--- title: "Romaine Lettuce" description: "Romaine is the upright, elongated lettuce with a firm midrib, sold wholehead and as hearts. What the type is, why the closed head carries the highest tipburn risk in the family, and what that asks of the greenhouse around it." canonical: "https://dutchgreenhouses.com/crops/lettuce/romaine-lettuce" locale: "en" updated: "2026-08-17" --- # Romaine Lettuce > Part of: [Lettuce](/crops/lettuce.md) · Provider: [DutchGreenhouses](/) Romaine lettuce is the upright, elongated head with a firm midrib, sold wholehead and as hearts across Europe and the Middle East. The upright head encloses the fastest-growing leaf margins where air moves least, which makes romaine the most tipburn-sensitive type of the lettuce family. Production is short-cycle and hydroponic. Lettuce # Romaine lettuce. The upright head, and the tipburn risk that comes with it. Romaine is the upright, elongated head with a firm midrib, sold wholehead and as hearts. It is commercially important across Europe and the Middle East and is a frequent request in project briefs. ## What the crop needs The crop is short-cycle and hydroponic. The upright head encloses its inner leaves tightly as it fills, which is the structure most associated with tipburn risk, and the heavy midrib means head weight accumulates in a way that stresses the plant’s water transport late in the cycle. ## What the greenhouse has to do Romaine is the most tipburn-sensitive type in the family, and that single fact drives the specification. Tipburn is a transpiration problem at the leaf margin, so the answer is in the building: air movement through an upright, closing head, humidity control that keeps the plant transpiring, and screening that prevents the swings which stall it. The upright head shape is the reason. Leaves wrap early and the fastest-growing margins sit deep inside the head where air moves least, so a house that is adequate for an open type can be marginal for romaine. Airflow design, canopy-level ventilation and even transmission across the floor are specified for the closed head rather than for lettuce in general. 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. Related ## 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. ### Hydroponics Substrate growing with drip supply and drain recirculation. ### Climate Heating, cooling, humidity control and carbon dioxide dosing. ## Built to be handled, still cut fresh Romaine carries more fibre than the soft types and the same raw vitamins, because a salad leaf reaches the plate as it was cut. The heavy midrib is part of that. It is the crunch the type is bought for, and the part a Caesar salad is built around. Structure buys tolerance, not time. Romaine survives cutting, chopping and dressing better than a soft head does, which is why so much of it ends up in hearts and in prepared salad. It still runs down from the day it is harvested: the rib loses its rigidity, the cut edge browns, and a dressed leaf shows both faster than a whole one. So the type travels further than its siblings without arriving any fresher. Growing near the market keeps the gap between cutting and eating short enough that the rib is still firm when the dressing goes on, and it holds that through the months a field in the same market cannot supply. ### Nutrition facts Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw Per 100 g Energy 17 kcal Fat 0.3 g Carbohydrate 3.29 g Sugars 1.19 g Fiber 2.1 g Protein 1.23 g Sodium 8 mg Potassium 247 mg Vitamin C 4 mg Source: USDA FoodData Central, FDC 169247 Questions ## Romaine 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) · [Butterhead Lettuce](/crops/lettuce/butterhead-lettuce.md) · [Greenleaf / Batavia Lettuce](/crops/lettuce/batavia-lettuce.md) · [Green Crispy Lettuce](/crops/lettuce/green-crispy-lettuce.md) · [Climate](/climate.md) ## See also https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1762893 --- Canonical HTML version: https://dutchgreenhouses.com/crops/lettuce/romaine-lettuce