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Can I grow Microgreens out of birdseed?

Riona Abhainn

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posted 2 years ago

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I grew my first "crop" of microgreens in a jar in the window and it was so cool! My MIL sent me some seeds to start with, but those will only last maybe 2 more batches so I'm looking for a way to get seeds in bulk for growing microgreens on the regular for us.

Would birdseed be a good source? Is there anything in birdseed that we _can't eat as a microgreen?

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Nancy Reading

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posted 2 years ago

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My mum always has a crop of cress growing on her windowsill. They are so nutritious to add to sandwiches year round. I'm not sure whether all bird seeds are from species that grow edible plants, but the idea isn't impossible. From microveggy I found this list:

Sunflower
White Millet
Red Millet
Canary Seed
Peanuts
Safflower
Nyjer
Corn
Milo

Of these only nyjer is not mentioned in pfaf as edible as leaves (although canary seed is basically grass!). They were talking about growing out the mature plants for feeding birds direct, which is a slightly different topic.

I think if I didn't know how the seeds were treated and what species they were, I would be fairly cautious about eating the sprouts personally. It's possible that different bird mixes have different seed content.

Other sources maybe commercial seed sources of leafy greens and brassica (you'll get more for your $) or (IMO) best is to grow out some of your microgreens to harvest your own seed for future greens if you have space (and the birds don't beat you to it!)

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Burra Maluca

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posted 2 years ago

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I grew out a handful in my garden years and years ago when I lived in Wales.

That amazing looking plant that I'd never seen before turned out to be the highly toxic datura. Not the sort of thing I would like to eat in my microgreens!

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Riona Abhainn

pollinator

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Location: Milwaukie Oregon, USA zone 8b

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Well then, to the feed store with me. I don't want to use something dangerous. I think I have enough mustard seed for one more batch after what I'm currently growing, but after that we need it for seasoning and I will find some bulk seed that will be relevent. And use birdseed for birds. Thanks all.

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Jim Garlits

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Broccoli microgreens have been in the news a lot lately because of a compound found in spades in the early stages of growth: sulforaphane.

It is one of the healthiest things you can eat.

One pound of seeds costs around $20. You put two tablespoons of seeds to soak in a Mason jar for twelve hours and then rinse and drain them through a wire screen a couple times per day for five or six days. It fills one tightly packed jar, which you'd pay around $3 for at the grocery store.

How many jars will you get from a pound of seeds?

23.

That many containers of microgreens at the store would cost you $70, but you only pay $20 for the seeds. And you don't have those pesky plastic trays to deal with from the store.

You saved over $50, and boosted your health in the process!

j

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Anne Miller

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posted 2 years ago

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Birdseed comes in a lot of varieties, though those are mostly are milo and millet.

Buying birdseed is a lot cheaper than buying microgreen seeds.

Though microgreen seeds are a different variety of radish, cress, mustard, red cabbage, broccoli, kale, pea and sunflowers.

It might be that folks like the flavor of the microgreen seeds.

I usually do sprouts in winter and I like the different flavors for different purposes.

Here is a thread on the health benefits of millet:

https://permies.com/t/29378/Millet-birdseed

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Joe Hallmark

pollinator

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Location: Central Texas

posted 2 years ago

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Radish seed is $1-2 a pound from my ag seed store I can’t remember

Bart Simons

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posted 2 years ago

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I use Niger (bird) seeds to make microgreens – it’s quite unusual but Niger has a lot of advantages, it’s high in phosphor, Kalium, Iron and very rich in vitamin K – in Africa and India the oil of Niger seeds is also used to treat Rheumatic pains by using the oil as a lotion – I consume the microgreens of Niger in my smoothies but also in salads - I have a muscle disease, one way or the other I have the feeling that a lot of discomfort of my muscle disease is relieved by using the microgreens as a food source – I use and have used in the past years a lot of different microgreens and sprouts but only when I start to use the Niger Microgreens the discomfort of my muscle pains was relieved, though there aren’t any studies which proofs my claim, I kept on using it – beside Niger bird seeds, I also use Milk Thistle (bird) seeds, Buckwheat (bird) seeds and sunflower (bird) seeds – they’re a lot cheaper as the seeds designated for microgreens or sprouting – bird seeds usually sell for around 5€/kg while seeds for sprouting or microgreens going from 20€/kg upwards

Anne Miller

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Bart, welcome to the forum.

It sounds like niger seeds are popular with finches and has a pretty yellow flower:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guizotia_abyssinica

I wonder how Riona turned out with the microgreens.

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Rad Anthony

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Location: PA

posted 1 year ago

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Yes! Wow I thought nobody did that. When I was low on funds I use to buy sunflower seeds real cheap and sprout em. Make sure you buy the ones without any chemicals. They put chemicals on the animal feeds sometimes.

