Why Soak Microgreen Seeds?

Not all microgreen seeds need to be soaked, but for some seeds, soaking is very important. There are plenty of microgreen seeds that don't need to be soaked, but all microgreen seeds do need to absorb water in order to start their germination process and to start growing. 

Seed soaking isn't a crazy concept, it's actually quite simple. Soaking seeds really isn't specific to microgreens, rather, it's specific to all seeds in nature. Think about the seasons and around what time of year the seeds start to sprout. This happens in the springtime when the ground gets really wet from all of the snow melt and the changing seasons. The water soaks into the seeds and the seeds start to germinate underground until they grow up through the surface of the soil or the land, where they were all winter, waiting for this special moment. This process truly is magical, as all of that potential energy that was stored inside that seed is now bursting with life into a new plant. One of the coolest parts about this is that the plant uses the nutrition that was stored in that seed, which happens to be the perfect food for a plant at its earliest stages of growth.

This is exactly what happens with microgreens. Microgreens get most of their nutrition from the seeds themselves that they grew from. This is very simple—it’s nature and germination at work. 

With microgreens, it's really the same thing as what's going on in nature. We're getting the seeds intentionally very wet, so that they can absorb that water and germinate properly. It’s very important to get thorough germination when starting your trays. If the seeds don't germinate properly, they're going to cause problems for the seeds within your tray that did germinate properly. The bad seeds will start to rot and go bad within your good seeds, and it's going to start destroying the whole tray. This will result in a lower-quality crop and the potential loss of an entire tray. Not to mention, the more seeds that do germinate means that there's going to be more plants, which results in fuller crops and higher yields. 

Aside from proper watering, getting your trays off to a good start is key to growing high-quality microgreens. This is why it's so important to soak certain microgreens varieties so that they can absorb all that water over the hours that they're soaking, allowing for full hydration and a thorough germination.

Now, you know exactly why we soak certain microgreen seed varieties and what soaking actually does for the plants. But, what if you have other questions around different aspects of the microgreens growing process? Join my Microgreens Support Group on Facebook, so you can talk with other like-minded growers including myself and get the support that you need.