Grow Your Own Hydroponic Lettuce

7/30/2019 Grow Your Own Hydroponic Lettuce

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www. EasiestGarden.com's

Grow Your Own Hydroponic

Lettuce!Plans and DVD Set


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Are you tired of paying exorbitant prices for poor quality produce? Are

you concerned about the heavy use of pesticides and fungicides in

commercial food production, not to mention the frequent recalls due to

bacterial contamination, but just can't afford to shell out the extra money for

organic?On the other hand, are you a busy person with a life to live and no time to

spend 20 hours a week growing a garden? Or are you unable (or unwilling!)

to tackle the back-breaking work of tilling, hoeing, fertilizing, weeding,

watering, planting, and harvesting?

Well now there is a solution for you! For the price of two or three trips to

the grocery store you can have your own hydroponic lettuce and herb garden,

producing many times the volume of lettuce, greens and herbs your family

can use - regardless of the size of your family! Not only that, but with theknowledge contained in our video you can turn your family hydroponic

garden into an extremely simple and profitable home-based business! It is not

uncommon to see lettuce, which is ridiculously easy to grow with this system,

selling for four to six dollars a pound and more - and herbs at $20-50 dollars a

pound and up!

The pesticide and herbicide free market is expanding exponentially in

these last few years as we become conscious of the growing dangers of

pesticides and herbicides to our health. Now is the perfect time to enter themarket yourself and carve out a niche business selling lettuce to your

neighbors, your friends, local restaurants, hospitals, delis, supermarkets and

any place that wants high-quality locally grown lettuce!

And the greatest thing is your lucrative home-based business can be up

and running and turning a profit in under six weeks! And the investment is

about as small as you can imagine for such a venture! But even if you're not

interested in becoming a lettuce tycoon, this could make an excellent project

for school or a great way for a non-profit group to help the needy. The sky'sthe limit on this project, you can build the lettuce bed as large as you need and

expand it even bigger when your market grows! And whatever else happens,

it's almost impossible NOT to grow ten times more than your own family can

use!

OVERVIEW

This is a constant flow fully hydroponic system. Hydroponic means that

all of the nutrients the plant needs comes directly from water continuously

flowing past its roots. With our system we use 2" PVC pipes with 1.5" holesdrilled every six inches along the top side. These pipes are placed at a slight

incline, and at the upper end of the incline, 1/8" poly tubes feed a small


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amount of water into each one. This water is caught in the drain reservoir at

the lower end and pumped back to the top to begin the cycle again.

Meanwhile, we plant our lettuce seeds in a tray full of small inert cubes to

germinate and we leave them there until they are approximately an inch tall.

When they are tall enough, they are placed into the 1.5" holes in the 2" pipes.As the water in the pipes flows past the inert cubes containing the seedlings,

the absorbent material of the cube holds the water and the young plant is able

to use only the amount it needs without getting waterlogged.

Water-soluble fertilizer is placed into the reservoir as needed and thenutrients the plant needs for growth and vibrant health are absorbed from the

water flowing past the roots of the plant. As the seedlings grow they willspread out, completely filling the space between the holes and covering the

pipes with a blanket of green and red leaves.As soon as that happens, you will be ready to harvest your first full crop.

To pick lettuce, remove only the largest outside leaves. As you pick the

outside leaves the inside leaves will grow faster to replace them, to be picked

in their turn. Using this "cut and come again" method of growing, you can

have a full picking - depending on the size of your lettuce bed, yielding

perhaps dozens of pounds of top quality lettuce - every other day!

Depending on the variety of lettuce you choose, your day length and the

air temperature, your lettuce may stay in full production for several weeks toseveral months before "bolting" and going to seed. When that happens the

lettuce will begin to taste bitter and it is time to pull it, compost it and replace

those plants with new seedlings. Where I live in Texas, we can grow lettuce

year round - although a greenhouse is required during the coldest months of

winter with only moderate amounts of heat. Most lettuce will tolerate

(although not thrive) in temperatures almost to freezing and up to 100

degrees Fahrenheit, making it a very forgiving crop. In a more northerly

climate this bed could stay in production from the last frost to the first one,producing perhaps a thousand or more pounds of lettuce! Of course, this

system can also be used to grow many herbs; mint thrives, as do oregano,

basil, thyme and most other herbs.

