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 house 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.
Other lettuce varieties and the systems behind them
Butterhead lettuce
Soft, loosely wrapped leaves, and the type least tolerant of handling.
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.
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 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.
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