Introduction

Most microgreen farmers operate under similar conditions - indoors and climate-controlled. Despite having similar setups, everybody has their method for growing each variety. I’ll explain how I grow arugula microgreens at my company, Piedmont Microgreens (PMG). We grow 400+ trays per week (TPW) at PMG, and 10% of those are arugula. Here are the farm's parameters and the conditions for growing our microgreens. Yes, the relative humidity (RH) is high. I want the RH to be between 45-55%, but we’re working on it. Regardless, our crops grow well and we don’t have any issues with disease. We fertilize all crops with one dosing of dilute Ocean Solution. We dilute one ounce of Ocean Solution to a gallon of water. Every tray gets fertilized first thing out of germination. The rest of their life they get regular city water.

Avg. Farm Temperature	75°F/24°C
Avg. Farm Humidity (RH)	65-72%
Lights On	16 Hours
Lights Off	8 Hours
Shelf Spacing	10”
Lighting	2*T5 LEDs 22W/Shelf
Soil	Promix BX
Trays	1020 Shallow
Water	Municipal, Bottom Watering
Fertilizer	Ocean Solution

Growing Arugula Microgreens

Arugula is a popular crop and easy to grow. We suggest adding it to your menu early in your career, but not until you’ve mastered beginner crops, like peas, broccoli, and radish. It can be a little trickier because it’s lower yielding and prone to disease. We’ve been growing it for years and it’s still the most consistently problematic crop in the farm. Arugula never suffers from severe damping off or disease, but it often has small patches that we have to harvest around. Arugula is also a lower value, lower yielding crop, which means it’s not as profitable as other varieties. We often get yields around five ounces, which is similar to most herb and speciality varieties. However, arugula isn’t special enough that you can charge the same price per ounce as, say, cilantro or beet. Low yields and lower pricing power mean the gross profit for arugula isn’t high.

Sprinkle your 12g of arugula seed evenly onto a 1020 tray of tamped soil. Use a watering wand to hydrate the seed and soil. Place a bottom tray beneath each planted tray. Stack the trays no more than seven high, place another tray on top, and then add a 10 to 15-pound paver. Leave the stacks in germination for three days before putting them under lights. We don’t put any varieties into blackout at my farm. However, if I had to pick two that would benefit most, it would be arugula and basil. These crops are quite short at harvest, which can make them difficult to cut. Regardless, we don’t blackout our arugula, and we harvest it without any problems. Arugula is great because you can grow it as short as 10 days, but as long as 14 days without changing any of the parameters. If you wanted to grow it longer, I suggest reducing the seed density to 8-10g. Other crops, like peas and radish, tend to grow exponentially. Any attempt to grow those varieties longer than 7-9 days, regardless of the seed density, will make them too long and fibrous.

All in all, arugula can be a straightforward crop, minus its propensity to develop disease spots. If your arugula does have disease spots, there’s nothing you should do about it. Arugula grows fast enough that the disease won’t spread too far before harvest. Avoid those spots during harvest and you’ll be okay.

Product Size	Container Size	Price	Client Type
3 oz.	32 oz.	$10.00	Restaurants
8 oz.	64 oz.	$14.00	Distributors

Preferred Supplier	True Leaf Market
Preferred Variety	“Arugula” or Astro
Sow Density	12g/Tray
Est. Seed Cost/Tray	$0.16 - $0.21 (Buying 25#s of Seed)
Est. Gross Margin/Tray	73% (Restaurants)
Popularity Level	7/10 (Top 5)
Difficulty of Growing	Beginner/Intermediate