What do I do?

buttaflie143 5/8/2011, 11:52 pm

My lettuce sprouted and now I have what appears to be a hundred little lettuce plants. There are only supposed to be four per square. What do I do?

What do I do? 2011-025

**walshevak** 5/9/2011, 1:07 am

I did things a little different this year. I got the scissors out and snipped all but 16 of the lettuce plants. I let that grow until I had baby leaf size, then I snipped the whole plant on 8 of them and ate in a salad. When these 8 got a little bigger, I snipped to 6 per square. These 6 I have been used to harvest the side leaves and letting the middle of the plant continue growing. I plan to continure harvesting the side leaves until they start sending up some seed stalks. Those plants I can dig up and since I actually like bitter greens, I will add to some sweet lettuce for salad.

Kay

yosoypanadero 5/9/2011, 1:14 am

If they are leaf variety, then I would not do anything but let them grow. I am not sure why the SFG book makes a claim to only have 4, but when mine sprout like that, I just let them grow, then start giving the whole square a haircut for huge salads. You can give the square a haircut three or four times before summer and the leaves turn bitter. The more you trim them back, the more they will grow. I now plant all my lettuce leaf like that, just scattering seeds in the square and waiting till they get a descent size and bam! salad time!

buttaflie143 5/9/2011, 1:45 am

Thanks. I planted four different varieties in two boxes. I read that two many plants could stunt the growth of the plants because they have a shallow root system. I just pray the heat doesn't come and they bolt. Its a little late in the season for lettuce for me, but I thought I would give it a try with some heat resistant varieties. I planted simpson elite (heat resistant), miniature butterhead, oak leaf, and romaine.

elliephant 5/9/2011, 4:26 am

If you're racing the heat to get a harvest, I would definitely go with the "haircut" method. That way you'll get the most out of the plants in the shortest amount of time.

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