Media for sprouts ?

I want to do some sprouts with some green leaves for my rabbits. But i don't want to use bagged soil since it contains peat moss and i think we should'nt use that from a conservation land point. I have think about coffee grounds, but it is probably not good fot the rabbit... Maybee sawdust or rotted sawdust ? For now my garden soil and compost are frosted under the snow, so it would not be an option this winter.

Suggestion ?

I am curious why you have reservations about using coffee grounds in a growing medium?

Pure grounds on their own might not be any good for growing much other than fungi but if you have access to sawdust, have you considered mixing it with the sawdust and rabbit droppings and even some food scraps, allow to break down then plant in it?

In the past, I have layered a planting box with garden soil, food scraps from a bokashi bucket, grounds, sawdust, grass clippings etc, topped with soil and planted into it.

If your soil is too frozen to dig out, potting compost may be your only other option to use in you top and bottom layers.

I think i had discarted the coffee ground because i had imagine it leaching cofee haha ! And i wanted smething more local than coffee waste. But since that, i have found an research article about using sawdust who have encouraged my in this way. I have read too that a too fine medium could become waterlogged, so your are probably right about coffee ground on his own. Don't think i need to add compost or rabbit droppings if i only do sprounting, but i keep the idea for starting my garden plants this way yes !

Growing in sawdust

Yesterday i have started some sprouting in rotted sifted sawdust since it is what i use in my composting toilet, i will post a picture latter this week surely. It will probably be ok about nitrogen deficiency since it is rotted. I mesured the ph in a neutral liquid of the sawdust too, it was around 6.5-6.6, so that is comforting!

I remembered to have read in an old book about gardener using some form of black earth forming into rotting tree, i should walk the forest of my neighboor to see if i found some.

Why not just use water?

Here is an article about sprouting for those of you that are new to sprouting:

https://www.instructables.com/id/Sprouting-your-own-Sprouts/



https://permies.com/t/173417/kitchen/sprouts



https://permies.com/t/72247/Sprouts-Sprouts

There is even a PEP BB for that:

(Some for you and make some extra for the rabbits)



https://permies.com/wiki/157724/Sprout-seeds-cooking-PEA-BB#1342372

I was thinking that if a grow the seeds on a some sort of soil, i could get more green stuff fore the rabbit. Not sure if it make a big difference thought

okay, I can speak to a few things here (we do rabbits, sprouting, and coffee!!)

First, coffee grounds and rabbits go well together. I learned from a local rabbitry to use coffee grounds to absorb urine under the rabbit cages, and even to spread it in areas within their hutches where they urinate (it completely eliminates any smell, and makes excellent compost). Where it is in their cages (i have one female who likes to wee in the corner of a "room" in her hutch on top of a wooden molding), they leave it alone. Don't eat it, lick it, whatever, it's neutral to them (I wouldn't want them standing in it as bedding, i don't think, but otherwise it's fine).

As for sprouting, I haven't done it in a while because I'm in high summer and there's plenty of forage, but come winter in June I'm sprouting food for the bunnies.
I keep old potting soil around specifically for mixing bokashi and sprouting medium, but any old dirt will do if you have any (and I use a TINY bit-- just enough to cover the bottom of the tray).
And as Anne says, you don't even need it, depending on what you're sprouting. If I'm growing sunflowers, peas, or maybe lentils I'll use some sort of substrate- dirt, compost, or even newspaper! Smaller things, I might not even bother.  I would seriously use whatever I had.
This may vary depending on how many rabbits you're feeding, and what kind of plants you're sprouting. What are your plans?

I'm terminating my first year with my rabbits, i wanted some grazing animals since i had space enough to feed them free and make hay by hand with a scythe. I wanted to offer them some food variety in winter beside vegetable from the root cellar. And i have plenty of surplus of my seed savings from the garden every year, so i was thinking of growing somes to them, mostly peas and sunflower for a start, maybe some whole grain that i keep for the chicken too. I wanted to use a media for it because i was thinking microgreens may have been better than just sproutings.

Thanks for the idea about using coffee ground in their cage, i normally just tossed it on the compost.

they will LOVE peas and sunflowers. In fact I grow sunflowers in the garden specifically for them to eat (the leaves; they don't care much for the heads or seeds, but the leaves are favorites).

I have a bunch of sprouting trays roughly the size of a sheet of normal letter-sized printer paper. For my two rabbits, that is probably enough for a week or two (just as long as the sprouts stay fresh and don't get slimy). I do rinse the "roots" and give the sprouts to them roots and all.
For sprouts like wheat or oats that make a dense "cake" I cut them into portions. I have found that my rabbits don't like wheatgrass much, but I haven't tried it lately and their tastes do change.

Thanks Tereza! You're a big help! i will try normal sprouting then. It may not be a daily thing for me since i have no running water and need to melt snow to have liquid, but i will do it !

the good thing with sprouts is that the only thing they really need is time, aside from soaking and regular rinsing (in jars) or spraying (in trays).
Give it a shot, I bet your bunnies will love it.