Why I Don't Have Sunflower Sprouts



Sunflower seeds and radish sprouts.

I love sunflower sprouts - they're delicious.  Easy to grow but expensive to buy.  They are easy to sprout for most people. And I have sprouted them before, successfully. But time and time again, I have planted the seeds to discover them eaten, a scattering of sunflower shells on top of the tray or the planter.  Living on the edge of a gulch, there are lots of rats that live nearby. It's as much their gulch as ours. Not that it's our gulch either - it extends for miles both ways.  The Maui rats love avocados, cherry tomatoes, and sunflower seeds.

I know they love avocados because they scratch and bite the surface of hard green avocados, clawing their way to a soft spot. If they can find one.  They love cherry tomatoes because every time a cherry tomato was on the verge of turning red, it disappeared in the middle of the night. The rats timed their harvest precisely.  I could smell the tomato getting riper every day, anticipating eating it soon. So did the rats.

As for sunflower seeds, one way to prevent the rats from eating the seeds is to lay another tray on top as the seeds sprout, but I've had mildew that way. The seeds were probably not that fresh so the germination was taking too long.

Despite the cat, the rats still rule. And mostly I get sunflower sprouts from Mana Foods.