How To Plant Hydroponic Lettuce From the Grocery Store

I love buying the hydroponic lettuce from the grocery store. Did you know you can plant your hydroponic lettuce in soil, if it still has a rootball, and it will continue growing?

Lettuce try it and see what happens!

I don’t have a particular green thumb, so if I can do this, so can you.

Here’s my simple process for getting hydroponic lettuce to grow in soil. 

First, don’t pick all of the leaves off the lettuce before you want to plant it. Leave some healthy leaves on the plant. I have the best success with the lettuce continuing to grow if I plant it within two weeks of buying it at the store and it has been refrigerated that entire time.

Second, wet the roots under the faucet before you plant them.

Third, the lettuce roots are usually tied up. Untie the roots and plant them in a planter. I usually try to pick one that’s deeper than it is wide. You need something larger than a 4-inch pot.

I have garden soil in my planter.

As you can see, I’m planting the lettuce with a spoon because I just came from the kitchen and I don’t keep garden trowels in the kitchen.

This is not something you need to overthink. Take 30 seconds to plunk the lettuce in a pot of soil, give it some water, and see what happens.

We all know you weren’t going to finish that head of lettuce before it wilted anyway. You might as well assuage your guilty conscience and give this lettuce a second chance in soil.

If doesn’t work out, well, that plant should have tried harder.

Outside or inside? 

In the summer, I place my planter of hydroponic lettuce outside where it gets the afternoon sun.

In the winter, we head back inside to ride out the cooler temps. I place the planter of lettuce next to the sunniest windows in our house.

Share a planter?

If there’s room, I do plant multiple heads of lettuce in one planter. It gives me a rotation of lettuce in different stages of growth. The lettuce tends to grow upward, not outward.

I also currently have a head of lettuce sharing a pot with some basil. The basil is out of control and over-shadowing the lettuce, but it seems fine for now. The worst thing that happens if the lettuce isn’t happy here is that we end up eating it sooner rather than later.

That’s the kind of risk I have a “head” for.

How much water?

In the summer, the lettuce gets watered every day along with the other vegetables we happen to be growing.

In the winter, I’ll water it once a week when I water the house plants.

How long does it take new lettuce to grow?

I’ve never actually counted, but within 2 weeks you should start to see new growth.

You’ll know if the hydroponic lettuce has taken to the soil if the lettuce leaves continue to stay “crisp” after you’ve planted it. If they start to wilt and lose color, the plant is probably not going to take.

I estimate I have an 80% success rate with it taking. If I had to guess, the reason it doesn’t usually take to the soil is that I let it stay in the fridge for way too long before planting it.

How much new lettuce will grow?

It’s hard to measure, but I’d say I get at least another full head and then some out of the lettuce before it starts to go to seed.

If you let it go, this particular butterhead lettuce will start to grow really tall with a thick stalk. I think the lettuce tastes a little better before it goes wild like that

Groceries are expensive and I try hard not to throw food away. Lettuce is one of those things that I’m most prone to throwing out because we didn’t eat enough of it any given week.

Apparently, I’m the most optimistic about healthy eating when I’m shopping than when I’m cooking. I can’t be the only one.

I don’t feel guilty about buying hydroponic lettuce and not eating it because I can always plant it and keep it growing. There’s no waste and it’s always there when I need a few leaves of lettuce for my burger salad.

Have you had success planting your hydroponic lettuce? I’m curious to know! Please leave a comment on this blog post, email us here, or reach out via Instagram or Facebook.

Happy eating!

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