lettuce

[littleminnie]

I grew about 8 varieties and labelled the first of each one when planting. I did one bed of transplants into straw early and successively after. Darn if I can find any of the labels! Really? Where did they go?! I have some idea which is which but no confirmation. Then I seeded my usual Pinetree lettuce mix and some came up on its own. None of it has actually bolted yet but the light green frilly Simpson style is trying to bolt. It is definitely first. After that is the medium green smoother lettuces, although butterhead seems to be ok (is very attractive to caterpillars though! I sprayed bt last week so luckily the damage stopped and no caterpillars in the wash water today). Next bolt-wise are the red frilly leaf lettuces. Last to bolt is the green oakleaf, tango or saladbowl style with the deep 'cuts' if you know what I mean. That is last every year.
www.johnnyseeds.com/p-5824-tango.aspx Kind of like this one.
I do know I grew Great Lakes lettuce and it turned out to be an iceberg variety. It is neat and clean but not useful for my operation.

[steev]

Iceberg lettuce is only useful on a burger, or as a wedge with industrial vinegar, salt, and pepper, like Granny fixed it. She called that "salad", and I didn't know better, as a child.

[bonsaioutlaw]

The reds always bolt before the greens for me.

[oxbowfarm]

Black Seeded Simpson is the best but it bolts very quickly once you start getting some warm temps. The closest summer variety to it that I've found is Simpson Elite.

[bluelacedredhead]

If you've ever had the opportunity to read Scott and Helen Nearing's book "Building and Using Our Sun Heated Greenhouse", Black Seeded Simpson was their lettuce of choice to raise. It would tolerate the frosty conditions in their Vermont greenhouse overnight, wilt up a bit and by 11 am be standing up straight and tall and waiting to be eaten.

Makes sense therefore that it would be the first to bolt in the heat of summer.

[littleminnie]

We are making lettuce wraps tomorrow the the 'iceberg'. It isn't like at the store you know.
I have heard other people say red goes for them first but I haven't seen that. We are having 4 days in a row 85-90 with high humidity and it will be the death of my lettuce and spinach. ba bye.
I plant my greens in some shade but want to try a better shade system next year. I have been watering a lot in the last few days!

[oxbowfarm]

The nice modern red leaf varieties are perfectly fine as long as they are kept watered. The absolute best red leaf is Red Sails but its too fragile to get to market. New Red Fire is almost as good and is sturdy enough to get to market intact but still be tender and crisp vs supermarket leaf lettuce like Waldman's.

[Walk]

I don't bother with labels for beds of mixed varieties like the lettuces. I just plant them in alphabetical order and can easily tell them apart since I don't plant any 2 varieties that look a lot alike. Makes it easier in the greenhouse and the garden.

As for favorite varieties, Cracoviensis does best at any time of year for us although it does bolt quickly when it gets hot. But the leaves are still tasty even after bolting, so no loss of harvest. New Red Fire is one of our favorites for winter production indoors, along with the Cracoviensis.

[oxbowfarm]

I've tried Cracoviensis. I found it very strange.

Does it get intensely waxy for you in Minnesota? It did here, and then it bolted and got even waxier, almost gray. I haven't had good luck getting customers to accept the blade type lettuces like Dear Tongue or Les Orielles du Diable either.

[littleminnie]

Waxy?

Alphabetical order is a good idea. I like that; it appeals to my sorting/organizing side.

With 90 degrees, high humidity and 30-35 mile per hour winds today the poor lettuce had it rough! It was my first CSA packing day and I had to cut lettuce in this wind and heat. Now we have had some moderate storms and it is cooling off. Maybe the AC can go off tomorrow. I am giving all the CSAs 2 bags of lettuce this week because it is going to go soon.

[johninfla]

New Red Fire worked really well for us this year......it was really heat resistant!

John

[Walk]

Cracoviensis waxy? I think I know what you mean by that. If grown in full sun, it can get more "tough" and the color suffers. I usually grow lettuces in garden areas that give them partial shade, at least for part of the day. The less full sun, the more tender the leaves are. Color is less intense also so the red varieties don't look as appealing as they could. As a grower, I like the blade types like Les Oreilles du Diable and Cracoviensis as they are easier to pick mature leaves from without damaging the heart of the plant and they have less hiding places for slugs to take up residence. Speaking of which, Deer Tongue is the worst for us because of the slugs in the tightly folded center, but we grow it anyway as its tender hearts are a treat if the slugs are evicted before eating. ;>) New Red Fire, like the Cracoviensis, seems to be able to make salad greens for us in most any season, cool or hot. It's nice to have a couple of varieties to count on.

[oxbowfarm]

Here's the varieties we rely on.

Green Leaf: Black Seeded Simpson (Spring, Fall, Winter) Simpson Elite (Summer)
Red Leaf: New Red Fire
Summer Crisp/Batavia: Cherokee
Boston/Bibb: Nancy(Spring, Fall) Adriana (Summer)
Romaine: Plato II
Oakleaf: Red Saladbowl, Green Saladbowl, Seargent (Spring)

There are some others that we've tried and liked, Les Oreilles is a nice lettuce but it doesn't sell, so is Forenschluss/Speckled Trout romaine types. I find that customers react negatively to speckled lettuce, they think something is wrong with it like it's diseased or something. They are much prettier in the field than on a display.

[12540dumont]

I'm trying Succrine & Red Iceberg this week. So farm the succrine and iceberg looking like they'll make it to Thursday without bolting and the succrine is not Bitter.

I tried mascara and trout lettuce 2 weeks ago. I liked the flavor of the speckled lettuce.

I'm going to seed Sweetie & Brown Goldring today. Ox, next year when I buy lettuce seed, I'm using your list.

Attachments:

[littleminnie]

Jun 11, 2012 8:48:39 GMT -5 oxbowfarm said:

Here's the varieties we rely on.

Green Leaf: Black Seeded Simpson (Spring, Fall, Winter) Simpson Elite (Summer)
Red Leaf: New Red Fire
Summer Crisp/Batavia: Cherokee
Boston/Bibb: Nancy(Spring, Fall) Adriana (Summer)
Romaine: Plato II
Oakleaf: Red Saladbowl, Green Saladbowl, Seargent (Spring)

There are some others that we've tried and liked, Les Oreilles is a nice lettuce but it doesn't sell, so is Forenschluss/Speckled Trout romaine types. I find that customers react negatively to speckled lettuce, they think something is wrong with it like it's diseased or something. They are much prettier in the field than on a display.

Even I end up looking twice at any spotted lettuce in my lettuce mix beds! Nice to know it is not worth growing solo.