Sprouting & microgreen seed · from origin

Seed for Vertical and Indoor Microgreen Farms

Radish, mustard, cress, fenugreek, fennel, basil, onion, alfalfa, clover · untreated · Sortex-cleaned · recurring supply from 500 kg

A microgreen farm is a factory for consistency. Chefs and retail buyers pay for trays that look identical week after week, and the single biggest variable you do not control inside your grow room is the seed that goes into the tray. Kohenoor supplies untreated, Sortex-cleaned, lot-tested seed for the species that make up most microgreen menus, in 25 kg bags or retail-ready formats, on a repeat schedule that matches your sowing calendar.

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By Kohenoor Export Desk · reviewed by Usman Hayat, third-generation seed exporter · Updated 2026-10-01

Garden cress seed for microgreen production, untreated and Sortex-cleaned by Kohenoor

In short: Kohenoor supplies untreated, food-grade microgreen seed, radish, mustard, cress, fenugreek, fennel, basil, onion, alfalfa, clover and more, that is Sortex optical-cleaned and ISTA-tested per lot, so every tray is sown with seed of the same size, purity and germination. Minimum order is 500 kg per species, in-stock lots ship FOB Karachi in 7 to 12 days, and recurring shipments can be scheduled against your sowing plan.

Untreated: no fungicide, no coatingSortex cleaned for uniform seed sizeISTA purity and germination per lotLot ID on every sealed 25 kg bagIndependent pathogen testing on requestCOA within 24 hoursBlends built to your recipeScheduled recurring supply

500 kgMinimum order per species

9 speciesCore microgreen range from one origin

7–12 daysIn-stock lots to FOB Karachi

25 kgSealed, lot-tagged bags; smaller packs on request

90%+Alfalfa lot germination; others on COA

24 hQuote and COA turnaround

Why seed is the hidden variable in a microgreen farm

Inside a vertical farm almost everything is controlled: light spectrum and hours, air temperature, humidity, water quality, tray medium, sowing density, blackout days and harvest height. Growers spend years dialling in these variables and then buy seed from whoever has it in stock this month. When a tray comes up patchy, slow or with a crust of ungerminated seed on top, the instinct is to blame the grow room. Very often it is the seed.

Three seed properties decide what a tray looks like at harvest:

Germination percentage. At a sowing density of, say, 30 grams of radish per 1020 tray, every five percentage points of germination is around 1.5 grams of seed that will not become a plant. That is not a cost problem so much as a visual one: the dead seed sits in the canopy, holds moisture and feeds mould.
Germination speed and uniformity. A lot where 90 percent of seeds emerge within 24 hours of each other produces a flat, even canopy that cuts cleanly. A lot with the same final percentage but a three-day spread produces a two-storey tray where the first plants shade the second.
Physical uniformity and cleanliness. Seed of even size spreads evenly from a shaker or seeder, germinates in step and does not bring in soil, chaff or weed seed that shows up as off-type leaves in the clamshell.

Kohenoor approaches these three properties the way a research seed company does: grow the crop for seed on managed fields, harvest at maturity, dry and condition it, clean it mechanically and then optically, test it under ISTA rules, and only then tag the bags and offer the lot. The result is seed that behaves the same in your tray on week 40 as it did on week 1.

Optical sorting and cleaning line producing uniform seed for microgreen trays

The microgreen species we supply, and what each one asks of you

Our sprouting and microgreen range runs to more than twenty varieties. The nine below cover the bulk of what commercial microgreen farms sow. The cycle lengths and handling notes are typical ranges reported by growers under standard indoor conditions; your lighting, medium and harvest stage will shift them.

