Hold the phone. I just found out you can regrow food in water without dirt. Could gardening get any better when you have two black thumbs?
I think not. And my black thumbs aren’t the only reason I’ve been hesitant to garden. It can be costly too, but ever since I found ways to water my garden for free, I’m all over it.
Then my step-mom showed me how to regrow food in water – she had a couple heads of lettuce in a bowl in her kitchen. But as it turns out, it’s just one of several veggies that can grow without dirt, and without much effort too.
It’s great news for those buying organic vegetables, but even if you aren’t, it’s a simple way to stretch those grocery dollars just a teeny bit further is to regrow food in water!
Why Should You Regrow Food in Water?
There are plenty of reasons to regrow food, but the most important ones to me are:
(1) It’s absolutely free.
You already bought the vegetable. All it costs is a few tablespoons of water – but if you’re smart about it, you can re-use water you’ve already used elsewhere, like from boiling pasta or water that you collected while waiting for the shower to get hot. Then it wouldn’t cost you a dime!
(2) It’ll trim your grocery budget.
Little ways to save money really do add up to bigger savings, as long as you’re diligent about using them.
Now, you won’t get a huge harvest out of any of these items, but it is still food and every little bit helps. Even if it’s a few leaves of lettuce to scoop your tuna salad with, you can regrow food you didn’t have before and won’t have to buy.
(3) It makes organics more affordable.
Affording organic food just got easier! If you start with organic food, you’ll regrow food that’s organic… so you’ll reap the benefits of organic greens without actually paying for them!
(4) It’s easy.
Do I have to explain further? I mean, stick the plant in water and watch it grow. Really – it’s that easy!
I’ve listed below all the vegetables that can legitimately grow in water and water alone.
Sure, there are plenty more that can START in water and then be transplanted to soil. And yes, beans will sprout in water too – but unless the vegetable will grow into more vegetable that can be eaten as-is with only a cup of water, I kept it off this list.
General Guidelines to Regrow Food in Water
- You don’t need a lot of water – just enough to cover the roots. About 1/2″ of water seems to be sufficient otherwise the food can get moldy and slimy.
- Be sure to check the water every 2-3 days to ensure that A) there’s enough water, and B) no rogue lettuce pieces fall off and slime up your bowl.
- The size of container should be relative to the size of the food you’re growing. Lettuce and celery grows best in shallow bowls like these. Green onion and lemongrass can be in taller, skinny glasses like these.
- You can regrow multiples of the same plant as long as you’re not overcrowding the area.
- I haven’t tried this myself, but using a fertilizer could help with the yield when you regrow food – especially if this is more than a fun side project. I would recommend this Dr. Earth organic liquid fertilizer or a hydroponic fertilizer.
10 Ways to Regrow Food in Water
Bok Choy
Cut off the bottom of the stalk and place in a small bowl of water. New growth begins from the center in 1-2 days with significant growth in less than a week!
Cabbage
Place the root end in a shallow bowl of water and watch it regrow from the center. Be sure to harvest on the smaller side to get the best flavor.
Carrot Greens
You can’t regrow an actual carrot, but you can regrow the carrot tops! Place the cut-off end of a carrot in a shallow bowl of water. Harvest the greens as they grow and add to salads. Better yet, make this amazing carrot top pesto and stop spending money on store-bought!
Celery
Cut off the bottom 2″ of the stalk and place in a small bowl of water. New growth begins from the center in 3-4 days. It might take awhile for a full stalk of celery to grow, but you’ll get great growth in the center for flavoring dishes. If you don’t know what to do with the leaves, dehydrate them, and make your own dried celery powder.
Fennel
Cut off the bottom 1″ of the base so that the roots are intact and place in a small bowl of water.
Garlic Chives
Garlic chives are the green that grows from a clove of garlic and can be added to dishes that traditionally call for green onion chives like salads and baked potatoes. Place a garlic clove in a small cup and add water to the bottom without submerging. Roots will grow in a few days and shoots will grow shortly after!
Tip: Garlic starts to lose it pungent flavor when the shoots grow, so if you find a rogue clove in your fridge or pantry starting to shoot, place it in a cup of water to grow chives instead of throwing the clove away!
