Growing sprouts at home is an easy way to provide nutritious greens for your family without fancy equipment, and a fun winter indoor gardening project. But many beginner sprout growers encounter one big problem that discourages them from trying sprouting again–mold.

Nobody wants to find mold in their home grown sprouts. Who wants to throw out precious food that you spent all that time growing?

Thankfully, there’s two really simple growing tricks that will stop mold in sprouts–with barely any extra work required on your part.

But first, let’s get to the root of the problem. . .

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Why are my sprouts molding?

Simply put, your sprouts are sitting in too much water. If the sprouts are too wet between rinses and there’s no air flow, this creates the perfect conditions for mold to grow.

No on to the two tweaks that will prevent fuzzy sprouts. . .

1. When it’s time to rinse, do it twice

Sprouts need to be rinsed twice a day, but once just isn’t enough. Put water in the jar, swirl the sprouts, and dump the water out. Do it again, but this time, very carefully let the water drain at a 45 degree angle, trying to keep the sprouts as spread out in the jar as possible. Then. . .

2. Rest the Jar in a bowl at a 45 degree angle to drain the remaining water

You know how when you set the jar back upright, there’s always that tiny little pool of water at the bottom? By setting the jar in a bowl, you prevent water from collecting at the bottom, thus preventing mold.

Finally, when it’s time to store the sprouts in the fridge, there’s one bonus trick to keeping them longer. . .

3. Place a paper towel at the bottom of a fridge smart container for the longest possible life

The towel at the bottom of the container will collect any remaining moisture, and help avoid surprises. You don’t have to use a Tupperware fridge smart container, a regular plastic container or knock off will work too.

Just in case you’re a beginner and sprouting for the first time or two, here’s how you do the whole process step by step. . .

How Do I Start Sprouting At Home?

To start your sprouting journey, you’ll need the following ingredients. . .

• Seeds for sprouting
• Mason Jar
• Sprouting lid
• Small bowl for tipping your sprouts

1. Loosely fill the bottom of the jar with sprout seeds.
2. Fill jar with water and soak for 4-8 hours, or overnight.
3. You are now starting day one. Rinse the sprouts morning and night, 2 times each time. On the last rinse of each time, carefully follow the tricks above so you prevent mould.
4. Set the jar in a bowl between rinse times. Your sprouts do not need a lot of light, keep them in a darker room.
5. Repeat the process until your seeds are ready, anywhere from 2-7 days depending on the variety of seeds you purchased.
6. When the seeds are ready, follow the bonus trick to store them so they keep longer.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy your sprout growing journey!

You might also like. . .

• Seed Starting from your Window
• 5 Tricks to growing the best peppers
• How to start seeds when you don’t have decent light or space

Kristen Raney

Kristen is a former farm kid turned urban gardener who owns the popular gardening website, Shifting Roots.  She is obsessed with growing flowers and pushing the limits of what can be grown in her zone 3b garden.  She also loves to grow tomatoes, but oddly enough, dislikes eating them raw.