0tterbot wrote
Rod Speed wrote
Blair wrote

I tried to grow lettuce last summer here in Perth.
Never again - they required constant water

Yeah, managed to **** up the ones the nursery said did fine in the hot weather,

lettuce can be fascinatingly difficult!! (at any rate, i've been fascinated with the difficulties i've had ;-)

Thats the only real problem I have had, they dont like our stinking hot weather much.

firstly, you may not have ****ed them up

Yeah, I did, I let them dry out far too much so they were visibly wilted and lying on the ground.

And then repeated that the next day too.

Just went back to get some more and he gave me the punnet for free.
Didnt even mention my ****up either.

- not all nurserypersons have any idea about growing stuff,

She said she had planted some herself and was already eating leaves
off them a week later, so thats what happened, not her prediction.

I didnt think to ask her where she was growing them, shaded etc, and she wasnt there today.

& babies in punnets from bunnings (or similar) can simply be a bad bet - firstly, transplanting causes some element of
stress to them (therefore they bolt sooner)

Never had that problem.

and secondly they've not had the chance to grow in their conditions (as punnets are always coddled but gardens can't
be so much) so they therefore bolt sooner.

summer is hard for lettuce, it doesn't like heat too much.

Yeah, that certainly appears to be the problem and its
****ing hot here, 10 days over 40C isnt that unusual.

try them in semi-shaded pots/foam boxes

Yeah, about to try that.

or some other sort of semi-shaded location, or under shade cloth in the garden. shade will help enormously.

Yeah, just got some shade cloth this morning, havent tried it yet.

I might try some inside too, under the cooler.

if you plant seed direct (whether in the garden or a pot) you will have much more success too,

I didnt, I appeared to let them dry out too much.

Only one batch germinated and needless to say the bloody birds got the lot in one meal.

Got bird nets now, so that wont happen again.

But the net says that they wont germinate over 30C. Not clear what that means,
whether its any time of the day over 30C or if the minimum temp is over 30C.

There is no chance of seeds germinating if its any time over 30C, we
hardly ever get a day when it isnt and dont often get that even inside.

We dont often get overnight minimums over 30C tho.

I did get some to germinate fine in seed trays that I kept in plastic to
keep them wet, but thats just my seedlings as opposed to Bunnings etc.

I should be able to keep them wet enough in the ground
with plastic etc, but its not clear about that temperature yet.

it avoids the problems mentioned above. sow thickly & then thin them out (the second session of thinnings
when the thinnings are baby-sized but big enough to eat).

they like a LOT of water relative to many other plants, as their
structure is mostly water. failure to water leads to bolting!

And they dont have much in the way of roots either.

I was previously giving them a good soak each day, mostly in the
evenings, so there was standing water on the ground. But thats
nowhere near enough now in the hot weather, so I have changed
over to twice a day now, and will see how that goes.

I'll probably get another punnet of them and keep them well watered,
more for academic interest than anything else. The stuff we buy in
the supermarket
right thru the summer must be coming from somewhere

cooler areas, and often grown in shadehouses (or similar). but they're not really a summer crop. other greens like
mizuna are a better bet.

Can you use that on sandwitches ?

you can also track down seed of lettuce cultivars which are intended to cope better with summer, but no guarantees
there.

Yeah, found one site that lists those, but they still say
that even the H ones should be planted from April.

and if they can do it, I should be able to too. I just want leaves, dont care if I cant get icebergs to grow.

leafies are better, as even when (rather than if ;-)) they bolt,
you've still eaten from them. whereas icebergs & other hearting
lettuces give less, & are more of a risk re bolting well before maturity.

Yeah, mate of mine had some very decent ones but he's so slack that
he doesnt even know what variety they were. He did give me some,
and gave me some tomatoes at the same time, so it most likely would
have been late summer, but I didnt think to record when it was.

He let them all go to seed and collected the seed, and tried to
plant the seeds this spring, but appears to have not kept them
we enough and didnt get any germination at all. Must ask him
if he has any seeds left, think he planted the lot. I could certainly
go to some trouble to germinate them like in the fridge etc if there are some left.

Might try some lettuce in pots inside, I obviously have an
evaporative cooler on the roof and just bask under that in that sort
of hot weather.

inside is not the worst idea, but they will still need some sun. perhaps a spot that's sunny in the mornings.

Yeah, thats what I meant, should have said that. I have 7 patio doors on
the north side of the house for passive solar and the one East facing
door certainly does get sun in the morning so there would be fine.

Concrete and quarry tiles floor, so I can do that anywhere I like.

i had my best crop ever by growing an heirloom mix, sown direct, under shadecloth, but they still bolted before i
wanted them to. but,
sowing them is simple & you get loads this way & can re-sow every 2
weeks or a month for a supply of nice baby greens. even if they still
bolt too young, you've had soemthing from them.

So what about that 30C germination question ?

in winter, lettuce is a pain in the arse as well. but, there are many winter cultivars (they're often the red
lettuces).

i haven't worked out yet whether seasol/poo stew is a huge help to lettuce or not, but it does seem to be anecdotally.

Havent tried that yet. Just used pelletised veg starter fertiliser
and when they grew fine, didnt bother with anything else.

I plan to collect the seed off those, mignonettes and cos.

kylie