Growing Alfalfa Using Recycled Containers

I've been fascinated with growing alfalfa sprouts ever since I saw Bren's video on her blog, BGGarden. It seemed so easy!  I bought some Botanical Interests Alfalfa seeds from Whole Foods last week.  I could not wait to try them!  Reading the back of the packet, the first step to growing alfalfa was to soak the seeds in a bleach and water solution for 15 minutes.  It calls for 1 teaspoon of bleach in a cup of warm water.  The reason for doing this was to kill any E. Coli bacteria that might be lurking in the seeds. You can get sick from eating sprouts! Really, ugh!  Into the solution it went, after 15 minutes rinse the seeds well with water.

In Bren's video, she is using this nifty sprout grower.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest in a sprout kit, so I Googled DIY ways to grow sprouts.  I found this interesting video.  In this video, he is using common recycled food containers to grow sprouts in.  All you need is a wet paper towel to get it started.  Okay, let me give this a try. I decided to use a soup container, and punched holes in the lid to allow flow of air.

I inserted a folded wet paper towel just like the video and sprayed it with water after putting the seeds in.  I actually put in more seeds after I took this photo.

After 1 day, I checked inside the plastic container and it's already sprouting!  Can you see the little sprouts growing?  Bigify photo to get a better look.  Woohoo!  I love eating sprouts, I can't wait to put this in a sandwich.  On the back of the Botanical Interests seed packet, it also said you could grow sprouts in mason jars with a sprout lid or cheese cloth covering the jar.  It also said to rinse the sprouts with water everyday. Since I'm following the wet paper towel method, I'm not sure if I have to rinse the seeds.  I'll have to watch them carefully just to make sure it doesn't get moldy in there.  Have you ever grown sprouts using this method before?