He has a lot of healing properties, contains vitamins B, A, PP, C, trace elements such as molybdenum, iodine, manganese, copper, boron, iron. In most of the country, a vegetable can be grown throughout the year: in summer, autumn and spring in the open field, and in winter in a protected area. The undoubted advantage of the plant is that it is one of the first to give its vitamin greens and at the same time feels great both in the garden and in a pot on the windowsill.

Characteristics of culture

Lettuce, which does not require much effort to grow, is a cold-resistant crop. The optimum temperature for vegetation is the range from 16 to 18 degrees. In warmer temperatures and dryer climates, all the plant's vigor can go into bloom. The most widespread are leaf and head salads. Their leaves can be whole or dissected, serrated or smooth, heads of cabbage are rounded or rounded flat. Lettuce, the cultivation of which in the ground does not require special preparation, ripens in 25-40 days after the first shoots.

soil for lettuce. Cultivation in open ground.

Lettuce grows best in places where potatoes and cabbage were planted last year, especially if organic fertilizers were applied to the soil. Lettuce, the cultivation of which does not require special soil preparation, nevertheless does not accept brackish, clay soils. However, in general, the plant is unpretentious. The increased content of humus and mineral fertilizers in the soil will only improve germination.

Salad. Growing from seeds

Lettuce seeds are sown very early - in late April - early May. Such early varieties include lettuce Zabava, Yeralash, Credo, Dubrava. Sowing must be carried out in an ordinary way. Maintain intervals of 20 centimeters between rows, and one and a half centimeters between seeds. Germination of seeds occurs already at a temperature of +2 degrees, the most active growth at a temperature of +20 - +22 degrees. Harvest in the open field can be obtained from June to September, when using a film - already in the month of May. Lettuces that require a lot of light to grow are long day plants. During the growing season it is extremely important to provide the plant necessary quantity moisture. If moisture is not enough, then they will become coarse, and the vegetable itself will lose most of it.

lettuce cleaning

Harvesting is carried out after 30 - 40 days from the date of emergence of seedlings. Partially, you can collect leaves when thinning the plant. Head lettuce is characterized by a longer ripening period - up to 70 days.

Growing from seedlings

For growing lettuce from seedlings, a cassette or pot is used, since the seedlings do not tolerate damage to the root system. with a seedling, it must be planted shallow enough so that it rises a centimeter above the main soil, since with a deeper planting, the lower leaves can rot or become infected with a fungus. This method is most acceptable for growing head lettuce varieties.

Salad contains a huge amount of useful substances. Therefore, many lovers of this greenery want to grow it not only on suburban area but also at home. Is it possible to grow lettuce from seed on a windowsill at home? This will be discussed further.

Lettuce can also be grown at home. Both in winter and in summer. But this plant at home requires a lot of attention.

For his growth needs a lot of sunlight. On short winter days, it needs additional lighting. If there is not enough light, it begins to bloom early. Does not tolerate drought, heat. In this case, the leaves become bitter. Beginners should not take on the cultivation of head forms in the apartment. They are very capricious.

The best varieties of lettuce for growing at home

Batavia - the most suitable salad variety for an apartment

The most suitable variety for an apartment is considered Batavia. Most grocery stores sell it.

It grows even without additional lighting. It can withstand short-term drought, high air temperatures.

The most famous varieties for cultivation on the windowsill:

  • lollo rossa

Lolla rossa is distinguished by a brown head of cabbage, curly light green leaves. Counts the most vitamin. It has a delicate taste.

Lolla bionda - the most beautiful. The leaves are wavy. Yellow-green color. The taste is pleasant, bitter with a nutty flavor.

The apartment also grows watercress. This is a moisture-loving plant. The best varieties for the windowsill:

  • curly;
  • peppery;
  • broad-leaved;
  • ordinary.

The choice of capacity for sowing and soil preparation

Lettuce roots do not lie deep in the soil. Large containers are not needed for its growth. It is better to choose a plastic pot. The capacity must be volume 1-2 liters. Depth - 10 - 35 cm. Depending on the variety. There should be holes in the bottom of the container.

