Wheat Grass Initial Soak Time

[jthornton]

Recently I've had a lot of trays of wheat grass not germinate and have tiny roots and almost no growth and having a bit of a smell. I used to soak 24 Hrs as it was convenient but remember reading on a web store not to soak more than 12 hours. So I started only soaking 12 Hrs a day and have what I consider good growth.

So what have you folks found?

JT

 

[jthornton]

These trays are in order from left to right with the oldest on the right. The two between the green trays got 24 hour soak and the others only 12 hours.

JT

 

[Lexicon]

These trays are in order from left to right with the oldest on the right. The two between the green trays got 24 hour soak and the others only 12 hours.
View attachment 3097676
JT

That's really interesting. I don't really keep track of my soaking time, but on reflection it's about twelve hours. My system is much smaller than yours with only two trays going at any one time.

 

[Morrigan]

It depends on the type of wheat. When I sprout with soft red winter wheat, I find 6 to 8 hours is good. I forget and let it sit overnight, I get a very poorly sprouting, often moldy tray. Other types of wheat are fine to go anywhere between 8 and 18 hours.

 

[m1chelle1]

I really think heat plays a role here. I live in FL and there is almost always heat to work with, and we consistently sprout fodder for our geese. It seems, that the hotter it is outside, the less soak time. And i do think youre right, you CAN oversoak wheat, oat, or any whole grain used for fodder. I just go with, if its hot outside that day 80+ then i soak for prob only 4 hours. And if its not that hot, then i soak for a bit longer. Have had a lot of luck that way
**editing to add that we soak & sprout all our grains Outside**

 

[jthornton]

I really think heat plays a role here. I live in FL and there is almost always heat to work with, and we consistently sprout fodder for our geese. It seems, that the hotter it is outside, the less soak time. And i do think you're right, you CAN over soak wheat, oat, or any whole grain used for fodder. I just go with, if its hot outside that day 80+ then i soak for prob only 4 hours. And if its not that hot, then i soak for a bit longer. Have had a lot of luck that way
**editing to add that we soak & sprout all our grains Outside**

That's some good information. I do all my sprouting indoors so the heat swing might be 20°F from day and night and summer to winter. A bit cooler where I sprout in the basement than upstairs.

JT

 

[jthornton]

Ok, I've been soaking about 8 hours for the first soak and the sprouts are looking like they should. I'm soaking with just tap water and not adding anything. This may change as winter comes along and the ground water changes a bit like last winter.

I started leaving the initial soak tray on my table to remind me to drain it in the evening.

The front row is day 1 - 8.


JT

 

[m1chelle1]

Ok, I've been soaking about 8 hours for the first soak and the sprouts are looking like they should. I'm soaking with just tap water and not adding anything. This may change as winter comes along and the ground water changes a bit like last winter.

I started leaving the initial soak tray on my table to remind me to drain it in the evening.

The front row is day 1 - 8.
View attachment 3121600

JT

Looking good !!

 

[jthornton]

I've been putzing around with micro greens and made a discovery so I applied that to my wheat grass sprouts and got a huge improvement in the final product. I was getting random growth so I increased the dark time by 24 hours and now I get really good growth and nice green sprouts.

I was pulling the third one just as soon as I saw sprouts and putting it under the grow bulbs. Now I wait until the 4th day and the sprouts are about an inch or better tall to put them under the grow bulbs.


I should have taken a photo of the before but the final day would not look like these.


JT

 

[jthornton]

After forgetting to drain the initial soak a few times and left them to soak overnight with the resulting poor growth I decided to do a test and see if 1 hour initial soak will work. This is day 2 for the test batch and they look as good or better than day 2 with an 8 hour soak.

JT