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The Microgreens Boom: From COVID Craze to Nutrient Powerhouse · Hydroponics Daily

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  Hello there, welcome back to Hydroponics Daily with me Dr. Russell Sharp,
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  the inventor of gold leaf as
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  it's known in the US or liquid gold as it's known in the UK and elsewhere.
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  Today we're going to be talking about microgreens and this is an area that's
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  been really really popular in hydroponics and indoor growing in the last say seven years.
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  It was an absolute boom during
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  covid because loads of people
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  go into hydroponics but not least microgreens because
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  microgreens were pushed heavily on
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  youtube and other social media as a
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  sort of not a get rich quick but a really good side hustle
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  something you could do at home fairly labor intensive
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  but the returns on investment were really good
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  so not like a you
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  know a passive income thing but certainly a good the
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  economics seemed really good you know you planted some
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  seeds in a tray and then a few days later you had a crop you could harvest
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  and take away to some restaurants who would buy it and everyone
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  loved microgreens and really appreciated the high nutrient value well that was
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  the phrase anyway so microgreens the idea is that you you grow a plant you sprout
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  it and then you grow it for a few days until either just the cotyledons have
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  appeared or the first true leaves you don't go beyond that.
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  They're not just small plants, they are just the germinated plants that have greened up.
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  They've still got all the phytonutrients from inside the plants.
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  And this, the reason they got really popular was because they.
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  There was a study done that showed that I think it was broccoli microgreens
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  were really high in phytonutrients and extremely, like many multiples higher
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  than standard broccoli.
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  And you only needed a handful of microgreens to give you kilograms of broccoli phytonutrients.
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  And this research went wild and especially went wild because it was featured
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  on the Joe Rogan Experience.
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  That guy, you know, that guy who comes second to me in all the podcast charts.
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  So once it was on the joe rogan show
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  broccoli microgreens went mad and radish microgreens
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  things like this and any of the microgreens that were featured on
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  that joke that one joe rogan episode maybe
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  like six years ago they're still the most popular
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  microgreens in the world to this day because
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  they were featured on the joe rogan podcast so if
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  ever any any of you are wondering should i start a
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  podcast are podcasts powerful do they influence people's
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  opinion and things like this well that joe rogan experience
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  show shows that they do because there are
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  many there are many amazing micro greens but
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  none of them come close to the sales volume of
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  the ones that were featured on that one episode i mean one of the ones
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  that i'm really interested in is golden popcorn and
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  this one you don't even need any lights to grow you just get a load of these
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  golden popcorn seeds stick them in a tray germinate them and then they must
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  not go green they stay golden because they keep them in the light in the in
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  the in the dark a bit like when you go back to the previous episode we did a
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  few weeks a few days ago it's a forced vegetable.
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  They are etiolated they stay sugary sweet these
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  popcorn these popcorn microgreens as soon
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  as they go green bitter horrible and these
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  popcorns can be used in cooking and they can be used in baking as well so popcorn
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  golden popcorn is something i'm going to look at we've got a customer neil who
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  has a nursery up in Nottinghamshire and he's one of the only people in the UK
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  who sell golden popcorn so check out Simply Seeds.
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  Dotco.uk or simplyseeds.com he's based
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  at howick's nursery up in nottinghamshire he's got all sorts
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  of he's got his own nursery and he's got his own farm but that's
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  certainly something we're going to look at but i would i'd go
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  there if you were in the uk some so golden popcorn's
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  one what other things can you pea shoots are really popular
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  sunflowers are really popular but you have to make sure you
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  get the right sunflower top tip make sure you research
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  your sunflowers because if they have the kernel from the seed still attached
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  it's a massive problem them and you cannot sell them you have to go around and
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  hand pick off all the seed husks the seed coats to actually make them saleable
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  and other things you can grow microgreens are basil.
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  Amaranth this is off the top of my head i've done absolutely sod all
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  research for this episode apologies but they
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  are that's the basic premise they don't need much nutrition the beauty
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  of gold leaf is you can just germinate your microgreens
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  on paper towel or cotton wool you don't
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  need to actually use any grow media and the problem with microgreens is you
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  waste a lot of grow media you you're only growing these
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  plants for a few days and yet you
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  have to put grow media in there well with gold
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  leaf because you supply every essential nutrient and the water and the ph correction
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  you don't need to bother with grow media and also grow media is a massive source
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  of potential source of contamination remember people are not going to be eating
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  these they're not going to be necessarily washing and cooking them before you eat them.
