How to Grow Wheatgrass in Australia

Wheatgrass is the young leaf of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum, family Poaceae), grown on a shallow tray and cut to be juiced raw. It tastes sweet and intensely green and is usually ready to cut 8 to 12 days from the soak, 7 to 10 from sowing. Most failed trays have the same cause: grain sown too thick and kept too wet, so mould takes hold at the base.

Three mistakes that matter

1. Heaping the grain. Grain piled two or three deep traps water and still air around the lowest layer, and mould starts there. Spread one dense layer with the grains touching.
2. Letting water stand. A tray without drainage, or a drip tray left full, leaves the roots sitting wet until they brown and smell. Use a tray with holes and water from below, as Day by day describes.
3. Cutting into the grain. A cut right at the mix drags spent grain, husks and mix into the juice. Cut higher, as Cutting and Storing describes.

When to sprout

Wheatgrass grows indoors, so any month suits it. The grass grows most evenly at about 18 to 22°C, and wheat germinates from 4 to 37°C, best between 12 and 25°C. A cold room slows the tray without stopping it, while warm, humid air gives mould its best chance.

Food safety

The warm, damp tray that sprouts the grain also suits bacteria, and bacteria carried inside a contaminated grain cannot be washed off.

• Use grain sold for sprouting or eating. Grain sold for sowing can be treated with fungicide, and which seeds to sprout explains the difference.
• Wash your hands before handling grain or grass. Before the first batch and between batches, wash the trays, jar and tools in hot water and detergent, then rinse them. Where they fit, sanitise them in a dishwasher that can sanitise, usually on its longest, hottest setting. Otherwise, soak them in very hot water (77°C for 30 seconds). Or use plain unscented household bleach at 25 mL to 10 L of cold water for 30 seconds, made up fresh each day. Let them air-dry.
• Soak and rinse the grain only in water fit to drink.
• Potting mix can carry Legionella bacteria. Follow the warning on the bag: wet the mix down, wear gloves and a P2 mask, and wash your hands afterwards.
• Keep the tray, cut grass and juicing equipment away from raw meat, poultry and seafood. Store cut grass and jar sprouts above those foods, in a fridge at 5°C or colder.
• Mould on the grain, slimy brown roots or a sour smell end a tray. Compost the grain and mix, wash the tray in hot soapy water and sow again. Grass can carry harmful bacteria while looking, smelling and tasting normal, so none of those is a test of safety. More signs are in sprout problems and safety.

What you need

You need a shallow tray with drainage holes and a solid tray under it to catch water. A second tray, turned upside down, makes the cover. Line the tray with about 1 cm of seed raising mix, or a coir or hemp growing mat. Add clean scissors, a spray bottle and wheatgrass seed, which is untreated grain. For the rinses before sowing, add a sprouting jar or a jar with a mesh lid, or a colander.

The same grain also sprouts in a jar as short sprouts. Soak it overnight, then rinse and drain it every 8 to 12 hours until tiny tails show, usually in 2 to 3 days. Refrigerate the sprouts for up to 3 days, and read Food safety first.

Soaking and Sowing

Start the soak in the evening; the grain is usually ready to sow a day or so later.

1. Rinse the grain and pick out any stones, chaff and broken grains.
2. Cover it with two to three times its volume of cool drinking water. Soak it for about 8 hours in a hot kitchen, up to 12 in a cold one. Grain left longer in warm water can sour.
3. Drain, rinse and drain again, and never soak the grain a second time. Between rinses, leave the jar upside down, or the colander over a bowl, so the grain drains and gets air. Repeat the rinse every 8 to 12 hours until most grains show a tiny white root tip.
4. Water the mix or mat until it is damp right through, then let it drain.
5. Spread the grain in one dense, even layer and press it lightly onto the surface. Do not bury it.
6. Put the cover on and leave the tray somewhere dim for 1 to 2 days.

Under the cover, mist the grain once or twice a day so it never dries out. The cover should let in a little air through holes or slits, or mould can start in the dark. Due to quarantine restrictions and our shipping policy, we cannot send wheatgrass seeds to Tasmania.

Day by day

To water from below, pour water into the solid tray, wait until the mix surface looks damp, then tip out the rest. A fan on low or an open window nearby keeps humid air from settling over the tray.

Cutting and Storing

Wheatgrass is ready when the blades stand 10 to 15 cm tall and still upright. Hold a handful and cut it with clean scissors 2 to 3 cm above the mix.

Cut only what you need; uncut grass keeps growing.

To store a cut, stop watering over the blades for the last 8 to 12 hours so the surface is dry. Seal the grass in a clean container or bag and refrigerate it as Food safety describes. It keeps for up to about a week. Rinse it under cool running water just before use.

Common problems

White fuzz at the base. Root hairs are an even white fuzz along the roots only, and they collapse when misted. Mould can be white too, but it grows in cobwebby patches over grains and mix, stays when wet and smells musty. If it is mould, deal with the tray as Food safety describes rather than cutting above it.

Sour smell and brown roots. The tray has stayed too wet. Deal with it as Food safety describes, and fix the drainage as in Three mistakes that matter.

Patchy or no germination. Grain sown dry, grain that dried out under the cover, or old seed are the usual causes. If a tray has not sprouted in a week, discard the grain and mix, and sprout the next batch to a root tip before sowing.

Yellow or flopping blades. Grass left well past cutting height tends to yellow and wilt in a small tray. Cut it sooner.

Tips

1. Sow a small tray every two or three days for a steady supply.
2. Keep watering a cut tray for a second cut, which comes back thinner and less tender.
3. Store dry grain sealed in a cool, dark, dry cupboard, where it can keep for about two years.
4. Barley and oat grass grow the same way, and the grain grasses article compares all three.