Pak Choi Red is a microgreen known by many names. Perhaps more recognisable as Chinese cabbage or bok choy, it’s a very easy microgreen to grow both in terms of the technique and its speed.
Pak Choi is a fast, easy-growing microgreen with a unique mild flavour, a bit nutty, but a little sweet too. Goes well in any micro salad, and can be grown to the baby salad leaf stage.
Please note that Pak Choi is a mucilaginous seed so it can only be grown as a microgreen. Not suitable for sprouting.
When growing microgreens, it’s beneficial to use a tray with drainage holes and a bottom tray with none. You then place the top one in the bottom one, and it catches any excess water.
1. Sow your seeds directly on thoroughly moistened medium
2. Lightly spray the seeds, this helps them to stick to the medium
3. Place a tray over the top to blackout light and keep moisture in
4. Keep in blackout for at least 3 days. During both the blackout period and the sunlight period, you should gently water your microgreens twice a day; once in the morning and once in the evening. It’s important that you keep the soil moist, but never soaked.
Overwatering is one of the most common mistakes and causes crops to grow mould. So always keep an eye to ensure that you give the right amount of water and good airflow.
5. On day 4 move to a location that will provide at 6 hours of light per day - but avoid direct bright sunlight
6. Leave the microgreens for another five days until they have reached their mature stage. It’s when they have grown pink/red stems and have developed their first true leaves. Pak Choi leaves are small with rounded corners.
7. Harvest when the plants are between 2.5cm to 7.5cm tall using scissors or a sharp knife and cut just above the medium