Microgreens Yield Calculator
Estimate harvest weight, days to harvest, and cost per ounce for popular microgreen varieties.
About this calculator
This calculator estimates microgreens harvest weight, time to harvest, and seed cost per ounce from five inputs: Number of Trays, Tray Length, Tray Width, Seed Density per Tray, and Variety. Total Harvest Weight scales linearly with all four numeric inputs -- more trays, a larger tray footprint (length times width), and more seed packed into each tray all directly increase total yield, through a tray-area factor that compares your tray's footprint to a standard 10x20-inch (200 sq in) reference tray -- the calculator's own default of 20 inches by 10 inches IS that standard tray, so leaving Tray Length and Tray Width at their defaults reproduces the reference yield ratios exactly. Days to Harvest, by contrast, depends only on Variety and nothing else: it stays fixed at each variety's typical cut date (10 days for Sunflower, Pea Shoots, and Broccoli; 7 days for the faster-growing Radish) regardless of how many trays you run, how big they are, or how densely you seed them.
Seed Cost per Oz Harvested divides total seed cost by total harvest weight, and both scale together with Number of Trays and Seed Density per Tray, so this per-ounce figure is set mostly by Variety's yield ratio and your tray footprint rather than by how much you're growing overall. This model uses fixed yield ratios and per-variety cut times drawn from typical grower reporting -- it doesn't account for germination failures, mold or disease losses, lighting and temperature variation, or the fact that real yield ratios vary by seed lot and growing conditions, not just variety.
Inputs
Results
Total Harvest Weight
20.16 oz
≈ 5 sticks of butter
Seed Cost per Oz Harvested
$0.10
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the number of trays you are growing simultaneously and the tray length and width in inches (standard is 20×10).
- Enter seed density in grams per tray — a standard 10×20 tray typically uses 1 oz (28 g) of seed.
- Select your variety — each option has a different yield ratio and days to harvest.
- Review Total Harvest Weight (oz), Days to Harvest, and Yield per Tray to plan your production schedule.
- Use Seed Cost per Oz Harvested to evaluate profitability if selling at market.
How the result changes with Tray Length
| Tray Length | Total Harvest Weight | Seed Cost per Oz Harvested |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 10.08 oz | $0.20 |
| 15 | 15.12 oz | $0.13 |
| 30 | 30.24 oz | $0.07 |
| 40 | 40.32 oz | $0.05 |
What each input means
- Number of Trays
- How many trays you are growing simultaneously.
- Tray Length
- Long side of your growing tray in inches (standard is 20×10).
- Tray Width
- Short side of your growing tray in inches (standard is 20×10).
- Seed Density per Tray
- Grams of seed per tray — typically 1 oz (28g) for a standard 10×20 tray.
- Variety
- Select the variety
How this is calculated
Worked example, using the default values
- Identify Input Parameters5 parametersNumber of Trays = 4, Tray Length = 20, Tray Width = 10, Seed Density per Tray = 28, Variety = 3 = 5 input(s) provided
- Calculate Total Harvest WeightTotal Harvest Weight20.16 = 20.16
- Calculate Days to HarvestDays to Harvest7 = 7
- Calculate Yield per TrayYield per Tray5.04 = 5.04
Engine last updated . Checked against 1 independently-derived test — how we verify calculators. Built by Paul Gunder, a software engineer, not a licensed financial, medical, or legal professional.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't Days to Harvest change when I add more trays?
Days to Harvest is set entirely by Variety in this calculator -- each variety has a fixed typical cut date based on its growth rate, so Number of Trays, Tray Length, Tray Width, and Seed Density per Tray have no effect on it; adding more trays increases total yield, not how fast any individual tray matures.
How does Tray Size affect my harvest?
Tray Length times Tray Width sets a tray-area factor relative to a standard 10x20-inch (200 sq in) tray, so a bigger footprint scales up Yield per Tray proportionally to its area -- the default 20-by-10 setting IS that 200 sq in standard tray (areaFactor 1), so doubling either dimension from there roughly doubles the yield from that single tray.
Why doesn't Seed Cost per Oz change much when I scale up production?
Both total seed cost and total harvest weight scale together with Number of Trays and Seed Density per Tray, since more seed costs proportionally more and also proportionally increases yield, so Seed Cost per Oz Harvested is set mainly by Variety's yield ratio and your chosen tray footprint rather than by total production volume.
Which variety has the best yield ratio?
Sunflower has the highest yield ratio in this calculator at roughly 8 oz of harvest per ounce (28g) of seed, followed by Pea Shoots, then Radish, with Broccoli the lowest at roughly 4 oz per ounce of seed -- but Radish is also the fastest to harvest at 7 days versus 10 for the others.
What doesn't this calculator account for?
It uses fixed yield ratios and per-variety cut times that assume clean germination and no crop loss, so it doesn't reflect mold, uneven germination, lighting or temperature stress, or real variability between seed lots -- actual harvest weight and timing can differ meaningfully from these estimates under real growing conditions.
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