What You Need to Grow Herbs in Water Water For a simple herb stand in the kitchen, you can root herb cuttings in plain water in glass bottles. Avoid using chlorinated water directly as the bleaching chemical is not exactly friendly to plant tissues. Tap water that has been left to air overnight is fine, so is stored rainwater. Spring water or well water is the best because it has some amount of dissolved minerals that may be of use to plants. Containers As for the container, mason jars or any other glass bottles will do, even plastic bottles. Roots generally like to grow away from light, so colored bottles, especially amber colored ones (such as these ) are best. You can just wrap a piece of paper around the bottle to keep the root zone in the dark. This will even prevent algal growth on the container walls and on the root surface. Algae do not adversely affect plant growth, but they make the bottles look untidy. Narrow-mouthed containers hav...