Soil can be purchased at the store or use garden soil. Acidic soil is not suitable for planting. Better option — a mixture of sod land, humus, sand. Another option is garden soil, coconut fiber, biohumus. The ratio of the last two is 2:1.

For sowing, it is necessary to use drainage: pebbles, expanded clay, broken bricks, small pebbles.

When using garden soil, the soil should be disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. The soil is filled into the pot, not bringing it to the edges of 2.5 - 3 cm.

Some varieties can be grown without soil. One of them is watercress. For cultivation, such improvised materials as a sponge, cotton wool, paper are used.


Some varieties of lettuce can be grown without soil - on paper or cotton

Sowing seeds

  • Seeds before sowing are disinfected in a solution of potassium permanganate. Time - 2-3 hours.
  • A drainage layer is placed at the bottom of the pot.
  • Drainage is covered with earth. Watered.
  • They make a groove. Depth - 5 mm. Row spacing - 10 cm.
  • Seeds are placed in the groove. Fall asleep with a small amount of earth. Lightly compacted.
  • They cover the container with a package - they create a greenhouse effect.
  • Put in a dark place.
  • When the first sprouts appear, the package is removed. Transferred to the windowsill.

The first shoots can be seen after 4 - 5 days. You need to keep it away from direct sunlight. On bright sunny days, it is necessary to shade it - the leaves can burn.

Lettuce loves heat. For its good growth requires a temperature in the range of 17-21 degrees. During a strong drop in temperature outside, the container with plants should be removed from the windowsill.

culture needs thinning. This is done 2 times:

  1. After 1 week, when the first shoots appear; It is necessary to leave a distance between them of 1-2 cm.
  2. When 2 true leaves are formed; Distance - 4-5 cm.

If the lettuce grows densely, it will not be possible to get a good harvest.


Watering

Watering should be plentiful. With insufficient soil moisture, arrows begin to form earlier than usual. Watered with settled water 1 time in 1 - 2 days.

If the container is located on the south side - more often. In winter - less often. Do not over-moisten the soil - the roots and lower leaves will begin to rot. The air in the room should be humidified. The leaves are sprayed with water from a spray bottle.

top dressing

Feed up 1 time in 1.5–2 weeks. Suitable fertilizers for indoor plants. This is a fast growing culture. If fertile soil has been chosen for planting, it grows well without them.

You can not make a large amount of nitrogen fertilizers - lettuce is able to accumulate nitrates. If you use a top dressing based on potassium iodide, you can get a plant with a large amount of iodine in the composition.

Lighting

Light-loving plant. In winter, in short autumn - spring days, you need to use additional lighting- fluorescent lamps. You need to turn them on for 2 - 5 hours. Hang at a height of 50 - 60 cm above the plant.


In total, daylight hours should last 12-14 hours. It is impossible to highlight during the day. Greens need to rest.

If it is not possible to additionally illuminate the plant, it is best to plant it at the end of winter.

loosening

Lettuce has very fragile, superficial roots. Loosen the ground under the seedlings it is forbidden.

Harvesting

Greens are growing fast. It can be collected within a few weeks. Uproot or tear off the outermost leaves. Arrows form after 3-5 weeks. The plant is removed. Other seeds are sown in its place.

Experienced gardeners planting lettuce once every 10 days. From one plant, 40-50 grams of greens are obtained. But it all depends on the variety.

Leaf lettuce can be grown both outdoors and at home. But when planting it in an apartment, you need to remember that it requires daily care.

  1. This is a moisture-loving plant. The soil should always be slightly moist. But too much moisture can kill it.
  2. The best place is a window sill on the south, southeast side. Without enough light at home, it is impossible to grow it.

Grows fast. Doesn't take up much space. But you need to choose the right variety for the pot.

Fresh, chilled, crunchy salads are a delicious treat. Diverse in shape, leaf and color, these fast-growing annual vegetables are mostly used fresh. In almost any garden there is a place for a head lettuce. It is very unpretentious and grows in almost any soil. It takes very little knowledge to harvest lettuce throughout the summer season. It is better to plant several different types of lettuce, and then there will be a wide selection of this vegetable with a very different leaves in shape and color. Today we will also tell you what varieties of lettuce are and how it should be grown.

