Growing Birdseed on Cotton Wool

Fill Your Yard with Feathered Gems

Who can resist a yard full of jewel-toned songbirds? Drawing birds to your backyard is simple. Provide cover from predators, a source of clean water, room to nest and roost and a variety of foods and they will arrive in a flurry of feathers. Seed costs have risen dramatically in recent months. Shortages of popular varieties of bird seed are driving some bird enthusiasts to grow and sprout their own seed. Sprouting materials vary, but one standby, cotton wool, is effective and easy to obtain. Cotton wool batting is sold in most craft stores. Spread a layer of cotton wool batting on a potting table, layer it with seed, and wait.

Fend off Freezing

Birds keep warm in winter by shivering. This requires energy, in the form of high-fat, high-calorie foods. The hulls of seed sprouted in cotton wool are easier to remove, saving precious calories for keeping warm. Nijer, black or striped sunflower, millet and flax are all easy to germinate.

Ring the Dinner Bell

Lay cotton wool batting on your indoor potting table and spread some of the seed your birds prefer onto it. Keep the potting shed temperature well above freezing. Moisten the cotton wool daily until the hulls of the seeds loosen, which takes 24 to 36 hours at most. Use the germinated seed before green sprouts appear, or it may get moldy.

Place just enough of each type of sprouted seed in your feeder for the birds to eat in one day. Large piles of uneaten food draw pests. Plant any remaining germinated seed in your garden or at the edge of the yard, near a brush pile or hedge row. Hang several bird houses nearby to provide night-time roosts.

Resources

• Just-Germinated Seeds
• Bird Seed Prices Soar
• Winter Survival for Birds