Unless you have a store that sells them loose where you buy and then they weight it. Like a feed store. Deep food plot ones are good too.

And cheap. If you have a small area for a meadow you could plant the meadow and harvest the micro greens like that too.

Kim Wills

pollinator

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Location: Southern Tier NY; and NJ

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posted 1 year ago

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Like others said, I'd be very wary of any chemicals they might put in birdseed, such as to prevent mold or moisture or insects.
I hope it's ok to post a specific place to buy from (I have no affiliation with them, I just love them), it's a small company that only sells organic seeds, specifically for sprouting or microgreens (though the seeds can all grow into full sized plants, of course!). They also have lots of instructional videos and info even if you don't buy from them. https://sproutpeople.org/
They sell by pounds or half-pounds, or in sample sets of multiple small bags to try. They have blends, too; all different price ranges depending on the seed. Even if a blend says it's for dogs or birds, they're all human-quality.

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Riona Abhainn

pollinator

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Location: Milwaukie Oregon, USA zone 8b

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Hi J and Ann and other friends. I've learnt a lot since I posted this question. I finished up with my MIL's seeds she gave me and then sort of got lazy about microgreens. But now I'm using broccoli seeds, got a nice sizable bag of them online and about to eat our first batch. I found that they get bigger faster than other seedsprouts do, probably why they're the most popular. I intend to have microgreens for us frequently, this first broccoli batch is going in our salad tomorrow night with the last clump of chickweed from the volunteers in my pots which grew over the winter and into early spring here.

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Carol Sloanes

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posted 5 days ago

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I would be cautious using bird seed as it may have been treated with fungicide. Mustard seed is fast growing and alfalfa seed produces delicious micro greens.

Thekla McDaniels

gardener

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Location: Western Slope Colorado.

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A few sources for seeds suitable for human consumption.

https://www.herbco.com/

Link to Monterey Herb Company. Today’s price on organic whole mustard seed is $7.92 per pound.

https://www.sfherb.com/

San Francisco herb company, their mustard seed is less than $5.00 per pound, you get a discount for buying 5# or more of the same item. If you buy 5 pounds of mustard seed, you can make mustard. Yummy, and a great gift for the upcoming wild gift giving extravaganza.

https://pleasanthillgrain.com/grain-sample-1-pound

They’re out of stock on amaranth, teff, millet, a few others. These are food products. The millet they sell is hulled. I’m not sure if it will sprout. They sell 5 gallon buckets of grains wrapped for storage, but they also sell one pound samples, 12 bucks plus shipping.

A good place to know about. And they are very nice, and when you call them a real live person answers the phone, an employeeof their company, not a robot or a call center elsewhere.

Best luck: satisfaction

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Cathi Allen

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Location: Central Ohio

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posted 5 days ago

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I've fallen away from doing sprouting and microgreens, but a few things I learned when I was doing it:

1 - Most birdseed is treated to not sprout, because it is often seed that modern western homes consider weeds, and they don't want them cropping up in the yard. If you are absolutely set on trying to sprout birdseed look for the cheapest junkiest you can find to be most likely to sprout. (not saying it would be safe and uncontaminated with other stuff, but if you were determined to do it...)

2 - Todd's Seeds, at least a few years ago, had some of the widest variety and best pricing in sprouting seeds. And if you can sprout it, you can grow it into microgreens.

3 - If you are looking at using growing pads for microgreens, be very careful, they are often pretty chemically, and plain old light soil and fine sifted compost works fine without getting used up.

Thekla McDaniels

gardener

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I was looking around for sprouting information.
Hulled millet: often the germ is removed in the hulling process. No germ?= no baby plant = no sprout

Then it goes on to say that even un hulled millet has a very low sprouting success

This was from Cultures for Health which I rate as highly reliable.

Most bird seed I have seen includes a LOT of millet.

Best luck: satisfaction

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Dennis Barrow

pollinator

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Location: 10 miles NW of Helena Montana

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posted 4 days ago

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A bit of a back story: We had 4 hens go broody that we didn't know about. Over a 3 week period we had an extra 15 or so extra birds. (2 more did this since then, 12 more chicks).
Our back yard is fenced to keep the chickens and deer out. One of this springs chicks found out she could fly over the fence. The wife had a large bird feeding area and the spilt seed grows wild underneath the feeders. This chicken is in there everyday eating at the sprouting seeds.
Here is what I am noticing with this chicken, she is visibly larger than the others that are her age. The only difference between her and the others is all the sprouts.
I will be culling about 20 chickens this next month. Will be checking her weight against the others then.

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