Interested in growing lettuce from seedlings? No need to worry. The steps are quite straightforward, but you need to understand the proper lettuce growing stages to ensure success. You can expect a continuous supply of the green when you know how to do it right.
Sowing Is the Key
The key is the success of growing lettuce from seedlings is to understand the right sowing process. Basically, there are 2 major ways to do it.
First, you can directly sow the seeds in containers or the garden. Second, you can transplant the seedlings (which you buy from the garden center or the indoor container). Either way, you need to pay attention to the correct stages and methods so you can enjoy a fruitful outcome.
Direct Sowing
• Start by raking the soil so it has this crumbly and fine texture. Don’t forget to remove the weeds first so the soil would be clear and clean.
• Sow the seeds in 20 cm to 50 cm apart and with 5mm of depth. Don’t dig the holes too deep or your seeds won’t germinate.
• Sow the seeds within clusters. Make sure that you have a pinch (of those seeds( in each 4 inches of hole.
• Backfill the hole. You can provide label containing the info about the variety if you want to. Start watering, but just until the soil is damp. It shouldn’t be extremely wet.
How long does lettuce take to grow? The plant should germinate in 7 days to 14 days, top, especially when the (soil) temperature is right, around 8 to 23 degrees Celsius. You also need to protect the plants from weather, pets, and pests.
Raise or Transplant Seedlings
• You can use the soil starter pellets. Fill up punnets or trays (or even jiffy pots) with the good quality mix for seed raising.
• Again, sow the seeds at around 5mm of depth. And make sure that the soil is moist.
• Once you start seeing the plants true leaves or the proper size of the plants, you need to transplant the seedlings to your garden. It should be around 5 cm to 10 cm of height.
Growing the Lettuce
Another aspect in growing lettuce from seedlings is that you need to constantly water the plants, but not excessively. Water the soil when it’s dry – and only that. When it’s still damp, don’t do it.
You can stick in your finger to check. When you water it down, do it in the late afternoon or in the early morning. Try not to water the leaves so you can minimize the possibility of fungal disease.
If the soil is already good and healthy, you won’t need any fertilizer. But in the event you need to apply fertilizer, go with the slow releaser type. Choose the high nitrogen type or the one with solid formulation for leafy herbs or greens. If you have to use liquid fertilizer, make sure to apply it within the recommended frequency and rate.
If you do the stages correctly, you can expect the lettuce to grow fast, healthy, and continuously. With proper ways of growing lettuce from seedlings, you can create your own supply without hesitation.