Another question about sprouting seeds..

[rainbowfeathers77]

Hi
I have another question..or two..or three...about sprouting seeds....

1) When do I feed the sprouted seeds to the birds...when there is only a tiny little sprout showing from the seed or when there is actually some length to it ie. 1 cm or so.

2) Some type of seeds sprouted quicker while the other types still haven't sprouted...so do I give it to the birds anyway...or wait till all types have some sprout/shoot showing?

3) If only some type of seeds have sprouts showing and others still haven't , should I put the container with the seeds into the fridge....so that the already sprouting seeds don't spoil while I'm waiting for the other types to sprout?

4) How long can you keep them in the fridge??

Thanks everyone...all your help is very much appreciated!!

[Jane]

Okay I'll try:
1) I have read that sprouts have the most nutrition at 1/2 to 1 cm of growth (not like the mung beans sold for people )

2) You will probably need to judge that as you go, I think it'd be better the feed it earlier than risk the first seeds to sprout going off.

3) as above

4) It doesn't hurt to refrigerate any excess for a couple of days just check for freshness like any of your own salad

[rainbowfeathers77]

Thanks for that Jane.
Yeah that was an issue I had with what to do...some type of seeds had sprouted but other types hadn't so I didn't know which way to go...let the others sprout in room temp. or put it all in the fridge.
Also re the length of the sprouts...I was assuming I need to have all this stringy stuff before I give it to the birds but then I went to do some interent searching and read that the best nutritional value/best time to give to the birds...is just when the shoot starts showing....so I think from now on...I'm going to refer to this as "soaked seed" not "sprouted seed" becaue you really want to give it to them before the sprouts shoot up ......misleading

[mybirdz]

Jun 9, 2008 14:16:57 GMT 10 @rainbowfeathers77 said:

Hi
I have another question..or two..or three...about sprouting seeds....

1) When do I feed the sprouted seeds to the birds...when there is only a tiny little sprout showing from the seed or when there is actually some length to it ie. 1 cm or so.

2) Some type of seeds sprouted quicker while the other types still haven't sprouted...so do I give it to the birds anyway...or wait till all types have some sprout/shoot showing?

3) If only some type of seeds have sprouts showing and others still haven't , should I put the container with the seeds into the fridge....so that the already sprouting seeds don't spoil while I'm waiting for the other types to sprout?

4) How long can you keep them in the fridge??

Thanks everyone...all your help is very much appreciated!!

1) when there is a tiny shoot just coming up from the seed it is at it's best nutritional value. You can rinse then & place in the fridge. During that time it will still actually grow but not much more. The longer the sprout on the seed, the less the nutritional value becomes. 24 hour soaked seed is also as good as sprouts.

2 & 3) Generally what doesn't sprout is usually old. Old seed can go off fairly quickly once you attempt to sprout. After a 24 hr soak, thoroughly rinse & allow to sprout. If the is no sprouting by 24 hours the seed should probably be thrown. If your seed is continuing to sprout at odd times you may like to sprout the seed separately. This way if one seed is off, you don't need to throw the whole lot out. If the seed has a musky odour to it it is definitely an old seed & needs to be ditched. Fresh seeds smell sweet or have little or no odour at all. If you always buy fresh seeds you should get some good sprouts out of them. If you can buy the seed in bulk from bird shops you have a better chance of buying fresh seed.

4) if you have a look here:
www.eclectusparrots.net/sprouts
you can see the kind of dishes i use to keep my sprouts fresh. in these containers with grates at the bottom it allows any extra juices to sit to the bottom & not have the sprouts ferment in them. I've had y sprouts last in that container for a week, though they don't last that long these days with my piglet birds!! I wouldn't recommend you keep them longer than a week though.

[mybirdz]

I forgot to add. In total you should only spend 2 day from start to refrigerating. Some sprouters to take a couple of days longer but the longer it takes, the older the seed is. You know will know when you've hit the jackpot of finding the freshest seed to sprout because you will have sprouts within 2 days.

You can also buy sprouts like snow pea shoots, alfa, mungbean, etc...

[rainbowfeathers77]

Thanks Mybirdz....great info and an pretty cool site!!!! Thanks