by Tony
Lettuce for Lunch (15 weeks)
4:24 pm in Uncategorized by Tony
Here are my two lettuce plants at 15 weeks. I have been getting about one salad a week to eat. In the bowl are about 10 good sized leaves that I just picked and chopped up and the plants don’t look like I touched them!
Lettuce For Lunch
The peas on the other hand I am not so sure about. They are producing a 2 to 3 pods a week which is good, but some leaves are pale and are dying off here and there. There is new growth and it’s still flowering. I’m not sure if it is the fungus gnats (which I still have) or maybe a nutrient problem. Either way, the lettuce does not seem troubled at all.
Pea & Lettuce WF
Pea Harvest
The gnats seem to be under control but are not gone. The sticky paper is doing a good job of catching the adult flys. The guys at the hydroponic store talked me into trying some insecticidal soap to kill the larvea, but not sure how effective it has been. The next time I am at the store, I’ll get the neem oil and give that a try.
Lettuce looks really good.
Its a pretty resilient plant as long as it gets enough water.
I agree the lettuce does look good. Are you adding hydrogen peroxide to the water?
@bionicmel, No, not adding hydrogen peroxide on a regular basis.
@ajinil I just asked because maybe this would disrupt the gnats? I have heard good things about neem oil!
How many lettuce seeds did you plant, initially? I have some kale started and I’m not sure if I should plant more seeds or not.
@skb223 – you only need 1 to germinate. I usually plant 2-3 to make sure (in case of dud seeds) but usually all of them make it.
Kale looks like it needs a bit of room to grow. I’d probably use 2-3 for that as well.
@skb223 I think I might have planted 6 or so. I always plant more than one. Then as they grew, I thinned them down to just the two that you see. I didn’t think more than two would physically fit out the hole in the side of the bottle.
We recently visited a hydroponic microsprout farm. It gave us the idea that when we thin out some of our leafy seedlings, we can nibble on the ones that we are thinning. Lettuce, carrots, kale etc. Delicious and packed with flavor. Avoid tomatoes, (nightshade family).