Species	Flavour and use	Typical days to harvest	Pre-soak	Handling notes
Radish (daikon, rose)	Peppery; the workhorse of most menus	6–10	No	Fast and forgiving; rose types give pink stems
Mustard	Hot, wasabi-like; blends and garnish	7–10	No	Small seed, sow lightly; leggy if over-dense
Cress (garden cress)	Sharp, classic sandwich green	7–12	No	Mucilaginous: never soak; mist rather than flood
Fenugreek (methi)	Bitter-sweet, curry note; growing in Asian and Middle Eastern menus	8–12	Optional short soak	Vigorous; sticky coat needs drainage
Fennel	Aniseed, feathery; premium garnish	14–21	No	Slow and uneven if too warm; worth the wait
Basil	Aromatic, delicate; chef favourite	14–21	No	Mucilaginous seed; keep humid in blackout, needs warmth
Onion	Sharp allium, fine black-tipped shoots	14–21	No	Slow; seed hull stays on shoot tip as a feature
Alfalfa	Mild, nutty; fine texture for blends	8–12	Optional	Very fine seed; 90%+ germination on sprouting lots
Clover (red, crimson)	Mild, sweet; alfalfa alternative	8–12	Optional	Behaves like alfalfa; crimson gives colour

Mung bean and chickpea are also in the range and are used by some farms for shoots and sprouted-pulse lines rather than leaf microgreens; sesame, white and black, is supplied for sprouting and soaked-seed products. Several buyers run a sunflower or pea line alongside; those species are not in our range, so we focus on doing the ones above well and leave you free to source the rest where you already do.

Variety matters more than people think

Two radish lots can both be labelled "radish" and behave quite differently in a tray. Daikon types give long white stems and broad leaves; rose types give pink stems and a slightly smaller leaf. Red and crimson clover differ in stem colour and sweetness. Our COA names the species and type on every lot so your menu descriptions stay accurate and your trays stay the same from one shipment to the next.

Seed density per tray: typical ranges and how to use them

Sowing density is the lever growers reach for most often, and it interacts directly with seed quality. The ranges below are typical starting points for a standard 1020 tray (roughly 25 by 50 cm) under indoor lighting, as reported by commercial growers. They are not prescriptions. Dense sowing gives a thicker, taller canopy but more risk of damping-off; lighter sowing gives cleaner, stockier plants at lower yield per tray. Run a density trial with every new lot and adjust.

Species	Typical seed per 1020 tray	Typical fresh yield per tray	Comment
Radish	roughly 30–45 g	roughly 250–400 g	High germination lets you sow at the low end
Mustard	roughly 15–25 g	roughly 150–250 g	Tiny seed; a seeder helps evenness
Cress	roughly 15–25 g	roughly 150–250 g	Surface sow; do not cover with medium
Fenugreek	roughly 25–40 g	roughly 200–350 g	Fast; harvest before true leaves for tenderness
Fennel	roughly 20–30 g	roughly 120–200 g	Long cycle; price it as a premium green
Basil	roughly 8–15 g	roughly 80–150 g	Light sowing avoids damping-off
Onion	roughly 20–30 g	roughly 100–180 g	Slow; two trays per week keeps continuity
Alfalfa	roughly 20–30 g	roughly 150–250 g	Fine seed; mist gently
Clover	roughly 20–30 g	roughly 150–250 g	As alfalfa

Converting density into annual seed demand

A farm sowing 200 radish trays a week at 35 g per tray uses about 7 kg of radish seed a week, or roughly 360 kg a year. The same farm sowing 100 mustard trays at 20 g uses 2 kg a week, about 100 kg a year. Add fenugreek, cress, basil and fennel lines and a mid-sized farm quickly reaches 1 to 3 tonnes of seed a year across species. That is precisely the scale where buying direct from origin, in lot-tagged 25 kg bags on a schedule, starts to make more sense than buying 1 kg and 5 kg packs through a distributor, and it is the scale we are set up to serve.

When germination is reliable you can also sow at the lower end of each range, which reduces seed use per tray, improves airflow in the canopy and lowers mould risk. In other words, good seed pays for itself twice: once in yield and once in the seed you no longer need to over-sow as insurance.

Why untreated and Sortex-cleaned seed matters for tray uniformity

Microgreens are eaten raw, stems and all, often within hours of cutting. That rules out treated agricultural seed completely, and every microgreen grower knows it. What fewer growers think about is the second half of the sentence: untreated seed that has not also been thoroughly cleaned brings its own problems into the tray.

Untreated, by design

All Kohenoor sprouting and microgreen seed is natural, untreated seed: no fungicide, no insecticide, no colourant, no polymer film. The lot is designated for food use at planting, grown and harvested apart from farm-grade seed, and never passes through a treatment line. This is not something we strip off at the end; it is a decision made in the field.