And you will be amazed at the amount you can pick; with only 8 pipes 40'

long it was common for us to pick over 50 pounds of lettuce every other day!

And because of this unique soil-less growing system the lettuce comes off of

the pipes clean without sand or dirt of any kind, so no laborious washing is

needed! We found that few pests bothered our lettuce bed, which makes it not

only undesirable, but entirely unnecessary to use noxious chemicals!


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CHAPTER 1: GETTING STARTED

Let me preface this by saying that these are only loose guidelines; you

can substitute many of the materials used if you have others on hand, this is

just to give you an idea of the items involved. To build one small lettuce bed,

with seven pipes 10' long you will need the following materials:1 - plastic 55 gallon drum

7-10 ' lengths of 2" PVC pipe (plus 10' to be cut for shorter connections)

16 - 2" plastic pipe brackets (such as those used to hold electrical conduit)

3 - sawhorses

1 - small fountain pump, 150 GPH@1' lift minimum. 1 -

20' length of 1/8" black poly irrigation hose 1 - 20'

length of 5/8" black poly solid irrigation tubing

1- barbed plastic "T" for the poly pipe2- barbed cap inserts for poly pipe6 - hose clamps to hold the poly to the fittings

1-3' piece of 4" pipe

1-10 ' length of septic drain sock

7-2" PVC "street" "L"s

4-2 " PVC "L"s

6- 2" PVC "T"s7- 2" PVC caps1 medium can each PVC glue and PVC cleaner Nylon

zip ties

To grow the plants themselves: Several

hundred Oasis cubes Fertilizer (discussed in

Chapter 6: Fertilizer)

Lettuce seed

Tools you will need:

Hacksaw

1/8" tubing pokerMeasuring Tape


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Knife

Drill

1.5"holesaw

1/2" drill bit

3/16" drillbit

Jigsaw or reciprocating saw

Notes on the materials needed:

Find a barrel that was used to store food-grade materials, not chemicals.

Find one with solid bungs on the end that will seal tightly to hold in the water

because you will be installing it on its side. Clean it thoroughly with bleach

and rinse very well before using it (this can be done after cutting holes in it asdescribed in Chapter 2 to make it easier to clean if necessary).

When selecting pipes try to select pipes that were stored indoors or in theshade. Sunlight is harmful to PVC pipes and makes them brittle, which willmake it more difficult to work with it and shorten its life. We recommendbuilding your own sawhorses because you can control the height exactly. Inorder to drain properly, the lettuce bed needs a drop of 2-3" over 10'. So

unless you are building on ground with a natural slope one sawhorse must be

2", and one 1" taller than the shortest one.Kits are readily available to build your own sawhorses which makes it

very easy to make one end taller than the other, but if you use existing

sawhorses simply block one end to make it stand taller. The height should

slope from approximately 38" to 36" tall if the person who will spend the

most time picking is of average height. Otherwise adjust the height

accordingly. The lowest sawhorse must be specially made or cut; it must

slope from 36" on one side to 34.5" on the other. This will make the pipes all

drain to one side. The other sawhorses will be level on top. For 7 pipes to fiton 8" centers, the sawhorses must be about 52" wide.

Many fountain pumps are available and nearly any one will do; the more

pipes you run off of a single pump the larger it must be, but in general for less

than 7 pipes not less than a 150 GPH@1' lift pump is required to provide

enough flow. 1' lift doesn't mean it won't pump higher, just that that is how it

was rated. Larger pumps are acceptable, but if they have too much flow, the

extra will need diverted using some sort of a bypass system. Make certain the

pump is designed to be fully immersed in water.Septic drain sock is used in septic systems to go over the drain pipe to

prevent sand from flowing into the slits in leach beds. It looks something like


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pantyhose. It is very inexpensive and you will use it to filter the water

returning to the barrel. The PVC caps can be either the regular heavy caps or

the cheaper "knockout" caps.

