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Questions tagged [lettuce]

Temperate annual or biennial crop grown for salad leaves.

Lettuce, Lactuca sativa is a member of the Asteraceae 'daisy' family. It is a temperate annual or biennial that is usually grown as a leaf vegetable, e.g. for salads. It is typically eaten raw, although Chinese cuisine often cooks the stem.

Lettuces prefer light, sandy, fertile soils that can hold water in summer. They typically do better in more temperate environments with day time highs below 75F and night time temperatures above 40F.

There are hundreds of cultivars but these are typically grouped into six groups according to leaf shape and color:

  • Butterhead. Buttery texture.
  • Chinese Lettuce. Long sword-shaped leaves. Bitter. Used in stir-fries and stews
  • Crisphead / Iceberg. Tight dense head similar to cabbage. Mild flavor
  • Looseleaf. Tender, delicate, mild.
  • Romaine / Cos. Long head of sturdy leaves with a firm rib.
  • Summer Crisp / Batavia. Moderately dense heads with crunch texture.

Use this tag for all questions about growing lettuces.

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What kind of bug is this and do I need to get rid of it?

I was looking through my vegetable garden this evening and noticed two of these bugs crawling over my lettuce: Does anyone know what type of bug this is and if it's something I need to get rid of? Thanks!
Joel Eckroth
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Slugs and snails eating lettuce?

I have been trying to grow lettuce and I am having some problems with what I think are slugs and snails, Something appears to be eating my lettuce and it is not growing much. I was wondering if anyone could confirm that this is the work of snails,…
user16579
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What would be eating my lettuce plants, and leaving some other vegetables alone?

I planted 6 lettuce plants and this morning 3 of them are completely nipped. Do you know if they will grow back as only a little bit of the leaves are left. Also how do I protect the rest? I also have cabbage and cauliflower in the same bed and they…
Abhishek Misra
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Separating lettuce seeds

I grew some good lettuce this year, cos (white seed) and crutterbunch (dark seed). I like the crutterbunch better and it is sometimes tough to find the seed in the store so I made sure to cut all the cos before it flowered and let the other go to…
Colin Beckingham
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Seed amount per plant spot

im new to gardening! I planted various lettuce plants but now im not sure did i did it right. I am not sure should i plant one or couple seeds per plant spot. I checked various youtube vids and i saw people doing it both ways for the lettuce.…
Scavs
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How do you make the nutrient solution for a hydroponic system from solid compound NPK fertilizer?

All I can buy in my country is traditional solid NPK fertilizer as shown in this picture: How can I prepare a nutrient solution for growing lettuce with this. (I also have Calcium Nitrate and Magnesium Sulphate if needed)
Ian
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Why don't ants eat my lettuce?

I have a very small vegetable garden. I don't use any pesticides or herbicides. My lettuce plants are growing nicely and I've noticed the ants leave them alone. However, as soon as a lettuce leaf is removed from the plant and left on the ground the…
Xavier
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Will lettuce seeds germinate in summer?

When the ambient temperature is between 30 to 35 °C in summer, will lettuce seeds germinate?
Sidra Rahman
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How can I regulate lettuce indoors so it doesn't bolt/flower?

Is there a science to regulating lettuce indoors in a way that prevents or minimizes bolting/flowering?
Enigma
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What to do about a slug and excrement on my Batavian lettuce?

I think this is happening because this lettuce is ready to harvest and it's been sitting in there too long? I discovered one slug (is that a slug?) which I can remove... but there are also all these black dots (I'm assuming someone's excrement)…
Becky
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Lettuce Growth Stunted

I grow lettuce using vertical hydroponic method. I live in Jakarta city, Indonesia, started planting the lettuce at September 7th, 2019 and today (October 10th, 2019) should be the harvest day. But it seems the lettuce growth have stunted since one…
Angela Radityatama
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Why are ants staying on my lettuce leaves?

I have some lettuce plants and in the last weeks I have noticed an increasing number of ants staying in the leaves. They do not appear to eat the leaves nor do anything else. I wonder what is the reason for them to be there and if it is of any harm…
Pablo Guerrero
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Is a fungus causing my butter lettuce stems to rot right through?

I'm growing some butter lettuce in a grow bag full of Happy Frog potting soil. It's been particularly rainy the last few days. Today I inspected the plants and a few of them popped right off of their stems. They had rotted all the way through at…
Nick Retallack
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How do I know when hydroponic lettuce is ready to be harvested?

I will be growing lettuce hydroponically using an NFT system and HO 54w T5 6500k lights. I will be using an organic nutrient solution (AN Iguana Grow) as well. I have ordered some certified organic seeds, and on the website it listed the maturity…
Kray
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NFT Hydroponics for Lettuce

I am looking at building a small NFT system to test the viability of growing lettuce commercially for local consumption. Investigating options for NFT. Right now I am looking at using 3"-4" PVC or ABS pipes. When I was checking prices on these…
Kray
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