Red loose leaf lettuce--your opinion?

[Marlingardener]

I'm getting ready to put in our fall garden, which always has lots of lettuces in it. I need your opinion on red loose leaf lettuce, since I've been disappointed with Red Sails and Lollo Rosso. I still have time to order seed, so I'd really appreciate knowing what type you have had success with, and how you like the taste.

[gumbo2176]

MG, I grew this lettuce last fall and had great success with it. Like I've mentioned here a few time when referring to lettuce, I plant almost all leaf variety lettuce and very few heading types. This year I will put in a good bit of Romaine since my wife and I enjoy it, but for the most part, it is leaf lettuce and a few varieties of spicy greens to compliment the salad bowl. Lettuce will overwinter here, so I'll be picking it till it gets too hot and bolts.

[gumbo2176]

I'm bad, since I didn't mention the variety. Red Oak Leaf is what I generally plant.

[DoubleDogFarm]

My favorite lettuce is Butterhead, romaine, then leaf types in this order.

I've had good harvest with,

Butterhead
..Tom Thumb
..Buttercrunch

Romaine
..Freckles
..Valmaine
..Jericho
..Winter Density
..Devils Tongue

Leaf
..Red Sails
..Simpson
..Slobolt
..Green Deer Tongue

I don't grow or like crisphead lettuce.

Eric

[applestar]

What didn't you like about Red Sails? If it's flavor my DH will agree with you and so do the slugs. Even when the slugs are doing their worst, Red Sails come through relatively unscathed. They're easy to grow and are my back ups. I don't know that I love them, but I'm the only one that eats them.

Right now, my favorite lettuce for flavor and texture is Red Cross. Magenta, I have to say, looks really good and has a firmer texture that I like for sandwiches. They're both early maturing -- 48 days. With icebergs, I've given up on Summertime -- it's a slug hotel. But Red Glacier iceberg is better at keeping away the slugs and tastes good enough for DH. My kids prefer the Green Oakleaf. I guess I should try Red Oakleaf on them as well. Another one that I like is a volunteer -- it seems one of the reds and Tin Tin crossed and came up with a speckled baby Romaine.

I've let a couple plants of all varieties go to seed except for Summertime (which didn't survive to bolt), so I shouldn't need to sow any more lettuce.... though I'm always open to trying something new.

[cynthia_h]

I grew Lolla Rossa (sp?) Fall/Winter 2008/09. Great stuff!

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[lorax]

I'm currently growing Red Oaktag and Foglio Rossi and I love 'em - these are two of the few varieties of lettuce that I'll consistently plant every year no matter where I am. They weather high heat very well and are also excellent cold performers.

[Marlingardener]

I didn't care for Red Sails because it just didn't produce for us over two seasons. Perhaps it was the soil, heat, humidity, but I just didn't get a good harvest.
Lollo Rosso was tiny--the leaves were about 2 or 3" across. Picking enough to include in a large salad was an all-day affair!
I'll be putting in my fall garden seed order tomorrow, and will include Red Oak Leaf in my order.
Applestar, where do you get Magenta and Red Cross seeds? I'd like to try one or both.
Lorax, the same question-where do you get Red Oaktag and Foglio Rossi seed? I'd like to give them a try, also.
If it seems like I'm planting a lot of lettuce, you are right! Whatever we can't use, goes to the food bank. If I arrive at the food pantry early in the morning (8 am) with bags of washed lettuces, we can give away all that we have. Since lettuce is highly perishable the food pantry doesn't buy lettuce for distribution. A neighbor and I take a day a week to deliver garden produce to the pantry, produce that is donated by six or seven gardeners up and down our country road.
I thank you all for your opinions, and am looking forward to trying some new varieties of lettuces this fall.

[lorax]

I get my Oaktag and Foglio Rossi seed from my local large Agribusiness store; he imports them from somewhere in southern Italy. I've still got seed for both, and can send you some if you like (PM me). Both varieties are very fast starters.

If you leave Foglio Rossi long enough, it forms small, open heads similar to Romaine. It's a marvelous lettuce; very flavorful, and quite large leaves with the puckery-wrinkly look that is normally associated with Romaines (although FR isn't a romaine-type.) Oaktag stays individual but produces lots of large, smooth leaves with a red blush along the outer centers and green towards the middle. It's redder in full sun than it is in shade.

[applestar]

Sorry I wasn't clear -- Red Cross is a butterhead and Magenta is a summer crisp Batavian-type, but I start harvesting the outer leaves early, before they head up anyway, and they grow fast. When they head up, it's like extra bonus. I'm pretty sure I got both of them from Johnny's Selected Seeds.

[Marlingardener]

Applestar,
Thank you for the extra information. Both lettuces sound like they might be winners for us! I'll check my Johnny's catalog.