Organic Whole Oat Groats 3.5 Lb - Non-GMO, Gluten Free, with Husk - Perfect for Sprouting, Steel Cut Oats, Oat Berries, Oat Flour, Oat Rice & Livestock Feed - Ideal for Healthy Breakfast, Baking & Animal Nutrition

I bought these seeds to grow grass for my cats to snack on. This whole container of oat seeds was equivalent in cost to 2 pouches (5 oz/pack by Petlinks) of catgrass seeds at Petsmart. Therefore, this is much, much more economical. To kill off any potential dormant insect/beetle larvae in the seeds, I froze a smaller portion of seeds at least 1 week before sprouting. I never saw any bugs emerge after sprouting, so the seed freezing trick worked. I learned this trick when sprouting the Petsmart seeds gave rise to small black beetles (creeped me out) in the grass when grown without soil. These organic seeds had a very high germination rate, which was evident when I grew oat grass without any soil. The germination was far superior to any of the catgrass seeds I bought from Petsmart. I settled into a routine of sprouting the seeds without soil and then planting the sprouted seeds in soil when the white grass blade stalks first appear from the seeds. This strategy gave exceptional grass blades for my kitties to enjoy for 3 to 4 weeks that held up to their constant plucking and grazing. In the can, I never saw any bugs over the whole year period that it lasted, so I don't know if there were any bug larve in there, but since these are organic, I had to assume bugs would be there.I will be making many more purchases of this product. I am very, very pleased with the quality and cost of these organic oat seeds.Here is my seed sprouting and planting procedure: transfer 1 cup seeds (pre-freezed for 1 week) into a 32 oz plastic yogurt container that has small holes poked in the lid for straining. Fill the container with tap water (not warm or hot) and swirl seeds around to wet them all. Apply container cover and soak the seeds submerged in water for 8 h (overnight works well too) at room temperature (60 to 80°F). Drain the seeds and wash the seeds 3 times with tap water (not warm or hot). Fully drain the seeds and apply the container cover. Each day, I wash the seeds twice to eliminate the starches released from the seeds that endogenous yeasts use to grow. The seed washing prevents any molds from growing and dampens to seeds to keep them from drying out. I have forgotten to rinse the seeds for a day or two without them drying out or growing moldy. It is a very robust procedure. On the 3rd day, each seed will have one or two root shoots, which you don't want to damage while washing. When the root shoots appear, I leave the container lid ajar to ensure adequate oxygen is available. If too little oxygen is available, the root shoots extensively subdivide, giving them a fuzzy/fluffy appearance (does not smell moldy). On the 4th day, a thick white grass blade shoot emerges from the end opposite of the roots. Wash the seeds and plant in soil. For planting, I prepare a 3" thick layer of organic soil (clumps removed) in two 16" x 4" x 6" window planter containers. Very gently, I untangling the roots and blade shoots, which are sprinkled evenly across the top of the soil. Then, I cover the seeds with another 2" to 3" soil and water the container. In about 2 to 3 days, the grass blade shoots emerge from the soil, at which time, I water the containers again and start putting the containers in sunlight to enourage quick growth. My cats love it and start grazing on the blade shoots as soon as they start emerging and continue grazing even when the blades are starting to wilt and turn yellow (usually after 3-4 weeks depending on sunlight availability), which is well past their peak in nutrition (reportedly 10 days after first seed soak).