2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 15:51
© Miroslav Deml |
Latin name: Lactuca sativa Family: Asteraceae Categories: Herbs |
Sowing lettuce (lat. Lactuca sativa) - an annual or biennial herb of the Asteraceae family. The second name is seed salad. The plant does not occur under natural conditions. The salad is very popular in Russia, America, the Mediterranean and Europe.
Characteristics of culture
Sowing lettuce is a plant that initially forms a rosette of basal leaves, and then an erect, highly branched flowering stem 50-130 cm high. The root system is pivotal, thickened in the upper part, has a huge number of lateral branches.
Basal leaves are sessile, whole, ovoid or round, less often dissected, with smooth or corrugated edges, can be light green, dark green, purple-red, burgundy and even dark purple.
Stem leaves are small, arrow-shaped, spear-shaped or elliptical. Flowers are yellow, collected in numerous inflorescences-baskets of 15-25 pieces. Flowering takes place in July-August. The fruit is a flying achene, ripens in late August - early September.
Growing conditions
Sowing lettuce is a light-loving plant, prefers areas with fertile, loose soils with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction. Lettuce does not like thickening. It is a cold-resistant crop, the optimum growing temperature is 15-20C, the seeds germinate at a temperature of 5C.
Hardened plants can withstand frosts down to -6C, varieties with pigmented basal leaves are resistant to negative temperatures. Drought is negative, very quickly passes into the phase of stem formation. The best predecessors are cabbage, vegetable peppers, pumpkin, squash and potatoes.
Soil preparation and sowing
Plots for growing lettuce are prepared in autumn, the soil is dug up, humus or compost is added. In the spring, the ridges are loosened and fed with superphosphate, potassium sulfate and ammonium nitrate. Acidic soils are preliminarily limed with dolomite flour or lime.
Lettuce is grown in two ways: seedling and non-seedling. Sowing seeds for seedlings is carried out in early April in special boxes filled with garden soil mixed with rotted humus. The seeding depth is 1-1.5 cm. The crops are covered with plastic wrap and kept at a temperature of 23-25C.
10-14 days after the emergence of seedlings, the seedlings dive into separate containers. When 3-4 true leaves are formed in the seedlings, the seedlings are transplanted into open ground. Important: when transplanting seedlings, you must carefully ensure that the root collar is located a couple of centimeters above the soil level.
In open ground, early lettuce varieties are sown in early May, late varieties in June. The seeding depth of seeds is 1-2 cm. Sowing is carried out in rows, the distance between which should be 20-25 cm, and between the plants - 5-7 cm. The varieties of head lettuce are sown in single-row rows with a distance of 40-50 cm, and between plants - 10- 15 cm. Sowing of lettuce before winter is possible.
Care
Since the root system of the sowing lettuce is located close to the soil surface, the plants cannot tolerate even a short-term drought. They need regular and abundant watering, initially the plants are watered with sprinkling, and during the period of active growth - at the root. With a lack of moisture, lettuce grows poorly, the leaves become coarse and taste bitter.
Culture and top dressing are required; during the season, two dressings with nitrogen fertilizers are enough. Before the lettuce leaves close, weeding and loosening of the row spacings should be carried out regularly. Quite often, the culture is affected by gray rot. This disease usually develops in warm and damp weather. For prevention, it is recommended to process the seeds before sowing in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, monitor the thickening of the plantings, and water at the root. Affected plants are removed.
The most common type
* Leaf lettuce (lat. Var. Secalina) - the species is represented by plants with a rosette of small, almost horizontal leaves of light green color.
* Curly leaf lettuce (lat. Var. Crispa) - the species is represented by plants with a semi-raised or open rosette of medium or large size, the color can be varied.
* Head lettuce (lat. Var. Capitata) - the species is represented by plants with a raised rosette of leaves with a rounded head of cabbage in the center.
* Roman salad, or romaine (lat. Var. Romana) - the species is represented by plants with a rosette of upward-pointing leaves with an elongated cone-shaped head in the center.
Recommended:
Wild Lettuce
Wild lettuce is one of the plants of the family called Asteraceae or Compositae, in Latin the name of this plant will sound as follows: Lactuca scariola L. As for the name of the wild lettuce family itself, in Latin it will be: Asteraceae Dumort.
Lettuce
Lettuce sometimes also known as vegetable salad. This plant belongs to the family of Asteraceae or Compositae. It is not known for certain where the lettuce first appeared. It is believed that this culture comes from the wild-growing lettuce, which is common in Europe, Africa, America and Asia.
Growing Head Lettuce
A vegetable culture such as salad appeared on the menu even among the ancient Romans, Egyptians and Chinese. They knew about the benefits of lettuce leaves, which are high in calories, micronutrients and vitamins. If you follow your diet and adhere to a healthy lifestyle, then green salad should definitely be one of the components of your diet. Some types of salad are even aphrodisiacs
Sowing Lettuce: Re-seeding Lettuce In The Middle Of Summer
If for some reason you did not have time to re-sow the lettuce in June, this is not a reason to abandon them in July - it is not too late to do this in order to provide yourself with vitamin greens for a longer period. For the most part, leafy, like petiole, crops have a short growing season, and several crops in a row can be harvested per season. So now is the time to get the lettuce seeds out of storage again
Iceberg Lettuce
Iceberg lettuce (lat.Lactuca sativa L.) Is an edible plant belonging to the Astrovye family. Description Iceberg lettuce is a not very dense head of cabbage, formed by numerous leaves of pale green shades. At the same time, visually, it is so much like white cabbage that these two cultures can sometimes be confused.
