Buttercrunch Lettuce

2024-03-17 Head Formation

Using a homemade mix of lomi compost, seed starting mix, perlite, and coconut coir, I filled 6-cell seed starting trays. In each cell, I placed 3-4 buttercrunch lettuce seeds 1/4 inch deep, sprayed them with water mist from a small spray bottle, and covered them with transparent germination covers.

There were mushrooms growing on top of the seed starting soil the morning after planting the seeds. I think this is a result of not using inert seed starting soil, making the soil very damp, and covering them to trap heat and moisture close to the soil. I think they are harmless, but I removed them and allowed the soil to dry a little bit.

Along with the 2024-03-17 batches of habanada and romaine lettuce, I’ve started hardening the seedlings by giving them a few hours outdoors. I’m gradually exposing them to sunlight by giving them indirect sunlight, increasing the time by an hour or so each day. After a few days of indirect sunlight, I will start exposing them to direct sunlight, increasing the time by an hour each day until I can leave them outside all day. I’m not taking any risks with cold temperatures at night or heavy rains, so I’ll bring them inside at night.

I left the seed trays outside overnight and it rained. The soil was pretty damp, so I let them dry outside during the day by placing them on top of the soil in a raised garden bed where I recently planted the January 17, 2024 buttercrunch lettuce.

The seedlings are turning a very pale yellow color. Not sure why, but one reason could be that they are too close to the grow lights.

I poured a small amount of organic plant for edibles from Back to the Roots that had been soaked in a cup of water on each cell in the seedling trays, just like the 2024-03-17 batch of habanada peppers.

I’ve been bringing the seedlings inside at night along with the 2024/03/17 romaine lettuce and habanada peppers because temperatures have been dropping below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s also been raining unexpectedly and I don’t want to risk shocking the plants. I’ve been placing them on a shelf about 18" below the grow lights to see if the plants regain some of their green color.

I filled the bottom tray with water lightly fertilized with liquid fertilizer from Back to the Roots. It’s supposedly for indoor plants, but I find it easier to administer to the seedlings than their dry fertilizer for edible plants. I am going to be away this weekend, so I am filling the bottom tray enough water to last until I return.

Just like the 2024/03/17 romaine lettuce, the buttercrunch lettuce seedlings look amazing! They are starting to show a rich green color. The extra water lastest the weekend while I was away and the plants don’t look stressed. I am going to keep them on the shelf 18" below the grow lights, except when I put them outside, but I think they just need a little food. I don’t think the close distance to the lights was causing the pale yellow discoloration.

I separated the seedlings to 1 plant per cell. I buried most of the stems when I placed them into the dirt.

I moved the seedlings closer to the grow lights because it seems like they were lacking nutrients that the fertilizer provided and were not getting bleached by the light. They are not about 3" from the lights.

I started hardening-off the plants by giving them about 1.5 hours of direct sunlight.

The seedlings were given 5 hours of direct sunlight today.

The plants were left outside in direct sunlight for most the day.

The lettuce plants were left outside for about 5 hours today, but I placed them under a table for some shade because the temperature got up to 83 degrees Fahrenheit today. The plants were very wilted, but luckily I caught it early enough so I brought the plants inside. I then gave them a heavy misting and turned off the grow lights to allow them to recover.

I moved the plants into the garden bed with the 2024-01-14 batch of buttercrunch lettuce. I squeezed them in between the 2024-01-14 batch of plants because I want the dense growth to provide shade for the soil and keep the conditions cooler as the temperature begins to rise. This will delay bolting.

I decided to harvest the buttercrunch lettuce, along with the 2024-01-14 batch of plants before more of them begin to bolt. The average temperature during the day is well into the 80’s (degrees Fahrenheit) and that is too hot for lettuce, unless you want it to transition to its flowering stage.

I ended up washing it way too much, out of an abundance of caution, which caused it to wilt, but it was still edible. It wasn’t too bitter and it made a really nice salad with a lemony dressing for breakfast.