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#1
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why my lettuce is almost 2 feet long
i am in Tampa, Florida
last year i started gardening for the first time, i growed lettuce, seeds were planted April, results were a complete disaster, i had almost 2 feet lettuce .(cant remeber the scientific term) this year i tried it in december till now in a very simple greenhouse , results r great(not sure why it is not crunchy) , but ..... temperature has been floating above 80's since almost 2 weeks, and some lettuce(specailly Romaine) started doing the same thing as last year, not 2 feet, but quiet long. i am wondering if someone grew lettuce successfully in Florida, and what makes lettuce go long ? is it sunlight or heat, so far all of my lettuce is still in teh greenhosue, but some of them as i mentioned r trying to grab the skies thnx -----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =----- http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! -----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =----- |
#2
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why my lettuce is almost 2 feet long
info wrote:
i am in Tampa, Florida last year i started gardening for the first time, i growed lettuce, seeds were planted April, results were a complete disaster, i had almost 2 feet lettuce .(cant remeber the scientific term) this year i tried it in december till now in a very simple greenhouse , results r great(not sure why it is not crunchy) , but ..... temperature has been floating above 80's since almost 2 weeks, and some lettuce(specailly Romaine) started doing the same thing as last year, not 2 feet, but quiet long. i am wondering if someone grew lettuce successfully in Florida, and what makes lettuce go long ? is it sunlight or heat, so far all of my lettuce is still in teh greenhosue, but some of them as i mentioned r trying to grab the skies thnx Select bolt resistant varieties. |
#3
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why my lettuce is almost 2 feet long
last year i started gardening for the first time, i growed lettuce,
seeds were planted April, results were a complete disaster, i had almost 2 feet lettuce .(cant remeber the scientific term) temperature has been floating above 80's since almost 2 weeks, and some lettuce(specailly Romaine) started doing the same thing as last year, not 2 feet, but quiet long. Lettuce is typically a cool season crop It does not like heat, which will cause it to bolt. Are your plants flowering (a sure sign of bolting)? Here is a brief article on the subject. http://www.montana.edu/commserv/csne...hp?article=370 -- Shadow Made In Canada, eh. |
#4
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why my lettuce is almost 2 feet long
info wrote:
i am in Tampa, Florida last year i started gardening for the first time, i growed lettuce, seeds were planted April, results were a complete disaster, i had almost 2 feet lettuce .(cant remeber the scientific term) this year i tried it in december till now in a very simple greenhouse , results r great(not sure why it is not crunchy) , but ..... temperature has been floating above 80's since almost 2 weeks, and some lettuce(specailly Romaine) started doing the same thing as last year, not 2 feet, but quiet long. Lettuce likes cool weather. It can take temperatures down to 22F, although some varieties will get tipburn at those temperatures. Hot weather makes it bolt, or try to set seed. In the process, the leaves get a bitter taste, so you want to avoid that. I have good luck starting lettuce in small cells (1" square, 200 per flat). When the root ball fills the cell so that the plant comes out easily I stuff it in the ground at 12" intervals. During cool weather I start the plants in the greenhouse, but when the temperature is higher I place the flats outside to germinate and develop. Greenhouse lettuce is really only practical in the winter. Check the catalog for heat tolerant varieties (or bolt resistance). Last summer we had 3 weeks above 90F (unusual for New England) and I lost a *lot* of lettuce to bolting. Best germination temperature is around 60F, so in hot weather I put the newly seeded flats in my basement to germinate (about 3 days). As soon as you see any signs of sprouting, get those plants into the light. Sunlight works 1000% better than grow lights. One way to avoid bolting is to plant a lot of lettuce on close spacing (maybe 6" intervals) and harvest it small, before it has a chance to mature. If you do this you will have to seed your lettuce on a regular basis. I use a one week schedule, but that's probably too much for the average home garden. Placing one seed per cell is a real chore, so I use pelleted lettuce seed. It is available in home garden quantities from some growers (try Johnny's Selected Seeds or Harris) although you don't always have a full selection of varieties. Depending on how hot it is in your area, you might have to pick it so small that it takes several heads for one meal. You can plant several different varieties, harvest and wash a mix and put it in a bag, where it will last a week in your refrigerator. Another trick is to pull the lettuce plant up by the roots, wash off the soil, and place the whole thing in a plastic bag with a couple of teaspoons of water and place in the refrigerator. I have had lettuce keep fresh and crisp this way more than two weeks. Avoid pulling a leaf or two at a time from the lettuce. That's a receipe for bolting, since the plant responds to stress by trying to reproduce. Harvest the whole plant, keep it in the refrigerator, and place a new plant in the ground. If you have too much lettuce, you can compost it and use it to grow next year's crop, so it doesn't go to waste. In extreme oversupply cases you can supply your neighbors with salad. |
#5
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why my lettuce is almost 2 feet long
Maybe its gotten really really excited over what Pamela Anderson has been
doing with lettuce? http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...064208992.html Actually lettuce is a cool weather crop and does not do well in the hot Florida climate. info wrote in message ... i am in Tampa, Florida last year i started gardening for the first time, i growed lettuce, seeds were planted April, results were a complete disaster, i had almost 2 feet lettuce .(cant remeber the scientific term) this year i tried it in december till now in a very simple greenhouse , results r great(not sure why it is not crunchy) , but ..... temperature has been floating above 80's since almost 2 weeks, and some lettuce(specailly Romaine) started doing the same thing as last year, not 2 feet, but quiet long. i am wondering if someone grew lettuce successfully in Florida, and what makes lettuce go long ? is it sunlight or heat, so far all of my lettuce is still in teh greenhosue, but some of them as i mentioned r trying to grab the skies thnx |
#6
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why my lettuce is almost 2 feet long
On Fri, 07 Mar 2003 15:06:17 GMT, "Cereoid+10+"
wrote: Maybe its gotten really really excited over what Pamela Anderson has been doing with lettuce? http://www.theage.com.au/articles/20...064208992.html Interesting site Cereoid. Do you think the lettuce leaves were a strap-on or a bolt-on? (;-)) Regards Geoff |
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