I don't keep plants or flowers in the bedroom, bad feng shui. But... I would love this for my kitchen counter.

Thank you for posting!

59 bucks is a lot for grass.

I've done this for zero dollars! Get a wide, flat dish or tray. Lay about 5 regular kitchen paper towels on top of each other. Soak the paper towels completely and place seeds on them. Then lightly cover with 1 additional wet paper towel for a few days until seedlings start to sprout and grow up. This works so well and grows very quickly & evenly. Wet paper towels hold the tiny roots perfectly.

correction: gently/loosely lay a piece of saran wrap over the seeds, NOT another paper towel (duh me!). It traps in some of the heat and moisture creating a mini greenhouse so they can sprout. Once they get taller you can take the saran wrap lid off.

that does look pretty cool, but the etsy kit is pretty expensive. I guess it would be nice for a gift.
i just googled this and it seems pretty easy to sprout these, and the seeds are pretty cheap (as little as $3/lb) - i would probably opt for DIY rather than a kit if its just for me. Would also be great on a dining table, mine shows every spec of dirt and dust so a dirtless living centerpiece would be awesome.

Hmmm. Dirt is of course dirty, but did you know that it is also contains bacteria which activates serotonin in the brain, causing a natural anti-depressant effect? Unhappy hipsters, take note.

I don't understand why plants in dirt is so bad in the bedroom.

$59 + $15 shipping. wow.

Dirt can also contain tetanus bacteria, which can cause other symptoms to the nervous system besides activating serotonin.

So cool! I've been growing wheat grass in the kitchen since it is about the only plant I am able to keep alive. I agree that the price for this kit is pretty steep but I love the DIY version mentioned in the comments above. Can't wait to try!

Ugh, I have tried those "water gems" before. They went rotten, it was absolutely disgusting.

The non-soil is probably Agar Agar, it is made of aglee and is used in cooking and bacteriology...
and most important... for 50USD you can probably make 10 pots of grass :)

LOVE it. I can always find great, fun, do-able inspiration here on Apartment Therapy. Finally something to fill the shoes of the late great Domino Magazine! :)

Seems a nice idea, but would be cheaper and more easily personalized buying direct I would think...

http://www.water-gems.com/

Or you could use a bag or two of gravel/decorative pebbles for @ $3-4 each.

I've done it - Works just fine.

One can buy bags of water storing crystals for use in potted plants, costing $5 to $25+ per pound (dry) at garden centers, and which are all labeled "environmentally friendly" hydrogels and composed of acrylamide and potassium acrylate.

Other --organic-- mediums can serve the same purpose, although gelatin, starch and agar break down more quickly so are not as long-lasting.

Do grow the wheatgrass (YES) but if you or your pets might consume it in any form, I would skip the "inert" "harmless" synthetic growth material, myself.

A PhD horticulturalist at Washington State University published this white paper about the hydrogels and seems to have a website as well (I am not affiliated with theinformedgardener.com)

I grow my wheatgrass in a pretty container without any soil, using just the seed and water as described above. Wheatgrass grows quickly and is beautiful, nutritious, etc. however it is just not a long-term houseplant. It's a beautiful, useful sprout that is internally driven to become a tall, hairy, gangly grass and make wheat seeds as efficiently as possible.

I hadn't thought of a non-dirt option and really got tired of the gnats that the damp dirt seems to attract. Wonder if this will still attract them.

As a crazy cat woman, I'd love to have a few dishes/pots of this for the kiddos.

Soilless alternatives to dirt
1. perlite
2. vermiculite
3. hydrotron
4. rockwool
5. coco husk.

OK, you can go to any fairly big pet supplies store in the cat section and get a container of vermiculite/water gel crystals/wheat grass seeds for about $5. (I think the brand I get is Pet Grass or something equally obvious. White plastic tray about 4x7x2 inches.) They like you to "just add water" and grow the whole tray of seeds at once, so when the grass inevitably goes brown and dies, you have to buy a new pack.

You can do that.

