Lettuce

[Gary350]

What is a good lettuce to grow? Is this a winter crop? My family never grew lettuce, I never learned how, I never thought it would grow here. Is this a crop to plant now Jan 30. People that sell seeds don't tell when to plant seeds. I'm thinking about ordering seeds but I have not found much info about each type lettuce. YouTube videos say, I planted this and this is what I got. No geographical location, no weather info, nothing.?

Iceberg is a 75 day crop. That is all I know about it.

Romaine is 55 days, crips, juicy leaves.

We want lettuce for, sandwiches, salads, tacos.

[applestar]

Lettuce is a cool weather crop mid 50’s to mid 70’s °F. Less than 80°F, 85°F tops.

For shredding like tacos, you need sturdy leaves.
— Iceberg is the lettuce you typically see everywhere but it’s harder to grow in my experience. Narrower temperature tolerance and slugs seem to favor them more.

— Romaine is another familiar heading type and it’s very hardy — you can find more cold/freeze tolerant as well as heat tolerant varieties.


But I tend to harvest lettuce as they grow instead of waiting for them to grow into heads. Leaf lettuce is the type that is supposed to be grown this way, but I find leaf lettuce types to be too soft and not as crunchy crispy as I like.

Smaller leaves are suited for salads and will work for sandwiches.

I’m tending to grow batavian or bibb type lettuce most often. These can be harvested as they grow and still get the more rigid and crunchy central rib and leaves, and they will form a better head near the end than leaf lettuce types.

Try Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They are based in Virginia and sell mid-Atlantic adapted seeds that might grow well for you.

I’m currently growing Marvel de Quatre Saisons (Four Seasons — I think this is Batavian and not Bibb type, good in cold as well as hot — consistently good performance), Winter lettuce mix (adapted for growing in coldest months — supposed to be able to overwinter under some protection in spite of frost and snow, easily down to mid-20’s°F — and contains leaf lettuce like Oakleaf as well as others), and Cimmaron (Romaine type but not growing as well as another variety I had before — may have to go back … found it! It was called Valmaine).

I’m also growing a couple of varieties developed in Hawaii — Anuenue and Manoa — that are supposed to be good in warmer temperatures, and Manoa is a mini bibb type that can be grown in smaller spaces)

I like getting lettuce mix for change of pace — these do tend to container leaf lettuce varieties but they add different color and shape. Get a packet that describes which different varieties it contains if possible, then you can ID if you discover ones you particularly like.

For the summer, sandwich lettuce alternatives, I like thin slices of cucumbers and nasturtium leaves.

[Gary350]

I bought several seeds on ebay. Can't find Tiara small head Cabbage does it have another name? Seeds usually arrive in 2 or 3 days. Ebay is like free money, I sell yard sale stuff to get rid of it then I get to buy stuff. The problem I have with any crop harvest this time of the year is mud. Go to garden for 60 seconds to get something for dinner each shoe has 2 lbs of mud on it. If I'm not careful I loose my shoes in the mud. I wonder if these seeds should have been planted about Oct 1st so seeds will germinate in warmer weather. Went to bed at 10 pm woke up 3 am can't sleep.

[applestar]

Here’s a reference chart for optimum seed starting temperatures — you can see in the 2nd chart that some seeds can germinate at very low or hot temperatures but slowly, and some won’t germinate at all.



…interesting — pg 2 won’t show up this way… here’s the link
https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/files/164220.pdf

I find that brassicas (radish/cabbage family) will readily germinate in room temperature conditions in the house, fresh lettuce seeds as well. But brassicas and especially Chinese cabbages need warmer growing conditions — most will bolt instead of forming heads if allowed to get too cold (40’s°F). I believe regular cabbages are a bit more hardy?

One Japanese gardening video I watch of a 79 year old former flower nursery, now vegetable gardening with probably as much gardening space as you always pregerminates her seeds — soaked then refrigerated sandwiched in wet cloths for one day, then on kitchen counter until the seeds germinate and just the root tips show.

(She uses some kind of fabric that is fuzzy on one side and knitted flat on the other — like athletic socks, but I find free take out/fast food paper napkins work pretty well. Roots get tangled up in cloths and paper towels, and tissues and toilet paper or copy paper fall apart into pulp).

She then picks the germinated seeds off with forceps and sows them outside in prepared beds (she always builds tilled, fertilized, raised wide rows and typically covers the rows with holed plastic mulch and paths with landscape cloth.

