Crop Failure

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Dwight Ward, Aug 8, 2021.

  1. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    I indulged Barney by buying him a small planter with seeds to grow cat grass. It cost 5 dollars. Notice the luxuriant growth promised by the box photo. I dutifully followed the instructions to the letter - basically to mist and cover the planter daily until the first shoot appears, at which time you remove the cover and place the planter in a sunny window, still misting it daily. I got a first shoot and did all that. After three days these are my results.

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    I can't help but notice a slight discrepancy between the hundreds of grass shoots shown on the package picture and my one lone blade of grass. Barney better really, really enjoy his 5 dollar treat.
     
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    Last edited: Aug 8, 2021
  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Buy better grass seeds. Or maybe it's the grow lights. I grew this from seeds, but in a larger bin, and have already cut it about a dozen times for Bubba. The seeds sprouted within a couple of days and the grass was long enough to cut in just over a week. Now I have to make sure it doesn't grow over the top of the bin because once Bubba knows where it's coming from, it's all over. He will be in that bin. It's actually a bright green but doesn't look like it in the photo, for some reason, probably because of the grow lights.
     
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  3. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    Are you saying just buy regular grass seeds?
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    What I am using is wheatgrass seeds, non-GMO, from Rose and Branch, which I bought on Amazon. If you do a search for cat grass, that's what you'll probably get, and there are a lot of options. I chose the ones I bought randomly, so I have nothing to compare them to, really, except that when I bought a small container of cat grass from PetSmart or PetCo once, I wasn't so happy with the results. Of course, with these, you'd need a container and some potting soil, too. I'm using some from FoxFarm, also available on Amazon, but that too, I chose randomly.

    Well, not exactly randomly, I suppose. I looked for stuff that had good ratings without being unreasonably expensive. I've used FoxFarm soil before but was not familiar with any particular brand of wheatgrass.
     
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    Last edited: Aug 8, 2021
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  5. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    Thanks. Ken.
    I'm going to try something I have on hand - bare spot repair grass seed. The package says it has two types of ryegrass and one type of fescue. It grows quick. I'll let it grow outside in my oven drip pan and bring it in for Barney to try when it gets some height.
    I'll have to trust to luck or Barney's instincts that it has no chemicals in it to harm him. ... and maybe he won't even want it. I used to take him for walks on a leash and I don't remember ever seeing him eat grass.
     
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  6. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    I just hunted down 'avina sativa' from the package blurb. It's oatgrass. Another business idea is swirling around in my slightly senile head.
     
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  7. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    As @Ken Anderson said, your problem is bad seed. If you are near any kind of ag store, you should be able to buy wheatgrass, ryegrass, or any other edible seed. Just make sure they are not treated with anything, especially fungicide, which you may find on your grass patch seeds. The fungicide is not supposed to affect the grass, but I never assume that such things are correct. I have also had terrible luck with purchasing seed on Amazon, as you never know their sources or quality. Ken seems to have had good luck though with wheatgrass.
     
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  8. Dwight Ward

    Dwight Ward Veteran Member
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    Thanks so much. I think I'll drop the idea of trying my bare spot grass seed and do what you and Ken suggest.
     
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  9. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Have you tried it yet if so hows it doing?
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    These guys sell a quality edible seed. The link is to their Cat Grass (wheat, oats, rye, barley, flax.)

    I've bought sprout seeds from Amazon and not had an issue, but everyone's experience is different.
     
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  11. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Wheat berries is what I sprout also. I don’t have a cat, but it can be cut up and used in a green smoothie. The wheat always sprouts in just a day or two.
    You can also put the wheat berries in a sprouting jar (any kind of jar with a lid that you can strain the water out), and sprout them overnight until you see that they are starting to sprout. Then, put the seeds in your sprouter container and lightly cover with the potting soil, or whatever you are using to sprout them in.
    Cover and keep moist and they should grow you and Barney a good crop.
     
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    Last edited: Aug 25, 2021
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  12. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I bought mine on Amazon. I try to limit the online shopping accounts that I have because they all end up getting hacked sooner or later.
     
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  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Yup. I've had my bank account drained once. Someone in Bangladesh is enjoying sports underwear on my dime (true story.) But I've been using that other website extensively for instructions and ideas, so I owed them some business. And they do have high quality stuff.

    So educate me about what sounds like growing any type of grass for cats. If this is not catnip (and it's not), then are you just feeding any green sprouted stuff to the cats? I've not heard of this.
     
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  14. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Here's an article on possible reasons why some cats eat grass. You're not really feeding it to them, and they don't usually eat grass often, or much of it when they do. When I was letting my cats out, among the first things they would do after getting outdoors was to roll in the gravel, and then nibble on some grass. Now that I am not letting them out, I like to have some grass for them in the event that it's fulfilling an actual need.

    Some cats eat grass more often than others. Ella would nibble on some from time to time when she was out, but Bubba is obsessed with it. When I carry him out, he wants to chew on the lilac leaves when I walk past the lilac bush with him, and then he chews on the chokecherry leaves when I walk past that tree with him. I figure the leaves were taking the place of the grass for him, so I'd rather he have grass.
     
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  15. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Interesting. I've had both my dog and my cat eat grass, always assuming it to be a digestive thing (particularly the chlorophyll.) I never thought of home-grown for that purpose. When people spoke of growing critter grass, I always thought of it as being an indoor place for the critter to play in, not cultivating a consumable substitute.
     
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