The tubing poker is designed to poke holes in the side of the soft 5/8"

tubing so that the 1/8" tubing can be pushed into it. It should be available inthe irrigation department of your home improvement store. While you are

there find a way to adapt 5/8" poly tubing to the outgoing side of the pump

you intend to use - depending on the model, it may be very easy or a bit tricky.

There are several different Ways of doing it and the store should be able to

help you select one.

The 2" brackets should be gray plastic, other materials will rust in the

presence of the fertilizer and water. They will probably be in the electrical

department. These will be used to hold your pipes in place.More details on fertilizer will be given in Chapter 6: Fertilizer. Lettuce

seeds and suppliers are also given in their own chapter - Chapter 10:

Suppliers. Oasis cubes can be also purchased from many nurseries or from

suppliers listed in Chapter 9: Lettuce As A Business.

CHAPTER 2: STARTING TO BUILD

The first thing you must do is find a stable, fairly level or evenly slopingsurface that is well drained and accessible to water and electricity. If your

surface slopes adjust the height of your sawhorses to compensate so that youare left with 2-3" of drop over 10'. You can determine your drop by taking along, straight 2x4 and placing it where your pipes will be setting. Place a level

on it and raise it until the bubble centers - then have someone measure fromthe bottom of the 2x4 to the top of the lower sawhorse. This is your drop.From now on these instructions will assume you are building on a reasonablylevel surface.

Set your three sawhorses 5' apart, make sure they are stable and setting

firmly on the ground, and make sure that they line up and the center onedoesn't sag or hump (either of which will make the water not drain correctly).

Next take the barrel and lay it on its side, with the manufactured seam

side up to give you a straight line. Take your 4" pipe and put the end on the

barrel centered approximately 6" from the upper end. Mark around the

outside of it with a magic marker, drill a hole inside that mark with the 1/2"

drill bit and using the jigsaw cut the circle out and discard. The 4" pipe should

fit snugly inside the hole and down into the barrel, sticking out about 3". Cut

off any excess and smooth the rough edges.Remove the 4" pipe from the barrel and drill a BUNCH of holes in the 4"

pipe with the 1/2" drill bit. It should look roughly like a honeycomb when


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you are done. You are making a rough "screen" out of the pipe to hold the

drain sock "filter" you are going to make. Every hole you make gives the sock

more drain power. When the pipe is thoroughly perforated clean all the burrs

off of the holes you drilled using a knife, file, or heavy sandpaper. Tie a knot

in the end of the drain sock and set it into the 4" pipe, and pull it all the way tothe end of the pipe with your other hand. Cut it about 3' long and fold over the

top of the 4" pipe. Using nylon zip ties or a hose clamp, tie it snugly in place

around the top of the pipe. Then lay the whole thing out of the way for now.

Set the barrel on its side so that the 4" hole for the filter is on the top.

Mark an 8" hole centered 12" from the lower end of the barrel in line with the

6" hole so that both will be on top when it is installed. Cut it out just like the

other hole and smooth the edges with a sharp knife. This is where you will

lower the pump into the barrel and add your fertilizer. When finished, setaside, but do not discard the cutout. Set your 2" pipes, one at a time, on a

stable surface or workbench and with a pencil or chalk-line put a mark all the

way along the top side of them. If the words marked on all PVC pipe are lined

up straight you can also use those for a mark. Mark all 7 pipes this way. Then

starting at the end, put a mark every 6" along it crossing the first mark. Mark

4 pipes this way.

On the other three pipes put the first mark 9" from the end, then mark

every 6" as before. This will offset the holes so each plant has more space.Then take the 1.5" hole saw and drill a hole at every mark. These are the holes

your lettuce will set in. Drill every pipe and clean the burrs from the holes

with a sharp knife (carefully!).

