How To Grow Microgreens Indoors

Fill Containers With Soil

• Wet the potting soil or seed starting mix. Straight out of the bag many will be dry, especially peat-based ones. Pour the soil into a clean bucket or plastic bin and add water.
  • Give it time to absorb the water. The soil should be moist like a wrung-out sponge.
• Containers can be be recycled plastic with drainage holes, or you can purchase microgreen containers, including flats with no drainage holes to hold individual inserts with drainage holes.
• Fill the container with about an inch of moist soil.
• Tamp down the soil to remove air pockets.

Sow Microgreen Seeds

• Scatter microgreen seeds across the surface of the soil. Don’t worry about spacing; smaller seeds can be fairly close together. Larger seeds, like peas, need more room.
• Use seeds labeled specifically to be grown as microgreens. That way you’ll get more seeds in a packet and know those seedlings are edible.
• Tamp down the seeds to ensure good contact with the soil.
• Add a label to the container with the seed variety written on it.
  • This is especially helpful if you’re sowing several types of microgreens at the same time.
• Cover the seeds lightly with soil, then gently mist with water from a spray bottle.

Bonus: This microgreens growing kit is simple to set up and has everything you need to grow your own microgreens from scratch.

Cover the Containers and Put In a Dark Location

• Cover the containers or place in a plastic bag. The cover can be clear or one that block lights.
  • This keeps the seeds from drying out.
• Place your microgreens in a dark location for the first few days where the air temperature is around 70 degrees.
  • In the dark, your seedlings will grow taller trying to find the light. That will make them easier to harvest later.

Check Your Microgreens Twice a Day

• Lift the cover and check your microgreens twice a day. If the soil appears to be drying out, mist with clean water. Depending on the variety, seeds may begin to germinate within a few days or up to a week,
• Once seedlings are about an inch tall, they’re ready to go under lights.
  • Don’t panic if your seedlings look yellow at this stage. They’ll green up quickly under lights.

Place Growing Microgreen Seedlings Under Lights

• When seedlings are about an inch tall, remove the cover and place the container under a light. A basic LED shop light will work.
• Use a timer to turn lights off and on so microgreens receive 12 to 15 hours of light per day. Or, if you have a really bright south window, grow them with just the daylight from that window.
• Water seedlings enough to ensure the soil doesn’t dry out. Be careful not to flatten the seedlings. Water from the side, or place the container in a tray of water so the roots pull it from the bottom.
• Seedlings will soon green up under the lights.

Harvest Your Microgreens

• Harvest once they have healthy green seed leaves, or later when you see the first set of true leaves.
• Harvest by cutting them off with clean pruning scissors or kitchen scissors well above the soil line. This way, you avoid mixing soil with the microgreens.
• Rinse off the cut microgreens, blot them dry with paper towels and enjoy. They’re best eaten soon after cutting, but can be stored in a refrigerator for a week or two.
• Dump the soil out, clean the container and start a new batch of microgreens with fresh potting soil and more seeds.
  • Fresh potting soil lessens the chance of seedlings being infected with a soil-borne disease called damping off, which kills them. Microgreens won’t grow back once cut off.