Overflowing sprouts and mason jars...

sprouting seeds in myriad containers...

I'm really hoping the soil sprouting trays come in today!!!  
My kitchen counter has been overtaken by wheatgrass, pea shoots, sunflower, and mung bean sprouting seeds! 
I learned a big lesson last night... 
There are different kinds of mason jars!
When I went into Wal-Mart a few days ago and bought mason jars, I simply picked up the quart size 12-pack that they had on the shelf.  It never occurred to me that the jar openings might come in different sizes... such as "wide-mouth," which is apparently the preferred size for sprouting.  This makes sense for increased air flow.  So, if you're planning to sprout in mason jars, take note!  Also, I'd never seen 1/2 gallon size mason jars!  I've determined the 1/2 gallon size will be better for soaking 2 cups each of pea shoots (most definitely), wheatgrass, and mung bean.  The pea shoot seeds started shooting out of the top of the quart jar during soaking.  Although the other seeds didn't come out the top, they definitely got wedged in the bottom of the jars and I had to use a spoon to chisel them out.  They were wedged tight.  For this amount of these seeds, they definitely need larger jars. 


sprouting seeds to bed

Once the soaking was done, there was really no room left in the jars for the rinsing phase.  So, I ransacked through my cupboards to find different strainer-type containers to put them in...  Then, I rinsed and put the seeds to bed.  I really hope those sprouting trays come in....  The sprouting seeds have taken over my counter-space!The other thing I discovered last night is that when you buy the plastic sprouting jar lids...  they all come in "wide-mouth" mason jar size.  I couldn't find any lids that came in the small mouth mason jar size.
So, I placed an order on Amazon last night for the wide-mouth 1/2 gallon mason jars.  I didn't ever see any that size in stores I searched in-person.