Glue a 2" "street elbow" (an elbow with one male and one female end)

onto the end you DIDN'T mark from on all 7 pipes (this will be the lower

end). Be careful to orient them as you glue them so that when the elbow is

pointing straight down, the holes you drilled are along the TOP side! Glue the

caps onto the upper end (the end you DID measure from) of the lettuce pipes.As I've said, pipe tends to get brittle in the sunlight because of UV

deterioration. These pipes will mostly be shaded by the lettuce, but you may

wish to paint them a reflective color to help block sunlight and extend their

life, or you may wish to coat them with aluminum foil tape. This last has the

added benefit of annoying bugs and helping deter algae growth by blocking

light from the pipes. I mention it as an option only, for it is not necessary to

get a lot of use out of your lettuce pipes.

Now set two of the T's you will use, lined up as if they were to be glued to

the pipes, and measure 8" from center to center. Then measure from the stop

on the inside of one, to the stop on the inside of the other, to see the exact

length that the pipe must be to glue these together at exactly 8" apart. It


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should be about 5". Cut 7 pieces of 2" PVC (from your extra piece) to that

length.

On a flat, stable surface, lay out 6 T's in line, with the pieces you just cut

beside them. Glue them all together in a row. It is CRITICAL that these are

glued together straight - with all the open ends of the T's (if you imagine theletter T - the bottom end) pointing in the same direction. They cannot be

twisted more than a fraction of an inch or they will not glue into the pipes you

are about to make. You can align them on a table or by sight. Then glue the

last 5" pieces of pipe into each end of the T's. Glue a 2" L into one end,

aligned with all the other T's. This is your manifold drain. If you are confused

by all this don't worry, it is a very simple task, it just looks hard on paper. The

accompanying DVD will make this process clear.

Arrange all seven lettuce pipes on the tops of the sawhorses in the orderin which they are to set (so that the three offset pipes set between the fourregular pipes). The short pieces you glued onto the elbows should dangledown. Have a carpenter's square handy, if available. Then grab the outsidepipe on the HIGH side of the LOW sawhorse and glue to the elbow end ofyour manifold. Using your square try to get it as close as possible to a right

angle to the pipe.

Then glue the first T into the next pipe, making sure the pipe is parallel

with the first you glued. If it is parallel with the other, and the other is square,then both will be square. Continue for all the other pipes. When done, all the

lettuce pipes should be approximately 8" apart, and the last "T" should have a

3" or so piece of 2" pipe sticking out the end of it.

Onto that 3" piece, glue an elbow to point horizontally away from the lettuce

runs, and slightly downhill. Cut a 3" piece of 2" pipe and glue it into the open

end. Now take your barrel which you had set aside earlier and place it

between the legs on the sawhorses, with the drain end (the 4" pipe) on the

barrel closest to the drain end (the elbow you just glued in) on the lettuce

pipes.

Temporarily block it in place. Center the pipes on the lower sawhorse.

Glue the next elbow to the last piece of pipe, pointing towards the barrel at a

significant slope to allow for good drainage; about 1" per foot is good. Glue a

piece of 2" pipe into that "L" that ends just short of the center of the 4" hole

on the barrel. Glue the last "L" into that pipe, pointing straight down into the

barrel. Cut a piece of pipe long enough to reach from the last "L" down into

the barrel to avoid too much splashing. Stick it into the end of the pipe, but

DON'T glue it!

Block the barrel so that it cannot roll at all using either dirt, blocks, wood,

or whatever material is available. Attach the two outside pipes with the pipe


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brackets. On the upper end line up the pipes so they are the same distance

apart as the lower end and attach each pipe with the brackets. Unless they are

warped, the center pipes will not need to be attached to the sawhorse. Now is

a good time to stop and take stock; your project should be starting to come

into focus and look like a lettuce bed. You have the drains all connected andthe barrel made. The only thing left is to set up the water supply and the filter.

