Started lettuce and broccoli in the house, now...

Here are pictures of my lettuce starts (4) and (1) broccoli (on the back right).

I am certain I read somewhere that you transplant after the first true leaves which are not the same as the first two leaves. I don't see more sets of leaves coming but they are so leggy. Do I transplant them now?

Also, when I transplant them in the their space or pot as the case may be, do I transplant at the same height or lower to reduce the legginess?

Glad I started some lettuce inside. I was afraid it would not germinate outside due to the heat (which I read may hinder it) and there isn't any coming outside yet. Planted the outside ones first, too.

Thanks!

Does anyone know the answers please?

My first year trying broccoli and my spring batch was a failure. But I read it somewhere on the forum to pot up and bury the leggy stem. It did seem to work but the spring weather and worms did them in. Got tired of waiting and need the buckets for my tomato's so I pulled them. I am trying again for fall crop this week but I'm starting them outside.

Last spring some of my lettuce starts were bigger than what your photos show & some were the same. They all transplanted well. I planted them at the same height that they were in the pot. Some fell over but straightened up as they go bigger, which was a nice surprise. I like the idea of planting them a little deeper and will do that next time.

I've been planting lettuce seeds in the garden, tucking them under bush beans and behind vines, and most seem to be sprouting even with the heat. THe ones directly out in the sun didn't sprout.

Sorry, I don't know anything about broccoli. Wish I did, but I can't find seeds in my area.

CC

CapeCoddess wrote:Last spring some of my lettuce starts were bigger than what your photos show & some were the same. They all transplanted well. I planted them at the same height that they were in the pot. Some fell over but straightened up as they go bigger, which was a nice surprise. I like the idea of planting them a little deeper and will do that next time.

I've been planting lettuce seeds in the garden, tucking them under bush beans and behind vines, and most seem to be sprouting even with the heat. THe ones directly out in the sun didn't sprout.

Sorry, I don't know anything about broccoli. Wish I did, but I can't find seeds in my area.

CC

I sent you a pm regarding broccoli seeds. Regarding your lettuce: Do you then move them from under all those other plants? I am thinking you just plant the seeds near the other plants so there is shade for germination but I could be wrong.

Do mine look like I should transplant now or wait a bit?

Thanks for the help.

I'm so new to all this so it's hard to say. How about you plant some of the lettuces out now and leave some inside and see how it works out?

I did plant under other things for shade, with no plans for them. I kind of let things tell me what they want as I go along. But the romaine grew so fast under the beans that it's about ready to harvest now.


You can see one romaine in the front white box in amongst the beans. And there are lettuces from spring planting in the black box on the left and elsewhere in the garden, that I took the middles out of when they started to bolt, to try to keep them going thru the summer. It didn't work with all my lettuces so I had to harvest the whole plant, but with some it worked. So I'm still harvesting spring lettuces hoping they will last til my newly planted outdoor ones grow. The box on the front right (a drawer actually) had many seeds put in but only one grew in straight sun, so now I've put plastic over it and replanted more lettuce seeds the other day. They have sprouted.

It's pretty much hit or miss in the summer I guess. That's my experience anyway.

CC

I just went back and looked at some lettuce I planted outside but in a shady area in late May. Month old lettuce was bigger than what you have. I can tell for sure your plants are not getting enough light. But I don't know if they would survive being transplanted outside at this stage. They at least need to be hardened off. I suggest you put the pots outside in a early morning sun only protected area for a week and see what happens. If they improved then plant them in protected areas shaded from the hot midday and afternoon sun.

nursery starts and direct sowed seed planted 5/29. Pic taken 6/24

All is eaten now and the sowed didn't provide much. Temps settled into the high 90* to triple digits and the lettuce couldn't take it.

walshevak wrote:I just went back and looked at some lettuce I planted outside but in a shady area in late May. Month old lettuce was bigger than what you have. I can tell for sure your plants are not getting enough light. But I don't know if they would survive being transplanted outside at this stage. They at least need to be hardened off. I suggest you put the pots outside in a early morning sun only protected area for a week and see what happens. If they improved then plant them in protected areas shaded from the hot midday and afternoon sun.

nursery starts and direct sowed seed planted 5/29. Pic taken 6/24

All is eaten now and the sowed didn't provide much. Temps settled into the high 90* to triple digits and the lettuce couldn't take it.

Thank you for your advice. There is no place in my yard that gets early morning sunlight unfortunately. My yard is ringed with shade trees on both the south and east sides. When the sun is overhead, we get some sunlight but not really earlier than that.

Do you have another suggestion?

BTW, is that what you grew your lettuce in for the entire time?

No, that is a cement mixing tub my son bought just for summer lettuce so he could move it around for the right levels of shade and sun.

Here is picture taken at my house of lettuce planted about the same time in the dappled shade of a river birch tree. As you can see, it was getting some light midday sunshine at the edge of the tree line.


This picture was taken on July 7. I don't know what is happening to the plants now as I had to leave for 2 months. I was just starting to eat the thinnings. There are some basil plants at the corners.

Set the plants under the edge of the tree line and see if you can get enough shade to not fry them and enough sun so they pick up and grow.

Kay

I agree that you should try putting your plants outside for a while, just a little at first and then increase the time they spend out there. Otherwise, you could put them under grow lights. Ive had really leggy lettuce like that in the past, and unfortunately it always died when I tried to transplant it outside. The leggings is from inadequate sunlight, I'm pretty sure.

But yeah, right now I think the plants are too young to transplant. Give them another week, preferably with lots of sunlight, and then if they have their true leaves and are looking stockier, it might be ok.