The best varieties of lettuce

Round-head lettuce itself is round, like cabbage, with wide-spread smooth leaves, is a representative of the varieties of head lettuce. It grows very quickly and does not require much care.

Lettuce crunchy forms a large head of rolled leaves, crispy in taste. Especially popular is the variety "Iceberg" with thick fleshy leaves - an excellent variety of head lettuce.

Many people wonder how to grow Romaine lettuce - all of its elongated, oblong and crispy leaves grow vertically upwards. it matures longer than other lettuces and requires abundant watering.

Curly lettuce - it forms many leaves without a core. You can simply tear off a few leaves on a lettuce, leaving a whole bush for further growth. It has beautiful curly leaves that appear throughout the summer.

Also very popular among gardeners is the cultivation of arugula and watercress lettuce, corn lettuce, frillice lettuce and lettuce.

Growing iceberg lettuce

Iceberg lettuce is similar in appearance to white cabbage, it has juicy crisp, greenish-whitish leaves that are collected in big head of cabbage. The mass of one head of iceberg lettuce can reach 1 kilogram, or more. Features of cultivation, as well as storage and use in cooking are exactly the same as for other types of lettuce.

In order to get a lettuce harvest all season, it is necessary to make the first plantings with a break of two weeks (during the first 3 plantings), summer plantings (sowing) should be done with a reduced interval - 1 week, the last two with an interval of two weeks, as in the beginning of the season.

Soil Requirements

For outdoor lettuce cultivation, well-fertilized soils with drainage, which contain the necessary mineral supplements, are best suited. The soil should not be too acidic. It is necessary to constantly maintain its humidity. Lettuce is recommended to be planted on the sunny side, where there are no drafts.

For spring planting, carefully dig up the ground in the fall, adding well-rotted compost or fertilizer. Before planting, loosen the soil well and add mineral fertilizers.

Planting leaf lettuce

Depending on the available space in the garden, choose a method for how to grow lettuce on the site. We also recommend reading our article on how to grow lettuce in a greenhouse. In this section, we will tell you about the technology of growing lettuce.

Planting seedlings

You can grow it yourself or buy seedlings from the market.

Sowing seeds under glass

Lettuce seeds are sown in small cups filled with compost, two seeds each and watered abundantly. Put the cups in the greenhouse.

When the seeds sprout, remove the weaker plant. Ventilate the greenhouse daily or leave it open for a few hours a day so that the plants gradually get used to the environment. When the plants have grown enough to be transplanted, plant them in the ground.

Sowing seeds in the ground

When sowing seeds in open ground prepare holes with a diameter of 5 mm. Sow the seeds at different times so that you get a crop from early spring to mid-summer. Plant the grown sprouts at a distance of 7.5 cm from each other. Thin out the lettuce periodically. Water the plants regularly, weed and loosen the soil.

Placing lettuce in the garden

There are 2 ways to grow leaf lettuce that allow you to economically use the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe garden and vegetable garden.

In the first method, when the lettuce is placed on separate beds, the maximum yield is ensured in the shortest possible time. For example, you can sow Romaine lettuce seeds 2.5 cm apart in rows spaced 10 cm apart. Sowing is recommended to start in mid-spring and be done every two weeks until the end of spring. Do not thin out the plants - the method involves growing a large amount of densely growing lettuce. The leaves are cut 4-6 weeks after sowing. Leave the roots and stem to get another crop in 5-6 weeks.

For a small garden, a joint method is suitable, in which case the salad is placed between previously planted vegetables or herbs that grow more slowly than lettuce. For example, you can plant a salad between parsnips or carrots. By the time they rise, the salad will be big. Head lettuce can be a tomato compactor. In this case, it is planted after seedlings of tomatoes in 2 rows along the edge of the garden in a checkerboard pattern. Looks great salad between roses or other flowers in the garden, especially varieties with red leaves.

Growing lettuce at home

Growing lettuce is also possible at home, so to speak, on the windowsill and, most interestingly, there is nothing complicated about it. People who grow lettuce at home willingly share their experience, which can be freely and absolutely free to use for us.