CHAPTER 3: WATER SUPPLY

Take the poly tubing and cut 2 pieces about 30" long (if your sawhorses

are 52"). Set aside. Drill a hole through the upper two sawhorses large

enough to allow the 5/8" poly tubing to pass through. The holes should be

drilled directly under one of the pipes. Starting at the lower end, thread the

poly tubing under the first sawhorse and through the second two. Attach the

tubing to the pipe in at least two places between each sawhorse pipe usingnylon pull ties. Make sure that the ties girdle the pipe between the lettuce

holes and don't tighten them too tight - if the poly looks kinked, it won't carry

water! Just snug it enough to keep it from sagging.

When you get to the upper end pull the poly about 1" past the end of the

upper sawhorse. Push the "T" into it and attach the hose clamps to hold it in

place. Attach the poly pipes into the open sides of the elbow and run them

across the pipes on the underneath to the outer edge. Cut them about 1" past

the last pipe and attach the plugs like you did the elbow. Use 1/2" or 3/4"mounting brackets to attach the tubing to the sawhorse.

Cut 14 pieces approximately 1' long of 1/8" poly tubing, making each cut

at a diagonal angle.Then drill 2 holes with the 1/8" bit into every pipe at the

top of the bell. Drill them at a 45 degree angle leaning into the pipe, so that

they will "aim" the water down into the pipe. Using the tubing poker poke

two holes per pipe into the poly tubing in the exposed area between each pipe.

Grab the 5/8" poly firmly in one hand and with the other force a length of

1/8" poly into it. Loop the 1/8" around so that it makes a smooth loop aroundand into one of the holes in the lettuce pipe. Repeat for all 14 pieces. Make

sure each tube is securely into the 5/8" poly and into the lettuce pipes. Cut the

other end of the 5/8" poly (the end by the barrel) long enough to reach to the

bottom of the barrel. Attach it to your pump using whatever adapters are

necessary, if any. Now retrieve the cut-out from the barrel that you saved

earlier. Cut a 1" hole out of one edge to fit around your poly and pump cord.

Take two strips of treated lumber and screw to the edge of the hole, on the

inside of the barrel, one on each side. The cutout you saved should just fit into

the hole around the tubing and cord and seal off the barrel from mice, spiders,

debris, and keep your reservoir clean. As an option, you may wish to cover

the barrel in foil-faced bubble insulation to reflect light and heat from the


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barrel. Depending on your location and climate, the water in the barrel may

get unpleasantly hot in the sunshine which can hurt your lettuce production. Ifyou intend to do this, do it now.

Next fill the barrel 3/4 full with water and plug in the pump to test all of

your connections. PLUG THE PUMP INTO A GFCI GROUNDEDOUTLET! Otherwise there is a risk of severe shock if the pumpmalfunctions! Then make sure there are no leaks on any of the joints ordrains. It's a good idea to let it run all night to make sure all particles are out ofthe pipes and into the filter, and that your drains are not going to clog up. Andthat's it! Your lettuce bed is finished!

CHAPTER 4: GROWING FROM SEED

In order to support the young lettuce plants in the pipes it is necessary to

place them in a solid medium. For this we like to use Oasis cubes. This is anextremely light but incredibly absorbent substance and is available from

many greenhouse and plant growers around the country (see Chapter 10:

Suppliers). Oasis cubes come in a sheet about 12" by 24" by 1" thick. It is

perforated so that the individual 1" cubes can be broken off when the plants

get large enough to separate, and it has a small hole in the center of each cube.The best way to start lettuce and other herbs is to take an old tray and put

a sheet of Oasis cubes on it. Put your seeds in a small saucer and set it on the

cubes and using tweezers put one seed in each hole. Plant about 25% morethan you expect to need (for 7 tubes with 19 holes each you will have 133holes to grow in) since you cannot count on every seed germinating.

When all seeds are in place set the tray in a warm, well-lit spot. Gently

pour water along the side of the tray. Do not pour water on top of the Oasis

because you will wash the seeds out! It will absorb 40 times its weight in

water, so expect it to take a lot. Add it until water stands in the bottom of the

tray and is no longer absorbed, making sure the cubes are wet all the way to

the seeds. The top will probably not get wet, but make sure that the holes

where the seeds set are damp. Give it time to wick up and come back every

half hour or so and add more water.