[imafan26]

Romaine has good heat tolerance I grow Cos Romaine and Jericho. They will do best when temperatures are below 80. Some red lettuce do o.k. like Adriana, but it is bitter in the heat, it is tip burn resistant. Like Applestar, you can start harvesting some leaves when they are thumb size. Cos romaine is a 70 day crop, bib lettuce, salad bowl, oakleaf, Grand Rapids are about a 45-55 day crop. Once the sap gets very milky, it will be bitter. If will be less bitter longer in cooler weather but bolt in the heat.

[imafan26]

Lettuce is actually cold tolerant with protection to 20 degrees. Salanova is one of the lettuce varieties that is supposed to be good for hoop house production. Iceberg lettuce is challenging. Loose leaf lettuces are the easiest to grow. Butter head, oak leaf, Romaine, Black seeded Simpson, Green Mignonette, and Bibb lettuces are good as well. Ideal temperatures would be 50 at night and 60-75 during the day. After 80 degrees, you need heat tolerant varieties or there will be more tip burn and the lettuce will be bitter.

[pepperhead212]

I have been growing an "unknown" lettuce for many years - something I got in a "mesclun mix" , that bolted later than any other variety I have ever grown! It was later than things like Black Seeded Simpson, that have been some of the latest, and most heat resistant. And I always grow just leaf lettuce - as with most of the other greens, they are "cut and come again". And it is similar to the "Four Seasons", red blushing leaf lettuce, but that bolted sooner, as well as all of the other varieties I have attempted, that looked similar. I had never saved lettuce seeds up to that time, but I saved from that first plant that grew well into July, before bolting. Later, I would get even later bolting plants, and save seeds from those, and the plants kept producing even longer - in fact, this year, I had one plant that kept producing until well into September! It took forever to save the seeds - they just didn't want to set, and I had to finish it on my back porch.

It is also great in hydro - the red is almost gone, due to the lower light, but it grows and tastes great.
Unknown lettuce, in hydroponics, about 16" across. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

I've got to find some good "cooked lettuce" recipes, to use these large amounts of lettuce!

[desertprep]

...or raise some rabbits to eat the excess lettuce...and you can eat the rabbits!

[pepperhead212]

I have some friends, with a larger property nearby, that are thinking of growing rabbits. Hmmm...

[Gary350]

I ordered 800 Mesclum mix lettuce seeds I will give it a try. Our weather is up & down we had 1 day this week that was 70° and TV claims 1 day next week will be 70° again. Todays high was 45°. We might get an 80° day before last frost April 20. We might get some 85° day in April and 90° days first part of May. I have a hard time growing lettuce its either too cold or too hot then it bolts before June. We start having 95° in June. Last summer Pak Choi Bok Choy was the winner 90° was no problem and it was ok with 95° for a while.

Cilantro makes good salad too. A whole bowl of cilantro plus, grapes, onion, carrots, cheese, nuts, makes a good salad. Cilantro planted in the shade does not bolt until temperature is above 95°. I wonder how lettuce & Bok Choy will do in the shade. It is hard to have a good crop of lettuce for 1 to 2 months.

There was something on TV about zone changes. We have always been in zone 7a now I think we are in zone 8a because they claim weather is getting warmer sooner and hotter too.

Cilantro grows good in pots under a shade tree until 95° but if I forget to water it dies.

[pepperhead212]

That's similar to the mesclun mix I got, when I found that unknown lettuce. And about 90% of them bolted by June 1, a few got into June, but not too far, and none well into July, like that one. Surprisingly, it is also fairly cold resistant, too. Here's some I planted in September, and took in to the back porch in November, and still no sign of bolting. They just sat there through January, when there was almost no sunlight, but as soon as it got bright out in early February, they started growing again, and I cut out the outer leaves, as usual. I put them out about 10 days ago, and they got snowed on twice, but it melted quickly. And they've gotten much darker red, than usual.
Here are 2 of those unknown lettuce plants, started in September, and brought in to the back porch for the winter. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

And I found a photo of that plant that grew through the summer!

The second unknown leaf lettuce, living since early spring, w/o bolting. That yellow is just green, but it's sunny, and reflecting. by pepperhead212, on Flickr

[imafan26]

That lettuce looks like Red Sails. It is a heat tolerant lettuce.