How to Grow Swiss Chard Microgreens: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide

Swiss chard is one of the prettiest microgreens you can grow. Deep red stems, green cotyledons, and a flavor that lands somewhere between a beet and a leafy green. It is also the crop that frustrated us the most when we first started. The seed hull on Swiss chard is genuinely hard, and if it stays attached to the cotyledons at harvest, biting into one is an unpleasant surprise. Now in our 8th year of growing, we have a method that gets those hulls off consistently, and the whole thing comes down to how you handle the medium in the first sixty seconds of the grow.

Quick Answer: How to Grow Swiss Chard Microgreens

Seed 25 grams of Swiss chard onto a partially filled tray of coco coir or a quality organic potting soil mix, then cover the seed with a second thin layer of medium and press it down firmly. That top layer is what strips the hard seed hulls off as the seedlings push through. Keep the tray very wet for the first three to four days under weight, move to blackout around day five, then bottom water under lights until harvest around day 12 to 14. Swiss chard does not need a pre-soak and it does not grow well on a reusable medium, so plan on coco coir or soil.

Why We Grow Swiss Chard Microgreens

Swiss chard sits in our specialty and colored-stem category alongside beets, amaranth, and red veined sorrel. It is slower than the brassicas and it does not grow aggressively the way broccoli, radish, or peas do. What it gives you instead is color that nothing else in the tray can match, and a mild, crunchy, slightly earthy flavor that works in far more dishes than most people expect.

The nutrition connection

Swiss chard and beets both belong to the Amaranthaceae family and both carry betalains, the same pigment group responsible for the deep red in beet stems, along with vitamins A, C, and K. On the broader microgreen side, the landmark University of Maryland and USDA study found that many microgreens carry significantly higher concentrations of certain nutrients than their mature counterparts. If you want the full breakdown by crop family, we covered it in Why Are Microgreens So Good for You.

Other reasons we keep growing it

• The stem color is the best-looking accent in any mixed container or chef order
• Mild enough to eat in volume, unlike spicy radish or mustard
• Holds up beautifully in rice dishes, curries, and grain bowls
• It is a low-water crop. Swiss chard drinks noticeably less than a pea or sunflower tray
• Once you solve the seed hull problem, it is not a difficult grow at all

The Swiss Chard Seed Hull Problem

This is the part that matters most, so we are putting it before the step-by-step.

Swiss chard seed is not a single smooth seed. It is a hard, corky seed ball, and that shell does not soften or fall away on its own the way a broccoli or radish hull does. If it rides up on the cotyledons and stays there, you end up with a tray of otherwise beautiful microgreens that nobody wants to chew. When we first tried this crop years ago, we harvested tray after tray covered in hulls and nearly gave up on it.

Two things fixed it for us:

• Covering the seed with a second thin layer of medium and pressing it down firmly. The seedling has to push up through that layer, and the friction pulls the hull off on the way
• Keeping the tray very wet for the first three to four days. Moisture softens the shell, and a damp tray sheds hulls far better than a tray that dried out overnight

This is also exactly why Swiss chard does not work on a reusable silicone grow medium. There is no top layer to push through, so the hulls stay on. Beets have the same seed structure and the same issue. Save the reusable silicone grow mediums for brassicas, radish, and the other crops on our seed compatibility guide, and grow chard on coco coir or soil.

Choosing Your Swiss Chard Seed

We grow Ruby Red organic Swiss chard from True Leaf Market, and it is the main variety in every photo and video we have published on this crop. It gives the deepest red stems of anything we have tried in the family.

Other Swiss chard varieties sold for microgreens include Rainbow Mixture, Pink Lipstick, Pink Stem, Yellow, and Barese. We have not grown those in our space yet, so we are not going to tell you how they perform. If you want the color range, Rainbow Mixture is the one most growers reach for.

Whatever you buy, buy seed sold specifically for microgreen or sprouting use from a reputable supplier. Garden seed can be treated with fungicide, and treated seed is never safe as food. We wrote about what to look for in Microgreen Seed Quality.

What You Need

• A 10x20 shallow tray with drainage for growing in, plus a solid no-hole tray underneath for bottom watering
• A second tray to sit on top for the weighted and blackout phases
• Coco coir or a good organic potting soil mix
• 25 grams of Swiss chard seed, or roughly 3 tablespoons
• A kitchen scale. Weighing seed is the single easiest way to make your grows repeatable
• A misting wand. This is the one we use, and the mist setting matters more on this crop than almost any other
• Something for weight. We use a 15 pound paver
• Grow lights on a 16 to 17 hour schedule
• A sharp harvest knife

If you are working in a smaller space, the same method scales down to a 7x14 tray kit at roughly a third to a half of the seed weight.

