Aussie Finch Forum

What are some compact greens/sprouts/vegetables I could grow for zebra finches?

I was thinking about putting a grow light inside the cage with a few food plants but I don't know how quickly the birds will consume them. Perhaps it would just be a way to keep it fresh for longer and I can keep replacing plants - alfalfa, silverbeet, things like that?

Growing greens in the aviary is a fool's errand - they'll eat the young leaves before they can grow. You're better off planting in pots and cutting what you need, or rotating different pots in and out so each has an opportunity to recover.

As for what to grow; I'm a big fan of kale (because I like to use it in cooking), endive (grows very quickly) and silverbeet.

Chicory is another good one to grow

bok choy & cos lettuce. Easy, productive, best grown outside the aviary & pick fresh leaves regularly for the birds.

I grow rhagodia spinescens (Salt bush) in each aviary under a wire cage, it grows through and the birds eat the new growth They even nest in it occasionally

One of the native Salt Bushes just comes up wild in my garden. So I water it and break bits off for the avairys from time to time. Also let patches of the lawn grow long and seed, then cut them off and feed to finches. Do things the easy way.
LML

Mr Tino once gave me some salvinion cabbage plants to grow in pots and i rotate it, its very high in nutrients also any of the asian greens, and endive

have plenty of seed if you want to grow the slav cabbage,cheers garyh

Dark Green leafy vegetables like spinach and silverbeet, and bird seed. Grow finch seed in pots and harvest the green seeds on stalks to feed to the birds. If you set up a number of pots and grow a few new pots of seed each week, you will have green seed all through the warmer months.
There's more on growing grass seed at the following link.
https://www.aussiefinchforum.net/viewto ... 05#p188305