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What is wrong with my lettuce growing indoors under lights?

JL (Zone 6B MA)
vor 4 Jahren
zuletzt bearbeitet:vor 4 Jahren





Hello! I am trying to grow lettuce indoors for the first time. I’ve also tried these same seeds hydroponically kratky style and gotten similar results. The leave are flopping over. I’ve included pictures of the lettuce and also the pot - it’s about 4 inches from the lights. I have succulents that grow all winter under these same lights at a distance of 6-12 inches and don’t stretch so I know it’s enough light.

could someone help me with what I’m doing incorrectly? I’d love to grow salad consistently and no longer buy bagged salad as I am trying to move towards zero waste.

Hervorgehobene Antwort
  • LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
    vor 4 Jahren
    Zuletzt geändert: vor 4 Jahren

    I grow lettuce under fluorescent lights every winter. What variety/type did you plant? Some varieties do better under lights than others. Most leaf lettuce does pretty well but romaine and other heading lettuce not so much. Muir always does great and Johnny's salanova varieties did pretty good this year for me. The leaf texture of indoor lettuce is never as crisp and lettuce grown outdoors IME. IMO it's not necessary to keep leafy lettuce close to the lights after the first 3-4 weeks since by then the roots are well established and the goal is to encourage it to stretch out and produce more leaves. I keep my lights about 4" from the top of the plants.

    It looks like your plants could use a little more soil (~1") to cover what looks to be weak exposed stems. That should help support them and keep them from flopping over.

    Kommentare (19)

    • daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
      vor 4 Jahren
      Zuletzt geändert: vor 4 Jahren

      Looks pretty normal to me. Maybe a little light-starved. Ideally should be closer to the lights. If they are fluorescents or LEDs, the plants should almost be touching the lights. Of course, at some point, if you're serious about production, you'll very soon have to move to much larger pots.

      BTW, succulents are pretty tolerant of low light. They'll grow faster with more light, but they thrive just fine with very little.

      JL (Zone 6B MA) hat daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa) gedankt
    • JL (Zone 6B MA)
      Ursprünglicher Verfasser
      vor 4 Jahren

      Thank you Dan. The leaves seem weak and floppy. Definitely unlike any store bought lettuce I've ever eaten so I wasn't sure! Yes I will be moving to larger pots, planting in individual pots etc - this was just an experiment before I really got into it. I've never had luck with lettuce and didn't want to do a big setup and have them all fail! I have grow other leafy veggies like fenugreek and arugula successfully outdoors but never lettuce! I am trying my hand at indoors so I can have a consistent supply!

    • JL (Zone 6B MA)
      Ursprünglicher Verfasser
      vor 4 Jahren

      Thank you LoneJack. The variety I planted was Burpee gourmet blend lettuce. Where do you by your lettuce seeds from? I see you tube videos of people growing lettuce on widowsills and such seemingly so easily and I can't seem to for the life of me!

    • BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA
      vor 4 Jahren
      Zuletzt geändert: vor 4 Jahren

      It sounds like you planted the equivalent of spring mix. It's a loose leaf, not a head lettuce. It looks a little scraggly, but it's never going to be crisp. With loose leaf, I actually tend to plant pretty densely ... scatter the whole pot with seed, sprinkle a little dirt on top or brush them into the dirt with your hand, and then water the seeds in. Wait until it comes up to worry about density, though it's pretty difficult to truly overcrowd loose leaf. If it seems to be stifling leaves under others ... pick and eat!

      The way you have them planted individually, it looks like you might have been expecting heads (or followed the instructions, haha). If you want more of a head, look for a variety listing as romaine or bibb. Bibb, or butter lettuce, will tend to have the softer leaves, and the heads will be kind of ball shaped (at a grocery store, you'll often see it called Boston lettuce). Romaine, or cos lettuce, will tend to have the crisper leaves, and the heads tend to be more upright.

      Another thing that can cause lettuce to get leggy, other than wanting more light, is temperature. Lettuce hates being hot. When it's too warm, it can get a bit limp or try to bolt, which will result in stemmy lettuce (bolted heads will also get leggy and then tough and bitter; loose leaf probably won't get tough but it won't do well).

      I've grown lettuce in pots and also in my Aerogarden. I've had good luck with Little Gem and Parris Island in both, and I've had Little Caesar, Black Seeded Simpson, and Deer Tongue pods in my Aerogarden that came out nicely. I might have grown Little Caesar in a pot, too, but I'd have to fish through seed packets to be sure. Years ago we tried Salvius, Helvius, and Fenberg from Johnny Seed. The Salvius was by far the most bolt resistant and formed the best heads of the three (and I see the only one of the three they still sell); the Fenberg was the weakest performer and ended up small and scraggly; the Helvius was more heat sensitive than the Salvius, but it did okay. The Johnny seeds were mostly grown outside, though I did some indoor growing for them during the hottest months of the summer. I don't have a comparison between Salvius and Parris Island, etc., as they were grown years apart.

      If you're looking for a classic head type lettuce, I'd try something Parris Island. I plant my head lettuces a little denser than recommended, though certainly separated, then when they come up, I pull some of them out to a good separation and eat the removed baby heads like loose leaf.

      JL (Zone 6B MA) hat BlueberryBundtcake - 6a/5b MA gedankt
    • JL (Zone 6B MA)
      Ursprünglicher Verfasser
      vor 4 Jahren

      Thank You - yes it is a spring mix and I was following instructions! I’ll try one of the varieties that you recommended

    • robert567
      vor 4 Jahren

      Not very helpful, but I grew lettuce under LEDs last year, and the lettuce was weak/ pathetic like that until I put them outside with real sun and wind. I have wondered if the house temps were too warm all night. Trying this year, going to put outside as much as possible after they have formed leaves, protect from the cold in my garage.

