microgreensgrower.com

Welcome to Microgreens Grower – your source for commercial microgreens growing information and resources!

This site is a collection of all the microgreens educational material I have produced since 2017, including my online course (now free!), my podcast episodes with Diego Footer of Modern Grower, and lots of new articles, including our latest article on Borage microgreens and their toxicity risk!

We are currently still building out the site so watch for lots of new articles soon (June 20, 2025)

Resources

Intro to Microgreens

Start here to get a quick overview of microgreens and why they are so popular for consumers and small business owners.

Crop Planning

Crop Planning is an essential microgreens business skill. We dive into crop planning principles and introduce you to SeedLeaf!

Microgreens Equipment

We cover the basic and the not-so-basic equipment to help get you off to a quick and cost-effective start (or upgrade).

Microgreens Research

COMING SOON. We summarize current microgreens research happening around the world and share details of our own research!

Articles

Check out our growing library of articles relating to all things microgreens. Great for beginners and experts alike.

Financial Planning

Urban Micro’s Crop and Financial Planner is a powerful tool for understanding the finances of your microgreens business.

How to Grow Microgreens

COMING SOON. We detail each stage of the production process to help you understand the flow of production.

Marketing Microgreens

COMING SOON. Here we introduce different markets and offer some tips and tricks for growing and maintaining sales!

Right For Me?

Growing microgreens as a business is not for everyone. Here are some things you should consider before digging in!

Getting Started

Some tips, tricks, and advice to help you get off to a good start on your commercial microgreens growing journey.

Microgreens Seeds

COMING SOON. Check out our list of international seed suppliers and recommended suppliers in Canada and the US.

Microgreens Crops

COMING SOON. Check out our detailed instructions on how to grow and manage a wide range of microgreens crops.

About your host

Introducing
Chris Thoreau

Chris has been engaged in commercial microgreens production since 2007 and is a wealth of knowledge on crop production, seed quality, crop planning, financial planning, and much more!

Learn More About Chris…

Microgreens Articles

Check out our extensive and ever growing list of articles…

Microgreens Lighting Part VIIII – Lighting Research
July 20, 2025
The following section highlights several peer-reviewed research papers on microgreens lighting. This is a chance to see the variation of lighting that is used in microgreens research as well as…
Microgreens Lighting Part VIII – Choosing Light Fixtures
Let’s start with a question that no longer needs to be answered, but we will address anyway: Should you use LED or fluorescent lights? In short, LED technology has come…
Microgreens Lighting Part VII – Light Reflection, Crop Proximity, and Efficiency
July 20, 2025
In this post, we cover multiple topics to help supplement the information we have discussed already. Light Reflection Light reflectors and reflective surfaces can play an important role in how…
Microgreens Lighting Part VI – Light Spectra in More Detail
When we talk about light quality we are talking about the spectra of the light – the specific wavelengths between 400 and 700 nm – that are emitted by a…
Microgreens Light Part V – Understanding PPFD and DLI with Calculations
July 20, 2025
Various academic and online sources suggest wide-ranging PPFD values between 50 and 400 µmol/m2s for microgreens and in our own research we have seen healthy crop growth with PPFD values…
Microgreens Light Part IV – Photons and Energy
July 20, 2025
In this article, we take a little side trip to explore photons and energy as they pertain to different wavelengths of light and help you better understand the intricacies of…
Microgreens Light Part III – Measuring and Mapping
July 20, 2025
There are several things to keep in mind when taking light measurements and making lighting calculations, so let’s take a journey through the things you need to consider. Measuring Light…
Microgreens Light Part II – Lighting Terminology
July 20, 2025
Overview Until relatively recently in human history, all photosynthesis was powered by the sun. But with the invention of electric lights, we can now drive the photosynthetic process without sunlight.…
Microgreens Light Part I – Introduction to Lighting
July 14, 2025
Introduction Lighting is a somewhat complicated topic that can intimidate new growers when getting set up to grow microgreens for the first time. But once you learn some of the…
Microgreens Crop Planning Part 3 of 3
In this final course in the series we dive into spreadsheets to help you get started in creating your own crop planning tool!
Microgreens Crop Planning – Part 2 of 3
July 12, 2025
In part 2 of this series we go into more detail to help you refine your crop planning strategies by introducing more advanced topics such as buffers, virtual customers, and…
Microgreens Crop Planning – Part 1 of 3
July 12, 2025
In this first of three courses, we introduce the core principles of microgreens crop planning including the concepts of Growing To Order, Crop Cycles, Crop Stages and Production Tasks.