Hopefully, you've poked lots of holes in the bottom to allow the excess water to drain.

No drainage holes at all. Lettuce and other greens don't mind wet feet. The goal is to keep the plants small. Lack of oxygen to the roots and a high density of plants will serve as limiting/dwarfing factors. Working examples would be passive hydroponics and microgreen growing systems. So far so good.

Like Rhizo said, I see a problem with no drainage. Lack of O2 being the main problem but also the build up of salts. And if your Socal water is anywhere like mine, that's ALWAYS an issue even if you're growing "normally."

A couple other things ---though lettuce is relatively shallow rooted, 3-4 inches is far less than desirable and you can count on even less than that with the PWT(perchable water table) being raised even further from no drainage. You say the goal is to keep the plants dwarfed... how dwarfed is TOO dwarfed? Are you even going to be able to harvest enough for a salad each picking?

Kevin

Like Kevin said, lack of oxygen in the root zone is a dangerous thing to play around with. Microgreens are grown with plenty of rootzone oxygen, otherwise they rot and die.

The first watering after planting the lettuce and arugula starts, and after sprinkling some seeds on the top, was a real good soaking. Since that first deep watering I have only had to lightly moisten the top. Looks like another clipping/harvest is in order soon.

When I grow microgreens it is done with passive hydroponics, the media is saturated and there are no drainage holes. As with all growing methods the amount of the harvest is dictated by scale. The easier the method, the easier it is to scale. This has been very easy so far.

Here's a snapshot a few days after the first clipping. Note the seeds starting to sprout:

This post was edited by mrclint on Wed, Nov 12, 14 at 22:08

Started another one. Both are 1 cubic foot bags under $5. I broke up/fluffed up the contents of this one a lot more before cutting the bag. I think that's a better approach. Still no drainage holes. This one has spinach and Batavian lettuce. Haven't harvested from it yet.

Interesting. I find that it can be surprising how much plants will tolerate a non-draining container.

pnbrown, I agree completely. Plants have a will to live in spite off what we embrace as foregone conclusions and sometimes in spite of our best intentions. Worst case for this, or any other garden experiment, is that it simply ends up in the compost pile.

Well , as the title of thread is "...greens Experiment". And the picture shows that it is working fine, despite what the text book methods instruction. There are plants that grow in swamps. I know lettuce does not mind wet feet. I have heard that celery is like that too. Obviously in SoCal you don't get a lot of rain and drainage should not be a big issue. It could have been a problem in our wet PNW climate that sometimes it rains days in a row.

Alright. Keep us posted.

Seysonn

I agree, try it with celery.

You can plant the ends of celery you buy at the store as long as you water it well.
Mine finally went to seed and I chopped it back. It came back! Nancy

I think if I were to branch out from greens with another bag it would be with herbs. Something like parsley or cilantro.

Herbs like well drained soil in general. But you can experiment.

Try water cress .

Seysonn