I have a black thumb. Therefore, when I was offered the opportunity to review a manual wheatgrass juicer, I was a little nervous about learning how to grow wheatgrass at home. After all, the closest juice bar was somewhere downtown, and I wasn’t willing to deal with the horrible roads here to get it.

So, instead, I did some research online, purchased an Easy Sprout Sprouter and a few other necessary bits and set to work growing wheatgrass at home.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Wheatberries/Wheatgrass seeds

Something to sprout in (can just be a jar, but special sprouters make it easier)

Soil or soil replacement (I used vermiculite)

A plant tray or planter with adequate drainage

Water

The first step was to sprout the wheat berries (wheatgrass seeds are the same as wheatberries- just with different names, though some wheatberries may not be suitable for sprouting due to processing). This took approximately 36 hours for me, though I was using top quality seeds and a sprouter specially designed for the purpose.

Once the seeds have sprouted 1/4″ tails, they’re ready to be planted.

How To Grow Wheatgrass:

Simply fill your plant tray or planter to about half an inch from the top with the soil or soil replacement of your choice, give it a good watering (though not soaked, or the sprouts could grow mold instead of grass). Lay the sprouted wheatgrass seeds on top of the soil/soil replacement. The seeds can overlap a bit, but you don’t want to just pile them on there for the same reason that you don’t want your soil completely soaked. Sprinkle enough water on them to make them damp. Now, cover with a plant tray cover, or another plant tray or planter (something with vent holes that will also keep the plants in the dark). I used a second plant tray of the same size.

Sprouted Wheat Grass

The photo above is the growing wheatgrass about 1 day after planting.  You’ll want to lightly water the seeds every 12 hours or so.

How To Grow Wheatgrass: Ready for Greening

How To Grow Green Wheatgrass:

When you’re learning how to grow wheatgrass at home, you’ll find that the grass is supposed to be kept in the dark for the first few days. I don’t know why this is, but once the wheatgrass reaches 2-3 inches, you can remove the top lid/tray, and set the wheatgrass plant in sunlight. Indirect sunlight is fine, and if you set it in direct sunlight, you’ll probably need to water the plant more often.  The plant above was ready for greening about 2 days after planting.

How To Grow Wheatgrass: After Greening

Once the cover is removed from the wheatgrass tray, the wheatgrass goes green really fast! I think this was about 12 hours after removing the tray, and it was set in front of a window that had the blinds CLOSED all day. Granted, they’re cheap blinds…

How To Grow Wheatgrass: Several Day's Growth

After a few days, you’ll have a nice, bushy, green wheatgrass plant. When mine reached this size, I named it Fred. (I don’t know why, but I name everything Fred, except for my Christmas lion which I named Sandy Paws because it’s a girl lion. You wanted to know that, right?)

When and How To Cut Wheatgrass:

There is some debate on this.  Some say that wheatgrass is ready to cut when it reaches 8-10 inches in height. And that’s certainly sufficient to yeild wheatgrass juice. However, some information says that if the wheatgrass is juiced too early, it consists mainly of simple sugars and chlorophyll (and it’s certainly sweet enough that I believe them). That same information says that if the wheatgrass is allowed to grow old enough to “join”, that the sugars become complex carbohydrates and the green wheatgrass becomes a wonderful source of many, many vitamins, minerals, etc.

Here’s the thing, it took about 8-10 days from seed to cutting height for me. I did cut the wheatgrass at that point, and it’s taken another 8-10 days to regrow to the same height. It has not yet jointed/joined.

When you’re ready to cut wheatgrass, simply hold a clump of it from near the top, and cut about 2″ from the soil with a sharp knife or shears.

Fred Gets A Bad Haircut

One 5″X5″ tray produced enough green wheatgrass to produce about 1 oz of wheatgrass juice.  That is my experience, and it may depend on how hydrated your plant is, how dense it’s planted, what juicer you use, etc.

I ordered my wheatgrass seeds, planting tray, vermiculite, and Easy Sprout Sprouter from SproutPeople.Com. They have an incredibly informative website, everything you need to grow sprouts or grass (not just wheatgrass), tons of instructions, and loads of personality.  The navigation isn’t very easy, and the shipping can be a bit hefty if you’re ordering just one item. But if you order the whole shebang, or even part of the shebang, it ends up being a pretty good bargain.