My First Kratky Lettuce Harvest (Project Review After 1st Harvest)

My First Kratky Lettuce Harvest (Project Review After 1st Harvest)

LeChaim Farm · Hydroponics Explained

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Quick Context

I’ve been growing leafy greens on my balcony using a simple hydroponics method called Kratky — no pumps, no electricity, and no complicated plumbing.

This is my first real harvest, and I’m writing this as a project review: what worked, what surprised me, and what I’ll improve next.

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My first Kratky grow on the balcony — lettuce and leafy greens thriving.

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The Setup (Simple Kratky, Real Balcony Conditions)

My goal wasn’t to build a perfect farm system.
My goal was to build something small, cheap, and repeatable — something that can survive daily life.

Kratky is perfect for that because:

• the plant sits in a net cup/collar
• roots grow down into nutrient water
• the air gap provides oxygen naturally as water level drops

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Top view of the Kratky tray in its original position.

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What Went Right

This first run gave me a lot of confidence because the system proved the main thing I needed to know:

✅ Kratky works.

The plants grew. The roots developed properly.
And most importantly…

✅ I harvested real food from it.

Not just “green leaves” — edible harvest, straight to the plate.

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Harvest Day: Leaf by Leaf

Instead of harvesting everything at once, I did a simple approach:

• remove the bigger outer leaves first
• leave the plant core intact
• continue harvesting gradually

This helped me stretch the harvest and also made it easy to observe the plant response.

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Harvest in progress — leaf by leaf.

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Taste Test (The Honest Part)

Here’s the honest part:
When I tasted the lettuce, I noticed something unexpected.

It was slightly bitter.

My wife tried some too — and she didn’t say anything at first.
But when I mentioned the bitterness, she agreed.

So yes, the grow worked.
But taste-wise… I learned something important:

Growing is one thing.
Eating is another.

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My Takeaways (What I Learned From This First Harvest)

1) Success isn’t “perfect taste” — success is “proof it works”

The first goal is always: can I grow and harvest?
And this project passed that test.

2) Flavor can be influenced

Bitterness doesn’t automatically mean the project failed.

It can be affected by:

• heat / sun stress
• harvest timing
• plant maturity
• nutrient concentration near the end
• and post-harvest handling

3) The project is worth continuing

I’ll adjust the next cycle with small improvements:

• better timing of harvest
• more attention to leaf stress
• and better post-harvest handling

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Final Harvest Plate (The Win)

This is the moment that matters:
the system produced real leaves, and they were eaten.

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First harvest complete. Kratky works.

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What’s Next

This is only the first cycle.

Next, I’ll focus on:

• improving taste and texture
• improving consistency
• building a repeatable “weekly harvest rhythm”

And yes — I’ll keep documenting it, because the learning is the real harvest too.

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Related Reading

If you enjoyed this harvest update, you might also like:
👉 Why Chilling Lettuce Makes It Taste Better (Even Homegrown Lettuce)
A simple post-harvest trick that improves crispness and reduces bitterness.

LeChaim Farm · Hydroponics Explained — Series Navigation

• My First Kratky Lettuce Harvest (Project Review After 1st Harvest)
• Why Chilling Lettuce Makes It Taste Better (Even Homegrown Lettuce)