Step-by-Step: How We Grow Swiss Chard Microgreens

Step 1: Fill the tray partway, not all the way

Fill your growing tray with coco coir or soil, but stop short of the top. You want room for a second layer that goes on after seeding. Level it out as evenly as you can. An uneven base means uneven germination later.

Step 2: Seed at 25 grams

Weigh out 25 grams for a 10x20 tray. Spread it as evenly as you can and break up any clusters. Swiss chard seed is chunky, so clumps are easy to see and easy to fix. Even spacing here is what gives you an even canopy on harvest day. For rates on other tray sizes, our Free Tray-Specific Seeding Guide covers the full list.

Step 3: Cover the seed and press it down

Scoop another layer of medium over the top of the seed, breaking up clumps as you go, and cover everything evenly. Then press it down firmly with your hands. This is the step that strips the seed hulls, and it is the one people skip.

One honest note from our own grow: on the tray in our walkthrough video, we went slightly heavy on the top layer and the coco crusted together in the center, which slowed germination in that one spot. It caught up by harvest, but a thinner, even layer is better. Cover the seed, do not bury it.

Step 4: Water heavy, then stack and weight

Take the tray to the sink and water it thoroughly on a mist setting. Swiss chard is one of the few crops where we go genuinely heavy in the first few days, because a wet tray sheds hulls and a dry one does not. That said, do not soak it to the point where water is running out the bottom. Oversaturation causes its own germination problems.

Set the top tray over it and add weight. We use a 15 pound paver. Weight is not strictly required on this crop, but it gives a more even canopy and helps with seed-to-medium contact. If you are new to the weighted phase, we broke down the reasoning in Why Do Microgreens Need Weight.

Step 5: Days 2 and 3, keep it wet

Pull the tray, lift the top tray, and mist heavily again. Twice a day is not too much at this stage. You will not see much happening on day two, and probably not much on day three either. Chard is slow. Check the underside of the tray for roots. Ours usually start showing around day four.

Step 6: Day 4, the weight comes off

By day four you should see seedlings pushing through and white roots showing underneath. Ease up on the top watering, and add a small amount of water to the bottom tray so the exposed roots do not dry out and brown.

Take the weight off and leave just the plain top tray on. Leaving weight on past this point bends and kinks the stems, and they stay that way. You want them coming up as straight as possible.

Step 7: Day 5, break up the coco shelf and go to blackout

As the seedlings lift, they often raise the top layer of medium with them and form a crust, almost like a shelf sitting on top of the tray. Break it up gently with your fingers so the plants can get through. Do not try to scoop it off the middle of the tray. You will pull seedlings out with it.

Flip the top tray upside down over the grow tray for blackout. We only do one day of blackout on Swiss chard, just enough to stretch the stems a little before they see light.

Step 8: Day 6, into light and onto bottom watering

When the canopy is pushing at the blackout tray and the stems have some height, it is time. Do not let it sit in the dark longer chasing height, or you end up with a lanky tray that falls over.

Move the tray under lights 8 to 12 inches above the canopy on a 16 to 17 hour schedule, and switch to bottom watering. Stop top watering entirely at this point. We start with about half a cup of nutrient water in the bottom tray, just enough that the roots stay in contact without the medium sitting in standing water. Our full approach is in How to Water Microgreens.

Step 9: Days 7 through 12, bottom water as needed

From here it is straightforward. We give roughly two-thirds of a cup morning and evening, adjusting up or down based on how damp the medium still is. Always check the bottom tray before adding more. If water is still sitting there, skip it and check again later.

Swiss chard drinks less than most crops we grow. Do not water it on a schedule out of habit. Watch the tray.

Step 10: Day 12 to 14, harvest

Ours is typically ready around day 13. In a cooler room it can push out toward 18 to 21 days. The best tell is the stems: once they get tall enough that the canopy starts leaning and falling over on itself, harvest. You will also start seeing the first hint of true leaves.

Before you cut, scan the canopy for any remaining seed hulls and pick them off. There should be very few if the method worked, but one or two happens.

