Joshua Reiter markets Josh’s Sprouts at his school in Boca Raton and has plans to scale up. He created a miniature hydroponic system (below) that can grow sprouts in 14 days. He sells it as a starter kit for $40, much less than the cumbersome systems that preceded it. Photo provided
By Faran Fagen
Senior Joshua Reiter’s interest in hydroponics began with an old, donated system to his school.
His science teacher at Grandview Preparatory, Donna Leech, asked, “Think you can get this running?”
If you ask Reiter, he was more interested in skipping English than becoming a farmer.
“I mostly just wanted to mess around with it and see if we could actually get it to work,” said Reiter, of Ocean Ridge. “But once I began to tinker, I was hooked. We saw significant sprout growth every day, and this captivated me. I wondered just how tall they’d grow, and whether they would actually taste good.”
Fast forward two years: Reiter, now 17, has turned a passion project into a consumer product with the launch of Josh’s Sprouts, a compact, 3D-printed, countertop hydroponic system that allows anyone to grow fresh microgreens at home.
Reiter, founder of Josh’s Sprouts and president of the school’s wildlife club, realized that at-home hydroponic kits are cumbersome, often cost around $2,000 and take up an entire shelf or room. He set out to engineer something different: a small, affordable, low-maintenance system that fits seamlessly into everyday life.
“Once I understood how the big hydroponic systems worked, I couldn’t stop asking why they had to be so huge and so expensive,” Reiter said. “I wanted to design something that was nice looking, compact, and simple enough that you could set it up in under a minute and harvest fresh microgreens two weeks later.”
Reiter had his first “aha moment” when he started to think about how he could get younger students involved and interested in growing sprouts.
“I knew the system had to be simple, fun and affordable so they wouldn’t be overwhelmed with complicated instructions or maintenance,” he said. “So, over the summer, I started work on a smaller system, then even smaller system, finally landing on my current design.”
He actually had the idea for the current system in the middle of a college visit with Northeastern University while he was talking to an admissions officer about his design.
“It was this other ‘aha moment’ that led me to design an 8-inch pumpless hydroponic system that grows microgreens in only 14 days,” he said.
Reiter’s product evolved rapidly from a student project to a consumer-ready prototype.
The Josh’s Sprouts $40 Starter Kit includes a 3D-printed outer and inner cup designed for hydroponic growing; a full spectrum grow light that serves as an artificial sun; four hemp mats (two large and two small) that pull nutrient-rich water up to the seeds; premeasured nutrient mix and scoop; and two pre-portioned seed packs (pea shoots and sunflower microgreens).
Users simply fill the reservoir with water, add one nutrient scoop, place the hemp mat and seeds, turn on the light and walk away. A dense crop of microgreens is ready to harvest in about 14 days. The reservoir typically provides enough water for approximately 21 days.
“Microgreens are incredibly nutrient-dense because they’re in such a competitive stage of life,” Reiter explained. “They grow fast, are healthy, taste great on salads and sandwiches, and with this system you don’t need a garden, perfect weather or a green thumb.”
He estimates he has dedicated 30-40 hours per week to the project while completing both Grandview coursework and dual-enrollment classes at Palm Beach State College.
“Josh is a perfect example of what happens when you give students real freedom to explore their passions,” said Jacqueline Westerfield, head of school at Grandview Preparatory School. “Josh walked through every door — from wildlife club and field biology to 3D printing and entrepreneurship — and turned an idea into a product that could genuinely change how people grow food at home.”
Reiter plans to study entrepreneurship or management in college and is exploring a future launch on a platform like Kickstarter or Shopify. In the meantime, he’s debuting Josh’s Sprouts at Grandview and preparing to scale up based on early demand.
As for college, Reiter really likes Virginia Tech, and is also interested in University of Florida, Penn State, Florida State, Georgetown, Northeastern, and Babson College.
When he’s not sprouting, he enjoys going to the gym, snowboarding, hiking, cooking, and hanging out with family.
All proceeds from Josh’s Sprouts will support the Grandview Wildlife Club in establishing a memorial for Leech, who arranged for Grandview’s first hydroponic system in fall 2024 and championed the student team responsible for managing its harvests. Her encouragement, guidance and belief in hands-on, curiosity-driven learning left a lasting impact on Reiter and countless other students.
Leech, who died of cancer in 2025, also coordinated with the Marine Education Initiative and set up time for its people to instruct students on how to operate the shelf system. She planned trips for the lower school students to visit the Marine Education Initiative’s headquarters to see how its operations worked.
“When I set out on the journey of making a 3D printed hydroponic tower, Mrs. Leech was instantly supportive and excited, offering up a corner of her classroom for my testing area,” Reiter said. “For one full semester, I spent five hours per week in her room talking with her about how I could get it to work. When things got slow or didn’t work out the way I thought they would, she motivated me to keep looking for new solutions.”
For more information on Josh’s Sprouts, visit Reiter’s website at sites.google.com/view/joshs-sprouts/home.
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