So how do you grow lettuce at home? For this, the culture needs to create special conditions, and only then the salad will delight with greens and a unique taste.

First of all, you need to prepare the right place for growing lettuce, that is, a container. It can be a rectangular box, but remember that the box should not be too modest so that the soil in it does not dry out very quickly. The best option is to plant lettuce in small boxes, say, 60x60 cm or 60x80 cm, the depth of which should be about 10-12 cm.

Further, it is required to choose the right soil, otherwise we will not succeed in anything good. Experts advise choosing the following composition - humus, soddy soil and sand, in a ratio of 2-2-1. Also, you can always purchase specially prepared earth from wildlife stores, unless, of course, you can get and mix it for free. Now, this composition must be tamped into boxes ready for planting salad and pour a little warm water with potassium permanganate, a very light solution. After, make grooves for planting lettuce, 1-1.5 cm deep and with a distance of about 10-12 cm between them. Now you can sow lettuce, but you should not do it too fanatically, keep some distance between the seeds, since case, good and strong shoots will appear. After sowing, it is necessary to carry out additional watering using warm water.

Until the first shoots appear, the seed boxes should be in a dark place, but after they appear on the surface, the boxes should move to a bright place. During the germination period, do not forget to spray the soil from an ordinary sprinkler with warm water, this will speed up the process.

Further, only proper care, which is considered the simplest. You do not need to spend a lot of time choosing fertilizers and loosening, you just need to water the lettuce often, and then it will grow quickly. Watering should be done every 1-2 days, preferably early in the morning or after sunset, so as not to burn or spoil the productive leaves.

It will be possible to harvest the first crop in 20-25 days, which is quite fast, which means that during the first shoots, the next box can already be sown to ensure uninterrupted production.

Growing Lettuce Hydroponically

Growing lettuce hydroponically is, of course, much more difficult than growing lettuce on a windowsill at home, but the result is much more significant. That is, this method is no longer suitable for home production lettuce, but for industrial. Of course, you can arrange a greenhouse or a special room, equip it with expensive equipment and place the seeds in a special composition, but such expenses will be unjustified, since in order to get relatively inexpensive salad self-produced, it must be collected in very large volumes.

So how do you grow lettuce hydroponically?

First of all, it is required to select good seeds for planting, obtained from selected lettuce and properly prepared for sowing. You can’t rush here, otherwise you can not guess quite a bit and get into the dormant period of the seeds.

Seeds that have matured and undergone special training are best planted at temperatures below +20°C. But, if lettuce seeds were prepared specifically for hydroponics, then the best period for planting them would be a hotter time, because such seeds have already expanded temperature limits, which means that germination is possible in more ambiguous conditions. Lettuce seeds should be planted immediately after opening the package so that they do not dry out or, conversely, do not gain moisture. After sowing, the seeds must be covered only with a special film that transmits light, otherwise it will take a very long time to wait for seedlings.

Now you have to take care of proper nutrition, which should arrive already during the opening of the first leaves. So, the concentration of the solution should be relatively low so that the plants develop faster, but the composition of the solution should be the same as for an adult lettuce that is already being cut.

The concentration of elements in the solution can be very diverse, depending on the requirements, conditions, lettuce varieties, and so on, but, most often, experts advise mixture No. 19, with an iron content. Element concentration: N - 200 mg/l, Mg - 50 mg/l, Ca - 200 mg/l, P - 80 mg/l, K - 200 mg/l.

Humidity in the place where the lettuce grows should be kept at the level of 60-80%, and the temperature should not exceed + 16 + 18 ° С. Otherwise, if the temperature rises, lettuce leaves become less juicy and bitter, and the plants themselves throw out flower stalks, which greatly spoils the yield.

Naturally, the temperature and humidity regimes differ significantly when you break down lettuce cultivation from A to Z, from seed holding, germination chamber, seedling tables, and lettuce shearing tables. But, here again it all depends on various factors and varieties of lettuce grown.

