by Jennifer Poindexter
Lettuce is one of the easiest (and fastest!) crops you can grow. If you need a fresh harvest, in a hurry, lettuce could be a great addition to your garden space. It also works well for a variety of gardening methods.
However, you should be aware that there are a few common mistakes gardeners make when raising this crop. Don’t let this deter you from trying to raise lettuce. I’m going to walk you through each common mistake made and also share how you can avoid the same mishaps.
Here are the mistakes commonly made when raising lettuce.
1. Picking the Wrong Time to Plant
Why would you buy lettuce if you could grow it at home quickly and for less money? Many gardeners wonder about this and begin producing the crop themselves.
However, you must be careful when you plant lettuce. It’s a cool weather crop. Therefore, if you plant it during the wrong time of year, it may not produce much of a harvest.
How to Avoid this Mistake
Look at your planting zone and understand the best times to grow lettuce in your area. In most cases, lettuce seeds germinate when the soil is around 70-degrees Fahrenheit.
However, don’t become discouraged if this is a small window of time in your planting zone. Lettuce is a wonderful greenhouse crop, and it can also be grown indoors easily. You can also plant it in the shade to reduce the soil temperatures.
2. Too Much Sunlight
This tip goes along with the previous mistake. You shouldn’t plant lettuce in full sun during certain parts of the year.
When lettuce receives too much sunlight, it can become too hot, and begin to wilt. Yes, lettuce needs light, but you don’t want it to become distressed. When it’s cooler outside, full sun may work. However, as the temperatures rise, you should aim for partial sunlight.
How to Avoid this Mistake
Partial sunlight is best with lettuce during warmer parts of the year. The plants need around six hours of sunlight per day, but you can get by with providing less.
Planting lettuce in an area where shade is cast over it during the hottest portions of the day is a wise plan. This will provide the plant with sunlight and protection.
3. Damping Off
We will discuss being aware of diseases a little later in this article. However, damping off is a disease that deserves a spot all its own.
Damping off is a fungal disease which impacts seedlings. Taking steps to avoid this disease is vital to the survival of your lettuce crop.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
You can avoid damping off by ensuring you don’t overwater your seedlings. They should be spritzed with a spray bottle to keep the soil moist without overdoing it.
Also, it’s wise to keep seedlings near a light source. This will heat the soil which helps fight fungal diseases. Sprinkling cinnamon over the soil is a good idea, too. Cinnamon has natural anti-fungal properties. Once damping off hits your seedlings, there’s no recovering.
4. Ignoring Pests and Diseases
Many gardeners become overwhelmed in their garden. There are so many plants with a variety of needs. It can be hard to stay on top of it all.
Therefore, I recommend gardeners taking an evening stroll through their garden. Not only is it relaxing, but it’s also a good time to notice potential issues. You must stay on top of issues before they destroy your garden.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Lettuce has a variety of pests and diseases you should stay alert to. The pests which typically bother lettuce are: earwigs, birds, aphids, leafhoppers, snails, slugs, and armyworms. These pests can typically be treated using an insecticide.
However, you might need netting to protect your harvest from birds.
There are also many diseases which can harm lettuce. You should be aware of signs of fungal disease and signs of mosaic virus. Unfortunately, there’s no cure for mosaic virus. Fungal diseases can be treated using a fungicide, increasing drainage around your crop, and improving the airflow around the plant. These treatments only work if the problem is caught early enough.
5. Using the Wrong Soil
If you have clay soil, you won’t have a positive growing experience with lettuce. The reason being is that clay soil doesn’t drain well.
Unfortunately, this sets the crop up for developing fungal diseases which will also attract pests. Learn about the soil needs lettuce has to ensure you provide the right growing conditions.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
The best way to avoid the wrong soil is to use the correct type for planting. Lettuce needs soil that’s light, fluffy, and well-draining.
If you don’t have this in an inground bed, consider amending your soil or planting in raised beds. For lettuce to grow well in your garden, it must be planted in the right soil.
6. Applying Too Much Water the Wrong Way
Many people become heavy-handed when watering lettuce. They assume they can use the deep watering method with every crop.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the case. Lettuce can’t handle large amounts of water being poured onto it at a time.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
You can avoid applying too much water to lettuce in two ways. The first is to apply mulch around your lettuce. This will help the crop retain moisture and cut down on the amount of watering sessions you must provide.
However, if you’d prefer to avoid mulch, then you must practice shallow watering. Lettuce has shallow roots. Therefore, it should be watered a little every day to keep the soil, surrounding the plant, consistently moist.
7. Supplying Too Many Nutrients
You would think giving a plant all the nutrients it can hold would be a great thing. This isn’t the case with lettuce.
If you supply too much fertilizer to this crop it can actually hinder its production and growth. Be mindful of this as you grow lettuce in your garden.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Lettuce doesn’t typically need to be fertilized while growing. You should ensure the soil is amended prior to planting.
The crop grows quickly and should have all the nutrients it needs, while growing, from what you applied at the time of planting. If you over fertilize, it can cause an imbalance which stops the plant from thriving.
8. Planting Head Lettuce Too Tightly
Head lettuce is the trickier version of lettuce varieties. The reason being is it takes longer to produce and requires more space.
Be sure to read instructions for the exact type of lettuce you’re growing. This will help you provide the right amount of space, for the crop, in your garden.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
As a general rule of thumb, head lettuce needs approximately one foot between each plant. If you don’t provide adequate spacing, the heads won’t form.
Obviously, this can hinder your harvest greatly. Getting the spacing right, between each plant, is vital when growing this crop.
9. Your Romaine Lettuce Lacks Hearts
There’s nothing more disappointing than growing romaine lettuce, only to have it not form like you wanted it to.
This variety has similar requirements as head lettuce. If you don’t plant romaine lettuce a certain way, the plant won’t produce.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
What has happened if you planted romaine lettuce and the plants don’t have hearts? Typically, you planted the seed too far in the ground.
When raising romaine lettuce, you should plant the seeds approximately a half inch beneath the soil. Plant the seeds much deeper than this, and the plant will struggle to thrive.
10. Sowing Too Much Too Fast
The cardinal sin of raising lettuce is to plant your entire harvest at one time. You will be overrun in this crop if you do.
Therefore, succession planting is your best friend when raising any type of lettuce. Otherwise, in a month or so, you’ll have more lettuce than you’ll know what to do with.
How to Avoid this Mistake:
Avoid sowing too much too quickly, by only planting a row or two of lettuce at a time. Wait two weeks and plant another couple of rows.
This will scatter your harvest out. Therefore, helping you to avoid waste and get the most enjoyment out of your lettuce crop.
These are ten issues many gardeners face when raising lettuce. By knowing the common mistakes upfront, hopefully it will help you avoid these problems.
Overall, lettuce is a great addition to most gardens. Be sure to pick the right grow space, grow time, practice proper care, and stay alert to potential issues to increase your odds of having an enjoyable experience producing this crop.
Learn More About Growing Lettuce
https://web.extension.illinois.edu/veggies/lettuce.cfm
https://food.unl.edu/growing-and-preparing-loose-leaf-lettuce
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