best vendors for seeds to grow micro greens

[Guest guest]

Does anyone do a price comparison of seed vendors for growing organic micro

greens? It is necessary to purchase seeds by the pound for micro greens and the

prices are outrageous.

[Guest guest]

Dear Dr. Rollins (or others)

On comparison shopping. I am trying to figure out the price comparison

between grocery store sprouts and sprouts I grow from seeds. A critical

factor is how many ounces of sprouts are made from an ounce of seeds. (The

added weight will be water, which has no nutritional value, but it sure

affects the weight). Does anyone know a rule of thumb conversion

factor--seeds to sprouts?

Thanks...Don

On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 7:43 AM, n Rollings, PhD <

drmarionrollings@...> wrote:

>

>

> I do comparison shop all of the time when I buy seeds. If sproutpeople were

> on the East Coast, I would order everything from them because I want to

> support what they do and their products are reliably excellent. I have had

> completely positive experiences with the other vendors though. I tend to

> wait to get together a good order for sproutpeople because the shipping is

> high, but because the quality is equally high, it is worth it. when

> SproutHouse had their January sale (I think tomorrow is the last day), I

> bought broccoli from them for myself and to gift to someone else. It was a

> good deal.If you have a good health food store where you live you should be

> able to get some good organic flax seed and maybe some other things. I know

> you asked specifically about microgreens--I haven't seen arugula in stores.

> Handy Pantry does sell small amounts of seed--not sure if they sell

> arugula.More and more I am seeing organic seeds and sprouting devices in

> local

> health food stores.See if you can split an order with someone who is not,

> see if there is a food co-op you can join--some of them are getting into

> sprouts. n

>

> n Rollings, PhDNJ Licensed Psychologist #4686www.DrnRollings.com

>

> Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its

> victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this

> world... We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any

> living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic

> delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity.

> Carson

>

>

>

> From: f_gelber <f_gelber@... <f_gelber%40hotmail.com>>

> Subject: best vendors for seeds to grow micro greens

> To: sproutpeople <sproutpeople%40yahoogroups.com>

> Date: Sunday, January 30, 2011, 4:24 AM

>

>

>

> Does anyone do a price comparison of seed vendors for growing organic micro

> greens? It is necessary to purchase seeds by the pound for micro greens and

> the prices are outrageous.

>

>

[Guest guest]

Don

I haven't any idea but on Sproutpeple Gil provides a ratio of seed to sprout.

And please call me n

I am nicknamed Doc if you like

marion

n Rollings, PhD

NJ Licensed Psychologist #4686

www.DrnRollings.com

Sent from my IPod Touch

> Dear Dr. Rollins (or others)

> On comparison shopping. I am trying to figure out the price comparison

> between grocery store sprouts and sprouts I grow from seeds. A critical

> factor is how many ounces of sprouts are made from an ounce of seeds. (The

> added weight will be water, which has no nutritional value, but it sure

> affects the weight). Does anyone know a rule of thumb conversion

> factor--seeds to sprouts?

> Thanks...Don

>

> On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 7:43 AM, n Rollings, PhD <

> drmarionrollings@...> wrote:

>

>>

>>

>> I do comparison shop all of the time when I buy seeds. If sproutpeople were

>> on the East Coast, I would order everything from them because I want to

>> support what they do and their products are reliably excellent. I have had

>> completely positive experiences with the other vendors though. I tend to

>> wait to get together a good order for sproutpeople because the shipping is

>> high, but because the quality is equally high, it is worth it. when

>> SproutHouse had their January sale (I think tomorrow is the last day), I

>> bought broccoli from them for myself and to gift to someone else. It was a

>> good deal.If you have a good health food store where you live you should be

>> able to get some good organic flax seed and maybe some other things. I know

>> you asked specifically about microgreens--I haven't seen arugula in stores.

>> Handy Pantry does sell small amounts of seed--not sure if they sell

>> arugula.More and more I am seeing organic seeds and sprouting devices in

>> local

>> health food stores.See if you can split an order with someone who is not,

>> see if there is a food co-op you can join--some of them are getting into

>> sprouts. n

>>

>> n Rollings, PhDNJ Licensed Psychologist #4686www.DrnRollings.com

>>

>> Until we have the courage to recognize cruelty for what it is--whether its

>> victim is human or animal--we cannot expect things to be much better in this

>> world... We cannot have peace among men whose hearts delight in killing any

>> living creature. By every act that glorifies or even tolerates such moronic

>> delight in killing we set back the progress of humanity.

>> Carson

>>

>>

>>

>> From: f_gelber <f_gelber@... <f_gelber%40hotmail.com>>

>> Subject: best vendors for seeds to grow micro greens

>> To: sproutpeople <sproutpeople%40yahoogroups.com>

>> Date: Sunday, January 30, 2011, 4:24 AM

>>

>>

>>

>> Does anyone do a price comparison of seed vendors for growing organic micro

>> greens? It is necessary to purchase seeds by the pound for micro greens and

>> the prices are outrageous.

