How to Grow Sorrel Microgreens in 5 Easy Steps

If you’re tired of the basic microgreen crops, like radishes and sunflowers, we have a lesser-known herb that you can learn how to grow. Known for its tangy flavor, sorrel makes an exciting microgreen! Not only that, but sorrel microgreens are pretty basic to grow. With this crop, you can liven up your kitchen with minimal effort.

Most microgreens don’t look a thing like their mature selves, but sorrel is the spitting image of its full-grown leaves (deep red veins included if growing red varieties). These mini-me cotyledons are ovate-shaped, bright green leaves. Unlike mature sorrel though, micro sorrel has a citrusy, tangy flavor. This makes it a great alternative for someone who doesn’t care for sour foods. Micro sorrel can still go in soups, but it also makes a fantastic, crunchy garnish for many dishes (especially fish!).

Even in the best growing conditions with the best growing method, micro sorrel needs 17-30 days to grow. It has a long growing time for microgreens, but it’s still much faster than that of mature plants.

As a member of the buckwheat family, young sorrel also contains lots of health benefits and nutrients, including Vitamins A, B, and C, potassium, and fiber. So, as you can see, sorrel microgreens have plenty of great features that make them a fun addition to your year-round microgreen gardens!

What You’ll Need

You can learn how to grow sorrel microgreens just as easily as most other microgreen crops. In fact, if you’re an experienced microgreen grower, you’ll have no problem getting sorrel plants started by the same growing method as most micro plants.

Seeds

There are lots of different varieties of sorrel plants with properties noticeable in their microgreens. As mentioned before, red-veined sorrel will have distinctive red veins in the microgreens. Red panda sorrel plants are similar but have a more delicate shade of red. This type of red sorrel is one of the fast-growing varieties and is typically ready to harvest one to two weeks earlier than slow-growing varieties like the red-veined sorrel plant. Another common variety is large leaf sorrel plants, which have an extra lemony flavor and, of course, large leaves.

You don’t have to buy red-veined sorrel seeds marketed for growing microgreens since microgreens are a stage of growth, not a plant variety. You do want to choose seeds from a reliable brand. In order to get a dense mat of microgreens, we need a high germination rate.

For plain green sorrel leaves, we recommend ‘Common Sorrel Seeds’ from Botanical Interests.

Containers

Use Growing trays – two shallow growing trays instead of a pot; one tray with drainage holes, and one without. If you don’t have trays, we recommend Epic 6-Cell Seed Starting Trays and Germination Domes & Bottom Trays.

Growing Medium

Use seed starting potting mix or coconut coir for the best results. Both these have excellent water-holding capacity which is what you need for tiny seeds. Mix one part potting soil with one part rehydrated coco coir and use as a growing medium.

Grow Lights

For indoor planting, grow lights work best for consistent lighting. We recommend the following grow lights: Small Epic Seed Starting Grow Light or the Standard Epic Seed Starting Grow Light. For any sorrel microgreens, grow lights will give you the best results.

Extras

To hold down the trays while they are covered a small five pound weight is recommended. You will also need a misting bottle for watering and a sharp pair of scissors for harvesting the little greens when ready.

How to Grow Sorrel Microgreens

Red-veined sorrel seeds don’t need to be soaked before they’re planted. Direct sow our sorrel into a shallow grow container instead of garden beds or a pot. Follow these steps to get the best of of your sorrel seed.

Step 1: Plant

First, fill up the drainage grow tray with your choice of seed-starting soil mix, coconut coir, or a mix of both. Smooth out the soil surface and sow a thin layer of seeds. The seeds should cover the entire soil surface, right up to the edges of the grow tray. However, don’t let the individual seeds touch or overlap.

Gently tamp down the seeds and give them a good misting with your spray bottle.

Step 2: Cover

Instead of covering them with a thin layer of soil, we’ll be leaving the seeds and soil surface bare. To help with germination though, place your second grow tray directly on top of the seeds. Place a small weight on top of the tray to keep it in place (the seedlings can handle a maximum of five pounds).

With that second grow tray in place, your seeds will be wet, warm, and in the dark – perfect germinating conditions. Leave the seeds and soil in this blackout period for at least a week. Red-veined sorrel seeds take three to seven days to germinate and sprout, then need to grow a bit before they’re ready to face the outside world. You’ll know that the sorrel seedlings are mature enough when they start to push up the cover tray, despite its weight.

Step 3: Grow

Once they’ve proved their strength, remove the weighted cover so your sorrel seedlings can take a breath of fresh air. At this point, they may look a little pale and squished. Bringing out your grow light will quickly take care of that. Position the lighting source one to two feet directly above the sorrel and turn it on for at least six to eight hours a day. The sorrel will straighten out towards the light source and start producing chlorophyll, which gives them the bright green leaves.

Since they take so much longer to grow, you’ll likely need to water your sorrel plants at least once. However, since the plants are growing so close together, getting the surface wet will drastically increase humidity and encourage pests and diseases. So, we’re going to water from the bottom of the tray instead.

For bottom-watering, you can reuse the holeless container that was your blackout cover. This time though, fill the tray with a couple of inches of water and set the grow tray inside it. The soil will soak up the water through the drainage holes. After 10-15 minutes, remove the watering tray. You’ll need to repeat this process whenever the soil starts to dry out.

Step 4: Harvest

It’ll take at least another week or two after germinating to grow sorrel microgreens. By that point, their leafy cotyledons will be completely unfolded and you may even see some true leaves growing in. You can experiment with how long you wait until you harvest these semi-mature plants. The tangy flavor will grow more sour and bitter as the leaves mature. Generally, gardeners harvest sorrel greens before they pass two inches in height.

Use sharp kitchen shears to harvest the plants in bunches. Once harvested, try to handle the delicate leaves as little as possible and hold off on washing them for now. Unfortunately, this garden plant won’t regrow another crop to harvest. However, you can sow more seed right away since microgreens grow year round, no matter if it’s winter or summer!

Step 5: Store

Mature sorrel leaves are usually cooked, but post-harvest micro sorrel greens are at their best raw. Their delicious crunchiness makes a perfect garnish for warm or cold dishes, like fish, potatoes, or salads. Just be sure to only wash the fresh leaves right before using them.

We keep microgreen harvests as dry as possible so that they’ll store better. If wrapped in paper towels and stored in a container in the fridge, you can squeeze a whole week of freshness out of one harvest.

Frequently Asked Questions