On The Grow started the way most good things do, by accident.

Back in 2018, we (CJ and Mandi) were building custom DIY hydroponic systems on our East Texas property. We were watching YouTube videos about vertical hydroponic systems when a video about growing microgreens stopped us cold. We had no idea what microgreens were.

That click changed everything.

Within weeks we had a microgreens grow room running in our garage. That’s where our very first experiments happened. We knew right away we wanted something we could take with us, because moving often is just part of our life. Standing in our kitchen one day, CJ came up with the name: On The Grow. A few days later, Mandi added the tagline on our whiteboard during what she still calls her “pun joke phase”: Do you beleaf in magic?

After selling our home in East Texas and moving to Lucas, Texas, at the end of 2018, we finally got our custom built mobile grow trailer. CJ, the engineering brain of the two of us, helped design it specifically so we could take our operation with us wherever life took us next. A grow space on wheels, just like the name said.

Everything lined up perfectly.

We started our YouTube channel in 2019, not because we were experts, but because we kept running into questions nobody online could answer. So we decided to answer them ourselves through tests. No clickbait, just clear, informative and honest growing content. By the middle of 2020 we had 55,000 subscribers. Today we have 150,000+ subscribers and over 13 million views, with growers following along from all over the world.

In 2021 we made one of the hardest decisions we’ve faced as a business. After moving to an HOA community we had to sell our beloved trailer. That trailer was where On The Grow was born, where hundreds of videos were filmed, and where so much of what we teach today was tested and proven. It wasn’t easy. But we used those funds to push the business further, and we now grow and film everything from home. No regrets, just perspective. Because now we know exactly what we need and what we don’t, and On The Grow Mobile 2.0 is already taking shape in our minds.

That same year, we launched our online shop and started selling microgreen growing products to growers across the US and Canada. Since then, that shop has grown into something we’re truly proud of, and we’re grateful to every grower who has trusted us with an order.

But selling physical products was never the finish line. For years our goal has been to become a software and app developer focused entirely on digital educational tools for growers, and we’re now making that shift. Over time we’ll be shifting our focus toward content, teaching, and tools, and phasing out some of our physical products so we can put everything into what we love most. Microgreen Tracker and Sprouting Tracker are already live, and there’s a lot more on the way.

We still run everything ourselves today. No employees, no outsourcing. We answer the emails, pack the orders, film the videos, write the blogs, build the apps, and grow the crops. Every new skill we learn is a level unlocked, and every level makes us better teachers, better growers, and better at helping you.

Watch our story on YouTube →