Tray Washing at Your Microgreens Farm – my favourite job!
I’m being sarcastic - tray washing definitely isn’t my favourite task that I do at my microgreens farm every week. And I’m guessing it’s not your’s either.
It is however, an essential part of your operations if you’re running a commercial microgreens farm, so I want to share with you my tried and tested method of proper tray cleaning between your grows.
Exciting stuff!
First up - Why do your grow trays need to be so clean anyway?
First and foremost, you’re growing food for people. That means that you have full responsibility and a duty of care to operate your microgreens farm in a food safe way. Not only will this ensure saftey for your customers, but also the the well being of your crops. Happy crops mean stress-free growing for you!
We grow migrogreens densely in order to maximise crop yields. This can create pockets of micro-climates within your trays that are warm and moist. If any mould spores are already present on either your seed or grow medium, these are perfect environmental conditions to promote mould growth. You want to minimise this as much as possible, so as well as sufficient airflow and de-humidification in your grow room, super clean equipment in your farm can help ensure your grows remain fungus and pathogen free.
Your grow trays are a significant part of this, as they’re in direct contact with your grow medium and crops.
Don’t delay your washing!
I highly recommend that you thoroughly clean your grow trays after EVERY grow. And don’t compromise on this at all. Get into the routine of it. This will prevent an ongoing build up of any nasties that might be in there that could then go onto breed and spread in your next grow cycle.
As well as washing after every grow, I also recommend that you wash your trays as soon as possible after you’ve dealt with your greens harvest, deliveries etc. Ideally the same day. By tipping all your shoots and compost and washing your trays straight after harvest, they’ll be easier to wash and therefore won’t take as much time. If dirty trays are left for more than a day or so, any roots left in there will dry on and take so much for scrubbing when you get around to washing them.
Task batch tray cleaning into your weekly timetable:
1. HARVEST, PACK, STORE your greens, then:
2. DUMP, BRUSH, WASH, DRY your trays …….. in that order.
My tray cleaning method
First of all, there are several different methods you can use to ensure your trays are properly clean and ready for their next grows. I’ve tried and tested many and this is my favourite. It’s simple, it does the job properly and it’s fast.
After tipping out the tray, I give it a good brush out on both sides with a stiff hand brush to get rid of any excess roots, compost etc.
Once I have a full stack of brushed out trays, I take them to the washing sink. This can be your kitchen sink if you’re growing at home. Just make sure all your domestic stuff is out of the way first and that you’ve brushed as much medium out of the tray as possible in preparation.
Make up a clean bowl of hot, soapy water on the side.
Then, per tray - rinse the front and back with fresh water into the sink to get the last of the bits off.
Using your scrubby sponge (one that’s ONLY used for tray washing!), make it soapy and throughly clean both sides of the tray, including the edges.
Rinse both sides with clean, flowing hot water.
I stack a pile on the drainer first and when that’s tall, I pour all the excess water off and take them to dry.
It’s important to then let your trays air dry. This will prevent any cloth or towel contamination. See the photo below for my favourite stacking method! You can stack them outside if you have the space and it’s a nice day, otherwise, I just do it in the kitchen. And in front of the radiator in winter.
I currently do 2 harvests a week at my farm, so I do two tray cleaning session a week. I time everything meticulously so I know exactly how much time I spend on my business. For 50 trays a week, in total I spend 1 hour tray tipping and brushing and 1 hour 45mins tray washing and drying. The more you do, the faster you get! It’s not so bad.
Extra Sanitising - is it needed?
If you want to take your tray cleaning a step further, then after washing and drying, you can spray them on both sides with a 99% anti bacterial sanitiser (some Environmental Health Officers may insist this, but ask first. My EHOs were happy with a hot, soapy scrub). If you’ve cleaned your trays properly at the sink, I personally think this extra step is overkill.
Some growers also choose to just soak their trays in a bleach/sanitising bath. Again, I would only suggest doing this after a hot, soapy scrub, which again I think is over kill to use both methods. If you do this without a scrub first, then you get lots of bits floating about in your ‘sanitiser’ bath that then need rinsing off after anyway.
And a third option is putting your trays in a dish washer. If you’re using the large Garland Microgreens Trays, then they probably won’t fit in your dish washer, but smaller trays will. I’d only use this method if you can get your trays completely residue free before putting them in there. Otherwise, any loose roots might clog the dish washer and any dried on ones might not come off.
An Efficiency Reminder
And finally, when considering how to do any tasks in your microgreens farm, remember to always strive to find the most efficient way of doing it, that does the job properly. Whether that’s planting, harvesting, packing, cleaning. A successful commercial microgreens farm needs to be streamline and operate as efficiently as possible, and your tray washing task is no exception. This will always maximise your enjoyment of the process, aswell as your profit margin!
If you’re keen to learn more about getting your own microgreens business up and running, then here’s my
FREE UK Microgreens Business Starter Guide
Download now to get it sent straight to your inbox!
In your guide, you’ll get:
5 great reasons for starting a microgreens business in the UK right now
A basic equipment list
A step-by-step guide to growing and harvesting radish shoots and pea shoots, including UK pricing suggestions and profit margins.
A how-to guide to selling your microgreens to your local community.