Prepackaged Lettuce from the store...

luigiwu · January 16, 2016

I've been eating a lot of lettuce and have been buying the prepackage/boxed/bagged greens for the ease of it all. Does anyone know how they are grown and how they retain their freshness? When I grew lettuce outdoors before, it was so much work to wash them and dry them (super thoroughly) so they didn't spoil, so I'm curious how its being done commercially.

I've always been interested in growing in small spaces and am considering maybe growing my own using the Kratky method indoors this winter. (for those of you not familiar, its NON-circulating hydroponics.) However there is something weird to me about 'eating' something that soley feeds off of chemical fertilizers. Then I started thinking, how do I know if what I'm buying IS already hydroponic lettuce. Can hydroponic lettuce be considered 'organic'? I hope not... Hydroponic lettuce would explain how clean they are...

in my mind, hydroponics is like eating chemicals, so I associate it with something bad... is that correct? Would you eat hydroponically grown food?

January 16, 2016	#1
luigiwu Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: ny Posts: 1,219	Prepackaged Lettuce from the store... I've been eating a lot of lettuce and have been buying the prepackage/boxed/bagged greens for the ease of it all. Does anyone know how they are grown and how they retain their freshness? When I grew lettuce outdoors before, it was so much work to wash them and dry them (super thoroughly) so they didn't spoil, so I'm curious how its being done commercially. I've always been interested in growing in small spaces and am considering maybe growing my own using the Kratky method indoors this winter. (for those of you not familiar, its NON-circulating hydroponics.) However there is something weird to me about 'eating' something that soley feeds off of chemical fertilizers. Then I started thinking, how do I know if what I'm buying IS already hydroponic lettuce. Can hydroponic lettuce be considered 'organic'? I hope not... Hydroponic lettuce would explain how clean they are... in my mind, hydroponics is like eating chemicals, so I associate it with something bad... is that correct? Would you eat hydroponically grown food? __________________ Subirrigated Container gardening (RGGS) in NY, Zone 7! Last edited by luigiwu; January 16, 2016 at 02:27 PM.