How Much Light Do Sprouts Need?
The greens such as sunflower, wheatgrass and broccoli must have light to go green.
Many keep their Sprouter in the basement and use full-spectrum grow lights when there’s no natural light.
Your Sprouter should not be in direct sunlight.
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!!”
I Don’t Have Any Money
Don’t make your Sprouter in one day! Buy one part a month. My philosophy is, anything is better than nothing. Do something, rather than nothing!
Here’s the experience of Sage who had no money and step-by-step over a few months built his Sprouter. Today his whole family enjoys the magic of a variety of fresh living greens daily in their life. I quote my reply where it seems it may help you too.
Note the dates from mid-October 2000 to end-January 2001, nearly four months.
“Sage, 10/19/00 — My order was just approved. Let’s build a sprouter and get juicing. LOVE & LIGHT
Sage, 10/30/00 — I am open to receiving the money just to build my first 1-2 auto sprouters. We shall overcome, as they say.
Me, 10/30/00 — Sage, with getting your first sprouter — just buy it one part at a time. Go to Wal-Mart and get the big storage box. Then another month get the drawer organizers (plant trays). One item a month and one day you’ll see a Sprouter with beautiful fresh greens daily right in front of your eyes!
Sage, 11/5/00 — yeah, Val, I bought a Wrap ‘n Kraft [container] and 6 drawer organizers yesterday, and I am on my way. Appreciate you.
Sage, 11/14/00 — I WILL SOON THANK GOD BE ABLE TO get more parts for my own Auto Sprouter and finish the project. Being a Raw Foods Being is just getting better. Be Happy!
Sage, 11/28/00 — Val, Today I ordered the misting kit. I AM STOKED.
Sage, 11/29/00 — Val, thanks to you I am overcome with a burning desire to build this sprouter, give it the BIG test, and keep them greens a flowing in our mouths and bodies and lives. You are quite the Inspiration dear Val.
Sage, 12/6/00 — Drilled a 1/4 inch hole for the mist tubing to enter into the back of the Wrap ‘n Kraft. And got the wheat grass tray holes drilled last night and the drain hole. Thanks.
Sage, 12/11/00 — Val, Have completed all holes in W&K, measured, cut, and fitted tubing sections, added white plastic parts and nozzles. Yeah. About to add wires and tighten. Just need the couplings to complete the parts. Will add water purifier later. Exciting process. Can’t wait to put it all together, turn on water AND BOY HOWDY, THEM SEEDS ARE GOING BURST OPEN WITH LIFE, and YUM YUM YUM SPROUTS EAT ‘EM UP!!! Happy Holy Days Dear Val.
Sage, 1/10/01 — Val, got connectors the other day and gave the sprouter a test drive. Still need to wire the mist tubing, complete the drain tube, and A SPROUTING I GO. Thanks so much
Me, 1/11/01 — Dear Sage, that’s beautiful — I’m so happy! I bet you hardly noticed sacrificing the money either, as you went along. Remember to focus on a VARIETY of fresh living greens. Love, Val
Sage, 1/24/01 – Val almost complete. Last night I tightened the tubing and mister. All that is left is to hook up the hose to the washer outlet, give it a test run, and SPROUTING HERE I GO. Exciting!!!
Sage, 1/30/01 — Val it’s done. It’s running now for two days. MY Sprouter is working. So far experimenting with wheat grass and mung beans. simple stuff. Thanks for believing in me. Love & Light.
Me (five months later) 6/1/01 — Hi Sage, how’s your Sprouter going?
Sage 6/1/01 — WONDERFULLLLLL ! …..thanks a million…be well”
There we go! If Sage can buy one part a month over four months, so can you! If I can drill a hole, so can you!
The only way you’ll eat a big plate of LIVING organic greens daily, freshly picked, is when you use a Sprouter that automatically mists them and gives you a tray-a-day. You’re forced to eat your greens because the next day there’s a brand new tray!
Other methods are too much hassle, or they don’t produce enough greens daily, so you end up conserving them in the refrigerator and not eating them fresh!
With jars or manual sprouters, it’s impossible to grow the lovely greens pictured on my site — please take another look at these photos for inspiration. With the manual sprouters, the sprouts are closed in and starved of oxygen, a prime breeding ground for mold! With my automatic Sprouter, the mist supplies lovely fresh oxygen to the sprouts every three hours. I personally find the manual sprouters too much work for too little return. Most of them are so low in height, they can’t grow sunflower and wheatgrass anyway!
My Sprouter is the best on the market because it’s “open code” — actual users are the ongoing inventors. There’s no other sprouter in the world that compares to this one in producing fresh greens and wheatgrass daily. It’s 100% whisper-quiet and 100% labor-free if you drain into a floor drain or sink. Nothing to do but sprinkle seeds in the trays!
Can you make the decision that you will manifest an automatic Sprouter in your life for fresh greens daily? All you need is the WILLINGNESS.
The only hard part is MAKING THE DECISION to manifest the Sprouter, then taking the time to build it, or order one ready-built. It’s not hard to do the action. You may not know it yet, but drilling holes is easy. The hard part is GETTING yourself to do it! You can take all the time in the world – 3, 4, 5 months, one step at a time.
This is the way to Lose Weight and Get Free of Pain
Experience this Joy for Yourself
Discover More
- Sprouting FAQs — Answers to Common Sprouting questions!
- GoGreen Mist Kits — photos & specs of Basic, Small & Large Kits to build your own Automatic Sprouter.
- Download Free Plans — to build an Automatic Sprouter — enjoy living greens in your kitchen
- Sprouting Links — see all info on Sprouting.
- Site Map — see the whole Feast 🙂