Green Onion
Keep the white part of the onion with any roots that are in still intact. Place in a glass with water and you’ll have a never-ending supply of fresh green onion!
Leeks
Cut off the bottom 2-3″ of the stalk and place in a cup of water. New growth will come from the center of the plant. Usually only the green part of the leek is used in cooking, but it can be used interchangeably with onions for a delicious, mellow flavor.
Lemongrass
Cut off 2-3″ from the bottom and place in a tall container with 1/2″ or so of water. New lemongrass shoots will grow from the center.
Lettuce
Cut off the bottom of the head of lettuce and place it in a small bowl of water. New growth begins from the center of the in as little as 3 days and you’ll have a new half-head of lettuce in about 2 weeks. I’ve heard romaine re-grows best, but I’ve had success with green leaf and red leaf lettuce too.
Got more scraps to regrow food?
There are plenty more vegetables that will regrow using just a small scrap of the original food. These listed below can be started in water, but should be transplanted to dirt for full growth and harvest.
- avocado
- basil
- beets
- cilantro
- ginger
- lemon balm
- mint
- mushrooms
- onions (white/yellow/red)
- parsnips
- pineapple
- potatoes
- rosemary
- sweet potatoes
- turnips
And of course, you can save the seeds/pits from apples, cherries, lemons, nectarines, peaches, peppers (sweet and hot), plums, pumpkins and tomatoes to grow your own new vegetables!
We have several heads of lettuce regrowing on our kitchen table, which makes for a pretty and practical centerpiece! If you had a shelf near a window, you could keep all your plants there and just harvest when they’re big!
Just think – if we did all of the above ways to regrow food, we might not ever have to shop at the grocery store again!
It’s so easy to regrow food in water!
- You’ve worked hard to grow your garden or pinch pennies to afford organics or are doing the best you can with your budget — now it’s time to stretch those dollars even further and grow food in water!
- Start with one of these shallow dishes or these taller dishes. Add in the food stumps (see above for details!). And keep the water fresh.
- Fertilizer could help if you really want to work this system. This Dr. Earth organic liquid fertilizer or a hydroponic fertilizer would work well.
- If regrowing your food in water isn’t your skill set, use those kitchen scraps to make chicken stock!
Need ideas on how to preserve those extra vegetables?
How to Blanch Greens // DIY Celery Powder // How to Keep Fruit (and Vegetables) Fresh Longer
I am regrowing a pineapple. It’s pretty simple and it’s growing so fast!
Sharon, that sounds awesome! I would love to hear what your final result was.
Great idea, in theory, and fun experiment for the kiddos. But every single time I’ve tried doing this, the veggies end up getting moldy. There’s just no way to do this as described without the ending being a slimy, disappointment. But it IS fun to try. 🙂
Ok! I’m giving it a try…starting with celery. I have 2 started and 1 is already growing after a couple days. Cool! I’ll try green onions next. I already have a container garden, as I rent, that is doing well. When I was younger with 5 kids, I had a HUGE garden… grew everything … LOL …and loved doing it. Thanks for all the info!!
I have managed to regrown celery successfully. Not quite using this method but allowing a little water below The celery to enable a growth of new root. Placing something to just slightly hold the celery bottom out of the water will prevent mould. Once the middle
Re growth has started transfer
To soil and it will continue to grow. I am unsure why this method above tells you to only Keep it in water.
Lemons are another I have managed to regrow from. Happy to share this also
I remembered reading this post 5 years back a few days ago when a neighbor told me you could plant the base of romaine in a raised bed. I thought he was nuts but since my leaf lettuce bed was enjoyed by worms, I tried it and was shocked that there are 3 inch tall leaves after 2 days. Since romaine is our go to lettuce most days I will never have to buy more. I did a search for grow veggies and here it was. So not sure about the other things we eat daily like broccoli and cauliflower. But can definitely plant a few green onions and the lettuce butt from a living head of butter lettuce.
