Russia (bbabo.net), - Microgreens - a fashionable hobby of recent times - are gradually conquering the Crimea. What is a micro-garden, how much does a crop cost and what cannot be grown on a windowsill, said one of the business pioneers, founder of the GreenBox project Anton Kovalchuk.

Dozens, if not hundreds of articles have been written about the fact that microgreens are more useful than the full-fledged fruits of those plants from the seeds of which it is grown. It is enough to look at the websites of supporters of a healthy lifestyle (HLS) to find a lot of arguments in favor of this product.

In a simplified sense, microgreens are something like human stem cells, but only in the plant world. Trace elements, vitamins, fiber - all this is present here, but in a more concentrated, and therefore useful form. And what is important, such a garden fits even in the smallest city apartment and does not require serious agricultural skills.

- The main condition is high-quality seeds and microclimate, - says Anton. - By and large, microgreens do not even need soil. It can be, but you can do without it. Everything necessary for growth is already in the seed itself.

Therefore, the first prerequisite is high-quality seeds and water. Planting material must be environmentally friendly, not pickled with herbicides, pesticides and antibiotics - this is a prerequisite. To prevent the seeds from becoming moldy, they are soaked with a small amount of hydrogen peroxide before germination. This kills the pathogenic microflora. In general, mold is the main enemy of the micro-garden. To combat it, the use of phytobiotics is allowed - preparations based on extracts from plants. Today, science considers them as one of the alternatives to antibiotics, and, by the way, Crimea has made great progress in the field of phytobiotic production. Unsprouted seeds must be removed immediately, otherwise they will become a source of decay.

Next is the garden. It can be with earth or with agrofibre, jute rugs, agro, and finally, just with cotton fabric.

- If you use coconut substrate as soil, ready-to-eat microgreens will need to be cut, - Anton shares his experience. - If you have pure hydroponics and agrofiber instead of soil, plants can be pulled out with roots and eat with roots. They are clean and have a lot of useful substances.

For a garden in an apartment, the microclimate is important. Therefore, lighting, ventilation and watering will be required. You can, of course, use expensive professional equipment, but if you don’t have it, it’s not a sin to get by with household fans and heaters at first. The lack of automatic watering is compensated by the same agrowool, and the plants themselves will create the necessary air humidity in the process of life. About 100 plants can be grown on a micro-bed.

“It’s definitely not worth planting anything from the nightshade family, these are potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, because their microgreens will contain dangerous corned beef poison,” Anton warns. - It is also better to give up pumpkin and beans. You simply won’t get pleasure from a pumpkin, its young shoots are bitter, and you can get poisoned with bean sprouts.

But at your service a huge amount of cereals, peas, cilantro, amaranth, sunflower and many other crops. Another nuance is trays for growing. At GreenBox they are small, 13x18 centimeters. But this is dictated rather by the conditions of the room where the garden is laid out, and the requirements of the business. Anton sells ready-made boxes to wholesale buyers, and the price is negotiated based on this size. In general, the size of the growing tray can be whatever your living conditions allow. The main thing is not to mix plants, because they have different maturation periods to marketable condition, from seven days to a month or more.

“We planted Bloody Mary sorrel, it has been growing for a month now, but is not yet ready for use,” Anton said.

By the way, microgreens can already be bought not only in the markets, but even in the hypermarkets of the Crimean capital. Here, the wholesale price of a standard tray is 80-100 rubles, depending on the plant, on the market they will ask for 150 rubles for it. Business is gaining popularity, competition is growing. Having worked for about a year in this segment, Kovalchuk and his partners corrected the development vector. Now they not only grow microgreens, but also produce microfarms for sale. They already have automatic watering, day-night lighting on a timer and other subtleties taken into account in order to make the lesson as easy as possible and reduce it to pleasure. Such a farm costs from 15 thousand rubles and it produces up to 25 trays of fresh shoots per month. This is enough to meet the needs of a small cafe, your own home or office.

“Even in your editorial office, you can do this,” the businessman looks around the room. - Believe me, watching how life is born, how a plant grows and develops before your eyes is extremely exciting, and it also relieves stress.

Direct speech

Alime Zaredinova, Acting Minister of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan:

- The economy of the agrarian sector of Crimea is becoming more differentiated. Microgreens are one of the unique business niches that do not require large financial investments. State support for this type of activity is not provided. One can only welcome the desire of entrepreneurs to find a new use for their skills, to offer consumers something unusual, but at the same time useful. And whether it is in demand or not, it depends on the market.

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