I will be following the steps below and documenting with photos and a video or two. If this works, I will be able to harvest four heads of romaine lettuce on week 11 and four heads every week after that.
I do some of my indoor vegetable gardening in my kitchen so its easy to think of it as “EARLY COOKING”.
RECIPE
- Romaine Lettuce Under Lights
Requirements:
- Floor space – 18″x48″
- Power – 108 watts/16 hours per day
Ingredients:
- 1 packet – lettuce seeds
- 12 oz. – seed starting mix (per week)
- 1-1/2 quarts – Grow Mix*** (per week)
- 1 or 2 – fluorescent light fixtures to cover 18″ by 48″ growing area.
- 5 – Small Trays (8″x12″) One tray is used as a “seed starting tray” and four are used as “grow trays”.
- 16 – Nursery pots or Feetpots* (4″ diameter)
- 6 – Fourstarts**
- Masking tape
- Sharpie pen
- Water
Procedure:
Weeks 1 through 6 – Each week plant seeds for four romaine lettuce plants in a Fourstart**. Use a Sharpie pen to write the current date on a piece of masking tape and attach to side of pot. Top with a humidity dome and place in seed starting tray.
NOTE – The humidity dome should be removed as soon as seedlings emerge.
Weeks 7 through 10 – Take the Fourstart with the oldest seedlings from the seed starting tray and transplant it’s contents into four individual Feetpots filled with grow mix. Then place these Feetpots in one of the grow trays. Remove the piece of masking tape from the Fourstart and attach it to the side of the tray. Recycle the now empty Fourstart by washing the pot and partitions thoroughly with warm soapy water. Use this clean Fourstart to plant new seedlings and place in seed starting tray. Use a Sharpie pen to write the current date on a piece of masking tape and attach to side of pot.
Week 11 and every week thereafter – Harvest four heads of romaine lettuce from the oldest of the four grow trays. Thoroughly wash the empty Feetpots and their tray with warm soapy water. Add wicks and soil mix. Transplant seedlings from the oldest Fourstart in seed starting tray into the newly washed Feetpots and tray. Remove the date label from the Fourstart and attach it to the side of the tray. Thoroughly wash the empty Fourstart. Plant four new seedlings and place in the seed starting tray. Use a Sharpie pen to write the current date on a piece of masking tape and attach to side of pot.
Yields: 4 heads romaine lettuce every week.
Definitions:
*Feetpot – A nursery pot with feet, wicks and Grow Mix*** or seed starting mix.
**Fourstart – A Feetpot or standard nursery pot with partitions that create four deep root seed starting cells.
Partitions are made using scissors to cut apart square nursery potsPa
Partitions inserted in a round nursery pot create four chambers
***Grow Mix – Two parts potting mix with one part blended compost.
Substitutions:
Standard nursery pots instead of Feetpots. You will need to be better at watering than I am. My wife can judge when a plant needs water by feeling the weight of the pot. Theres also a tool I’ve tried lately that Im using to remove grass in my garden since upon starting my experiments I’ve completely forgot to trim the weeds. I’ve never been good at doing that, so I invented Feetpots. Think of a Feetpot as a nursery pot with training wheels. All you need to do is keep a small amount of water (one inch or less) in the tray.
Two large 11″x22″ trays instead of five small trays. You will need to devise a way to keep track of the weekly plant sets.
