Lettuce
Lollo Bionda Lettuce.
Tightly curled green leaf, sold on appearance.
Start with the saleable product
Head shape. Leaf texture. A clean finish.
Choose the selling format before setting the schedule. A compact head for a sleeve, a living root-ball product and leaves for food service ask different things of the crop.
Head and pack
Agree the finished head size, curl and leaf condition against the actual sleeve or crate.
Roots at sale
A retained root ball changes lifting, packing and handling. A trimmed head needs a clean cut and a different packing routine.
A cultivar for the season
Select for the intended greenhouse system and planting period. A name on a type list is not a complete cultivation plan.
Cultivation choices
How to cultivate.
Choose the route around the saleable head, the root ball or trimmed presentation, and the work needed to finish and harvest it.
Moving gutters · MGS
A hydroponic route that moves the crop and can increase spacing as heads develop. Plan each transfer and spacing stage around the finished head.
Hydroponic tables
Tables support the crop; the irrigation method is a separate choice. Compare fixed NFT channels with plant carriers on ebb-and-flow tables.
Deep-water culture
Plants are supported above a reservoir of nutrient solution. Raft handling, root-zone oxygenation and cleaning belong in the growing plan.
Soil cultivation & organic
A non-hydroponic route with soil beds, irrigation and crop handling. Organic production also depends on the applicable standard and full growing practice; soil alone does not establish certification.
Climate & season
A crop plan for
the actual conditions.
Location, season and cultivar guide the schedule. A greenhouse and its technology must be designed around those conditions.
Light sets the pace
Available light and the selected cultivar affect the time needed to reach the saleable specification. Keep seasonal schedules separate.
Leaf quality sets the limit
Air movement, humidity and the root environment belong in the plan for a sound head. Avoid pushing weight at the expense of leaf quality.
Mixed packs need coordination
A green and a red component must reach the packing specification together. Different schedules can require different starting dates.
Cultivation & daily work
Make the growing
routine workable.
The system should support the crop and the people caring for it. Review access, handling and cleaning as part of the layout.
Start uniform
Nursery consistency makes transplanting and later handling more predictable.
Make room to finish
Final spacing follows the head specification. Moving gutters can change spacing during the cycle; fixed layouts reserve finishing space earlier.
Handle the base
The base and leaf arrangement affect trimming and packing. Allow access for harvest, cleaning and the next crop.
Judged by eye, first and last
Lollo Bionda is a green leaf eaten raw, carrying the same content as the rest of the family in a frilled margin that gives volume without weight. The curl is the reason it is chosen, on a plate and in a pack.
An appearance crop has nowhere to hide. Wilt shows in the curl before it shows anywhere else: the frill relaxes, the volume drops, and a head that is still perfectly good to eat stops looking like the product it was sold as. Freshness is not an abstraction here. It is the shape.
Time is what flattens it. A head cut near its market keeps that structure through the part of its life the buyer sees, while the same head shipped a long way spends its best days inside a box. A crop bought for how it looks on the shelf has to arrive still looking like it.
Nutrition facts
Lettuce, green leaf, raw
Per 100 g
- Energy
- 15 kcal
- Fat
- 0.15 g
- Carbohydrate
- 2.87 g
- Sugars
- 0.78 g
- Fiber
- 1.3 g
- Protein
- 1.36 g
- Sodium
- 28 mg
- Potassium
- 194 mg
- Vitamin C
- 9.2 mg
Lollo Bionda is the green Lolla type, with a tightly curled and frilled leaf margin. It is bought for appearance and volume in a pack rather than for weight, and it holds its structure well after cutting.
What the crop needs
The crop is short-cycle and hydroponic. The curled leaf traps moisture in the head, so air movement through the crop matters more than it does for an open-leaved type, and the end of the cycle is where that shows. Uniformity of curl and colour is a cultivar property.
What the greenhouse has to do
Lollo Bionda is sold on appearance, and the curl is the appearance. A head that runs soft or stretches loses the tight leaf structure the buyer is paying for, so the climate is held to protect form rather than to chase weight — steady temperature, light that keeps the plant compact, and no periods that push it into stretching.
The cycle is short and the greenhouse turns often, so density, the recirculating water system and the harvest route decide annual output. Because the product is judged by eye, the floor has to be consistent: a bay that runs warm produces heads that look different from the ones beside them, and in an appearance crop that difference is a grade.
