Supplies:
- Something with good drainage to plant the wheat grass in. I bought a set of nursery flats like these
to use, plus some additional flats without drain holes to nest them in (keeping the water from spilling all over my counter). You'll need two sets of the flats with holes because you'll use one as a cover when your grass is getting started.
- Potting soil or vermiculite. I keep vermiculite on hand, so that's what I used.
- Liquid kelp or other organic liquid fertilizer. This is optional, but useful, especially if you are going to get multiple cuttings of your wheat grass.
- Sprouting seeds. I experimented using both hard white wheat from my food storage as well as a mix Sprout People sells called "Kat Grass".
- A spray bottle
Step One: Soak the wheat
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| Soaking the wheat |
Measure out enough wheat to densely cover the bottom of your sprouting tray. Then place the wheat in a jar of cool water, stir, and allow to soak for 8-12 hours.
Step Two: Pre-sprout
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| See the tiny roots? This wheat is ready to plant. |
Drain and thoroughly rinse the soaked wheat. Then, put the wheat back in the jar you soaked it in or in a sprouter. I used my handy, dandy Victorio 4-Tray Kitchen Seed Sprouter.
Keep the wheat in a cool location out of direct light. Rinse and drain the wheat every 8-12 hours until you see tiny roots on your wheat. It only took 12 hours before I was ready to proceed to the next step.Step Three: Plant
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| Wheat seed planted |
I poured in enough vermiculite to create an 1" layer in the bottom of the nursery flat. Then I added water, stirred, and added more water until the vermiculite was uniformly damp. I also added a little organic liquid kelp fertilizer to this initial watering. Next, I spread the sprouted wheat evenly across the top and spritzed the seeds with water from the spray bottle.
Important detail: After you spray the seeds, take the extra nursery flat and place it upside down to form a tent over the top of the tray. You want the wheat to grow tall quickly and the darkness is the way to do it. The drain holes in the bottom of the the nursery flat also provide ventilation to avoid mold problems.
Step Four: Water twice daily and watch in amazement
It won't take long before the seeds shoot up. And, unlike my previous attempt, there was absolutely no boozy smell associated with it. All I did was spray the tray evenly with water twice a day.
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| Day One |
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| Day Two |
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| Day Three |
I kept the tray inverted over the wheat grass until day four when the grass was about two inches tall. Now it is time to give the wheat grass a sunny place to grow. I also began watering from the bottom, pouring enough water into the bottom holding tray to last a full 24 hours.
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| Day Four |
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| Day Five: Greening and growing! |
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| Day Seven: First harvest |
After seven days' worth of growth, I cut the wheat grass back to about 1". I could have just given the entire tray to my birds and let them have at it, but I wanted to see if I could coax additional growth out of the same planting. I was indeed able to get two more cuttings before I threw the remaining mass of roots and vermiculite (and fruit flies, but more about that in a bit) out into our garden.
And what was the verdict on wheat grass from the feathered community?
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| Chickens love wheat grass |
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| So do ducks |
There's just one problem I encountered during this little experiment: a massive infestation of fruit flies! I'm talking giant, biblical plague-proportion of fruit flies. Every time I would open the lid to spritz the grass, a cloud of flies launched into my face. By the end of the first week, I had generations of flies living in the wheat grass. Even covering my kitchen counters with multiple tried and true apple cider vinegar traps only put a slight dent in the population. It's been a week since I removed the wheat grass trays (as well as all fruit and other food sources) from my kitchen and I'm just now noticing a sharp decline in the numbers of fruit flies.
I've promised my incredibly patient (albeit slightly frustrated) Hubby Dear that I'll wait a bit before I try sprouting wheat again, but you can bet that I'll do it. Growing wheat grass is only slightly more complicated than alfalfa sprouts, but you get so much bang for your buck. I'm really looking forward to having a continual supply of fresh greens for my birds.... if I can keep those darn fruit flies away, that is.
Posts
I know absolutely NOTHING about sprouting (and I have a black thumb), but - especially since you're covering the trays already, could you place the trays outside to start with to avoid the flies? Frankly, they're such a menace that it has thwarted multiple attempts for me to do certain things in the house. Or is it too cold where you are? (Or is this a dumb question?)
ReplyDeleteNot a dumb question. :)
DeleteThey say the wheat does best around room temperature - 70 degrees or so. If it wasn't winter, I could set them outside once I planted it and grow it outdoors.
The flies were absolutely unreal. I hope I just got (extremely) unlucky this time.
Emily
An easy way to kill fruit flies... Put a slice of fruit, or some wheat grass in the oven. Leave the oven open for about and hour or so. Sneak into the kitchen, slam the oven door and turn the oven up to about 400. You will roast all the fruit flies in the oven. It's not pretty but it works.
ReplyDeleteThe 2 trays appear to be growing at different rates & be different heights - is that the way the photo looks, or is there actually a height difference between the trays? If so, did you do something different between them?
ReplyDeleteYou are correct. The two trays were planted with different seeds. One tray was hard white wheat and the other was "kat grass", which is a blend of wheat, oats, rye, barley, and flax. The kat grass ended up growing taller, in part because I planted more densely and it had to grow up to get more light. The wheat spread out a bit more.
DeleteThat is so neat I will have to give it a try. My animals are so sad about the lack of greens and bugs. We have thought about growing meal worms or some sort of bugs for protein for them! But after our worm debacle I am trying not to over excite myself! Yeah who ever said compost worms were a good idea!? Mine landed in the garden and I hope they are happily multiplying! LOL
ReplyDeleteMrs. W
I have grown wheat grass since I wrote this post without having another issue with fruit flies. I was careful not to bring home any produce that had to be left out of the refrigerator (i.e. bananas) for a week or so before I started sprouting. Other than that, I haven't figured out anything.
ReplyDeleteYour livestock seems to like wheat grass! You don't need to be an expert or have a green thumb to grow these. You just have to sow them on soil and water them twice a day. It'll grow on its own. Wheat grass is packed with fiber which helps detoxify our body. Everyone should try drinking it. It may taste nasty at first, but you'll get over it. :)
ReplyDeleteTry KAMUT seeds instead of the wheat berries, sprouts and grows faster, less mold, more complete micronutrients!
ReplyDeleteThe "fruit flies" may have actually been fungal gnats. They like humid conditions. I've had them in my green house before, mostly when I have been overwatering.
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ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! Funny, we used to be plagued by fruit flies when we lived in Florida but here in the Southwest, we rarely see one. Now I know what to do if they return. Thanks for the great post!Keep up the wonderful work and if you want more info about get rid of fruit flies then visit here.
ReplyDeleteYou can place a small fan facing towards your wheatgrass. That will dissuade the fruit flies from getting near the wheathrass and should solve the problem.
ReplyDelete