HelpfulGardener.com

Hello everyone, I'm new here. I joined to get some general advice on growing lettuce, I have an advanced hydroponics system setup for myself to play with in the basement and my wife has become increasingly interested in hydro so I bought the stuff to make a small, 6 plant deep water cultivation (DWC) setup for her to grow lettuce in on her own. We have 2 lionhead rabbits that eat A LOT of veggies and so this is a way for her to be involved in my hobby while also getting to enjoy her hobby. Not trying to advertise for anything, as I don't represent anyone, but I have been a long time user and lover of General Hydroponics 3 part nuts and that is what I plan on having here use, however she has made it clear that she wants to be the one to make the decisions with HER lettuce, I do however get to spend the money, funny how that works.

This system will be a home-built setup, I plan on using a large tupperware/rubbermade style container, around 5-6 gallons with 6 net baskets in the lid. The medium I use and will be insisting she use is Hydroton and her system will consist of only an air line with a stone to keep the nutes from settling, no drip of any sort.

I have also purchased quite a few Black Simpson Loose leaf lettuce seeds because I have heard that they are one of the fastest growing varieties taking on average 45 days to harvest. Can anyone recommend a faster maturing lettuce variety that is a loose leaf style? Also what is the recommended PH level for the res as well as recommended res and ambient temperatures? Thanks.

Welcome to the forum, I'm sure someone can answer your questions...My experience with Hydro is zip..

but, we have grown flats of lettuce, gown in a soiless mix..indoors in January...for something fresh and green to eat...
The one thing I can say is..
even with a great window light source...it didn't grow well and was spindly. The room temperature was too warm also...
It did much better downstairs with a fluorescent light overhead, and a cooler ambient temp, about 50° and provided several meals for us.

Welcome to the forum!! Hope you find it friendly and helpful. Since you had some specific questions, I took the liberty of moving this to the container gardening section and retitling it, so it will catch more people's attention that might be able to answer the question. This may not be traditional container gardening, but it IS indoor gardening which is the general category. Perhaps we should have a separate subsection for hydroponics. I've noticed more people posting about it lately -- maybe that's a winter thing, lots of us can't do outdoor gardening any more.

Anyway, I don't have answers to your questions, my indoor gardening experience is limited to houseplants and starting seeds under lights in potting soil, but hopefully now someone will see this who does.

I can suggest that along with the Black Simpson, Oak Leaf lettuce is very fast maturing as is Miner's Lettuce (which isn't a traditional lettuce at all, it's a wild green, but very lettuc-y and high in Vitamin C) This site has seeds of lots of kinds of lettuce including the Miner's Lettuce:
https://www.underwoodgardens.com/Lettuce/products/20/2/0

Thanks for the new forum, I see your from Ohio, O-H!

As for the ideal PH for lettuce, its between 5.5 and 6.0, I went to the hydro store today and talked to them about it, they are in the middle of a lettuce grow so they had tones of advice. I will have her use the GH 3 part but only 1/4 strength and then flush for 1 week with plain PH water before harvest if I'm planning on using them for humans, otherwise it wont matter if I flush or not. Its not unsafe, just alters the taste.