Wheatgrass Seeds: Soak & Rinse – Germination (step 2)

Soak:

Once you have all the materials you need to grow your first flat it’s time to soak your wheatgrass seeds.

A Mason jar really is ideal for this task… it makes the entire soak/rinse process a breeze and really that’s what it all comes down to…

1.    Go ahead and rinse out the Mason Jar (1 Quart Jar)

2.    Fill the Mason jar ½  way with “good drinking water”, room temperature

3.    Measure out 1 ¼ cups wheatgrass seeds(berries)

4.    Pour seeds into the mason jar

5.    Fill the mason jar with water to the top and remove Floaters

6.     I like to cover the top of the jar at this point with my hand (use original jar cover if your hands are too small to keep the seeds from leaking out) and tip the jar upside down, right side up, upside down, etc.
This process makes sure the bottom seeds are getting wet while stirring up the “floating debris”.
You may see that there are parts of the mature wheat plant in with your seeds or damaged seeds that won’t submerge. I steadily pore these out of the jar… you will see this is easily done when you have the project in your hands.
These “floaters” will absorb water and lay on the seed bed with no purpose other than to create mold. Remove as much as you can but don’t overly concern yourself here.

7.    After removing debris, fill your jar with water to the top and set aside at room temperature for 8-12 hours.

After your soak cycle is complete (8-12hrs): It’s time to rinse the seeds.

Rinse:

A Nutmilk/nylon mesh Bag is really going to come in handy. Just slip that over the mouth of the jar and drain out the water making sure to hold it tight on the jar so the seeds don’t slip out.

Once the original water has been drained from the jar/seeds it’s time to rinse. I usually do 4 cycles here: Fill the jar with water, cover/seal the opening with my hand, shake the jar upside down making sure fresh water reaches the seeds on the bottom, then drain with the nutmilk bag and repeat 3 more times. On the final rinse get as much water out of the jar as possible. Cover the jar opening with moist paper towel and set aside.

Depending on your Wheat berries (wheatgrass seeds), you should continue this for 1 – 4 more times… wait 8-12 hours and rinse again, wait 8-12 hours and rinse again.

If you are using seeds purchased from wheatgrass101.com you can expect to rinse twice after your initial soak.

So that’s:

Soak seeds for 8-12 hours

Drain

Rinse

Wait 8 – 12 hours

Rinse

Plant and or wait 8 – 12 hours and then Plant

So what are we doing here? We are boosting the germination cycle of the seeds by soaking them in the water for 8-12 hours… while keeping the water/oxygen fresh for the seeds to thrive in by rinsing.

How do you know when it’s time to stop rinsing and plant? You want your wheatgrass seeds to look like the image below.

Do you see how the tail is just barely popping out of the seed this is ideal. If you let the seed germinate too far it will fight itself for rooting when planted and the flat will produce much less grass/juice because of it. We have tested this thoroughly and the length of the germination is a very big part of the quality of your flat.

Know that right now… at this step… you have grown wheatgrass!

You could take those seeds out of the jar and drop them on your kitchen floor and in a week they will have shot a 7 inch piece of grass out without you ever doing anything to it again… This is how Amazing Wheatgrass is!