Does
the Plastic Lid Filter out Critical Rays of Light?
No, not at all. I believe my Sprouter is unique in bathing
the greens in full natural light, or full-spectrum if you're growing in
a basement. Plants are like humans, they feed on light as a nutrient. Witness
SAD (seasonal affective disorder) a depression many humans suffer from
in the winter.
All other sprouters I know of – both manual and automatic – have a plastic
cover of some kind filtering the light. We leave the lid ajar by one inch to allow fresh air and light to reach
the greens. Sunflower, broccoli and wheatgrass grow into a rich green.
Is
the Sprouter Easy to Keep Clean?
Yes. Once again my Sprouter is so much better than the factory ones
with their built-in water compartments where slime builds up.
With my Sprouter, you soak the mist nozzles in liquid cleaner once a
month – it's quick to unscrew them. I wipe out the growing container occasionally,
and pour boiling hot water down the drain tube (which is easy to replace
for 75c). I don't use chlorine because it makes the fish go blind. We need
to make the decision to quit chlorine, use Borax to clean our toilet and
bath.
Must the Sprouter
be Next to the Sink for Access to Water and Drainage?
No. The water-hose can be any length up to 60 feet, even longer will
work, but too long a hose and you'll lose pressure for the misting. I have
my Sprouter next to a window and use a garden hose connected to a faucet
outside.
For drainage, you can have a bucket and empty it once a day. But if
you're not around to do this, then you should drain into a floor drain,
sink or the garden. It's not a good idea to drain into the bath, as the
bathroom has too much mold in the air – look at the mold growing on the
dead tiles and shower curtain!
Can
the Sprouter Stay Out-doors?
Not in the northern hemisphere, except possibly in the south-west USA.
Baby greens and sprouts thrive best in the 70's F – temperatures should
not go below 65° or above 85° F (18° to 29° C).
You can always use an outdoor faucet connection – lead the hose through
an open window to your Sprouter inside, as I do.
How
Do the Plants Stand Up without Soil?
Their roots intertwine into each other providing a firm mat for sunflower
and wheatgrass to grow tall, as you can see in the photos.
I'm Curious
about Mist Leaking out from Under the Lid of the Growing Container – Is
this a Problem?
No, not at all. The mist is very fine (half-gallon an hour) and it rises
up from the top and disperses. It's like the mist from a humidifier. The
lid is slightly open by an inch at the top, there's no opening in front
of the Sprouter (as with one factory-made sprouter, the Easygreen, where
I did have a problem).
For one year I lived in a 12-foot x 6-foot room. Everything was in there
– my bedroom, office, kitchen, livingroom, diningroom, and Sprouter! It
was right next to my laptop computer where I worked daily.
My Space is
So Small – I have to Put my Sprouter in a Bedroom. Can I Do that Without
a Mess?
As mentioned above, in my 12-ft x 6-ft space I could reach out and touch
my Sprouter with my fingertips as I worked on my computer. It didn't disturb
me when working or sleeping because my Sprouter's so quiet. It uses water
pressure for misting, unlike all the other automatic sprouters which use
electricity (so they have noisy motors).
If you like to be 100% fail-safe, then it's easy to buy a leak detection
system with automatic shut-off valve at the mains. But remember, the Sprouter
being connected to a water source (faucet or cold water pipe) is no different
from your washing machine being connected to a faucet that's switched on
all the time.
Are
the Drawer Organizers we Use for Plant Trays Made of Food-grade Plastic?
Dan's custom-made trays are food-grade,
so is his growing container. But the trays you buy in the store, such as
Rubbermaid drawer organizers, may not be.
We sproutarians have been growing food in plastic for decades – and
getting healthier and healthier! Ann Wigmore used plastic restaurant trays
to grow her wheatgrass and sunflower greens.
When Dr. Ann started, no one knew that plastic could be biologically
active. Plastic shares one feature in common with all life – it's carbon-based.
It's derived from petroleum, which itself is from decayed living matter.
Carbon is the great linker molecule in life's chain of living tissues.
Many of the store trays may well be food-grade! Not all plastics are
biologically active, only certain combinations of elements. Manufacturers
continually change the combinations, even for the same item – so one drawer
organizer may be a bad-boy, and another be good! Experimenters found this
to be true of petri dishes looking exactly the same with the same catalog
number. It's reported in the book Our Stolen Future by Theo Colborn,
et
al.
If your trays are not food-grade plastic, it's not critical, because
of the mistings every three hours. Your plants are constantly being oxygenated
and rinsed, with the water draining away (and with it any toxins).
Heating up food in plastic is the big bug-a-boo. Heat triggers and speeds
up chemical reactions. They give us machine food in plastic packets
that you dump into boiling water, or a microwave oven. They claim it's "food-grade" plastic.
How can that heal us? If the junk inside the plastic is poison?
All machine food is toxic to a living body. Our enzymes can't
break down and re-assemble the molecules that have been so twisted out
of shape by the machine.
My experience is that the
LIFE FORCE is more powerful than anything else. With it comes BALANCE
and ALL THE NUTRIENTS NEEDED TO SUSTAIN LIFE.
Only growing food is living food – that is, food growing in a kitchen
garden (your automatic Sprouter) or picked wild or from a greenhouse, garden
or farm today. If it's growing, it's alive, it's perfect for your living
body-mind. It will heal and balance you, free you from pain.
I'm a little
apprehensive about whether I will be able to pull off building it myself.
I'm keeping Positive Thoughts, even though I am not a "tool" or home improvement
kind of Gal
You go, girl! I thought I could never use a drill, so I asked
a carpenter to come drill the holes in the plant trays for me. He never
arrived, I wanted my Sprouter, so I went out to the garden and drilled
all my trays in a few minutes! It was the easiest thing in the world to
put my whole Sprouter together.
Same with my two girl-friends when they built theirs. They were convinced
they needed me to help them. I was busy that day. Then they never called
me once the entire afternoon! My Plans are so easy and comprehensive.
Delayne from Canada writes:
"Hello Val, I just had to tell
you of my success with putting the sprouter together. I have four large
sprouters done – all ready to connect up when I need more sprouts. I put
in a water filter and it is A-O.K. I am so proud of my work and almost
all of it I did myself – just needed my husband's strength to tighten up
the connectors [note from Val: I used a spanner]. I have to admit that
after a while I was not following all your instructions – my brain was
working it out for itself.
If I can make a sprouter, anyone can. I
found it not so hard to do, once I read through your instructions a few
times and then used my head and what was available here in Winnipeg. My
husband just let me get on with it, though he came and shopped parts with
me. It was kinda funny as we would walk into Home Depot to the plumbing
department and the fella would walk up and ask us if we wanted help, looking
at John, and I would answer!!! and we did this a few times. I silently
giggled to myself each time!!"
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