The primary goal of this research was to evaluate the perfor- mance of four different crop species for their potential to produce edible biomass and to estimate their effect on runoff properties utilizing a microcosm in a rooftop environment. We compared the response among different growing media types using a two-way factorial experimental design with three different growing media. We hypothesized that (a) crop species edible and dry biomass would differ among species and depend on growing medium type because of morphological variation. We predicted that the edible succulent P. oleracea would produce the greatest biomass com- pared to Amaranthus spp. We hypothesized that (b) the presence of plants would result in lower growing medium moisture content over the course of the growing season and that (c) there would be variation among species within each growing medium type. We hypothesized that (d) runoff volume and the concentrations of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) and total dissolved phosphorous (TDP) in runoff in the presence of crop species would be reduced compared to the runoff of bare growing medium. We hypothesized that (e) increased plant biomass would decrease the volume and concentration of TDN and TDP in runoff in each growing medium type. Species-specific hydrologic responses were further analyzed in Extensive Mix. We hypothesized that (f) plant biomass would affect the volume and concentration of TDN and TDP in runoff and would depend on species selection.