Lettuce NFT Farming

Does anyone know how to grow lechugas??? I love growing things but never grew my own food before. I have no idea how to go about germinating lettuce seeds but Im planning on setting up a lettuce NFT farm and thought I better do some research first B)

Twelve/Twelve
:D

 

You sure you don't know now to germinate a Lettuce seed yet you plan to set up an NFT farm growing Lettuce?

You a chemist? I suppose that might a be route into Horticulture for a non Horticulturist ...

I suggest you do your research via a horticultural body, I doubt there are many/any here who are knowable about commercial NFT. Its more than 30 years since I set up an NFT outfit, so my knowledge will be as good as useless in today's marketplace.

 

Im just asking advice on germing lettuce seeds. Im experienced in NFT systems. Inexperienced in growing food. Do I germ straight into soil or jiffy plugs or damp tissue or what??

Twelve/Twelve
:D

 

Out of interest.... What were you growing in NFT systems 30 years ago???

Twelve/Twelve
:D

 

We were growing Lettuce, Tomatoes, Peppers etc ... and office plants (hydroponics, but not in NFT obviously )

In those days the lettuce were raised in rockwool. I would imagine that growing anything in soil would contaminate your solution, no? Clog the drippers etc?

And if you had no substrate at all, e.g. "damp tissue" as you say, would that not just "float away" - i.e. there would be nothing to anchor it?

Lettuce seed itself will germinate if you just look at it so nothing tricky with that part, and even "damp tissue" would be just fine, so pretty much anything suitable for your NFT rig and I would expect the lettuce seed to germinate just fine - although I don't know anything about lechugas

But ... for commercial production there may be other considerations, particularly in terms of things that will interfere with the NFT setup.

What other things are you growing? and what are they raised in currently?

Would be nice to see some photos of your setup please. I'm curious as to how the industry has moved on in 30 years.

 

Im not set up and cant say what Im currently growing as its not legal in the UK. I live in spain and get confused with words sometimes.... Lechugas are lettuces in spanish lol. I cant grow what I grow on an industrial scale as that would mean breaking the law but want to put what I know into practice with some legal crops and If I can make money from it too then bonus. A friend of mine is interested in starting a farm as ALL the veg we have here is imported and nothing grows well in the soil. Think of living on the moon with earths atmosphere and you can picture what where I live is like The sun does shine 24/7 tho

Twelve/Twelve
:D

 

Id like to start with something like this....



And finish with something like this....



Twelve/Twelve
:D

 

When I was a lad I thought I would make a fortune doing that in Brazil - the capital was miles from anywhere and I thought I could grow all the vegetables a big city needed, using NFT, and save all that haulage cost. Trouble was I couldn't find anyone to back me !!!!

The greenhouses I set up here for NFT were on an industrial site, so no soil that could be used; it was about 1/2 a hectare I think. Same as you describe.

OK, if they are just ordinary types of Lettuce then germination is easy. AND the seed is cheap. You will get n,000 seeds in a packet and given decent conditions they will all germinate So that's the easy part

NFT is going to need some channels for the plants to grow in, and the nutrient to flow down? Not sure how you are doing it currently in a small way, but quite possibly its by spraying onto the roots?, or possibly by Flood & Drain or something similar? The sort of kit I see for Home Use doesn't scale very well to field-size, but this is not something I am currently familiar with, so I may be out of touch.

We used narrow plastic sheet on very long rolls, laid out down a slope, fold the two sides up and staple to make an A shaped channel, put the plants in, and deliver the nutrient through a dripper at the top end. At the bottom end collect it back into a nutrient tank. Nutrient injectors operating on conductivity of the solution add concentrated nutrients when the solution became "weak", and a float switch to top up the tank with water, and that kept the nutrient solution about right for the plants. Once a week we tested the solution in the lab (we had some fancy piece of kit that did it all automatically, and it cost a fortune! Can't remember what it was, except that the guys in the lab were cock-a-hoop because previously they had had to do such tests using gas chromatography - by hand I presume) and then we adjusted the NPK and micro nutrients in the circulating solution accordingly.

That was about it

 

Yeah, that's what I was thinking you might be using as a hobbyist. I don't think you'll get your money back on that ... the equipment is far too expensive compared to the value of the crop.

 

Not anymore. All I need is 3mtrs of drain pipe. A bucket big enough to use as a res. A small water pump and some feeder pipes. Run in a curculating system like you described along the length of pipe then back to the res. I didnt know you could get nutrient injectors tho. That does sound handy. Im also interested in aquaponics. You use fish to produce the nitrates the plants need to grow and in turn the plants clean the water pumped back to the fish although im surrounded by sea so dunno what to do with the fish part lol

Twelve/Twelve
:D

 

Also once you take away the cost of importing veg and customs taxes its cheaper than what we have atm and will be fresher.

Twelve/Twelve
:D

 

Ola 12-12

I think you'll find they are already doing it big time in Spain, have a look at this thread.

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/eaten-a-spanish-tomato-recently.48526/#post-622360

 

I had a look for Images of NFT on Google and everyone seems to be using rigid plastic channels (much like your drain pipe). Often they are supported off the ground.

I wonder why this is? The supports need to be strong enough to take the weight of the pipework and the crop, and drain pipe is expensive.

What will you get, 6 lettuces per Metre perhaps? Can't remember how long from sowing-to-harvest for an NFT lettuce, thus how many crops you could get per year, but how many crops will you need to pay for the pipe? (everything else, the pump and drippers etc. you need anyway).

There must be a reason that everyone is not just using narrow plastic sheeting laid on the ground, but it used to be a lot cheaper!

 

They dont do it here. Im not on the mainland.

I think the channles are off the ground to help with temps and ease of harvesting and stuff. I can get cheap plastics here but dunno about making it profitable. Maby I'll just eat what I grow and sell whats left over to my bosses restaurant. Earn some extra pocket money.

Twelve/Twelve
:D