It's been 12 days since planting, and we've had our first harvest.  The wheatgrass had matured to a good size (about 8-9 inches), so we decided to engage in the first harvest this morning.

I thought that it would be a good idea to show a picture of the whole bed before the cutting.  The wheatgrass has done very well in the hydroponic setup.  I don't think I've every gotten better performance, even out in the sun. 

I did learn a lot from this experiment.  As you can see in the photo below, I really didn't cut that much of the grass for this first juicing.  The whole tray is only 22 inches across.  Since I was cutting near the "pump corner" of the tray, I had a section roughly 3" x 17", or 51²" of grass total. 

I was especially surprised at the amount of juice that the wheatgrass produced.  It resulted in much more yield than I'm accustomed.  In this example, the grass alone resulted in 90 ml (3 full ounces) of juice.  I'm starting to think that although I tried to keep it hydrated; my previous experiments (outdoors) were actually under-watered.  Although my measurements are by no means scientific (the juicer did hold some juice that I later "flushed" with apples), they are a good conservative guideline.  You should be able to match my yields without too much trouble.

Here's a little wheatgrass math:

51²" x 8" tall = 408³" (cubic inches) of grass

408³" = 3 ounces of juice

408 / 3 = 136³" per ounce

If you were working with a 10" x 20" gardening flat, you would yield approximately 11.75 ounces of juice.

By the same math, my whole MegaGarden should yield a whopping 27 ounces of juice, if I were to cull the whole herd at once.

That's a lot of juice.

For the record, let me visit my juicing techniques for a moment.  We use a Lexen HealthyJuicer. It is a small hand-cranked unit that uses a single-gear pressing action.  I originally purchased it when I started with wheatgrass.  Despite what you may have heard, a normal (fruit and vegetable) juicer is NOT suitable for wheatgrass.  I should know, I own a great one (a Champion 2000).  Although the Champion is a wonderful juicer; wheatgrass is quite different than most vegetables.  For starters, wheatgrass isn't very willing to give up its juice.  The Champion uses a masticating-style system to "tear and crush" the juice from it's victims.  This is usually very effective, and quite fast.  However, this doesn't work very well with the stringy grass.  The wheatgrass tangles the juicer's masticating gear.  Although it goes wring some juice from the wheatgrass, it's hard on the motor and is marginally effective.

Wheatgrass is where the little HealthyJuicer really shines.  It's a small and slow gadget, but it's "pressing" action is far superior for wheatgrass.  It squashes the juice our of it.  Although it isn't fast, it's very efficient.  Also, the HealthyJuicer has another huge advantage when dealing with wheatgrass: it limits oxidation considerably. Wheatgrass oxidizes rather quickly, and limiting the oxidation during the juicing process is a big advantage.  Wheatgrass has a very short shelf-life due to this fact.  If you've ever had wheatgrass in a juice bar, you've probably notices that they juice it right when you order it.  This isn't for show, it's out of necessity.  Wheatgrass degrades within minutes, due to oxidation.  I'm experimenting with vacuum storage, but I do not have an opinion on it's effectiveness yet.

The picture above shows the HealthyJuicer in action.  The grass is fed through the chute in the top (while you turn the crank on the side).  The pump is ejected out the nozzle (on the right).  The margarine container is just to catch the pulp on the way out.   The juice runs out a hole (near the crank) and is collected in a cup (not shown, behind the juicer) for your use.  The whole thing is pretty easy to clean.  I recommend "flushing" the juicer with another fruit (like apple or pear) when you're done with the wheatgrass, so that you can force the remaining juice out (and into your cup).

In summary, the experiment has been a great success.  The yield is much better than I expected.  The juice is actually tastier than previous crops as well.

I plan on trying some new basket-style plantings, as soon as the MegaGarden is cleared of its existing crop.  Updates to follow.