DutchGreenhouses® designs the structure, climate, screening and irrigation around the lettuce type, its system and the local climate, so cycles turn at the head quality the market grades on. Get in touch to plan a lettuce greenhouse.
Lollo Bionda lettuce, asked and answered
Is head weight or head count the right target?
Lettuce is sold by the head, so the count reaching grade in a year decides revenue. A heavier head grown more slowly can earn less than a lighter head on a shorter cycle.
Does the cultivar matter more than the type?
For head mass, density tolerance and tipburn risk, yes. Those are cultivar properties, which is why a lettuce project is planned around a named cultivar rather than around the type alone.
What causes tipburn?
Calcium not reaching the fastest-growing leaf margins, driven by transpiration and root pressure rather than by supply. Climate control addresses it; adding calcium to the solution generally does not.
Other lettuce
varieties.
Repeat harvests. Consistent head quality and size. The class you sell decides the plant load, the harvest rhythm and the greenhouse.
Butterhead Lettuce
Butterhead is the soft-leaved wholehead lettuce sold with its outer leaves intact, and the type most European buyers picture when they specify lettuce.
Green Crispy Lettuce
Green crispy is the dense, crunchy-leaved lettuce sold both as a wholehead and into processing, where the leaf holds its texture after cutting.
Green Oakleaf Lettuce
Green oakleaf lettuce is a lobed, soft-leaved head grown for leaf shape rather than for weight.
Lollo Rosso Lettuce
Lollo Rosso is the red Lolla lettuce, where the tightly curled leaf margin and the red pigmentation are both the product.
Red Crispy Lettuce
Red crispy is the red-pigmented counterpart of the green crispy head, sold wholehead and into mixed-leaf packs where colour intensity is part of the specification.
Red Oakleaf Lettuce
Red oakleaf lettuce carries the lobed leaf of the oakleaf types with red pigmentation, and most often reaches the consumer inside a multi-type pack.
The greenhouse behind lettuce
Lettuce under glass.
Table systems with floaters, Moving Gutter Systems (MGS) or Deep Water using NFT or ebb and
Work back from head size, crop cycle and harvest handling to the growing system, spacing and climate.
Repeat harvests. Consistent head quality and size.
Table systems with floaters, Moving Gutter Systems (MGS) or Deep Water using NFT or ebb and.
Plan heads sold per cycle, grades, packing and repeat orders.
Basic Organic Greenhouse Series
Venlo glasshouses for soil-based crops. Set the crop, beds, access and production calendar before specifying the systems.
¼ acre½ acre1 acreExplore Basic
Expert Hydroponic Greenhouse Series
A defined structure for commercial hydroponics. The crop determines the growing system, climate strategy and harvest layout.
½ acre1 acre2 acresExplore Expert3,840 m²41,333 sq ft of growing space is where a lettuce plan usually starts (GrowPro Basic 1 acre). Compare all nine models
Put your next harvest
under glass.
Your crop, your site and the volume you want to sell. Let's find the greenhouse and systems to match.
Need a custom greenhouse?GrowPro Basic
We can also plan for another crop or a mixed growing programme.
Talk about your project Continue to our contact form. No commitment.Reads you might find interesting
Grow Like a Pro: Starting Smart, Growing Strong
How Grow Like a Pro combines smart farming, CEA technology and local partnerships for eco-friendly, profitable, pesticide-free greenhouse…
Read article
Maryland Cannabis Greenhouse: Year One
One year on: how the Maryland cannabis greenhouse, paired with an adjacent indoor facility, cut the energy bill and lifted both yields and…
Read article
The Case for a College Greenhouse
Why a college greenhouse belongs in the curriculum: teaching science, craftsmanship, business logic and sustainability, and preparing…
Read article
The Case for a High School Greenhouse
Why every high school greenhouse matters: how it makes STEM tangible, builds responsibility and teamwork, and helps students discover their…
Read article
Greenhouses in Education: The Case for Schools
Greenhouses in education reconnect students to reality — the full case for why every school, high school, college and trade program should…
Read article
The Origins of Greenhouse Horticulture: My Backyard
A tour through greenhouse horticulture history: from 19th-century Westland fruit walls to the “City of Glass” and today’s international…
Read article