Check back on your cubes to make sure your cubes are saturated with

water twice a day. No fertilizer is needed yet, but as soon as the seeds sprout

and peek above the tops of the Oasis cubes, fertilizer will need to be added.

Then add fertilizer to the 55 gallon drum reservoir as described in Chapter 6:

Fertilizer, and pull out a cup of fertilized water from the barrel and add to a

cup of plain water. Stir and pour the mixture over the seedlings.

We do this because it is important to dilute the fertilizer as the tenderplants don't need much fertilizer yet and too much would shock them. Allwater that you add to the seedling tray from this point on will be 50/50


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fertilized water and regular water. It will usually take, depending ontemperature, light, and seeds, between one to three weeks from planting until

you have small plants ready to move into the pipes.

When seeds germinate they first have "baby leaves" which are really just

what grew as the sides of the seed. Then those separate and the first trueleaves come out. Sometime between when the first and second set of true

leaves come out on the majority of the seeds it is time to separate them and

move them to their new home in the pipes. They will probably be about 1"

tall at this point.Break each plant off into its own cube. Carry the tray to the lettuce pipes and

set it aside. Turn on the pump. Once the water starts flowing take one fully

wet emptycube (one whose seed didn't germinate for instance) and set it into

one of the holes in the center pipe. Watch it and see if the water flow washes itaway. If it does, then you either have too powerful a pump - in which case,

you need to open your bypass or build one - or too much slope, in which case

you need to reduce it and try again. Keep trying until the flow doesn't wash

the cube away. Then try another tube (one towards the center of the bed,

where the pressure will be strongest) and make sure the water flow doesn't

wash it away there either.

If all is well and the water won't wash your cubes away, start setting the

real lettuce cubes in place, upright, one in each hole. Put a toothpick into eachoasis cube to make sure they stay upright and don't fall down into the pipe.

After doing one pipe, go back to the top and make sure that none of them are

sliding or slipping downhill. It is better to have less flow than too much!

Continue until all pipes are filled. Next it's time to fertilize the barrel.

Incidentally the planting in the Oasis cubes can be done as soon as you get the

seeds, while you are building the lettuce beds themselves, to give you a

head-start when your lettuce bed is ready.

CHAPTER 5: PLANTING STORE-BOUGHT SEEDLINGSIf you're in a hurry, it is also possible to buy young lettuce plants from a

local nursery that are already well on their way to maturity. It is possible to

cut up to a month off of the time it takes to harvest your lettuce this way. To

use plants like this, start by gently removing the plants and their soil from the

tray and (if necessary) gently breaking up the soil to loosen it. Lower it into a

bucket of clean water and swish back and forth several times, being careful

not to break off the stems of the young plants. Don't worry if a few broken

roots fall away, more will soon grow to replace them.

When 90% or more of the dirt has been washed away, slowly lower theminto the lettuce pipes, and guide the roots to flow downstream as you lower it.Set it in place so that it is facing up, and repeat with the next plant. A few of


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the outside leaves may wilt over the next few days, but the inside leavesshould come up vibrant and green to replace them. Fertilize the barrel

immediately after placing the plants in the tubes, as described in the nextchapter.

CHAPTER 6: FERTILIZERThe concept of hydroponic growing is that ALL food must enter the plant

through the water, or through the leaves. Unlike soil growing where a hardy

plant can draw much "food" out of even poor soil, if the nutrients are not in

the water they cannotbe in the plant!

We use a variety of different fertilizers in our mix. You can experiment

with this on your own but we recommend that you stay close to our blend for

your first few batches at least. To make the first batch fertilizer, take:

4 ounces Lettuce Formula (8-15-36) (Chapter 10: Suppliers)

4 ounces Calcium Nitrate

2.5 ounces Magnesium Sulfate (Also called Epsom Salts)

All measurements are by weight. Mix together thoroughly and add to thebarrel of fresh water, stirring very well. The mixture will immediately startrecycling through the tubes and often you can often see a visible difference inthe plants over a few hours after fertilizing. Each plant in each environment

will feed differently so you will have to monitor them yourself to know whenthey need more fertilizer, but usually this will last for several weeks.

