Winter Lettuce - 22 (Graduation Day)

The day has come! The Winter Lettuce is just getting too big for the tray. Time to graduate to a bigger pot.

That’s much better!

Hydroponics doesn’t need to be complicated or rely on expensive equipment. Results can be achieved with simple solutions.

So this is just a used 1 litre plastic ice cream carton. With a pair of scissors, we carefully cut a hole out of the lid so that the mesh pot would fit in.

When selecting a pot or tub to put a plant in, ensure that the plastic doesn’t let light in. That way the water will stay clear and free from algae.

This 1 litre pot will probably be fine for this lettuce all the way up to harvest. It should reach 15cm in height. I guess we’ll have to wait an see how it gets on.

One of the great advantages of hydroponics is that you get to see what’s happening to the roots as well as the leaves. Sometimes when not much seems to be happening, there’s loads going on with the root structure.

Here we see that the roots are working their way through the perlite and out of the mesh pot. As they begin to spread out throughout the nutrient, we’ll see the plant develop even quicker.