In addition to all of the above, not only temperature and humidity, but also the flow of CO2 into the room, the shade of plants, the temperature of the nutrient solution, the purity of the air in the room, and so on, must be regulated. All such nuances only indicate that it is possible, and very simple, to grow lettuce in hydroponics, but only for specialists and in large volumes.

Of course, it's always possible to make your own hydroponics grow table, mix up your nutrient solution, set up a few lamps over your lettuce, and even try to regulate the room temperature, but we're pretty sure that hydroponics and home conditions don't mix, at least when working with goals. a good harvest and a decrease in its cost.

lettuce care

You can grow lettuce in autumn or winter in greenhouses. Of course, you have to put in a little more effort. choose specially bred varieties. To get a harvest from early summer to fall, start sowing lettuce in mid-spring and continue sowing at two-week intervals until mid-summer. Then a stable lettuce harvest is ensured from early summer to mid-autumn.

For autumn harvests, choose frost-resistant varieties. Plant them outdoors no later than the first week of August. In early autumn, when the plants get stronger, transplant them into a greenhouse.

If you do not transplant plants into a greenhouse, then you should thin them out and cover them with caps in early autumn. While it is sunny and warm outside, the caps are removed, and at night they are closed. Lettuce will give a harvest in late autumn.

When lettuce is grown in greenhouses, the seeds are sown in early - mid-autumn, and the crop is harvested in winter until spring.

To obtain high yields, plants need timely loosening of the soil, destruction of weeds and watering. During the period of drought without watering, the lettuce does not tie heads, its leaves become rough, bitter, and the flower stalk is thrown out. On crops that are not thinned out in a timely manner, heads cannot form, plants bloom early.

Harvesting

Head lettuce is eaten when a dense core has formed. To determine the degree of readiness, press the core with your finger. If it is dense - the salad can be collected. harvest early in the morning by cutting lettuce with a knife or uprooting. Send the unwanted leaves to the compost for rotting.

Be careful - lettuce leaves break easily. During drought, lettuce throws out long fragile flower stems, they are bitter and are not eaten. In order not to break the plants, try not to touch them when leaving. Don't plant too many plants in the same place so you don't have to thin them out very often. All broken plants immediately send to the compost.

Pests and diseases

Lettuce is affected by many insects - pests and diseases. However, if the soil is properly prepared, weeding and watering in the right dosage is carried out in a timely manner, then problems are unlikely to arise. We recommend learning how to use spunbond in the beds.

A photo
Leaf lettuce is one of the most common types of greens on our summer and spring tables. Salad has a lot of useful properties for the body. It contains a huge amount of vitamins. Consistent consumption of lettuce improves the immune system.

Today, there are a huge number of lettuce varieties that differ in color, taste, leaf shape, etc. The color of leaf lettuce is green, pink, purple, lilac. Such plants are not only grown for food, but also for decorating the garden.

I want to harvest lettuce as early as possible. In this regard, the question arises - When to Plant Lettuce in Spring? In this article, we will tell you when it is better to plant lettuce in a greenhouse and in open ground.

When to plant lettuce outdoors?


by the most delicious leaves lettuce are the first. Then the leaves begin to turn bitter. Therefore, it makes no sense to grow this green for a long time. It is much more expedient to sow lettuce periodically throughout the season, little by little.

When to plant lettuce outdoors? This greenery can be planted in the spring at the same time as the radish, that is late April - early May . So you get an early harvest.

Before planting, you need to dig up the bed and let it stand for 1-2 days. Then grooves are made at a distance of 20-25 centimeters. The distance between plants in the furrow should be at least 4-5 centimeters. That is, every 4-5 centimeters lay out 2-3 seeds. Fall asleep should be shallow - 0.5-1 centimeter. Sprinkle loose soil on top.

Lettuce rises quite quickly. After 2-3 days, the first shoots will appear.

You can sow lettuce in open ground throughout the season - from the end of April.

When to plant lettuce in a greenhouse?

To get an earlier harvest, lettuce is planted in a greenhouse. You can start the first crops in the greenhouse already from the end of March . Planting agrotechnics is exactly the same as in open ground.

Many people do this: they plant lettuce in a greenhouse at the end of March, get a harvest, and then sow only in open ground.

Video.

