Put the white part down the bean part facing up. They might have some starting mix at walmart they had pearlite . If not you can find a local hydroponic store online that should have everything you need, look at yellow pages online. I went to one and they had everything you need to grow weed lights, fans, pots, soil, starting soil, ph testers, scrubbers, nutrients everything. But I did only use moisture control miracle grow not the plain kind and they grew ok , they didn't die.