FINCHforum

today i sprouted seeds for the first time. but i am scared to death of giving them to my birds.

i placed some seed in a paper towel lined tray.

i moistened the paper towel with water.

i covered the tray with seran wrap with holes poked in it.

the seeds sprouted 2 days later.

my problems are:
i don't feel comfortable rinsing the seeds with a dilute bleach solution (5%). is this really important? humans foods arn't treated this way.

there is no visible mold. the seeds smell OK but i have no idea what rotted seeds smell like.

can anybody help me?

How about a bit of vinegar? Some of them here add it to the water when they soak seeds... to discourage bacterial growth. But soaked seeds are left soaking usually just for 12 to 24 hours. Not sure about for sprouting, when the water sits for 2 days... I'm not really sure if rinsing with vinegar/water mix would be effective at removing bacteria if it is already there, but then again, it's used to wash off perches, so it would maybe be better than doing nothing...?

I agree with Franny, even if you can't see anything growing, most of it will be microscopic until you have a huge colony of bacteria or fungus. I would recommend a vinegar solution as she said if you are not comfortable with a weak bleach solution, just to be safe. - a properly mixed bleach solution should not be harmful, there is already bleach in your tap water (just a different name for chlorine which is put in the water in very tiny amounts for public safety to prevent bacteria build up in the pipes).

okay. this is stupid but how do i know when all the bleach mixture is totally rinsed off? i could see myself compulsively washing for like, an hour.

I soak the seeds like Liz does, in a jar with water (with either Sparkle or apple cider vinegar added). After 12-24 hours of soaking, I rinse the seeds. You don't need to go overboard with the rinsing. Get a fine wire mesh strainer, so you can just dump the soaked seeds in the strainer, rinse well under running water, then let drain. Or you can leave the seeds in the jar, rinsing every morning and evening, for another day or so till they sprout. I use a quart canning jar with a 2-piece lid, so I can replace the solid top part of the lid with screen--then the jar can be rinsed and refilled easily.

The sprouted seeds should have either no odor at all, or smell fresh and nutty. If they smell the least bit sour or off, throw them away, they have gone bad. I've found that if I rinse every 12 hours or so, I've never had a problem with them going bad, even keeping them up to 3 days.

I used to do it similar to you guys.Except putting in avicleans and keeping it in the fridge for up to a week before use, but now i do it this way.As per link.And would not do it any other way now.You can do enough for weeks if you want,I do 5kgs at a time.If you can source virkon s there you cant go wrong.
http://www.birdsrus.com.au/?page=154

great link, thank you

Great info, thanks! Virkon S is made by DuPont, so it is available in the U.S. and Canada. I'm going to see if it might be available at one of my local feed stores, since it is marketed as a disinfectant for livestock premises. I would LOVE to be able to make up a week or more worth of sprouted seed at one time! And it never would have occurred to me to freeze it.

I think I use a similar product to clean with and disinfect the cages are you familiar with VANODINE,it can be put in to waters also, its very cheap to use cost less than bleach
http://www.vanodine.com/index.html

Forgive my ignorance. I've only sprouted mung beans and not very successful at that. Well i've tried to sprout some others for my felines too and that didn't work either.

What seeds do you sprout? Sounds like you don't want them to send a root. Where could I find more info?

I sprout jap and french millet,as these sprout at the same rate.I may try some black seeds after summer(rape etc)
You should be able to sprout most seeds.But if you mix them they should sprout at the same rate.Or sprout separate then mix.
What do you use every one as sprouting seed?