Sortex optical cleaning and what it removes

After threshing, drying, screening and gravity separation, the seed passes through Sortex optical sorters. High-speed cameras inspect each seed in flight and air jets eject anything that does not match the colour, size and shape profile of the target. For a microgreen grower the practical gains are:

Even seed size, so a shaker or drum seeder spreads the lot evenly and the plants emerge together.
Removal of discoloured, immature and mould-marked seed, which would otherwise fail, decay and seed the tray with fungal spores.
Removal of weed seed and inert matter, so the clamshell contains only the species on the label.
Lower dust, which means cleaner seeders, cleaner trays and less dust in the air of the grow room.

Germination trays in the Kohenoor laboratory showing even emergence from a Sortex-cleaned lot

Cleanliness also makes your own seed sanitation step, if you use one, more effective. Whether you rinse, soak in a validated sanitiser or rely on hygiene elsewhere in the process, a dust-free seed surface is treated more evenly than one coated in field debris.

Purity and germination on the COA, lot by lot

Each lot is tested under ISTA rules for purity and germination and the results go on the Certificate of Analysis against the lot ID. Alfalfa sprouting lots run around 99 percent purity and 90 percent or higher germination with 0 percent dodder; other species are lot-specific and stated on the COA. Because the lot number on the bag tag matches the COA, you can record it against your sowing batches and trace any tray back to the seed it grew from.

Blends: built to your recipe, bagged as one lot

Many microgreen farms sell a mix as their highest-margin product: a spicy blend, a mild salad blend, an "Asian" blend. Mixing at the farm is tedious and inconsistent, so we offer blends made to your recipe at the cleaning plant and bagged as a single blended lot.

Some points that matter when specifying a blend for microgreens, as opposed to for sprouting:

Match cycle lengths. A blend of radish (6 to 10 days) and basil (14 to 21 days) will never harvest cleanly. Pair species with similar timings: radish, mustard and cress together; fennel, onion and basil together; alfalfa, clover and fenugreek together.
Match seed sizes where you can, or accept that fine seed will settle in the bag. Blends of similar seed size stay mixed through handling; blends of very different sizes should be re-mixed before each sowing.
Specify by weight. Tell us the percentage of each species by weight and we will blend, bag and tag the result with its own lot ID, with the component lots recorded behind it so traceability is kept.
Document allergens. Mustard is a declarable allergen in the EU and several other markets, and sesame is a declarable allergen in the EU and the United States. If your blend includes either, the label needs to say so; we flag it on the COA so your label team is not surprised.

Popular starting recipes that growers ask us for include a spicy mix (radish, mustard, cress), a mild salad mix (alfalfa, clover, radish) and a "methi mix" built around fenugreek. Minimum order for a blended lot is the same 500 kg, which for a farm selling a signature mix is usually a few months of sowing.

Recurring supply: a schedule, not a series of emergencies

Microgreen farms sow on a fixed weekly rhythm, so seed demand is one of the most predictable things in the business. Yet many farms still buy reactively, ordering when the last bag is opened, paying courier rates and accepting whatever lot the distributor has that week. We would rather set up a schedule.

How a recurring arrangement works

Annual plan. You tell us your species mix and approximate weekly sowing per species. We turn that into an annual tonnage and a shipment cadence; for most farms that is one consolidated shipment every two to four months.
Reserved lots. Where possible we allocate the same lot to consecutive shipments, so a farm that has dialled in its density on one radish lot keeps sowing that lot until it is finished, and we tell you in advance when a new lot will start.
Document pack per shipment. COA per lot, ISTA test report, independent microbiological report where requested, phytosanitary certificate, certificate of origin, invoice and packing list, in one email before the vessel sails.
Safety stock. We recommend holding one shipment cycle of seed in your own cool, dry store. Kept that way, alfalfa holds germination for 18 to 24 months and the other species in the range are similar when dry, so safety stock is not wasted stock.
Review. Every few shipments we compare your tray results with the lot data and adjust the specification if needed, for example tightening the size grade of a radish lot for a farm using a precision seeder.

Recurring buyers deal with the same person at the export desk, who knows their species, their port and their paperwork. Payment is 100 percent TT against the bill of lading copy or an irrevocable letter of credit at sight to begin with, and easier terms are offered once the relationship is established.

