Growing sprouts or Microgreen at home for the first time – yay! But after just a few hours or days, a white, fluffy border appears on the surface of the earth around your little Microgreen plants?
Your first thought is probably “Help, sprout mold!” or “I just don’t have a green thumb!”
But don't panic!
Because in all likelihood, this white, furry “something” is not sprout mold, but rather the so-called “microroots”. These are fine root hairs that form around the seed in the first few days. The small, white roots are the young form of the trunk roots that form from them. They occur more frequently in some varieties, for example radish and red cabbage. Not at all with other varieties. And sometimes only under certain temperature and lighting conditions - so quite different... How are you supposed to see through that?
The trick is to distinguish microroots from sprout mold
Microroots usually form underground and are not visible. Since the seeds in Microgreen (and also in sprouting jars) are sown above ground, they turn whitish around the seed in the dark and can easily be confused with mold.
It is almost impossible for an entire bowl Microgreen or a jar of sprouts to become covered in mold overnight. Sprout mold usually forms in one spot and then slowly spreads over a few days. Microroots form on every germinating seed... and have absolutely nothing to do with whether you have a green thumb or not! 😉
If you still have doubts about which louse has crawled over Microgreen
If it is sprout mold, the growing tray usually smells musty and if micro-roots have formed, your plants smell more airy and fresh.
We made a short video for you to show you the microroots. At the end you can also see clearly that these are firmly attached to the seed and in the soil and move the entire roots with them.
