Growing Celtuce (Stem Lettuce): A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Celtuce, also called stem lettuce, is a lettuce relative grown for a thick, crisp central stem instead of its leaves, a texture somewhere between celery and lettuce hearts once peeled.
Grown much like head lettuce
Transplant, sowing seed 3 to 4 weeks before transplanting outdoors, an eighth of an inch deep, shading flats on hot days to keep the soil surface below 75°F until germination. Direct-seeding also works, sown in spring 1 inch apart in rows 12 to 18 inches apart, thinned to 8 inches. Seeds germinate even at a cold 40°F soil temperature but poorly above 75°F, so this stays a cool-season crop despite its exotic reputation. Celtuce tolerates light frost.
Harvest and prepare the stem
Cut the plant when the enlarged stem reaches 8 to 10 inches long. Strip off the leaves except for the small top tuft, then peel or trim the outer skin to expose the edible central core. The stem can be eaten raw in salads, or stir-fried and broiled.
Celtuce has no well-established companion pairings, and nothing it needs to be kept away from. At 2 plants per square foot, it fits well alongside other cool-season lettuces in the Garden Designer, timed for spring or fall rather than the heat of summer.
Source: Celtuce: Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Celtuce (Stem Lettuce) · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1-1.5 ft
Method: Either: Start indoors for an earlier harvest, or direct-sow outside for less fuss. Either works.
When to plant celtuce (stem lettuce), by zone
Every zone celtuce (stem lettuce) grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Apr 22–Apr 29 | Apr 29–May 6 | Jul 18–Jul 25 |
| 3a & 3b | May 2–May 9 | May 9–May 16 | Jul 28–Aug 4 |
| 4a & 4b | Apr 17–Apr 24 | Apr 24–May 1 | Jul 13–Jul 20 |
| 5a & 5b | Apr 12–Apr 19 | Apr 19–Apr 26 | Jul 8–Jul 15 |
| 6a & 6b | Mar 28–Apr 4 | Apr 4–Apr 11 | Jun 23–Jun 30 |
| 7a & 7b | Mar 13–Mar 20 | Mar 20–Mar 27 | Jun 8–Jun 15 |
| 8a & 8b | Feb 25–Mar 4 | Mar 4–Mar 11 | May 23–May 30 |
| 9a & 9b | Jan 18–Jan 25 | Jan 25–Feb 1 | Apr 15–Apr 22 |
| 10a & 10b | Jan 2–Jan 9 | Jan 9–Jan 16 | Mar 30–Apr 6 |
| 11a & 11b | Dec 4–Dec 11 | Dec 11–Dec 18 | Mar 1–Mar 8 |
Harvest dates are about 80 days after the sow or plant-out date, not after starting seeds indoors.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Celtuce (Stem Lettuce) plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 2 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1-1.5 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- Straight-species celtuce (Lactuca sativa var. asparagina): Johnny's Selected Seeds sells this variety plain, without competing named cultivars; the crop itself is the novelty, not a particular breeding line. (source)
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy celtuce seeds
None of the seed suppliers we list carries celtuce seeds right now. A local garden center or a specialty seed house is the place to look.
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing celtuce (stem lettuce)" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Celtuce (Stem Lettuce): A lettuce relative grown not for its leaves but for a thick, crisp central stem, peeled and eaten like a cross between celery and lettuce hearts.
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