Sealed 25 kg bags of sprouting seed being packed and tagged for a scheduled shipment

Pack formats for microgreen farms

The standard export unit is a 25 kg poly-lined polypropylene woven bag with a sealed lot tag. For a commercial microgreen farm this is the most economical format and the easiest to store, but it is not the only one.

Format	Suits	Notes
25 kg bag, sealed lot tag	Farms sowing from a seed bin or hopper	Standard; palletised and shrink-wrapped for container loading
Smaller inner bags inside a 25 kg outer	Farms that open seed weekly and want to keep the rest sealed	Available on request; each inner carries the lot ID
Private-label or OEM bags	Farms that also resell seed to home growers or other farms	Your artwork, our lot tag; see the private-label page
Retail pouches, clamshells, sleeves	Farm shops, grow-kit lines, online sales	Retail-ready on request

All packaging is food-contact-approved and meets FDA and EU food-grade requirements. The poly liner keeps the seed dry through a sea voyage and in humid grow-room environments; keep bags sealed until the day of sowing and reseal any part-used bag.

Note on moisture: a grow room runs at high humidity by design. Store seed outside the grow room, in a cool, dry space, and bring only the day's seed in. Mucilaginous seeds such as cress and basil are especially quick to take up moisture and clump if left open in a humid room.

Food safety for microgreen growers: what applies to you and how we support it

Microgreens occupy a slightly different regulatory position from sprouts. In the United States, FDA's Produce Safety Rule treats sprouts as a special category with their own subpart; microgreens harvested above the soil line with roots left behind are generally regulated as other covered produce rather than as sprouts, though farms should confirm their own status with their regulator or adviser. In the EU, the specific sprout regulations apply to sprouts as defined there; microgreens fall under general food hygiene rules. Either way, your retail customers will ask the same questions about seed, and the same seed practices protect you.

Buy from a documented supplier. Our lot tags, COA and ISTA test reports give you the paper trail auditors look for.
Ask for pathogen testing. On request every lot is tested by an independent third-party laboratory for Salmonella and E. coli/STEC, and the report travels with the lot.
Run incoming checks. A bench germination test and, if your customers require it, your own microbiological sample from each lot.
Record lot IDs against sowing batches. This one habit turns a recall from a disaster into a controlled withdrawal of specific trays.
Store properly. Cool, dry, sealed, off the floor, outside the grow room.

Kohenoor is ISO 9001 and HACCP certified and handles sprouting seed as food, not as farm input. The food safety and testing page sets out the testing, traceability and regulatory documentation in detail.

Troubleshooting a bad tray: seed problem or grow-room problem?

When a tray disappoints, the fastest way to fix it is to know which side of the line the fault sits on. The table below is the checklist we run through with growers who call us about a lot. It is not exhaustive, but it separates the symptoms that point to seed from the ones that point to the environment, and it usually settles the question within one sowing.

Symptom	More likely seed	More likely grow room	Quick test
Patchy emergence in random spots	Mixed germination within the lot; foreign seed	Uneven sowing; dry spots under lights	Sow a measured 100 seeds on damp paper; if 90 emerge together, look at the seeder and watering
Whole tray slow but even	Older or poorly stored lot	Temperature too low; blackout too long	Compare with the COA test date; check medium temperature, not air temperature
Crust of ungerminated seed on top	Low germination lot	Over-dense sowing; seed dried out before emergence	Halve the density on one tray; if it still crusts, test the lot
Mould or damping-off	Damaged or dusty seed carrying spores	High humidity, poor airflow, over-watering	Open a fresh bag: Sortex-cleaned seed should be dust-free; if clean, fix airflow
Off-type leaves in the canopy	Weed seed or species mix in the lot	Cross-contamination from another tray or seeder	Check purity on the COA; sow a tray from a newly opened bag
Leggy, pale stems	Rarely seed	Light too weak or too far; blackout too long	Adjust light first
Bitter or harsh flavour	Variety difference between lots	Harvested late; heat stress	Compare species and type on the two COAs

Two habits make this diagnosis easy. First, record the lot ID against every tray you sow, so a problem can be tied to a lot or ruled out in seconds. Second, keep a sealed reference sample from each lot and sow it on damp paper under standard conditions whenever a question arises; it gives you a seed-only result with the grow room taken out of the equation.

