Hydro vs Soil ... Field of Greens Test

We are always testing and looking for better means of growing our microgreens.  To that end we obtained a new cellulose based organic growing mat and decided to compare the growth of our microgreens using the mat vs our "soil" based alternative.  We are using WonderSoil discs for our growing and these are mostly made of sustainable coconut coir with the addition of worm castings for nutrients.  We started our thai basil in both a few days apart (cellulose mat started 3 days later) but the results speak for themselves.  Here is photo taken today of the same thai basil we shot yesterday and our hydroponic system using water and the growing blanket.  Normally, microgreen seeds will have enough nutrients to carry the rapid growth for 7 days or so all in the seeds.  Once the enzymes and nutrients are used up, external sources of nutrients must be obtained.

The tray on the left is the soil based system vs the simple hydroponic blanket on the right.  The difference is amazing and illustrates why we have chosen to use our media in the kits we sell.  I have started  further experiments using external nutrients to try and create an experimental solution to the pictured differences above.  Stay tuned for more photos and experiments in the coming weeks ....