Teagan Lettuce

2024-05-13 Seeds

I planted teagan lettuce seeds from Row 7 Seed Company today. A few seeds were placed in each cell of the 6-cell seed starting trays I purchased from Epic Gardening.

The first seedlings started to sprout today.

A lot more seedlings sprouted.

I forgot to water the tomato seedlings and they were noticeably wilted. I gave them a nice soak with the spray bottle, so I wouldn’t disturb the soil too much, and they bounced back.

Most of the plants have recovered from underwatering, but not all. The plants were watered twice using the misting spray bottle and the healthier plants were given water with a very small amount of liquid fertilizer.

Some seedlings look bad. I don’t think I packed the seed starting mix hard enough in the trays so it is sinking. It’s also not dense enough to soak up water from the bottom trays and move it up to the seedlings, which have not established their roots deep enough.

I’m going to leave the lettuce inside for the summer because they temperature outside is too hot for them.

The 2024-03-17 batch of romaine lettuce is looking yellow so I moved the light closer to the plants. The teagan lettuce isn’t yellow, but it does look leggy, so the closer distance to the grow lights might help.

I separated the seedlings and placed them in groups of 4 in 5 inch pots. They only have about 1 to 2 inches between them, which could be an issue.

Some of the plants are getting really big, while some are growing slower than other. I am not sure why, but I going to rotate the pots so the small plants fall under the center of the grow light array.

The larger plants are starting to crowd each other, but they look healthy, but they are suffering from the dried and crispy leaf edges like the 2024-03-17 batch of romaine lettuce.

The dried, crispy brown edges on the lettuce plants, known as leaf tip burmn, are actually a sign of a calcium deficiency. When lettuce grows too rapidly, there isn’t enough calcium in the soil, and very little air ciruclation, which is common for indoor plants, the it can’t efficiently transport calcium from the roots to the rest of the plant. I gave the plants a solution of azomite, which contains about 1.8% calcium, and water.

I filled the bottom trays with a lot of water because I am going out of town for a few days.

The edges of the plants and the new leaves in the center looks extra cripsy, but it looks like more leaf tip burn. Otherwise the plants looks fine and the leaves are rigid and plump, so they don’t appear underwatered.

I bought 2 Vivosun clip on fans to improve the circulation around the lettuce plants. It was difficult to set them up because of my grow light and shelf configuration, but I found a good spot above the plants where the fan can blow air on top of the plants.

My order of Cal-Mag Plus, a calcium, magnesium, and iron plant supplement, arrived a few days ago. I bought this specifically to address the leaf tip burn.

I made a solution with it and Fox Farm Big Bloom fertilizer and poured it in the bottom tray of the plants.