Swiss chard cuts easier than almost any crop we grow. A sharp knife glides straight through with almost no pressure. Gather a section gently, not too tight and not too loose, and cut high enough to keep medium out of the bowl. Chard makes that a little tricky because the canopy leans, so take your time. Our comparison of knives, scissors, and electric trimmers covers the tool side.

Should You Soak Swiss Chard Seed?

No. We used to, and we ran soak-time tests to see whether it helped. It did not. Our results were better without soaking, so we stopped, and we have grown it that way ever since.

This one surprises people because the hard seed hull makes soaking feel like the obvious answer. It is not. The moisture that matters is the moisture in the tray during those first few days, not a pre-soak in a jar.

Does a Heat Mat Help? Our Germination Test

We ran four trays of Ruby Red side by side, all seeded at 25 grams on coco coir with identical tray setups. Two sat on a heat mat with the thermostat at 78F. The other two sat on the shelf below at our ambient room temperature of roughly 70 to 73F, positioned underneath so rising heat would not affect them.

By day three the difference was obvious. The heat mat trays were germinating heavily and already pushing the coco layer up into a shelf. The unheated trays had germination going, but they were clearly behind, roughly matching what we normally expect from chard in our space. Germination on the heat mat ran close to twice as fast.

If Swiss chard has been slow or patchy for you, temperature is the first thing we would check. A heat mat with a thermostat is a cheap fix, and you can find the one we use on our Amazon storefront.

Do Swiss Chard Microgreens Need Fertilizer?

On coco coir, yes, we feed. Coco carries very little in the way of nutrients, so the plant is living on whatever is in your water. We use Ocean Solution 2-0-3 at 0.5 oz per gallon, pH balanced to the 5.5 to 6.0 range, starting the day the tray goes under lights. We no longer carry it in our store, so that is an affiliate recommendation rather than one of our products.

On soil it is a different story. Most quality organic potting mixes are already nutrient rich, so we do not generally add liquid fertilizer to soil grows. Plain water usually does the job. Some growers work in worm castings, and every soil is different, so experiment if you want to.

We have also put Swiss chard through a four-tray nutrient comparison, testing two different hydroponic-compatible formulas against each other at the same pH. The takeaway that carried over to how we grow now: the trays getting a stronger feed produced visibly thicker stems, deeper red and purple coloration under the cotyledons, and slightly heavier harvest weights, with no bitterness in a blind taste test. Swiss chard does not respond as dramatically to nutrients as broccoli or pea does, but it does respond. For the full rundown of what we use and why, see Best Fertilizers and Nutrients for Microgreens.

Harvest Weights From Our Own Trays

Real numbers from our grow space, not projections:

• Ruby Red on coco coir, 25 grams seeded, fed with Ocean Solution 2-0-3, harvested day 13: 148 grams from a 10x20
• Four-tray nutrient comparison, seeded lighter at 13 grams per 10x20, harvested day 12: 94 to 108 grams per tray

Swiss chard is a light crop by weight. A full, beautiful tray still weighs less than a comparable tray of broccoli or radish, and that is normal. If you are pricing it for chefs, price on appearance and grow time, not on yield. Our guide to selling microgreens covers how we think about that.

Because chard runs almost twice as long as a brassica tray, it is easy to lose track of where a tray is in the process, especially if you are staggering plantings. We built Microgreen Tracker for exactly that. Log the tray on seeding day, and it carries the projected harvest date, your seed weight, and your notes through to harvest, so the slow crops do not get forgotten behind the fast ones. It works in any phone or desktop browser and installs to your home screen.

Common Problems With Swiss Chard Microgreens

Seed hulls still on the cotyledons

Your top layer was too thin, you did not press it down, or the tray dried out during germination. All three are fixable next grow. Pick off the stragglers by hand before eating or selling.

A crust of medium sitting on top of the canopy

Normal, especially if you went heavy on the top layer. Break it up gently with your fingers around day five so the seedlings can push through. Do not scoop it off.

One patch behind the rest of the tray

Usually a spot where the medium compacted or clumped. In our own grow this evened out by harvest day, so give it time before you write the tray off.

White fuzz around the base of the stems

Almost always root hairs, not mold. Root hairs sit right at the base where the stem meets the medium and vanish when misted. Mold spreads across leaves and hulls, does not rinse away, and smells musty. Full breakdown in our mold guide.

