FarmSay this Jan: First Roots

Hydroponic wins, microgreen misses, and a few honest notes from the first month of 2026.

First roots: January’s lettuce and leafy greens settling into the NFT system on our terrace in Mysuru.

January was high on experiments: good results from the Ayozari hydroponics system, and mixed, often frustrating, microgreen batches.

Hydroponics

On January 7, we transplanted seedlings from grow trays to net cups and officially started a batch of lettuce and spinach. It needed delicate hands because the seedling roots were just developing, and the ‘shock’ of the new NFT environment can easily slow their growth.

Thanks to the steady hands of Ashakiran and one of our 17‑year‑old volunteers, we’re at about 96% success: 21 days after transplanting, the first batch is ready for harvest.

On the second row of the Ayozari system, we also tried sowing seeds directly in the net cups.

From delicate roots to this—our first hydroponic batch ready for harvest, 21 days after transplanting.

Microgreens

It has been a ‘testing’ month, to say the least.

Alfalfa, the ‘testing’ part of the month—great for learning, not yet for the plate.

At best, we had mixed results from two batches of alfalfa—and none of them reached our fork.

• Uneven germination and tender stems that couldn’t support further growth.

• Otherwise healthy cotyledons wilted, even though we misted the trays a couple of times during the day.

Chef Sanjeev Kapoor’s microgreens kit is yet to show signs of germination. It’s been 10 days since sowing. This leads me to two possibilities:

1) The seeds were in the pack too long. So, priming prior to sowing might have helped.

2) Too much moisture from bottom tray. So will be patient for few more days.

On a side note, maybe the kits were closer to their “best by” date, hence the deep discount on quick commerce site.

Beekeeping

Our efforts to learn more, network, and get an actual bee box got a shot in the arm from a recent article in The Hindu.

Stay tuned for more on this in February.

Sheep and goat rearing

Our involvement here is still indirect for now. Stallfed/Samruddhi Agri has restarted their in-person one day training from January 2026. The first February batch is scheduled for the 8th.

Mushrooms

We’re still awaiting a refund from IIHR for the training fee paid for an unsuccessful registration. I’m not very hopeful of a positive response, but I’ll keep you posted on how it plays out.

On the community front, there was talk of an agripreneur meetup in Bengaluru on January 26—details are still emerging, but I’m keen to see if it turns into a regular circle. A discussion with HortiRoad2India is also lined up for early February. A health setback for one of our sons meant fewer microgreen experiments and new connections than planned in January, so both are high on the list for February.

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