Last February, I tried to plant lettuce using kratky hydroponics method. We tend to test if an LED lights can actually grow plants inside a house.
Though the seedlings germinate quite well, I have missed that the most crucial part of planting is when you transplant it. It is the number one reason why my lettuce didn't grew bigger and the other reason was the light.
The LED lights that we've used didn't meet the appropriate or standard light that would be equivalent on sun's light. That's why I decided to discard almost all of the first batch that I planted. I just saved 4 out of 40 pieces and it's kinda frustating to see how it ended.
But still, I am here to share my second attempt if I could actually grow lettuce without soil. That's all about hydroponics. I love the fact of planting lettuce but I think another struggle for me to face is beating the summer heat.
This month of March, was an introduction on how summer heat will affect many crops and vegetables. I don't have any green house to protect my lettuce.
This is the third spot that I took them away from too much heat. It is a matter of trial and error. This time I made a little different on it.
I put a cotton cloth beneath the styro cups as a wick that absorbs the water upwards. Aside from that I cover the plastic bottle with used papers and garbage plastic bag.
I also used aluminum foil to cover it but it seems it is easily be tear apart anyways and it is kinda pricy unlike to recycling some old papers.
I am expecting by doing this, there's no more light to enter inside the bottle and I will get rid of algae. I tried to test if an 8 oz plastic clear drinking cups is good for it.
I put ¾ or atleast ½ of the height of the cups with sterilized pure cocopeat. This time I carefully get the main roots. It makes me nervous while doing this.
To get more oxygen I put some holes in cups. I am hoping that it will help the lettuce to grow faster.
The water that I used here has Nutrient Solution which is ideally made for hydroponics farming. With the right amount and mix with water, it is ready to be used.
Placing the cups on top and making sure that the wick was submerge in the water. As seen in my photos, they are not equally same in growth. That's why some of them are still little compared to this one that I am holding which is about around 2 weeks old since transfered.
Looking forward by second week of April, I can harvest some of them. I am planning to sell lettuce if I can make it grow even in summer. That would be my 3rd try. Hope it can help anyone with my simple ways on how I grow my lettuce in plastic bottle.
Let's recycle and save the environment. Keep safe and have a good day!