5 Easy Steps to Grow Sprouts for Pets
Growing your own sprouts for pets straight from seed is the most affordable way to raise them. Since your pet will gobble them up before they pass the sprout phase, you don’t need soil. All you need is a dish, water, and seeds. An interesting technique I’m trying is a double dish or terracotta method. The outer dish is larger and nonporous, but the inner dish is an unglazed terracotta plant saucer, the kind you put under a pot to catch extra water. The terracotta saucer will saturate with water, keeping the seeds hydrated.
Sprouts for Pets Classic Method
What you need:
- Sprouting Seeds
- Shallow water tight dish
- Container for soaking
- Colander, strainer, or cheesecloth
- Available sink or basin for rinsing
- Optional: Grow Lights
- Optional: Water Spray Bottle
- Teracotta Method: unglazed teracotta dish (fits inside the water tight dish)
Seed Sources
Seeds meant for sprouting go through more rigorous testing and safety guidelines due to sprouts being considered a high risk food by the FDA. Seeds meant for growing are cheaper and can also be grown for consumption, but may have a higher risk of food-borne illnesses. If your pet is sick, young, old, pregnant, or nursing, skip the sprouts. Learn the risks and benefits of sprouts to determine if they are right for your pets before getting or raising them.
I have not used any of the suppliers listed below, nor do I get any benefit from you purchasing from them. The suppliers being listed in this article do not have my explicit recommendation, but I heard nothing bad about them as of April 2023. They are being listed to give you a start on your search for a sprout supplier if you do not already have one.
Sprouting Seed
Growing Seed
Important: Growing seed is not tested as rigorously as sprouting seed, as it is meant to become an adult plant instead of being eaten in the sprout stage, and will have a higher risk of food borne illness for your pets. I am not listing any growing seed suppliers because of this increased risk. While sprouting seed may be more expensive, it is safer for your pets.
I highly suggest cleaning everything which will come in contact with the seeds as if you were going to eat a perfectly cooked steak off of it. Treating everything the seeds will touch as a food contact area will further decrease risk. You can also add some vinegar during the soaking process and rinse them every 6-8 hours to ward off bacteria.
Sprouts for Pets Steps:
Step 1: Measure
Measure how many seeds it takes to cover about 1/4 of the container. The seeds will expand during soaking, and even more in the sprouting phase. It is important to accommodate the expansion. I learned the hard way and had seeds spilling over the top!
Step 2: Soak
Soak your seeds in water for 12 to 24 hours. The water should just cover the seeds. Too much is better than not enough. I used a jar, but a bowl or other container will work. It doesn't need a lid, but you might want one.
Step 3: Rinse
Pour the seeds into a colander. Drain the old water, and give them a good rinse.
Step 4: Transfer
Move the seeds from the colander into the dish you will grow them in. You might see my mistake here- I soaked too many and the seeds barely fit. Fortunately, I had a slightly bigger dish.
Step 5: Light
Place the seeds in a spot to grow. While light is optional for oats, I put mine under one. Some seeds may need light to sprout, so look up the sprouting requirements of the kind you are raising. Now wait! I sprayed the seeds as needed, because the seeds at the very top dry out.
Notes
Adjust portions to the right size for your pet. If the final amount is too much, pull small chunks to give instead of offering it all at once. Wait until tomorrow or the next day to offer it again. Too much of anything can be bad, even if it’s a good thing.
Keep the sprouts refrigerated when not being fed
The Terracotta Method DIY Sprouts
I heard about this from EnrichingEquines. Their concept for using terracotta is great for larger animals and livestock, but I made a huge downscale for it to work for small pets.
The idea behind this one is terracotta is porous, allowing water to seep through and balancing the moisture inside the dish. Unglazed clay or other earthenware might work as a substitute, but I have not tested this. The earthenware must have open porosity, meaning it is like a sponge, allowing water to enter and exit. Closed porosity is many unconnected spaces, which keeps liquid and gas from flowing through. If you want to try the terracotta method too, follow the steps below.
The first 3 steps are exactly the same as the method above, so follow those. When you get to the 4th step, you will need an unglazed terracotta dish to put the seeds in, but it is otherwise the same. The 5th step is where it deviates.
Step 5a: Second Dish
Place the terracotta dish in a larger, water tight dish. Next, add water.
Step 6: Let It Grow
Put it in a sunny or well lit spot if the seeds need light to sprout and let it grow. Refill the water as needed.
Progress
Day 3 Update
No green shoots yet, but I see roots! This is typically where you would stop if you just wanted seed sprouts, so feel free to give these to your pets. I'm going to let mine grow into micro greens, so you can do either one you choose.
Day 4 Update
Sprouts are starting to poke out the top
Day 7 Update
The sprouts are really making headway-they're even pushing seeds into the water! I had to get a second dish and continue the fallen seeds with the classic method.
Day 9 Update
Day 9 seems to be the sweet spot for these oat seeds, I'm not sure why I waited another day.
Day 10 Harvest
The shoots are 3-5 inches high and roots have created a mat at the bottom.
Don't Confuse Roots For Mold!
Many plant roots are very fuzzy. These are root hairs, not mold.
Raven says her favorite part is eating them.