>>

>>

[Guest guest]

Don,

This is they way I figured out that I should sprout my own. A one pound pack of

mung beans seeds in the store is $1.49. That is enough seed to keep me sprouting

for abut 6 months. In the produce dept. is a pack of mung bean sprouts. Twelve

ounces for $1.49. That lasts me for one or two meals, depending how I use them.

I don't understand why you are concerned with the water. It doesn't have to go

to waste - you can water your house plants, or toss it in your garden, lawn or

neighbor's lawn. The weight it adds to your sprouts is not a factor in the final

product.

One quarter cup of seed yields about one pound of sprouts. So, a one pound

package of seeds will yield about 8 pounds of sprouts. Eight pounds of sprouts

in the produce dept. is: $1.49 X 8 = $11.92 vs. $1.49 for the seeds, gives you a

net savings of $10.43.

ew

[Guest guest]

Good math!!! that's why I sprout my own mung beans.

Love them!!!

Melody

>

>

> Don,

> This is they way I figured out that I should sprout my own. A one pound pack

of mung beans seeds in the store is $1.49. That is enough seed to keep me

sprouting for abut 6 months. In the produce dept. is a pack of mung bean

sprouts. Twelve ounces for $1.49. That lasts me for one or two meals, depending

how I use them.

> I don't understand why you are concerned with the water. It doesn't have to go

to waste - you can water your house plants, or toss it in your garden, lawn or

neighbor's lawn. The weight it adds to your sprouts is not a factor in the final

product.

> One quarter cup of seed yields about one pound of sprouts. So, a one pound

package of seeds will yield about 8 pounds of sprouts. Eight pounds of sprouts

in the produce dept. is: $1.49 X 8 = $11.92 vs. $1.49 for the seeds, gives you a

net savings of $10.43.

> ew

>

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[Guest guest]

Dear ew

I'm not concerned about wasting water. The only point about the water is

that you don't learn much by comparing a dry weight and a wet weight. A dry

seed weighs a lot less than a sprouted seed which has absorbed water,

because water is so extremely heavy. Similarly, a leaf grown to maturity in

a field (e.g., a collard green) is mostly water by weight. Shipping water

across the country in the form of leafy greens is both expensive and

ecologically unsound when you think about all the water being moved with

fossil fuels (I won't discuss beer--just look at the size of the trucks and

draw your own conclusions).

So let's do a little math with an 8 to 1 ratio, as described in your note.

At the store right now, organic leafy green sprouts are about 3 dollars for

4 ounces. That is 12 dollars per pound. Leafy greens grown in an organic

field are around 4 dollars a pound. So, if you are concerned about 'greens

per pound', then field grown greens are the winner. But then there is the

factor of nutritional value. If broccoli sprouts have 30 times the cancer

fighting chemicals as mature broccoli, then the sprouts are the most

economical way to get the required nutrients--because they only cost 3 times

as much---not 30 times as much.

Now for the question of sprouting your own vs. buying commercially sprouted.

A pound of seeds for leafy greens runs 15 to 25 dollars (at Sprout

People-with some exceptions). Let's use 20 dollars per pound as a rough

average. That 20 dollars of seeds will make 8 pounds of wet sprouts, which

would cost 96 dollars in the grocery store.

For bean sprouts, we might use a nutrition ratio from Dr. Fuhrman's

nutrient per calorie rating system. Dried beans are around 75 while bean

sprouts are about 450, or six times as much. Therefore, I should be willing

to pay up to six times as much for a bean sprout as a dried bean. (Not

getting into the minutiae of how good diets are actually put together.)

So my conclusions are:

1. Sprouting is a very good thing to do to economically get anticancer and

other important phytonutrients.

2. Sprouting your own is a very economical way to get your sprouts.

Does this make sense?

Don

>

>

>

> Good math!!! that's why I sprout my own mung beans.

>

> Love them!!!

>

> Melody

>

>

> >

> >

> > Don,

> > This is they way I figured out that I should sprout my own. A one pound

> pack of mung beans seeds in the store is $1.49. That is enough seed to keep

> me sprouting for abut 6 months. In the produce dept. is a pack of mung bean

> sprouts. Twelve ounces for $1.49. That lasts me for one or two meals,

> depending how I use them.

> > I don't understand why you are concerned with the water. It doesn't have

> to go to waste - you can water your house plants, or toss it in your garden,

> lawn or neighbor's lawn. The weight it adds to your sprouts is not a factor

> in the final product.

> > One quarter cup of seed yields about one pound of sprouts. So, a one

> pound package of seeds will yield about 8 pounds of sprouts. Eight pounds of

> sprouts in the produce dept. is: $1.49 X 8 = $11.92 vs. $1.49 for the seeds,

> gives you a net savings of $10.43.

> > ew

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