Organic Farmer Network: Network Discussion Summary

Topic: Lettuce

Favorite lettuce varieties:

Cathy’s favorite red leaf are Vulcan, Magenta (Batavian Crisphead); green leaf are Two Star and Sierra; boston are Ermosa and Sangria (hard to find).

Charlie likes Buttercrunch, Sierra and Anuenue.

Tim like Anuenue also.

Wiedigers love Jericho because it will grow in the summer. Nothing else will grow in the summer for the Ws. Jericho stays sweet. Big green romaine type. Even in Aug, they don’t get bitter. Get them from Seed of Change in bulk. Turtle Tree has them too.

Location, location, location…Wiedigers get $1.50 for all size heads. Nicolas gets $3-$3.50.

Charlie asks about heat tolerant lettuces.

The Wiedigers respond: “We have tried every lettuce we have seen that ‘tolerates’ hot weather - including Sierra, Nevada and other summer crisps. They do not work here in Kentucky. They get "blue looking" and bitter before they get large enough to sell - even under shade. Last year, we trialed a lettuce we learned about from a man who works for the Kerr Center, David Redhage. Its name is Jericho. It was developed in Israel for irrigated production in their desert. It is terrific. We grew it along with several other lettuces, summer crisps and bibbs to have a comparison. There was no comparison. Jericho grew large, crisp and sweet - regardless of temperatures and we turned the others under. Our customers LOVED it! We just didn't grow enough, which we will fix this year. It will need regular watering, but will take the heat and give you 10" bright green Romaine heads all summer. It doesn't like winter high tunnel production, but that's okay - we have other lettuces that do. Seed source: Seeds of Change... A lettuce for the South, in the summer, is a real treasure. Finally we can sell lettuce along with our tomatoes and cucumbers!”

More about lettuce from the Wiedigers: “All of our ‘head’ lettuce (vs. mesclun) is done using transplants, and all of our plants go in with drip tape, both inside the hoop houses and outside. The drip tape we use has a slit or emitter every 12", so that is the spacing we use. We have just gone from either 3-rows in a 36"bed or 4-rows in a 48" bed to 4 rows in a 42" bed… Some varieties, such as Kalura or Merlot could go on shorter spacing, but since we like to plant at an emitter, it's not worth it to us to change spacing for those couple of items. Planting using the drip makes hand transplanting go so fast. Spacing is preset, and it takes no time at all to just press the root ball into the moist soil. I believe that Alison and I working together can put in 800 - 1000 transplants an hour this way…

I'm a lettuce nut. No two ways about it. When we started trialing our winter hoop house 9 seasons ago, I planted 17 varieties of lettuce to see which came through the winter best for us. So, I am always experimenting with lettuces. And, not all lettuce is the same. For instance, Red Deer Tongue from different companies looks like 2 different plants! And they "drop" or discontinue lettuce so quickly! My favorite red oak leaf was Samantha, and you can't find seed for it anywhere anymore. [Other reds we’ve grown are] either Pirat or Carmona. I think Carmona is a better lettuce, nice size heads, holds up to both heat and cold better, but I think Johnny's dropped it and we've been planting Pirat. For a summer green lettuce, I think the Romaine "Jericho" is THE one to grow. Large heads. And sweet and crunchy. During the hottest part of the summer, we can usually cut Jericho over a 10 - 14 day harvest window.”

Ken talks lettuce: “Lettuce was my main thing for a lot of years. It was what I built a business and a reputation on back when I could make money growing it for store sales, before the cheap imports from California. Now there is even so much lettuce at our farmers markets, I don't sell much there either, not compared to what I could 10-15 years ago. We probably have 15-20 growers bring in nice lettuce in the spring. It is really a very minor crop for us now. Still I ordered about a dozen kinds. I like Ermosa and I plant Vulcan for early and Red Fire for later. I like Green Towers from Harris better than Johnny's romaines. A new one I tried last year from Territorial I was impressed with was Italienischer - a green oak leaf on steroids. I liked Roger from Terr. too - It was a very red Sierra type , but didn't see it anywhere this year. I will definitely try the Jericho. Folks will line up for lettuce in June or September.”