When you see your plants starting to look peaked, long and lanky, not

very vibrant, a pale yellow color, or see strange spots and odd colors in the

leaves it means they are hungry for something. Which means it's time to add

more fertilizer.

This fertilizer formula works very well for all types of lettuce and mostherbs. However each environment and plant is different so you may wish to

modify it or add supplements to it from time to time. Unfortunately due to thelarge amount of possibilities involved, we can't offer any more detailedadvice than we already have here - trial and error will teach you the exactrequirements of your environment.

CHAPTER 7: MAINTAINING YOUR LETTUCE BED

One of the greatest things about this gardening system is that it is almost

entirely maintenance free. There are no weeds, few bugs, and all the work is

at waist-level so there is never any bending or kneeling to work on your

garden.Your lettuce beds should be visually checked on a daily basis if possible.

You will need to change the filter from time to time and replace it with


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another drain sock. You will need to make sure that nothing slipped past the

filter and clogged up the 1/8" tubing lines, otherwise that pipe might not be

getting enough water. That is why you must use two lines for each pipe, to

double up and give yourself a safety net. You will also need to periodically

add fertilizer as it is used by the plants and water as it evaporates. Also it ishelpful, particularly in hot weather, to aerate the reservoir barrel by putting

an aquarium pump with a stone bubbler on the end into the barrel. They are

available at pet stores and help oxygenate and cool the water.The only critical thing is that this is a CONSTANT flow lettuce bed.

That means that the water must flow CONSTANTLY! The Oasis cubes will

hold some water, and the lettuce plants themselves can survive for a while

without flowing water, but not too long! The exact time depends on the age of

the plants, the humidity, and the temperature. On a cool night it might nothurt them at all, but a few hours in a hot, dry day will make your lettuce

crispy. In a bad way. What this means is that if you live in an area prone to

frequent power outages it would be wise to have a twelve-volt backup pump

that can run off of a battery for a while, or better still a generator that can run

the pump in case of a power outage. And if your pump should fail it would be

a good idea to have a backup pump on hand. That said, there is very little risk

if you have a backup available or are in a stable power grid. And excepting

those things, there is virtually no maintenance involved in this system! Just

plant it and pick it!

CHAPTER 8: PICKING

There are two ways of picking lettuce. You can either wait for it to form a

head and cut the entire plant off, or you can pick some leaves off of the plant

on a regular basis and let them grow back. Pound for pound you will get

much more lettuce by pulling off a few leaves at a time. Heads look nicer but

they take longer to make and only produce a limited amount per hole.

Because of this we recommend the "cut and come again" method. For

this, you will wait until the plants measure about 5" across to take your first

picking. The leaves should be at least 1" by 3" before you pick them, and pick

only the outermost leaves. At first just pull off a leaf at a time when the plants

are smaller with weaker stems, and only one or two leaves per plant.

As the plants grow and become more sturdy they will produce faster,

produce many more and much larger leaves. When they get to that stage, hold

your right hand like you are making a "C" with the thumb and fingers. Make

the "hole" of the "C" large enough to fit around the core leaves of the target

plant. Lower your hand straight down over the core, close the "C" and dragyour fingers back around to the side of the plant towards your palm. When

you get all the outside leaves dragged together into a nice bundle, with the


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core and stem untouched, give a gentle twist; the leaves should break off very

crisply then drop them into a clean trash bag or a large container. It is very

simple and once you get the hang of it you can pick the entire bed in just a few

minutes.

CHAPTER 9: LETTUCE AS A BUSINESSWe started growing lettuce first for ourselves, but found it produced so

well that we had hundreds of pounds a week to unload. There is a vast market

opening up now for locally grown produce and good quality lettuce brings a

very high price at the supermarket. You can grow expensive specialty lettuces

like Endive and Arugula as easily as you can grow Romaine. Plus, with the

"cut and come again" method, you can have a pre-mixed batch of specialty

lettuce for salad right off of your tubes.

