--- title: "Butterhead Lettuce" description: "Butterhead is the soft-leaved wholehead lettuce sold with its outer leaves intact, and the type most European buyers picture when they specify lettuce. Reference values with their Dutch sources, and what the crop asks of a greenhouse." canonical: "https://dutchgreenhouses.com/crops/lettuce/butterhead-lettuce" locale: "en" updated: "2026-08-11" --- # Butterhead Lettuce > Part of: [Lettuce](/crops/lettuce.md) · Provider: [DutchGreenhouses](/) Butterhead lettuce is the soft-leaved wholehead type sold with its outer leaves intact, the form most European buyers picture when a brief says lettuce. The leaf is tender and bruises in handling, so the route from harvest to the cold chain decides as much of the grade as the growing does. Production is short-cycle and hydroponic. Lettuce # Butterhead lettuce. Soft, loosely wrapped leaves, and the type least tolerant of handling. Butterhead is the soft-leaved wholehead lettuce sold with its outer leaves intact, and it is the type most European buyers picture when they specify lettuce. The leaf is tender and bruises easily, so handling from harvest to pack decides as much of the grade as growing does. ## What the crop needs The crop is short-cycle and hydroponic, planted and cleared many times a year. The head has to close evenly without becoming so dense that the inner leaves cannot transpire, which is the condition tipburn develops in. Spacing, cycle length and the climate at the end of the cycle are the levers, and the system layout decides how many cycles the building actually delivers. ## What the greenhouse has to do Butterhead is soft, and softness is fragile. The head bruises in handling and loses condition quickly once cut, so the distance from the furthest row to the cold chain is a layout decision rather than a logistics problem to be solved after the house is built. The rest follows the cycle. A short-cycle crop turns many times a year, so the house is a throughput machine: planting density, the recirculating water system and the harvest route decide annual output more than any single setpoint does. Air movement earns its own line, because tipburn follows transpiration at the leaf margin and even air through the canopy is the control for it. 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. ## Crop data Butterhead lettuce ### Day climate Air temperature 21–22.7 °C1 Relative humidity 60–80 %1 Daily light integral 11.5–13.2 mol/m²/d1 Photoperiod 14–17 hDutchGreenhouses practice CO₂ concentration 1000–1100 ppm1 ### Irrigation and root zone1 Supply EC 1.6–1.8 mS/cm Supply pH 5.5–6 pH Sources (1) - WUR, 2018, WPR-813 — Lettuce on water under glass with LED E067 Sourced rows carry their references; system rows are DutchGreenhouses practice. Neither is a specification — setpoints are calculated per greenhouse, crop and location. Related ## Other lettuce varieties and the systems behind them ### Greenleaf / Batavia lettuce A firmer, more robust head than butterhead, and it travels better. ### Romaine lettuce The upright head, and the tipburn risk that comes with it. ### Hydroponics Substrate growing with drip supply and drain recirculation. ### Climate Heating, cooling, humidity control and carbon dioxide dosing. ## Soft leaves, short journeys Butterhead is mostly water, and the small remainder is the reason it is on the plate: vitamin C, potassium and folate, eaten raw and none of it cooked away. A soft leaf is a leaf full of water, which is the same thing that makes the type pleasant to eat and difficult to move. Softness sets the clock. The head bruises where it is handled and wilts where it waits, so every extra transfer, crate and cold-store day shows on the outer leaves a buyer looks at first. What is lost is condition rather than content, but condition is what a wholehead is graded on. Distance decides how much of that is spent before the head arrives. A greenhouse near its market moves the crop from cutting to shelf in one short chain, with fewer transfers and less time in the box. Trimmed outer leaves are the waste line on a soft type, and a short chain is what keeps them on the head. ### Nutrition facts Lettuce, butterhead, raw Per 100 g Energy 13 kcal Fat 0.22 g Carbohydrate 2.23 g Sugars 0.94 g Fiber 1.1 g Protein 1.35 g Sodium 5 mg Potassium 238 mg Vitamin C 3.7 mg Source: USDA FoodData Central, FDC 168429 Questions ## Butterhead 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. From the knowledge base ## Reads you might find interesting ceacultivationbusiness-case ### 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 pr Read article education ### The Case for a College Greenhouse Why a college greenhouse belongs in the curriculum: teaching science, craftsmanship, business logic and sustainability, and preparing studen Read article education ### 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 education ### 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 h Read article historyconstruction ### 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 high Read article company ### DutchGreenhouses Rebranded: A New Corporate Identity Announcing our new corporate identity — a visual style reflecting our dedication to advanced, high-quality greenhouse projects and The Futur Read article ## Related [Lettuce](/crops/lettuce.md) · [Greenleaf / Batavia Lettuce](/crops/lettuce/batavia-lettuce.md) · [Romaine Lettuce](/crops/lettuce/romaine-lettuce.md) · [Green Oakleaf Lettuce](/crops/lettuce/green-oakleaf-lettuce.md) · [Hydroponics](/irrigation/hydroponics.md) ## See also https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q83834065 --- Canonical HTML version: https://dutchgreenhouses.com/crops/lettuce/butterhead-lettuce