Micro Celery: Intense Flavor Without the Tough Strings

There are many advantages to using micro celery in the kitchen.

Both during the cooking process and as a seasoning once the dish is prepared.

Don’t get me wrong. Putting chopped celery into soups, stuffing (dressing), and casseroles during cooking adds flavor and feelings of umami to food.

Many people (not me) enjoy the crunchy texture of chopped celery in mac & chicken salads.

But even chopped and cooked, the tough strings from the stalks can remain, and the distinct flavor of celery is lacking.

Adding micro celery to food before serving adds an intense celery flavor and a colorful, bright green to the dish.

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Micro Celery is Actually Celery Microgreens

For some reason, celery microgreens are most frequently called micro celery. We don’t want to give you the idea that micro celery includes a tiny stalk you can load up with peanut butter. 

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Nope, micro celery is like any other microgreen.

Listen to an Audio Version of the Article

We don’t just read the article word for word in the audio version; it’s a stand on its own piece of content that includes more details on the topic. These can include more tips, opinions, details, data, and information on this and related topics. 

Growing Micro Celery is a Test

We don’t categorize celery as a beginner’s microgreen.

If you are a beginner, check out our article on the 17 Easiest Microgreens to Grow.

There are three reasons celery is more difficult.

1. The seeds are tiny.
2. There’s a lengthy germination period, and the seedlings are fragile.
3. It takes a month until the micro celery is ready to harvest.

To sum it up, you need patience and trust in your skills as a microgreen grower. 

In the tutorial below, the elapsed time is 32 days. However, there is good news too.

You can continue growing micro celery in the tray after 30 days. Also, celery microgreens will re-grow if they’re not harvested too short.

How to Grow Micro Celery

Celery is best grown on soil.

Prepare the planting tray like you would for a typical microgreen. New to growing microgreens? That’s ok; we have a free guide and video to show you how we grow microgreens.

Celery Microgreen Seeds

The seeds are tiny, and we use very few of them because micro celery isn’t harvested until the true leaves are quite large.

The plants need some room to grow, or they will start turning yellow in the tray’s middle.

The Home Microgreens Store stocks packages of celery microgreen seeds. They come pre-packaged for Home Microgreens tray, 10- by 10-inch trays, and in 1/2-ounce and 1-ounce packets. Click the button below to see the current price.

Planting Celery Microgreen Seeds

Below, we’ll grow celery microgreens in the Home Microgreens Tray. We added only 0.6 grams of seed to the tray. The picture above is 0.6 grams or a little less than 1/4 teaspoon.

We pre-moisten the soil and spread the seeds as evenly as possible. It’s not easy because of the size of the seeds and the small amount used. 

You can click on any image to enlarge it.

After wetting the seeds, place a lid over the seeds and put the tray into a blackout period. Place 2.5 to 5 pounds of weight on top of the lid and cover with a tea towel to keep out light.

The Long Wait

Now comes the long wait. 

Up to 14 days, maybe longer. Don’t try to speed up the process by placing the tray on a heat mat.  Celery seeds don’t like temperatures much over 70 degrees.

Patience is a must. 

After 6 or 7 days, carefully take off the towel and weight to check on the soil moisture.

This may be one of the few times you may spray water on the soil surface after planting to keep it moist. 

But be very careful and try not to disturb the seeds.

Micro Celery 15-days After Planting

Finally, after 2-weeks or more, you will see germinating seeds.

15 days after planting. Not ready to be placed under lights.

If your celery microgreens resemble those above, place them back into the blackout period. They are not ready to be placed under lights.

They need more time to root into the soil and for late seeds to germinate.

Micro Celery 17-days After Planting

More celery seeds have germinated after 2 or 3 more days, and those growing are a bit longer.

Celery microgreens 17 days after planting.

At this point, it’s time again to wet the tray’s surface with a misting of water and bottom water the tray. About a 1/4 of an inch of water will do.

Also, remove the tray from the blackout and place it under a LED light. It doesn’t need to be a specialty grow light. Any LED shop light will do as long as the light’s color temperature is 5,000K or more. These are also known as cool-white, cool daylight, or daylight tones.

I have also recorded a podcast on choosing lights. 

Good News – Things Progress Quicker Now

At this point, your patience has paid off. The celery microgreens will start growing quicker. 

Day 20

Around the 20-day mark, your celery microgreens should look similar to the ones below. The light has caused the plants to turn green, and most are standing straight now.

Celery microgreens 20 days after planting.

The only care from here on out is ensuring they have enough water.

Only bottom water the tray. 

It shouldn’t be saturated, only moist. The best way to tell is by lifting the tray. You will be able to know if it’s dry by the weight. 

Micro Celery 28-days After Planting

It has been almost a month since you planted the seeds. 

The true leaves will sprout at this stage, and the tray will fill out.

Micro celery 28 days after planting.

Keep them under the lights and the soil evenly moist.

Only a few more days.

Day 32 and Beyond

Around the thirty-second day, you most likely will be able to harvest your micro celery.

Celery microgreens 32 days after planting. They will continue to grow, so there’s no hurry to harvest them.

There’s no hurry. They will continue growing, so you can harvest them when needed.

The only thing to watch for is dying out in the middle of the tray.

They can grow too dense and prevent light from reaching the leaves in the tray’s middle.

To work around this, we change how we harvest our long-lasting herbs.

Harvesting Long-Lasting Herb Microgreens

Instead of harvesting the microgreens along the tray’s edge first, we carefully cut the greens in the middle of the tray.

This allows light to reach more plants from the middle and the edges.

Celery microgreens will also re-grow. 

Just don’t cut them too short.

Add the image below to your Pinterest Microgreen Board!

How We Use Celery Microgreens

We only grow micro celery a month before Thanksgiving and in the colder winter months when we make more soup. 

Thanksgiving

Celery microgreens are great to add to stuffing. Whether for turkey or pork, we add chopped celery microgreens to the stuffing or dressing, whichever you call it. 

Yes, we use chopped celery too, but the celery microgreens add more flavor. We also sprinkle a few on the dressing bowl for looks and flavor.

In Soups and Meatballs

Again, we use both celery stalks and micro celery in chicken noodles or vegetable soup while cooking. Then sprinkle more in when we serve it.

You get a burst of celery flavor by doing that.

You could add them to tomato soup, but basil microgreens taste better with anything tomato.

Celery microgreens also add a ton of flavor to meatballs. Incorporate chopped micro celery into the meat mix before rolling out the meatballs.

Micro Celery Nutrition

Celery microgreens do more than add flavor to food. They are very nutritious.

Micro celery contains notable amounts of vitamins A, B, C, and E and the elements (minerals) calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, and amino acids.

Micro Celery is Worth the Time

It may seem like waiting over 30 days for a microgreen to mature wouldn’t be worth the time. However, if flavor is your thing, you won’t be sorry for growing celery microgreens.

Especially since you get more than one cutting from a tray.

Give them a try!

Get your celery microgreen seeds here.

Home Microgreens Store

You need all the supplies and microgreen seeds to grow beautiful and nutritious microgreens at home!

Our prices are as competitive as the larger seed sellers. We also have our own soil, microgreen kits, and trays!