Hydroponic Lettuce!
© a.k.a. MBR
First, I hanged an old light fixture which contained four four foot forty Watt cool white fluourescent tubes. I used chains attached to sturdy hooks screwed into the ceiling beams, or floor joists above, depending on how you look at them.
I then taped durable, easy to clean reflective white plastic in a drape-like fashion around the perimeter of the fixture to focus all of the available light inwards towards where the plants would soon be situated.
Next, I placed an old square three foot by four foot growing tray on top of some old recycled five gallon wine juice pails.
I used an old twelve volt utility pump placed inside a large plastic reservoir to supply the nutrient solution to the tray above. The pump was powered by a power supply and it had a piece of polyethylene pipe attached from it to the tray through a thru-hull fitting (with plastic mesh placed over the end for filtration of chunks of substrate) to allow for flooding and draining of the tray.
The tray was then filled with approximately four inches of perlite and vermiculite in a ten perlite to one vermiculite ratio by volume.
I then seeded the tray by using my fingers as little "hoes" to make furrows and then I dropped the seeds in and covered them with a thin layer of the substrate mix. Then I watered them & covered them with waxed paper until they sprouted.
The lights were left on a 16 hour light cycle.
I used my usual method of checking the pH rarely and replenishing the nutrient solution according to the manufacturer's instructions bi-weekly and using the old solution on the lawn & garden outside.
After 6 weeks of anticipation, excellent petite lettuce heads were ready to be picked and were quite delicious.
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