In mid-December, my wife Jean started an indoor flat of Butter Crunch lettuce from seed. We used screened potting mix for our growing medium in standard 1-inch,4-packs placed in a shallow tray for bottom watering. We are using our recently purchased Light Emitting Diode (LED) grow lights manufactured with 4-LED colors to closely simulate the sunlight spectrum and we continue to experiment with the level of brightness and distance from the plants to maximize growth. We also have our grow lights connected to a timer adjusted for 8 hours of darkness and 16 hours of light. It is amazing at how quickly the plants have developed in 24 days. Photos demonstrate the surprisingly bright LED light even though they are only adjusted to 50% of their full brightness. We harvested our first lettuce leaves yesterday to add to our salads, and will plant successive crops to enjoy fresh lettuce thru the winter.
Join us to beat the Covid-19 blues, as well as the winter doldrums, and start growing your own greens and herbs indoors this winter
Click here for a short guide from the University of Illinois Extension to help you get started.