Related video:

Start growing seedlings with preparing seeds for sowing seedlings

Sowing lettuce seeds

The seedling method most often grows early varieties of lettuce, among the later ones, head varieties of culture are suitable for growing in this way. The technology for growing seedlings is the same for all salads. The difference lies in the timing of sowing and planting in the ground. It is very important to choose the right time for sowing seeds, which depend on the timing of planting seedlings in a permanent place. Lettuce is an early ripening and fairly cold-resistant crop, so it can be planted in early spring, as well as before winter.

Sowing dates

Lettuce in a greenhouse or a heated greenhouse is best planted through seedlings. Seedlings grow within 25-30 days after germination. Therefore, if you want to get a lettuce harvest in early spring, around the first half of April, it must be sown from the last week of January to mid-February.

If it is planned to grow salag in open ground, then the seeds of head and asparagus lettuce can be sown approximately in the third decade of March - the first decade of April, since the age of the seedlings should not exceed 30-35 days. Specific sowing dates depend on local and weather climatic conditions. AT middle lane In Russia, seedlings of early head and asparagus lettuce are grown from the end of March to the beginning of April. Seedlings are planted in a permanent place in May.

Early-ripening varieties of lettuce are usually sown in open ground from mid-April, mid-ripening and late-ripening - from April to mid-June. Starting to sow the seeds of leaf lettuce from mid-April, if you wish, you can continue to harvest lettuce throughout the season, you can carry out stepped sowing every 10-14 days for the first three plantings. Planting can be continued until the end of August, performing summer crops with a reduced interval of one week. The last two plantings should be made with a break of two weeks, as in the beginning of the season.

lettuce seed sowing technique

Having decided on the timing of sowing seeds for seedlings, you need to choose a method for growing it. Lettuce seedlings are grown in a potless or potted method with seedlings picking or without picking, using bulk pots, peat or peat-humus cubes and cassettes, as well as other methods.

Growing lettuce seedlings in a potless way

When growing lettuce seedlings in a potless way, sowing seeds should be carried out directly on the beds of greenhouses or hotbeds, with and without further diving. For such planting, greenhouse (greenhouse) racks or seed boxes are used. The approximate consumption rate of lettuce seeds during sowing is 5-7 g per 1 m 2. If it is planned to use diving or transplanting plants in order to increase the feeding area, lettuce seeds are sown at a rate of 6-8 g per 1 m2 or 10-12 g per greenhouse frame.

❧ Lettuce is attractive because it can be grown almost all year round using various varieties, sowing dates, growing methods, using repeated crops and much more. You can plant several different types of lettuce at once, getting a wide range of plants with different leaves in shape and color.

To effectively grow lettuce seedlings in a potless way, you first need to prepare the right container in the form of a wooden rectangular box. Such a box should not be too small, otherwise the soil in it will dry out very quickly. The optimal size of the container for sowing lettuce seeds is small boxes with side dimensions of 60 X 60 cm or 60 X 80 cm, their depth should be approximately 10-12 cm.

Before sowing, the boxes must be filled with the selected composition of the soil mixture, then lightly tamped so that there are no voids, and pour a little warm water, to which a very light solution of potassium permanganate is added. The thickness of the layer of soil mixture in the seed box should be from 12-16 cm or more. Shelves in a greenhouse should be covered with greenhouse soil of approximately the same thickness.

Seeds should be sown in furrows made in the soil, at a distance of about 10-12 or 20-25 cm from one another. The row spacing depends on the variety of lettuce: for sprawling bushes, it should be larger. When sowing, a certain distance between seeds should be observed - 2-3 cm, since only in this case large and strong seedlings can appear. (Though at this stage it is possible to sow the seeds in a continuous band and then thin out the seedlings.)

For convenience, before starting sowing on the soil surface, you can mark the location of rows and grooves using a special marker. Immediately before sowing, the soil should be strongly moistened. After that, lettuce seeds are sown, they are planted to a depth of 1-1.5 cm and watered with water. room temperature(25°C). Then the seed boxes are transferred to a warm place and wait for the emergence of seedlings, maintaining the temperature at least 23 ° C.