You will be amazed by how much a lettuce bed in full production canproduce - and it only takes about 30 days for most lettuces to reach production

age from seed! You will have to check health department and growing and

marketing regulations in your own state and town but in my area they do not

require you to have a license to grow and sell lettuce AS LONG as it is not

torn into a salad. It being torn would make it a prepared food product, which

requires a health department license and special kitchens and other things like

that.

There is room for both Retail and Wholesale ends of a business to bebuilt; retail has the advantage, as always, of more markup, but wholesale has

the advantage of less packaging hassle and more volume. Also a wider target

audience, since you can approach schools, hospitals, colleges, restaurants,

cafeterias, and any place that has a market for high quality, fresh, locally

grown lettuce grown without pesticides and herbicides. And our lettuce keeps

much better than lettuce bought in the store - when stored in gallon Ziploc

bags in the refrigerator, we've had lettuce stay crisp and fresh for as long as a

month! Healthy foods always keep better.

And your new business doesn't have to stop at lettuce; fresh, intenselyflavorful herbs are extremely expensive and in most cases as easy to grow aslettuce. Use your imagination. Most herbs can be started by putting a cutting

(a broken stem with a leaf, for instance) into an oasis cube and setting it intothe lettuce run.

Lettuce beds are easy to maintain, the lettuce is easy to process and bag,

and the beds are easy and affordable to make. Doing it as a business is

obviously not for everyone, but for an entrepreneur looking for a new

direction it might be just what it takes to make him a Lettuce Magnate, orjust bring in a little income on the side. And if nothing else, even a small bed


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should allow you to grow more than you can possibly use and have plenty left

over to give to a good cause.CHAPTER 10: SUPPLIERS

While many stores can supply seeds, often they are old or of poor quality.

A source for good quality and exotic seeds of lettuce and other herbs andplants is Territorial Seeds www.TerritorialSeed.com. Fertilizers can be

purchased fromwww.Hydro-Gardens.comwhich also offers Oasis cubes and

many other specialized hydroponic growing supplies. Unfortunately their

website is a bit difficult to navigate currently. A direct link to a product index

is www.hydro-gardens.com/director.htm which simplifies things somewhat.

These supplies may be available locally but we list these here as options.

CHAPTER 11: FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What can't I grow?Technically you can grow anything, but some types of plants require their

own fertilizer; spinach for example, doesn't grow well in this fertilizer mix.

Neither does cilantro. Other types of plants grow too large and won't fit in thepipes once they reach maturity (tomatoes, squash, etc) and also don't growwell in this fertilizer mix. However, there are ways of adapting this system togrow tomatoes, watermelons, and other vegetables, which we are currentlydeveloping into an instructional video and brochure like this one, so checkback at our website in the future for more gardening ideas.

Can I make the pipes longer?

Yes! I have had lettuce pipes that were 40 feet long, and they can be aslong as you like if you just keep a downward slope to them. And the best partis that you won't need a bigger pump - the water just naturally flowsdownhill!

CHAPTER 12: DISCLAIMER

Pinnacle Switch Builders, Inc. is not responsible for the use or misuse of

any information contained in this booklet or companion DVD or of accidentsor injuries or damages caused by use or misuse of any items purchased from

Pinnacle Switch Builders, Inc. Use all instructions at your own risk. When

working with electrical pumps underwater there is always a risk of shock so

use caution. Do not drink fertilizer mixes or ingredients and keep out of reach

of children and pets.

All plans, instructions, and images presented here and in the

accompanying DVD are the sole property of Pinnacle Switch Builders, Inc.,

and are not to be redistributed without express written consent. Copyright Pinnacle Switch Builders, 2008.
http://www.territorialseed.com/http://www.territorialseed.com/http://www.hydro-gardens.com/http://www.hydro-gardens.com/http://www.hydro-gardens.com/http://www.hydro-gardens.com/http://www.territorialseed.com/

Documents

Grow Your Own Hydroponic Lettuce