How To Clean the Lettuce Grow Farmstand

Learn how to clean your Lettuce Grow Farmstand (video tutorial included!) in this helpful post…

I am gearing up to grow indoors this year, which is so exciting!

Last year, I bought my Lettuce Grow Farmstand started growing outdoors.

I had plans to move it indoors before the cold weather came, but the first freeze came earlier than expected in Michigan, and almost all of my plants suffered and died.

After trying to move my Farmstand indoors, I realized I had a crazy caterpillar infestation I wasn’t aware of that only multiplied indoors.

A lesser-known fact about me: I have a personal fear of caterpillars.

It’s strange, I know, but it is part of who I am.

And when I say I’m afraid of them…I literally can’t be around them.

I scream.

They’re horrifying to me.

Maybe someday I’ll get over it…

The infestation was handled by my sweet husband, and I packed away my Farmstand for the next year, unable to bring myself to grow again.

The step I skipped that could have prevented all of my caterpillar nightmares from coming true was resetting my Farmstand….

*This post contains affiliate links, however, all opinions are my own, as always.

What Does It Mean To Reset?

Resetting your Farmstand basically means you’re deep cleaning it!

A reset can help remove leftover staining and nutrient residue and gently rinse away insects or bugs.

Lettuce Grow recommends doing a full reset every 3-5 months, or as necessary.

When Should You Clean Your Lettuce Grow Farmstand?

If you are moving your Farmstand from outdoors to indoors, you should reset it.

This helps get rid of any critters or pests (like my caterpillar infestation I mentioned above!) so you don’t end up with bugs or insects in the house.

It’s also a good idea to reset your Farmstand every few months as a best practice so your Farmstand’s parts don’t get accidentally clogged, etc.

How To Reset Your Lettuce Grow Farmstand

To help you learn how to reset your Farmstand, I made a quick video showing you how I clean mine…

But if you don’t have time to watch the video, here’s what I did…

I disassembled my Lettuce Grow Farmstand (I have the 24-plant Farmstand) completely.

This can be easily done by turning the tiers counter-clockwise against each other to unlock them.

I even separated the water tank opening gasket from the cap.

I then used a foaming cleaner (this one is earning a top spot in my go-to cleaning arsenal) and sprayed it liberally on all of the stains and buildup.

Here’s a still from my YouTube video…

*Please do this in a well-ventilated area or outdoors if you are able.

After about 2 hours of letting the foaming cleaner sit, I came back with cleaning gloves and a scrub brush I had on hand, dipped it in HOT water, and began scrubbing.

My scrub brush was a little too big to get into some of the deeper divets of the tiers – I think an old electric toothbrush or a special drill brush attachment would have come in hand to really deep clean those areas!

I’ll have to experiment with different tools and attachments and update this post for you when I find the perfect ones.

Once I was done scrubbing, I sprayed all of the tiers off with HOT water, scrubbing again where it was needed.

I then gave them all a good rinse and dumped out the water tank multiple times since I was cleaning in our basement shower.

Extra Considerations When Resetting Your Lettuce Grow Farmstand

Other parts of your Farmstand to scrub down if needed:

the diffuser (top part that spray down water within the Farmstand)
interior pipe and coupler
pump (use scrub brush bristles to brush the filter part to ensure it isn’t clogged)

The pump has a side that sucks water in and pushes it up the center pipe so that it can go out of the diffuser and shower your plant roots – be sure that the pump grate that sucks in the water is free of debris.

You can also scrub the bottoms of your plant cups, although mine were barely stained.

Plant cups sometimes accumulate debris from plant roots or staining from the nutrients.

Here is another YouTube video showing you how I reset my Farmstand when I’m actively growing…