The coir (and hemp mat) is recommended when growing microgreens and grasses (they sell cat grass seeds.) One thing I wanted the tray for was to concurrently grow a small amount of a variety of sprouts. Jars are limited to a single variety. Soil would really be nonsensical for that application, since--by definition--sprouts have no roots...so I will just use damp paper towel. Soil (or coir, or hemp) would be appropriate when I want to grow a crop of mircogreens. As I said, I've done lots of houseplant (and veggie garden) stuff before. Any time I've messed with seeds, they've been planted in soil as the start to a mature plant. But none of it is really rocket science. All you need is faith as small as a mustard seed...
They are a way to start seedlings without using plastic pots. I find it great for starting hard-to-transplant things such as cucumbers, squash and corn, and the smaller blocks are good for tracking germination rates in seeds as they age while still recovering the plants. If you garden on a fairly large scale, you might be interested it trying them. It is apparently used on commercial scale in Europe, and most of the equipment I buy is manufactured in the UK, who are the ones who developed the system. Here is a video concerning their use: link
Fascinating! I can see how that would save so much money by not using peat pots, and probably guarantee a better transplant success. I thought it was interesting she said to not worry about over-compacting the blocks. One would think otherwise. I guess it starts with the proper soil density, which is probably why you blend in peat. Thanks for that! Just so much to learn in this world...
Peat pots don't work well here as our soil temps are too low, and the microbiome is slow to develop every year. The university in Fairbanks even recommends using sugar or molasses to jump start bacterial action. For the same reason, things like lasagna gardens don't do well here, and no-till gardening is not very useful.
I harvested the broccoli/clover/alfalfa sprouts blend and the broccoli-only sprouts. The blend has a fresh grassy taste, and the broccoli actually has the mild flavor of broccoli. So far, I'm liking the fenugreek and the black mustard the best. I've ordered some radish seed to sprout because I like the spiciness of the mustard. That should be it for the sprouts I want to sample. I got enough seed to last forever.
I just rinsed off a batch of daikon radish sprouts and another batch of broccoli sprouts. Those radish sprouts are HOT HOT HOT!!!!! I just put a few on top of a chicken salad sandwich to give it a little kick. They might be good on a salad or tossed into some stir fried rice after it's cooked. But their heat is almost unpleasant. So far I've sprouted fenugreek, broccoli, black mustard, alfalfa/clover/broccoli mix, and daikon radish. I agree with @Yvonne Smith, the fenugreek are my favorite. Second so far are the black mustard sprouts, because of their mild horseradish flavor. The grassy-tasting alfalfa mix might be tied with the black mustard for second place...but the fenugreek are a clear winner. My brown mustard seeds did not sprout, except for a couple that looked as though they were trying (just a tiny white spot where a sprout barely started but failed.) Those seeds were purchased for cooking, not specifically as sprout seeds (same as the successful fenugreek and black mustard seeds.) I have these on hand to sprout next: soy beans, mung beans, lentils, red lentils, and black beans. After that I may try growing microgreens with them. I've purchased a cheap tray for that. And it will be possible to do a small quantity of a bunch of different ones, since--unlike a sprout jar--you can keep them separate. I really like this as an easy way to add a healthy ingredient to my foods.
I just started a batch of fenugreek and a batch of red lentils. This is the first I've done lentils of any kind. I'm soaking them overnight in water with a little of the kelp fertilizer I bought, as I've read some have done. This is the first time I've tried this. I also have a control batch of fenugreek seeds without the fertilizer so I can make an objective comparison.
Here are two batches of fenugreek I just rinsed off. One of them was fed liquid kelp, the other was not. After you've tried to notice a difference, click the Spoiler Alert to see if you were right. I've got a bad case of observer bias going on with this. Spoiler: Click to see which batch was fertilized The one on the right was fertilized.
I can’t actually see much difference. The one on the right looks a little greener, but maybe was just where it got the sunshine a little better than the one on the left, so it is greener because of that.
Yeh, the one on the right also seems to be a little plumper and firmer (almost "healthier") in person than the one on the left. The two batches sat on a windowsill next to each other well out of direct sunlight for just a single day. When I try this experiment again, I'll mark the underside of the lid rather than tagging the outside of the jar so I can make an unbiased assessment.