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kawaiineko_gardener

growing romaine lettuce in containers......

I'd like to grow 4 romaine lettuce plants from seed in a container.

What would the rim of the diameter need to be in inches to plant 4 romaine lettuce plants without overcrowding them?

This is after I've thinned out the plants to the 4 I plan to grow.

What would the size of the container have to be

in gallons/quarts to grow 4 romaine lettuce plants without overcrowding them? Again this is after I've thinned out the plants to the 4 I plan to grow.

Comments (5)

  • imstillatwork
    14 years ago

    I planted romaine in 1/2 gallon orange juice containers with the neck cut off. ended up being about 5" wide & 6" deep. It grew rather well. I was able to harvest from march through mid june.

    a 1-2 gallon pail should hold 4 plants well. I placed 8 plants in a 20x16x8 inch rectangle box.

  • kawaiineko_gardener
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I would prefer to plant 4 lettuce plants in a 1-2 gallon window box. What would the dimensions be of a 1-2 gallon window box/rectangular container be?

    You said that you planted 8 lettuce plants in a 20 x 16 x 8-inch rectangular box. I am assuming that since you planted twice as many lettuce plants as I plan to plant, the container is twice as big in volume; by this I mean it's 2-4 gallons as opposed to 1-2 gallons.

    Would the window box/rectangular container I would need to plant 4 lettuce plants without overcrowding them be 10 x 8 x 4?

  • lathyrus_odoratus
    14 years ago

    kawaiineko, the Earthbox folks say that you can grow 4 lettuce in one row in a box that is 29" wide. They would put a second row in, also, as their container is 14 or so inches deep. If you divided the container in half, it would be 29"x7" for 4 lettuce.

    I do not know if some people plant them closer than that for heading lettuce. I plant lettuce close, but that is because I use the "cut and come" method where I do not grow most heading varieties (though I do grow romaine) and I cut off the outer leaves as they get large enough, leaving only a few inner young leaves. I do this several times a week, so I have salad throughout most of the growing season.

    If you wanted them to head, since romaine are much more narrow than some of the other lettuces when full size, I'd say you could probably grow 4 heads within 20-22".

    Hopefully someone else who grows them to maturity will help you more.

  • meyermike_1micha
    14 years ago

    I planted 25 romaine lettuce plants in one of those whisky barrels back in May, and got tons of great lettuce, enough to make a couple dozens of salad!!

    Sad to say though, the sun has only showed itself a couple of days this month, with tons of drizzle and cool temps this June, and now I have lost all of them to rot and slugs!!:(

    Time to replant.

    It is fun and you can squeeze alot into one container

  • imstillatwork
    14 years ago

    figure about 1/3 to 1/2 gallon of soil per plant or more. this sort of thing you just give it a try and see if it works for you. pick a box about 6 inches deep and try it out.