When are Sunflower Microgreens READY for HARVEST? (How To Tell)

You may be wondering when the perfect time is to harvest your sunflower microgreens. By the end of this post, you will know exactly how to tell when your sunflower microgreens are ready for harvest.

To be honest, it's actually really easy to tell when your sunflower microgreens are ready for harvest. There's typically about a 1-3 day window when they’re at the ideal age for harvest, and I'm going to show you a very simple way to tell when they're ready.

I'll keep this post nice and short, but be sure to stay until the end because I have an important tip/reminder that is directly related to this topic and is actually relevant to ALL microgreen varieties.

As sunflower microgreens start to grow, they will go through rapid changes in their earliest stages of growth. It starts with the seeds sprouting in germination, and once they're rooted they go under lights. After being under lights for a few days you will notice that start to look like a microgreen with a stem and two leaves. Once they look like this, they're okay to eat, but you really want to wait until they're IDEAL for harvest, that way you maximize yield without compromising flavor.

A microgreen (in general) is technically defined by the stage in a plant’s life cycle where the true leaves are starting to emerge from the first set of leaves called the cotyledons leaves. This is a great indicator of when the plants are ready for harvest. Your microgreens will vary based on your seed and other factors but the general rule of thumb is to harvest them when you first see these true leaves poking through the cotyledons leaves. If you wait too long, those true leaves will become more prominent and the greens will taste bitter. Be sure to taste your microgreens in every day of the grow cycle that way you can figure out when that specific day is that their flavor starts to turn.

This brings me to that important tip I have for you but first just let me reiterate… The ideal time to harvest your microgreens is when they are as old as possible (to get the highest yield), but not too old where the true leaves become more prominent and they taste bitter.

Now I'm going to share with you a concept/strategy you can use to get more in touch with the plants and learn what these young plants are really all about.

I see many new microgreens farmers trying to search for every little answer they can find online instead of just experiencing it for themselves and learning that way. You will gain much insight and experience through experimenting and testing. This really is the best way to learn and will also provide you with answers that are relative to YOUR grow space so you can improve.

Understand that sprouts, microgreens, and the living foods are young plants with powerful health benefits. I recommend tasting the various microgreens varieties at different stages in their growth that way you can see how their flavor profiles change as they grow and you can figure out which day of their life cycle they taste best to you. Doing this will allow you to learn more about these plants and form a deeper connection with them, also will informing you when the perfect day is to harvest your greens.

Now you know exactly when to harvest your sunflower microgreens and also understand the value of tasting these plants at each different stage in their life cycle. If you want to share your experiences and become part of an awesome microgreens community, join my Microgreens Support Group on Facebook.

Link to this video: https://youtu.be/nuX5GZFrWDM