      JL (Zone 6B MA) hat robert567 gedankt
    • JL (Zone 6B MA)
      Ursprünglicher Verfasser
      vor 4 Jahren

      Thanks Noki - I'll have to try it outdoors - I am trying though to have an option which will do well indoors for the winter months! Zone 6 in MA so can't grow outdoors all year round unfortunately!

    • purslanegarden
      vor 4 Jahren


      One plant being OK at a certain distance does not make another plant OK at that same distance.

      What are your light specs, eg lumens and Kelvin rating, CFL/LED, etc? There are other factors also but let's start with that.

      How far away are the lights at germination time?





      JL (Zone 6B MA) hat purslanegarden gedankt
    • LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
      vor 4 Jahren
      Zuletzt geändert: vor 4 Jahren

      JL - I bought both the Muir and Salanova seeds from Johnny's Selected Seeds. Salanova has 8 pelleted varieties (4 red and 4 green) and are a Johnny's exclusive which they are very, very proud of. High mowing seeds has some similar pelleted varieties in their Easyleaf collection for a much better price. I believe Muir may also be a Johnny's exclusive.

      I start my indoor lettuce in 72 cell packs and transplant to 4" pots at about 3-4 weeks. I harvest every 7-10 days for about 3 months before they get root bound and worn out.

      Salanova

      Green and red incised, and green and red summer crisp


      Muir

      JL (Zone 6B MA) hat LoneJack Zn 6a, KC gedankt
    • JL (Zone 6B MA)
      Ursprünglicher Verfasser
      vor 4 Jahren

      purslanegarden - I had the specs on my lights when I bought them but don't recall them now - I know they are sufficient to grow a variety of plants (I bought the setup from a place that sells cannabis supplies) - and as I said I do grow many indoors under grow lights - my lettuce are the only ones that suffer. I didn't move the lettuce from germination to now - maybe that;s the problem. They were probably 6 inches from the lights at germination.


      LoneJack - thanks for the info! I figured out after a couple of people mentioned Johnny's seeds what it was - I hadn't heard of them before - I am new to growing from seed. They are pricy - i will definitely buy from them once I am done with my current seed stock. I would like to buy onion starts from them though!


    • party_music50
      vor 4 Jahren

      LoneJack, your indoor lettuces are beautiful. What are your lighting and growing temps like? I find that my indoor lettuces, herbs, etc., do better if I can give them bright light and cooler conditions.

      JL (Zone 6B MA) hat party_music50 gedankt
    • JL (Zone 6B MA)
      Ursprünglicher Verfasser
      vor 4 Jahren

      party_music that's a good point. I have CFL lights - which produce more heat than LEDs. Maybe that's my problem!

    • LoneJack Zn 6a, KC
      vor 4 Jahren
      Zuletzt geändert: vor 4 Jahren

      Pary Music - Thanks! I use fluorescent tube lights. 4', 4 bulb, T8 lamps with these daylight bulbs (6500K). They put off almost no heat. I have 6 of the lamps so 24' of growing space. My setup is in my basement that stays in 60 - 62 range in the winter months. I use the same lights for growing the lettuce as I do for growing all of my veggie transplants. The lettuce scratches the itch during the winter.


    • party_music50
      vor 4 Jahren

      Nice setup, LoneJack! and I'd say those cooler temps are perfect.

    • daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
      vor 4 Jahren

      I also use T8's in a converted garage for my seedlings and, you know what? The amount of heat they put out is great. In the winter, when the garage temps are in the 40s and 50s, I can easily have my plants at 60-80F (or whatever temp I want) by throwing a sheet or blanket over the whole thing. The amount that you cover determines how much heat you want to trap. On very cold days, it's almost entirely covered. On warm days, it's less than half covered. Good to check the temp every day. I'm certainly not going to LEDs. I find it amusing when people brag about their LED lights, and are proud of their auxiliary heater!

    • stevie
      vor 4 Jahren
      Zuletzt geändert: vor 4 Jahren

      they just need more light, and they need it as soon as they sprout.

      here is some of my winter/indoor lettuce using T5 bulbs (it's a 200W fixture with 4x 54W bulbs sitting about 8-9 inches from the tops.

      And believe it or not, but you're likely able to grow greens almost all year long in the northeast, even in zone 6 (I'd guess at least 10 months of the year - except maybe Jan-Feb in some colder years). this year has been very mild here and Jan-Feb leafy greens would survived. .just need some sort of simple hoop house for protection.

      my problem is not so much the winter temperatures, it's the suns angle. in Jan/Feb/March the sun is really low and where i plant doesn't get a lot of sunlight due to the house blocking it.

    • PRO
      horticulturalist
      vor 2 Jahren

      DefinDefinitely not enough lighr/their lighting is not as intense as it should be.

    • Houzz-Nutzer 714826953
      Vor 6 Monaten

      I grow Paris Romain all year long using led lights and homemade vertical garden towers. since i am using aerophonics, The ph has to be monitored. i keep my ph at 6.0 and have had great sucess. i have a youtube at ”akaska bob ramsey” entitled “vertical tower garden” in the short video, i don’t show you how to make the towers, but the finished ones. you can find lots of youtube videos with instructions on how to make them. the lights i use are fecida leds i get from amazon.

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