Or you can scoop some of the mixture out, put it in another container, and then add water -- and do this several times (depending on the size of your scoop!) for the same $5.

I grow this for my two cats. I have a nice bonsai pot (no drainage holes) and I put a layer of potting soil down, then put the seed/vermiculite/water gel crystals on top. This works for me.

If you just scoop this into a glass container, the only difference between the cheap way and the ridiculously expensive way is the vermiculite, which is a sandy brown sort of crumbly looking material. Not the clear substrate that the water gel crystals give.

Gnats/fruit flies DO find any source of moisture.

Vermiculite and water gel crystals should not be ingested by pets. (But I keep my pets away from the pot of grass until the seeds take decent root and then it's not a problem.)

Sometimes in Blue Seal stores and similar "farm supplies" kinds of places, the standard seed packets include wheat grass, often for about $2 per pack.

Lots of sources...

In Persian, this is called "sabzeh" and it's something you grow to symbolize the coming of spring. You can also achieve the same thing with lentils soaked in water and left in the sun.

I think the look of this is really neat. I like the clean view of the roots...could be interesting for the kids, too.

I have everything on hand to do this and will be giving a try with the family this evening.

Thanks!!

Agree with haklc2, the non-soil medium is most likely a combination of nutrients and agarose (purified version of agar-agar). I used to work in a plant genetics lab and we sprouted the plants in petri dishes full of nutrient+agarose mix

I think 59 dollars is ridiculous. I've done it for 59 cents. I remember that the grass died off pretty quickly. Is that normal or was it just that my 59 cent seeds were cheap?

you can put lentils in wet cotton pad and have the same effect for some weeks for free. But the post was a good reminder.

@ Our Semi Organic Life: Thanks so much for the helpful hint! My cat loves wheat grass and I'm tired of buying it all the time.

This can be done for so much less.

I don't understand how flowers or plants in the bedroom is a problem. Doesn't make much sense.

This is utterly hilarious in so many ways.

If this plant is so tasty to pets, surely growing it in ANY medium as a design statement is going to end in disaster?

Or, for about $49 dollars less, you can buy a Chia Pet.

@ Botany

The scientific explanation is that plant in the night release CO2 and use oxygen. But if that is more than what normally a person dividing the room with would do, I doubt.
And if you sleep with your window open or ajar, you won't have any trouble.

About the Feng-Shui rule, I haven't a clue.

Lol @ chia pet suggestion. That's what I love about AT! Readers are always sharing clever ways to save money.

I would be concerned about the effects of water gels/crystals on my kitty's health. And he WILL much wheatgrass, no matter where we put it, as we've taught him that's the one plant which is fair game.

I agree that the price is too much, but Etsy folks are allowed to overcharge for pretty containers if they feel like it. I'm all for the paper towel or vermiculite version of this. I think I might just use the pumice pebbles I have for making orchid potting medium anyway. Cute idea to see the roots, though!

And I agree that avoiding plants in the bedroom is nuts -- haven't we seen a bunch of Re-Nest posts about how healthy it is? I think plants in every room = good for the soul, but that's just me.

But... wouldn't this also make a mess, if it were knocked over and the seeds and water-gels thingies went everywhere? It would just be a different type of mess, right? Am I missing something?

In school we used to grow cress on cotton as a project. I have an idea for Easter to grow the cress in the shape of a silhoutte. The idea is to cut out the silhoutte in paper like you would for a stencil and then sprinkle the seeds onto the cotton to make the shape. The cress taste great on eggs and the shape will look great on the table as a decoration :)

That gel stuff scares the crap out of me and I wouldn't want my wheatgrass getting it's "nourishment" from little mysterious gel balls.

damp toilet paper & some mung beans
or inside an empty egg shell like green hair
we did these as kids, not knowing we could make a fortune...

well, for $7.50 you can buy a pack of the growing medium, in many colors, which could also be fun!
http://www.wholesalefloral.com/Aqua_Gems_Liquid_Marbles_p/aquagems40g.htm