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Specs for growing lettuce indoors w/lights and soil?

AbuKeif

Member
Hey everybody--


I'm seeking some detailed information on what an optimum setup would be for growing some lettuce indoors in a tent with lights this winter (and other salad greens like endive, arugula, etc.) I did some searching, and while plenty of folks are quick to claim that it's possible, even easy, I haven't had much luck myself keeping them alive and happy past the seedling stage indoors. This is aggravating to me, since I grow plenty of lettuce and other veggies outside during the summer months, and my various "outlaw horticulture" activities do fine indoors (as well as the occasional nightshade like a tomato or pepper. Alas, it seems that with lettuce, of all things, I haven't quite found the sweet spot indoors.



So--I'd like to hear about what has worked for you! How much wattage is the minimum required to get a respectable indoor salad garden going, and keep individual lettuce plants happy and growing? How much soil, and how deep? What kinds of temps are optimal/tolerable? Would 12/12 lighting work, or would they need more light than that in order not to bolt? Any favorite seed varieties?



I should say that while I deeply admire people who have their hydro setups dialed in, and support my local hydro-lettuce farmers at the grocery whenever I can, it's just plain not in the cards for me at this point--but feel free to share pics of your home-grown hydro lettuce to make me jealous in an attempt to change my mind :)



Thanks in advance for your tips and advice!
 

Rico Swazi

Active member
Lettuce is a cool season crop and will do poorly in conditions that favor cannabis tomato and pepper.
Have you tried growing lettuce separate from other crops?

I don't do hydro lettuce but currently growing my fav buttercrunch in homemade compost . pic taken last week
24wattts of 3500k light is mainly for the cannabis, lettuce will grow here at 45N, albeit slowly, without supplemental lighting,
southern exposure the best orientation.


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lettuce needs only a couple inches of soil to grow properly
keep soil moderately moist and dont over fertilize which makes for bitter greens
Good luck and have fun with it
 

Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
Growing lettuce indoors is very easy.

First thing is it needs to be cooler than canna. Which works out well for winter growing indoors. I like to keep it 50-60 degrees.

Second thing is blue light, I have found the 4800-6500k range works best and I use t5.

Have some testing under led at the moment and looking great. Lettuce does not need a crazy amount of light.

Third is light cycle, 14-16 hours of light is best. Try to mimic early spring lighting. My canna veg room is 18/6 and lettuce grows ok. Does better with 14 hrs light though.

Now lettuce doesn't need a lot of food. I use promix, compost, and perlite. High quality compost has plenty of nutes for a lettuce grow. Using soil that just flowered canna is the best for lettuce! I just add some blood meal before sowing lettuce as canna flowering soil is fairly depleted of N if canna grow was done right.

Hydro lettuce grows fast and exceptionally. A flood drain system works well or a dwc style with a raft method works great as well. Keep that water cool. Also cool water in hydro allows slightly higher temps without bolting. I use Botanicare PBP Veg or CNS-17 Veg for lettuce growth in hydroponics. GH 3 part works great as well for a cheaper alternative. Just follow the veg chart.

I use pelleted lettuce seed. Produces healthier plants, evenly spaced.

Good luck and happy crunching!
 

hush

Señor Member
Veteran
I never bothered with keeping my lettuce grows cool. I just chose to grow romaines and cos lettuce instead. I did this continuously for about a year one time. Just a DWC on the kitchen counter, under one of those huge compact fluorescent bulbs that I don't see anywhere anymore, lol. Just choose heat tolerant varieties and you'll be off to a better start. Give them more than 12 hours a day (I think I gave them about 16) of light. I'll see if I can dig up a photo and share it here...
 

Rico Swazi

Active member
I use pelleted lettuce seed. Produces healthier plants, evenly spaced.


I haven't purchased lettuce seed in years

lettuce is one of the easiest plants to propagate by letting go to seed.


I grow strictly buttercrunch variety which is a bibb lettuce which limits any chance of cross pollination.


I scatter seed in a flat then pluck them out for transplant

heres what they look like today
slow growing but healthy




picture.php



I also propagate parsnips by saving seed also
they are in the foreground with seedlings of beet, chard and radish scattered throughout



picture.php





AbuKeif

I understand you are looking for an optimum set up and am sorry I cant help you much there but I can give you an idea of how they grow without much fuss.