Seedlings collapsing at the medium line

That is damping off, not a watering fluke. Cut back on water, get airflow moving, and sanitize between grows. See What Is Damping Off.

The tray never reached full height

Check temperature first on this crop, then whether you are feeding on coco. Why Are Your Microgreens Staying Short walks through all five causes.

How to Store Swiss Chard Microgreens

We bag ours right after harvest and label every bag with the crop name and the date. That habit came from selling, but it is just as useful at home when you have several crops in the fridge at once.

Store in the refrigerator, unwashed. Rinse right before you eat them, not before storing. Moisture sitting on the leaves in a bag shortens shelf life fast. Swiss chard holds up about as well as other tender microgreens, so plan to use it within the week.

Ways to Use Swiss Chard Microgreens

The flavor is crunchy, juicy, and mild, almost like a cross between a beet and a leafy green. There is a fresh, slightly earthy note but no real bitterness when it is grown well. That versatility is why it became one of our favorites.

• Stirred into rice dishes. Tikka masala with a pile of chard on top is the one we make constantly
• Wraps and sandwiches, where the stem crunch actually holds up
• Grain bowls and salads, as a color contrast against milder greens like broccoli or pea
• As a finishing garnish on soups, added at the table rather than during cooking
• Plated garnish work, which is where the red stems earn their keep

For more ideas across every crop, we put together 25+ easy ways to eat microgreens.

What We Do With the Used Coco Coir

We pull the spent medium and root mat out of the tray and put it straight into our compost pile. Once it has broken down, it goes into the outdoor garden. What we never do is bring used medium back into the grow space for another microgreens tray, because reusing medium indoors invites pathogens into a room full of food crops. We covered the options in What to Do With Used Microgreen Grow Medium.

Swiss Chard Microgreens FAQ

How long do Swiss chard microgreens take to grow?

Ours are typically ready around day 12 to 14 from seed. In a cooler room, or without a heat mat during germination, it can stretch toward 18 to 21 days. It is one of the slower crops we grow.

Do you need to soak Swiss chard seeds before planting?

No. We tested it and got better results without soaking. The moisture that matters is keeping the tray very wet during the first three to four days of germination.

Why do my Swiss chard microgreens still have the seed hulls attached?

The hull is hard and does not fall off on its own. You need a thin layer of medium pressed down over the seed so the seedling has to push through it, plus a wet tray during germination to soften the shell. Skipping either step leaves hulls on the canopy.

Can you grow Swiss chard microgreens on a reusable silicone grow medium?

No, and we do not recommend trying. There is no top layer for the seedling to push through, so the seed hulls stay attached. Grow chard on coco coir or a quality organic potting soil mix instead.

What do Swiss chard microgreens taste like?

Crunchy and juicy, with a mild flavor somewhere between a beet and a leafy green. Not spicy, not bitter, and mild enough to eat in quantity rather than just as an accent.

How much seed do I need for a tray of Swiss chard microgreens?

25 grams for a 10x20 tray, which is roughly 3 tablespoons. Scale down to about a third to a half of that for a 7x14 tray.

Do Swiss chard microgreens regrow after harvesting?

No. Like most microgreens, chard is cut once above the medium and the tray is done. Only a few crops such as peas and wheatgrass will give a second cutting. We covered which ones in Will Microgreens Regrow After Harvesting.

Are beet microgreens grown the same way as Swiss chard?

Very close. Beets are in the same family, carry the same hard seed ball, and need the same covered-and-pressed method to shed their hulls. We have grown Detroit Mix beets in our space and the process mirrors this one almost exactly.

Final Thoughts

Swiss chard went from the crop we could not get right to one of our favorites, and the fix was not complicated. Cover the seed, press it down, keep it wet early, and give it the extra days it needs. Everything after that is the same process we use on every other tray.

If you want the whole process in one place, our Beginner's Guide to Growing Microgreens PDF walks through every stage, and the Microgreen Masterclass covers everything we have learned in 8+ years of growing. You can also watch this grow and dozens of others in our on-site Video Library, where over 150,500 subscribers follow along with our tutorials. And if you are staggering slow crops like chard against fast ones, create a free Microgreen Tracker account and log your first tray.

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The results and opinions shared in this post are based on our own first-hand testing in our specific, controlled grow space. Any mention of a brand or product reflects our own experience, not a sponsored or definitive review. Your climate, water, seed, and setup are different from ours, so your results can vary. We always encourage you to run your own experiments and see what works best for you.

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