If the evidence points at the seed, send us the lot ID, your paper-towel count and photographs. We re-test the lot sample and come back with data. If the evidence points at the grow room, we will still help where we can; many of the growers we supply have been generous with what they have learned, and we pass it on.

Starting with a trial: what to test and how long it takes

We would rather you trusted your trays than our website. A trial for a microgreen farm is simple and fast because the crop cycle is short.

Request the current lot COA for the species you want to try, plus a quotation FOB Karachi (CFR or CIF on request). The export desk replies within 24 hours.
Pre-shipment sample. For a first order we can courier a sealed sample of the offered lot so you can run density trials before the main order ships.
Trial order. 500 kg per species; smaller mixed consolidations can be arranged by LCL.
Side-by-side trays. Sow our lot and your current seed at the same density in the same rack. Record emergence at 24, 48 and 72 hours, canopy evenness, days to harvest, fresh weight per tray and shelf life in the clamshell.
Decide in three cycles. For radish and mustard that is about a month; for fennel and basil two months. Most farms know after the second cycle.

If the trial lot does not perform as the COA says it should, tell us. We would rather know, and we will re-test the lot sample and respond with the data.

Why microgreen farms buy from origin, and why from Kohenoor

Buying seed at origin rather than through two layers of distribution does three things for a microgreen farm. It lowers cost per tray at any meaningful volume. It gives you lot-level information straight from the people who grew and tested the seed rather than a relabelled pack. And it lets you shape the specification: a tighter size grade, a particular radish type, a blend in your own ratio, organic lots grown to order.

Kohenoor International has done this since 1957. We are a research forage and sprouting seed company based in Hyderabad, Sindh, with offices in Dubai and Australia, ISO 9001 and HACCP certified, a member of the Australian Seed Federation, exporting more than 60 seed products to over 70 countries. The sprouting range runs to 20 or more varieties, untreated, Sortex-cleaned, ISTA-tested per lot, with independent pathogen testing available on every lot and a Certificate of Analysis within 24 hours.

Organic-certified lots (USDA NOP, EU Organic, JAS) are grown to order from 5 MT with a 60 to 90 day lead time. Standard lots ship in 7 to 12 days from stock. Send your species list and weekly tray numbers to the export desk and we will come back with a plan, not a price list.

Frequently asked questions

Do you supply sunflower or pea seed for microgreens?

No. Our range covers radish, mustard, cress, fenugreek, fennel, basil, onion, alfalfa, clover, mung bean, chickpea and sesame among 20 or more varieties. Sunflower and pea are not in the range, so we concentrate on the species we grow and test ourselves.

What is the minimum order for a microgreen farm?

500 kg per species. For a farm sowing 100 to 200 trays a week of a species, that is typically several months of seed. Mixed consolidations of several species can ship together.

Is the seed untreated?

Yes. All sprouting and microgreen seed is natural seed with no fungicide, insecticide, colourant or coating, designated for food use from planting onwards.

How much seed do I need per tray?

Typical starting ranges for a 1020 tray are roughly 30 to 45 g for radish, 15 to 25 g for mustard and cress, 25 to 40 g for fenugreek, 20 to 30 g for fennel, onion, alfalfa and clover, and 8 to 15 g for basil. Run a density trial with each new lot and adjust to your system.

Can you make a blend to my recipe?

Yes. Specify the species and percentages by weight. We blend at the cleaning plant and bag the result as its own lot with the component lots recorded behind it. Pair species with similar cycle lengths so the tray harvests evenly.

How is each lot tested?

Under ISTA rules for purity and germination, with results on the Certificate of Analysis against the lot ID. Independent third-party Salmonella and E. coli/STEC testing is available per lot on request. The COA is issued within 24 hours.

How should I store seed at the farm?

Cool, dry and sealed, outside the humid grow room, off the floor. Alfalfa typically holds germination for 18 to 24 months in such conditions; bring only the day's seed into the grow room and reseal part-used bags.

Can you supply organic seed for microgreens?

Yes. Organic-certified lots (USDA NOP, EU Organic, JAS) are grown to order with a 5 MT minimum and a 60 to 90 day lead time. Tell us early so planting can be scheduled.