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.

I didn’t get to try it out right away, as it’s a manual wheatgrass juicer, and it took some time to actually grow the wheatgrass.

First off, I was a little surprised when I opened the package. You see, when I checked the Lexen Healthy Juicer out on 877MyJuicer.com, the description indicated that there were very few parts to put together. Now, I’ve never had a juicer before, so maybe this really is only a few parts for a wheatgrass juicer. But when paired up with the terrible instructions (it said to put together pieces 3-4 into the body of the main structure 8. That makes no sense whatsoever if you are actually looking at the pieces.

Basically, I just followed the diagram, and ignored the instructions, and it worked out great. (BTW, if you have a manual Lexen Healthy Juicer, go ahead and watch my video below. I put it together on video to make things a bit easier for you.)

Actually, once I got the juicer put together, and figured out that I should drop the wheatgrass into the side of the chute (bigger leafy greens can just go straight in and pus them down with the plunger thingy, but the grass doesn’t grab well unless it’s along the side), the wheatgrass juicer worked great.

My favorite part is that the fibrous part came out in a snakey tube at the front of the Lexen Healthy Juicer, dry to the touch, and very neat. However, the tip did eventually leak a little bit, but I think all I needed to do there was tighten it a bit. The juicer comes with a tool for tightening if your hands aren’t strong enough to get it where you want it.

I took this photo after I added some chard and kale into the mix, because it made such a cool foamy green juice inside the juicer. And even though it saved space, I really don’t like the design of the cup that catches the juice.  The instructions only show that the cup goes around the side of the Lexen Healthy Juicer, but doesn’t depict that the juice spout is in the back and under the handle. It’s a very awkward spot, in my opinion, and if you bump against the juice cup, you could easily end up with a dripping mess on your hands. Or floor.

It took a long time to get the juice out, but once it started coming, it dripped right on down non-stop.  My 5″X5″ wheatgrass plant produced the amount of juice that you see in that cup. I didn’t measure it, but I’d estimate that it’s about 1 oz. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less.

As for how the Lexen Healthy Juicer wheatgrass juicer is constructed, well, it’s pretty sturdy, actually. That plastic is solid. The tip of the auger and the plate that the auger drives into is steel (I think- it is definitely metal), and it had no trouble at all handling the wheatgrass, chard, or kale.

However, the Lexen Healthy Juicer is considered mainly a wheatgrass juicer. It’s not recommended that you use fruits and vegetables in it, and that if you choose to do so, that you slice the fruits and veggies thinly. I was told that for juicing fruits and veggies that the Lexen electric Healthy Juicer would be a better option. And I do like me some fresh California carrot juice, so that may be in my future.

In all, I actually like the wheatgrass juicer. As I said, it works very easily, and it’s sturdily made. It’s easy to put together and to take apart once you know how, and it washes nice and clean (no staining- but then, I didn’t let it sit in the juice either). The only real downsides for me are that it’s made in China (and I’m so sick of seeing that), and that there are still a lot of parts to deal with.

FREE Juicer Giveaway

But wait, there’s more! 877MyJuicer.Com has kindly offered to send one of you lovely readers one of Lexen’s manual wheatgrass juicers (I believe this model- which actually has green parts, not the turquoise that shows in my pix). All you have to do is leave a comment saying “I want a juicer!” or “This is my favorite website EVAR!” or “I’m a monkey, watch me dance!” or something along those lines (questions about the juicer, site, etc, do not qualify as entries- make it clear that you’re entering the giveaway).

Other ways to enter are to Twitter about this contest, with a link to this post in the tweet, and then leave another comment here with a link to your tweet (you can find this by clicking on the date stamp of your tweet), or to post about this contest or the juicer, or me, or this blog with a link to this post or 877MyJuicer.Com on your post…. and then leave another comment here with a link to your post. If you use pingback or trackback, please visit the comment thread to make sure that it shows up.

You can also enter by subscribing to my RSS feed (top right of the page) via feed reader or email. Leave a comment to let me know that you’re subscribed.

You can have a total of 4 entries per person. 1 comment stating that you want the juicer, 1 tweet entry, 1 RSS subscription, and 1 blog entry (exceptions will be made if you own several blogs and want to enter from each of those blogs- however, any blog that you enter from must be at least 2 weeks old with 5 or more posts at the time of entry in order to qualify).

The deadline to enter this contest is April 7th at midnight, Eastern time.  Make certain that you have a correct email address in your comment box at the time of entry so that I can contact you if you’re the winner. The winner will be chosen by me. Depending on how many entries, I may roll a dice, or use a randomizer.

Please note that while anyone is free to enter, only residents of the USA with a valid mailing address in the USA can win. I’m not being mean, that’s the rules as given by 877MyJuicer.com.

When allowed to fully mature, wheatgrass can be an excellent source of complex carbohydrates, potassium, calcium, iron, phosphorus, sodium, sulphur, cobalt, and zinc. But even if the wheatgrass isn’t fully mature before harvesting, it’s still an excellent source of chlorophyll.

The heart of chlorophyll is magnesium, which is extremely important for hormonal balance, relaxing muscles and more.  Chlorophyll itself is said to strengthen the blood, reduce yeast in the digestive tract, and is anti-bacterial. It’s also supposed to cleanse toxins from water as well as blood. I’ve read that it can even help dry sinuses, so maybe it’s better to have a leafy green salad or a shot of wheatgrass juice during allergy season than taking some of the over the counter medicines that can knock you out.

Whether it’s fully ripe or not, the health benefits of wheatgrass juice are abundant. The chlorophyll is present ripe or not as long as it’s green. When ripe, the wheatgrass will have complex carbohydrates, giving you longer lasting energy. When unripe, it’ll have simple sugars, giving you very quick, but short lived energy. You’ll know when the health benefits of wheatgrass are at the peak when the wheatgrass has jointed.

The best way to obtain the health benefits of wheatgrass is to juice it. You can use an electric or a manual wheatgrass juicer. It’s recommended to drink 1-2 oz a day of wheatgrass juice on an empty stomach for maximum benefit.

I’ve only had wheatgrass juice once, but I can vouch for the almost instant feeling of well being. However, wheatgrass juice is very sweet- almost like drinking sugar water, and I’m not fond of anything that’s too sweet unless it’s also chocolate.

The only problem with juicing wheatgrass is that you lose fiber once it’s been juiced. Of course, fiber can be obtained elsewhere, and the fiber can be saved and used in baked goods, allowing you to retain all of the health benefits of wheatgrass, as fibre doesn’t break down during the cooking process- you drink all of the nutrients raw.