How to Get The Most Out of Your Lettuce

If you cut your lettuce stalk 1 inch above the soil instead of pulling out the whole plant, it will grow 3-4 more heads of lettuce from the same stem. That's just one little tip. Lettuce learn more ...

As we make our way through the hottest part of the summer (I've changed my sweaty bra twice already today) and into slightly more moderate temperatures (changing your sweaty bra only once a day) it's time to think about planting more lettuce.

If you've tried and failed at lettuce there's a good chance it's because you were trying to grow it when it was too hot out.

Lettuce is a cool-season crop that's only happy in temperatures between 60-70°F (15-21°C). Once it starts to get hotter than that it will revolt with a bolt.

Bolting

Recognizing bolting is easy.

1. The elongated stem with big spaces between the leaf sets will appear almost overnight.
2. The lettuce leaves will go bitter at the same time.

When a lettuce plant bolts it starts to produce chemical compounds (lactucarium) that are bitter. This bitter compound makes its way through all of the leaves quickly and makes them seriously unpleasant tasting.

Bolting happens when the lettuce plant fears death because of unfavourable growing conditions. The plant is triggered to flower and go to seed to ensure future generations before it death spirals.

Causes

Bolting is triggered in mature lettuce heads by high temperatures in combination with long daylight hours and other stresses like under watering.

Mature lettuce plants readily bolt, but younger plants are less prone to it.

Prevention

• Planting: Plant in early spring or late summer.
• Provide Shade: Use shade cloth or plant in partial shade during hot weather.
• Succession Planting: Sow seeds every 2-3 weeks so you always have a crop of younger plants that are less susceptible to bolting.
• Watering: Keeping them watered will help keep them stress-free.

You can double, triple or quadruple the amount of lettuce you get from every lettuce plant you grow. How?

By how you harvest it. Cut-and-come-again is a term that applies to 3 different harvesting methods for lettuce. They can be used alone or in combination with one another.

Cut-and-Come-Again Methods

Cut-and-come-again harvesting methods extend the lettuce harvest. These are the three primary techniques to get the most of your lettuce crop:

1. Outer Leaf Harvesting

Like it sounds, you just pick the outer, most mature leaves when you harvest. This method leaves very clean looking lettuce plants with almost no waste.

How to Do It:

1. Select Outer Leaves: Choose the largest, outermost leaves for harvesting.
2. Pinch or Cut: Pinch or use scissors or a knife to cut the leaves close to the base.

Advantages:

• You can start harvesting lettuce very early - when the plants are small but as soon as it has about 8 leaves.
• Continues growth and production of new leaves.
• Provides a regular supply of lettuce without needing to replant.
• You only harvest what you need without having to pull up the whole head. Only need a few leaves for burgers? Just grab a few leaves for burgers.

2. Whole Head Cutting

This will get you an additional 2-4 heads of lettuce from a single plant.

Whole head cutting involves cutting the entire plant down to about 1 inch above the soil surface. Within a few weeks that stem will send out 2-4 new heads of lettuce from around the stem.

How to Do It:

1. Cut the Plant: Use a sharp knife or scissors to cut the entire plant about 1 inch above the soil.
2. Allow Regrowth: Let the plant regrow new leaves, which can be harvested again either as full heads, or as individual leaves.

Advantages:

• Quick and easy harvesting method but you won't be harvesting lettuce until the entire head is mature.
• Gets you multiple heads for multiple harvests from the same plant.

NOTE: If your plant has bolted, chances are that each new head produced will also be bitter.

3. Row Cutting

Row cutting is basically the lettuce version of "taking a little off the top". It involves shearing all the lettuce plant leaves in a row or section, leaving about 1" of leaf growth at the base of the plant. This method is often used for harvesting large amounts of assorted spring greens/mesclun.

How to Do It:

1. Cut the Row: Use a very sharp knife or scissors to cut all the plants in a row or section leaving about an inch of all the leaf bases. It'll look like the base of celery does when you cut the ribs/stalks off of it. Don't cut out the centre growing point (the crown).
2. Ensure Even Cutting: Make sure the cuts are even.
3. Regrowth: All the plants will regrow new leaves from the crown.

Advantages:

• Perfect for quickly harvesting big bags of mixed greens.
• The plants regrow uniformly and quickly.
• Faster regrowth than whole head cutting.

Seed Saving

If you have some bolting lettuce you can grow even MORE lettuce from that plant. Allow one head to bolt & go to seed, and then save the seeds. Here's a step-by-step tutorial for saving lettuce seed.

Lettuce by the Numbers

• Growing Time: Lettuce typically takes 5-8 weeks to grow from seed to harvest.
• Harvest Frequency: If you harvest individual leaves rather than the whole head, you can continue to collect fresh lettuce for about 2-3 months from the same plant.
• Salad Yield: One head of lettuce can make approximately 4-6 salads.
• Spacing: Lettuce plants should be spaced about 6-12 inches apart to allow for full head growth. For spring greens, you can plant as close as 1-3 inches.
• Water Needs: Lettuce needs about 1 inch of water per week to be happy.

If you're inspired by this it's time to start your fall crop. Lettuce begin.