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  You might say on the packet, please wash these before you use them, but...
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  Have you ever used lettuce or any sort of basil without washing it?
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  I have, and other people will as well. So you've got to remember that if you're growing them.
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  Micro-greens often fall down and it becomes a chore.
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  It becomes a process. It becomes something that has to be monitored and it becomes laborious.
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  And if you're not getting the profits that you thought you were going to get,
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  then that becomes disheartening.
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  And that's where most micro-green people give up. a lot
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  of microgreen companies start selling the sort
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  of programs again which get rich quick schemes because
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  they realize they're not making the money in microgreens and that's
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  sort of a path you can you find people going down there
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  are loads of podcasts on microgreens some devoted to just
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  specific types of microgreens other things
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  you can say about microgreens they're distinct from sprouts so
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  if you've got things like mung beans they're just grown in
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  the dark you don't need any lights you don't need nutrition you
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  don't need any grow media they're distinct from microveg where
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  microveg are like little carrots or little turnips and
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  things like that that you grow in sort of polytunnels or
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  greenhouses for much longer until you've got
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  a harvestable crop they're used in sort of high-end they're
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  also used in high-end michelin star restaurants these sort of tiny little
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  turnip on your plate with some dew that they are interesting i've experimented
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  with microgreens making sure that you've got the right dose rate for gold leaf
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  or as it's called in the uk liquid gold and the dose rate that you need for
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  microgreens is tiny it's like less than 0.5,
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  mills per liter because you're just providing them a little bit of bump before they they.
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  Are harvested and also helps with dechlorination and
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  ph correction as well as gold leaf so that's that's the reason i'd
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  use it as i say the the actual health benefits
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  are debatable but certainly the evidence
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  you know the research tends to show that they are very high in
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  all sorts of beneficial phytochemicals the
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  brassicas particularly so brassicas you're talking about a chemical
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  called isothiocyanate which sounds
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  poisonous doesn't it cyanate like cyanide it's actually very
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  good for you contains sulfur and it's
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  anti-cancer so you know always make sure you
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  eat plenty of greens big problem in
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  the world nowadays i think is people relying on
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  supplements and health supplements and you know saying
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  oh it's got all the nutrients and all the minerals you need well that's
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  great but you need phytochemicals from
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  plants for a healthy gut and a healthy immune
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  system and just healthy living you know you can't you can get vitamin c in a
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  tablet sure you can but you need phytochemicals humans have evolved with plants
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  eating plants and you need antioxidants and things like this and also there
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  will be lots of contaminants and supplements so i'm a big.
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  Big, what's the word? Opposite of a proponent, a big anti-supplement guy.
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  I think if you've got a healthy lifestyle, there's no requirement for supplements in your life.
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  And things like microgreens and making sure you get five fruits and vegetables
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  a day is really important.
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  Fiber as well. That's a good point.
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  Fiber, you don't get from supplements. Fiber is what you need to stop yourself getting bowel cancer.
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  And that's why the rate of bowel cancer in Nigeria and places where they have
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  extremely high fiber-rich diets is way lower than the Western world.
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  So if you rely on supplements and you eat loads of high-protein meals,
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  you're not getting the fiber.
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  Your food is staying in your gut for weeks and you're
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  just going to fill up with these cancer causing agents so a
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  bit of a soapbox moment that really but eat your
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  microgreens eat your veg eat your fiber everyone
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  goes on about carbs and proteins but fiber that's the
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  one and phytochemicals eat your microgreens people
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  what i was going to say for today it's certain
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  that cider i had during the recording of my last podcast has
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  kicked in i've got on my soapbox i'm now going
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  to give away free product if you
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  go on the utreamer website and you order any product uh
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  and you mention send me an email you'll find
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  it on the utreamer website and say i listen to
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  the podcast and you promised everyone who buys anything that listens to the
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  podcast will get a free gift i'll send you a free gift in the post it might
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  be a free product it might be a hydroponic piece of kit something like that
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  whatever we've got available that day it won't be crap it'll be good stuff,
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  so i really want to reward anyone who's listening to the podcast and yeah if
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  you're a grow shop as well and you're listening and you want to stock any of
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  our products then let me know and you know we always look after the people who
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  invest in us and early adopters of any technology,
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  that's been hydroponics daily for today microgreens thank you very much for
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  listening and see you again tomorrow.