I’m so excited to hear about your results. I just learned that regrowing was possible, so I started a greenleaf “butt” a few minutes ago. I can’t wait to see what happens. I always want to buy butter lettuce but don’t because it’s so much more expensive than other varieties, but if my greenleaf experiment works maybe I’ll end up with a bunch of “free” butter lettuce in the future. Green onions are next.
Awesome you have grown a lemon tree from lemon? Can you explain more please
Collards
How do you do collards? Does it work from just leaves in a bag or do you need more.
Growing onions..
Kinda by accident but they are doing well.
Haha! That is amazing! As well as kind of funny!
This works great! I’ve tried it with green onions, romaine and green leaf lettuce and have had success every time!
Thank you for sharing. Geting older, gardening is a good hobby to start with; bussy gardeners could avoid lots of bad hobbies like smoking and gambling.
After the veggie has sprouted from the top, does it need to stay in water or can it be planted in soil?
Hi Shayna,
It can stay in the water for a little bit of time if you want to use it sooner than later, but if you want it to keep growing, you will need to move it to soil. It will eventually run out of nutrients, and it will either need them from soil or from a fertilizer added to the water. Hope this helps. Thanks for the question. 🙂
Garlic Chives are a separate species, actually.
Allium tuberosum, as opposed to A. usisstatium ( Garlic ) or A. shoenoprasum ( Chives ) or A. cepa ( Onion ) or A. porrum ( Leeks ) _ & yes, I grow them all …..
My question is, if growing in water, do the newly sprouted veggies have the same nutritional content?
Sue,
Some people do use nutrients in the water to ensure that the veggie is getting the nutrients it needs to grow.
Have you tried Black Garlic anyone? You take several heads of garlic, put them in a slow cooker with a little water in the base, not touching the bulbs, and leave for about 3 weeks on Low setting.
When the cloves are dried and black, eat them! They are very sweet and delicious.
Hi there 🙂 I started growing romaine in water and it has leaves starting. I would like to transplant it into soil. What and when is the best way to do this? Thank you in advance for any help! 🙂
I started romaine lettuce 2 weeks with great growth of new leaves that are about 4 inches. However, I am now noticing rusty spotting near the base of each leaf. What is wrong? The top half is fine. I did moisten the top of plant, only the base sits in half inch of water.
Has anyone tried Brussel Sprouts?
Hi Beth!
You can root them in water, but then they need to be planted in soil. 🙂
Does it need to be kept in the refrigerator while it’s regrowing? Thank you so much!
Hi Erin,
Good question! No, it doesn’t need to be refrigerated. 🙂
If you regrow lettuce, scallions, leeks, or celery can you cut off what you need and it keeps growing if you leave it?
Bella,
Yes, but it could run out of nutrients to keep growing. Maybe putting the nutrients in the water would be an option then. 🙂
Can this be done in soil and if so do you bury the whole root?
Hi Peter,
You’d root in water first, then move it to soil. You should put the root in the soil. 🙂
How do you propagate mushrooms, I love shiitakes!
Good Question, Beth!
Mushrooms are a just a bit of a different process because they grow out from mycelium (a white webby material), which grows from the spores of the mushrooms (which are under the mushroom caps). We don’t have a post on it, but I am sure you can research it. From what I understand, it’s a fun and easy process. It just requires some materials like a grow medium & etc. 🙂
P.
When you put the avocado in the water, is it totally immersed or just partially. How can I tell which end is the top it bottom?
Hi MaryAnn!
You can immerse the bottom 1/3 in a glass of water, and suspend it with toothpicks. The bottom is the rounder part of the seed. Hope it helps. 🙂
Never thought of lettuce!! I’ve been doing this for green onions in both water and dirt….they both do equally well though the water method takes up a lot less space. Now I just trim the onion down to the white when I need it and it just keeps growing.
So after you harvest…..like the Romaine? You cut it off and use it…….does the same root base keep growing more after or does it yield more lettuce only once?
Hi Bella – I’ve found that you might get a second harvest with lettuce, but it’s not nearly as big as the first.
I did with onion and loved the results and now my balcony is filled with onions,tomatoes and starting seedlings for kiwi and avocado.