I'm hoping others can show you the optimum setup you are looking for


I'd certainly like to see a few pics of what they got growing at the moment
 
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Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
Are you interested in food production? If so, lettuce is a very common and very poor choice. May I steer you toward abundantly nutritious spinach and kale instead? :)

Seriously, compared to spinach and kale, lettuce is about as nutritious as cardboard. Using the same amount of light and nutrients. :) The baby greens make awesome salads. A much smaller salad size of spinach will fill you up, vs lettuce. :)

That being said, they're all lower light requirement plants which also like cool temps. :)
 

Rico Swazi

Active member
kale grows better outside for me, growing tuscan kale right now in fact

chard radish onion endive arugula spinach carrot have all done well indoors in the past all without optimal lighting


Growing food is groovy awesome cool and everyone should be doin it
 

AbuKeif

Member
A belated but heartfelt thank-you to all of you for your suggestions! You have inspired me to give this another try. I finally got organized enough this year to save some culinary herbs from the impending winter (rosemary, mint, etc.) and have a nice little garden in pots in the basement, so I will give the lettuce another go, as well as some other things!



@Douglas.Curtis, I'm aware that lettuce is hardly the most nutrient-packed leafy green, but some things just taste good, ya know? I'm definitely hoping to get some arugula, etc. going as well, and will perhaps give spinach a try. I confess that my experiences with spinach outdoors have always been miserable--slow-growing, then on the first warm day they bolt, and I feel like I've wasted the space--but perhaps my cool basement in the winter will be the perfect grow environment!



@Rico Swazi, I'm really intrigued that root crops like carrots and onions have done well for you indoors! I would have imagined that things like soil depth and day-length would be significant inhibiting factors, but I guess it all depends on the variety you choose. Radishes sound like a good way to get my feet wet.



As always, my main problem proves to be too many ideas, and not enough space/time, but thank you all for your encouraging words. Here's to posting a picture of some indoor winter greens in a few months' time!
 

St. Phatty

Active member
I used panels, 2 feet x 3 feet and 2x4 feet.

with Screw in Lights, 500+ watts on the small one and 700+ watts on the large one.

Last time I grew lettuce under lights.
 

Rico Swazi

Active member
1200 bucks and nowhere to go gave a half dozen friends the idea to grow lettuce and other veggies completely indoors. I gave them what I had in the way of seeds to get started. What changed their mind was the fact that after the 'virus' there is still a 1 in 6 chance of americans suffering a foodborne illness according to the CDC


they are asking me to ask people in this thread to put up pics of their setup and how it grows under those conditions.
most will be using what they can in the way of floro and some led


I haven't grown under indoor lighting for years and my friends and I would appreciate any tips on the matter.


and pics, please
it helps see what the words are describing
TIA :tiphat:
 

Drop That Sound

Well-known member
Hi Abu. Although there are plenty of more advanced hydro systems, you could still just plant them in coco, or do a simple kratky method (where they just sit floating in the same solution that you mix 1 time for the whole grow, not much to dial in). I've used that method outdoors with old plastic coffee cans, tubs, buckets, and basically anything laying around. I just don't think dirt is worth bringing in when lettuce grows so well even with super low tech hydro.

Either way, hydro or soil, going vertical is the way to go, even in a small space. I would probably do something like install multiple tiers of slanted rain gutters, wrapping around the sides and back of the tent, and utilise way more sq ft of tent space. 3 walls full instead of one floor. After all it doesn't require that much lighting, and you could light it all from the middle. Or build shelves and have multiple racks. Heck you could even flip the tent on it's side for more space.

I like the idea of growing heads indoors, with a vertical towers, or stacked rack NFT hydro system, with one extra low wattage screw-in LED light bulb over each plant site...

I bought like 12 6ft 4x4 vinyl fence post rails to make an NFT lettuce system on top my mobile chicken coop, on top the hen house's metal roof section. If I could eventually compost the chicken shit, maybe I could brew it into tea and grow the lettuce with?
 

Rico Swazi

Active member
Starke had a great looking and working hydro grow that you are describing here-
https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=360727
perfect for brightening up a dingy basement or room.


People are telling me they don't want other people knowing they are growing food. Yes they are that scared...and serious about indoor only growing of as much food as they can.


like the good old days growing clandestine hippie lettuce only now its real lettuce. Shh! tell no one and its better that way.


update on my lettuce is been eating salads and sandwiches for a couple months



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