more leaves.  They will be more like Baby-Greens than Micro-Greens.  They will require more time. They may re-grow more quickly because they'll have a bigger root-mass. The container (tray, pot, etc.) they grow in will likely be too small for that root-mass to live long, but it's possible.  When it comes right down to it, we're talking about an indoor-garden.  All the other stuff we offer is about indoor gardening, but this is more like a garden.  Not many of us have space in our homes to Garden inside, but we love the idea.  We're working on this, and we'll tell you what we find out as soon as we know something.  It was gardening that eventually led us to sprouting.  We feel like this is closing that circle started so long ago - now it is sprouting leading back to gardening @:-)  Start with Coconut Coir enriched with Earthworm Castings and you'll have a  great experience.  Happy Micro-Greening!

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