How To Grow Wheatgrass

The process of learning how to grow wheatgrass should not be intimidating. It’s actually a fairly easy thing to grow wheatgrass, even if you don’t have a green thumb.

I personally am terrible with plants. I seem to kill almost anything that I try to grow, or keep alive. I have found that growing wasn’t as hard as I thought.

I started out with a kit. It was fairly inexpensive (approximately $30) and had all the instructions. This made the experience really easy for me and highly recommend everyone start out this way.

This wheatgrass growing kit has everything but a juicer and is all you need to get started

After I grew my first wheatgrass tray from my kit, I had the confidence to do it myself without the kit.



Here is a wheatgrass growing kit with a juicer. It is top rated and you can order at Amazon

The benefits of growing your own wheatgrass:

• If you grow wheatgrass on your own, it’s very cheap. For only a few cents, you can get far more wheatgrass juice then you can from frozen or buying fresh shots at a juice bar.
• It doesn’t take up a lot of room
  
• You always have fresh grass on hand to juice

While I think there are benefits from buying a tray or frozen varieties, but by growing your own, you empower yourself to take charge of your health and are not dependent on a company to do it for you.

The Steps To Grow Wheatgrass

You’ll need a space to grow wheatgrass: Set up a small indoor or outdoor garden for your growing.

Some of us simply do not have the space to grow your trays outside. You can set up your space practically anywhere. If you live in a small apartment, you can grow right in your kitchen or on your balcony porch. If you live in a larger home, you can also use your kitchen or set up a space outside. Other options include a basement, garage or backyard. You can find one here.

The one thing you have to have is plenty of good sunlight. A sunny window will do!You’ll need space to keep some soil and seeds on hand. Overall, the space needed to grow wheatgrass is minimal.

Grow Wheatgrass

After finding your growing location, I recommend starting off growing only a tray or two first, and then after you get the hang of it, increasing the trays. For most serious wheatgrass juicers, a tray a day is sufficient for their needs.

The shopping list:
1) Purchase or obtain some good quality topsoil and peat moss, or a combination of topsoil and compost.

2) Get some trays. If you get a wheatgrass kit they will come in there for you, or you can get cafeteria style trays from restaurant supply stores that are about 10 inches x 14 inches. For the first few days of growth you’ll need a tray for the soil and a tray to put on top as the cover.

3) Hard or winter wheat berries are the seeds that you need. You should be able to find organically grown seeds from a natural food store, or online.

Other items needed: Fresh water and patience!

Planting Wheatgrass

The Wheatgrass Seeds

Measure the amount you need:

If you are using a tray that’s 10x14 you’ll use approximately about 1 cup of dry wheat berries. If you are using a tray half that size, then just use half a cup. It will vary according to the size of the tray you are using, but overall, it’s hard to make a mistake in this area as a few extra won’t hurt a thing.

Preparing: Preparing the seeds takes approximately 24 hours of time before planting. It’s not hard, it just has to sit and sprout, so it takes patience.Clean the seeds by rinsing them in water to remove any dirt or grime.

Then, place them in a jar filled with clean water. Put a screen or cloth over top. Let it sit for approximately 12 hours (while you sleep is the easiest!)

Drain the wheat berries and rinse them well. Return them to the jar and let them sprout for another 12 hours. Some people recommend you place the on a 45 degree angle to sprout.

Planting the wheatgrass:

Spread the soil evenly on the bottom of your tray, at least one inch deep. Spread the sprouted wheat berries on an even layer on top of the dirt. Try not to have any seeds on top of each other, but closely touching next to each other is okay. Add some water to the trays, making it damp but not completely wet and swampy. Cover it with another tray.The tray covering the wheatgrass will create a system that would be similar to how wheat would grow outdoors. It will keep it moist, warm and protected from light.

Set the covered tray aside for two to three days in a temperature that is approximately 65-75 degrees. Two to three day wheatgrass will probably be about 1 inch high and a white-yellowish color.

On day 4 uncover the tray and water the grass. Set it in indirect light. Continue to water the tray daily or every other day keeping the soil moist. If you let it get too try, avoid over watering it or it will shock the grass. Just keep it moist.Growing problems: If you uncover the tray and there is a greenish blue mold, you might have gotten bad seeds, or soaked them too long. Other things that could cause the mold would be watering the soil too much or keeping them in a too warm of a spot. If this happened throw out the soil in the tray an start over by trying a cooler location and less water.

Harvesting

After 6-12 days your wheatgrass should be about 7-11 inches tall! It is now ready to harvest.To harvest the wheatgrass, cut as close to the root as possible (more nutrients are close to the roots). Only cut what you are going to use right away. Rinse any dirt off the ends and juice it. The juice should be drunk right away and does not keep in the fridge.

If you want to cut some ahead of time, do not rinse it or it will begin to go bad. You can keep fresh cut wheatgrass in the refrigerator for up to 7 days.

When you are done harvesting and juicing your wheatgrass trays, compost the soil to keep a good rich soil balance.

If you grow wheatgrass, you need to know the amazing benefits!

After you harvest and grow wheatgrass, you'll need a juicer. Go here to find the best!

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