A TikTok user has shown how they grow “unlimited” lettuce at home using what they have purchased at the supermarket. Lettuce is a common ingredient in sandwiches, burgers and salads for British households, especially in the summer months when we enjoy barbecues and outdoor dinners with friends and family. Romaine lettuce is a common type of lettuce and is readily available in most British supermarkets in the fruit and veg section.
While it is cheap to buy, it is also relatively easy to grow at home. One Tiktok user has shown how they use the end of their supermarket lettuce to grow even more leaves, saving a few pounds and getting the satisfaction of enjoying their very own produce that they grew at home. While lettuce is normally grown in the ground along with other vegetables and organic produce, this person simply uses a small jar of water.
In the viral video shared by @plantyqveen, which has received an impressive 6.6 million views since it was first posted, the ends of the head of Romaine lettuce are used. Romaine lettuce is known to be tall and long as opposed to a head of iceberg lettuce, for example.
In the video, the TikTok user simply saves the bottom of the head of lettuce. They then place it in a small, shallow glass jar and a time lapse shows more leaves springing out from the stub.
Eventually, the leaves grow considerably tall. The video creator said in the caption of the post that they are able to create “unlimited” lettuce using this method.
People took to the comments section of the clip to share their thoughts on it. One commentor wrote: “Mine is over 3 months in and grow so big. After the little one had formed roots, I put it in the soil but did not bury the “soil” too deeply because otherwise it would get moldy.”
Another advised: “It can stay in water but to prevent mold, just change the water and rinse out the bowl every few weeks.”
However, another person revealed that they tried this a number of times and it “withers away”. According to All Recipes, you need to keep between 1 and 2 inches of the end of the lettuce for this method.
Then, you place it in half an inch of water and place it on a sunny windowsill. The water needs to be changed every one to two days so that the edges don’t get soggy. The lettuce will be as “big as it’s going to get” around 10 to 12 days later, although results can vary depending on the conditions in which it is growing.