Growing lettuce seedlings in pots

When growing lettuce seedlings in pots and then diving into pots, the seeds are usually planted in seed boxes of the same size as in the previous case. The box is filled with soil mixture so that the thickness of its layer is at least 12-16 cm. The approximate seed sowing rate is 2-4 g per 1 m 2. When grown without diving, the approximate seeding rate is 1 g per 1 m 2.

Seeds in a sowing box are planted in rows to a depth of 0.5-1 cm, maintaining a distance between rows of 3-6 cm. The soil is moistened before sowing. Lettuce seeds are small, so they can be mixed with some sand. After sowing, they are sprinkled with a thin layer of soil, and then additional watering is carried out using warm water (25 ° C).

Lettuce seedlings can be grown without diving, performing direct sowing in peat or peat-humus pots measuring 5x5 cm and 6x6 cm, or bulk containers (cups) filled with compost or soil mixture, measuring 3 x 3 cm or 6 x 6 cm. With this method of sowing 2-3 seeds are placed in each pot and sprinkled with light humus soil or peat with a layer of 0.3-05 cm. After sowing, the seeds are watered abundantly. Then the cups are placed in a greenhouse or in a warm place in the living room.

The future yield of lettuce depends on the quality of the conditions created during seed germination. Until the first shoots appear, boxes or pots of seeds should be kept in a dark place.

Daytime air temperature should be maintained at 18-22°C, and at night - at 6-10°C. At this temperature, lettuce sprouts the fastest. (Although the optimal temperature for germination of lettuce seeds is considered to be 8-15°C.)

It is very important that the soil does not dry out when germinating the seeds. Therefore, they must be constantly watered with a weak stream, using a strainer. It is best to water the crops with warm water (25 ° C), covering the soil with gauze or cloth, being careful not to expose the seeds. You can water in the period before germination, spraying the soil with warm water from a spray bottle, this will speed up the process of seed germination.

Cassette method of growing lettuce

Now the cassette method of growing lettuce seedlings is becoming widespread, in which cassettes with a cell size of 2.5 x 2.5 cm, 3 x 3 cm, 4 x 4 cm or b x b cm are used.

This method using polymer cassettes provides for two options: first, diving seedlings into cassettes from school; secondly, direct sowing of seeds into cells. The advantage of the cassette growing method is the possibility of obtaining an early harvest, as well as the guarantee of the planned seed density of the plants, which allows you to get more seedlings from an equal area. For example, when growing seedlings in closed ground, you can get from 1 m2 to 300 plants. If, however, cassettes with 224 cells are used, then 800 plants can be obtained from such an area, since four such cassettes can be installed per 1 m2.

There are additional advantages of the cassette method of growing lettuce seedlings. The germination of seeds planted in cassettes is much higher than those that were sown in the greenhouse soil. When diving, part of the seedlings grown in the greenhouse is lost, while when grown in cassettes, all plants are preserved, which reduces the cost of seeds by half.

Cassettes with sown seeds are installed for germination in a room where it is possible to maintain the air temperature at the level of 21-22 ° C, and humidity - within 85-90%.

Seeds germinate in cassettes no later than 2-3 days. This technology of growing lettuce makes it possible to regulate the growth of plants. This property is especially important in those conditions when the seedlings are ready for planting, and the conditions in the open field do not yet meet their needs. Growing seedlings in cassettes, you can temporarily stop its growth and keep the plants in this state without harm to them for quite a long time, until the conditions of the open ground return to normal.

Plants transplanted into open ground from cassettes develop evenly, grow rapidly, since their root system is preserved intact. The heads of such a salad have the same size and weight. The yield from seedlings from cassettes is usually 15-20% higher than from plants grown in other ways.

Sowing lettuce seeds in cassettes

Seeds for growing lettuce seedlings are sown directly in polymer cassettes, which are pre-filled with ready-made peat substrate with a suitable level of acidity and enriched with fertilizers. Very little substrate is needed. The cassettes are filled, watered abundantly with water, and one or several seeds are sown in each cup. Then the cassettes are covered with a film to prevent excess evaporation of moisture. After the seeds germinate, you can remove the film.