Lettuce is one of the first vegetables you may harvest from your garden . It does n’t take long to rise , and its crisp , juicy leave of absence are often ready to blame in just 50 24-hour interval . But sometimes , it ’s faster and easier to regrow the same works rather than preparing the soil and seed a new crop .
When using the right harvesting method , a simoleons works will grow novel leaves in 2 week and will keep you reap for at least a month .
The honorable way to harvest simoleons so that it grow back is by pick the outer leave using the cut - and - come - again method . Alternatively , you’re able to regrow lettuce from its crown or the cluster of belittled leaves in the middle of the plant . depend on the method you use , lettuce will grow back at least once , but the flora will finally bulge out maturate belittled , sulphurous leaves .
Now , I can hear you think , “ Can we keep regrowing the same dinero plant forever and a day ? ” I wish we could , but deplorably , after a while , the plant will start to yield modest , slightly bitter leaves . However , the good news is that with a few clever tricks , we can extend our bread crop season , even under the sweltry summer sun !
This guide we ’ll walk you through how to harvest your lettuce for a repeat harvest and excuse why endless regrowth can be a act of a myth .
When Is Lettuce Ready to Harvest?
Lettuce typically acquire between 6 to 8 calendar week before it ’s ready to harvest . Butterhead and oakleaf varieties mature first and some cultivars can be pick in as piffling as 35 to 40 day .
Bibb and cos or romaine lettuces take about 60 twenty-four hours before you could start out picking them , or up to 80 days if you need to harvest a well - modernize head . Meanwhile , crisphead miscellany can take up to 12 hebdomad to form a compressed head .
you’re able to harvest lettuce at any point during its growth cycle . Seedlings are eatable , and thinnings can be supply to your salad a hebdomad after the seed spud .
Young , baby lettuce plant are quick to pick in just 4 weeks . But for a bigger harvest time , it ’s good to wait around 50 days after sow before you start piece .
Depending on the variety , you ’ll know that loot leaves are ready to harvest when they are between 8 and 15 cm farseeing ( around 3 to 6 inches ) .
Looseleaf , Bibb and romaine loot taste good as an immature crop , when the leave are a dark unripened and have a tender grain .
Crisphead bread is best pick when it reaches maturity , when the leaf overlap in a soaked bunch and the heading yields slenderly ro press .
2 ways to Harvest Lettuce So It Grows Back
There are two ways you could glean lettuce so that it keeps maturate : using the cut - and - descend - again method acting , or regrowing lettuce from the crown . Let ’s take a close look at each method .
1. The Cut-and-Come-again Method
The aim of the skip - and - amount - again method is to regularly glean the elderly , prohibited leave of your lettuce plant while leaving the inner crown inviolate . It ’s basically a form of pruning that retain the flora focused on originate novel leaves rather than reaching adulthood and develop peak .
This method works well on non - heading loot varieties , such as looseleaf and Bibb , but you could also use it for romaine clams .
you could start harvesting the tabu leaves of your lettuce when they are at least 10 cm ( 4 inches ) long . Select a few of the outer , mature foliage , and prune them with a sharp yoke of scissor hold . Leave the small leave-taking in the center intact .
They should be big enough to reap in 10 to 14 Day , and the works will originate a new treetop in the meantime . Keep pick the lettuce leaves until the industrial plant starts bolting , or spending its energy on flower and move to sow .
For honorable results , try harvesting your pelf in the morning , when the leave are frizzy and sweet-smelling , and invalidate picking too many leaves at a time . This direction , the industrial plant will have enough energy to grow more foliage , and you’re able to pick it for longer .
2. Regrowing a Lettuce Head
Lettuce variety that form a thick , compact head , such as iceberg lettuce , are easier to harvest by switch off the full head , rather than picking individual leaves . But if you trim back them the right means , your kale will grow a second , albeit smaller , harvest .
The trick is to leave most of the interior crown integral . Cutting straight above the soil line can permanently damage the plant life , and it ’s improbable that your lettuce will produce young growth .
reserve the lettuce head in one hand , then use a untainted steel tongue to cut it about 5 cm ( 2 column inch ) above the ground . If the internal diadem is mostly integral , you will see new leafage emerge after 3 – 5 days , and you’re able to reap them using the same method acting after about 2 weeks .
Keep in mind that crisphead salmagundi will not form a new principal if you use this method . They will turn a cluster of fresh leaves , but they wo n’t clump together to form a pie-eyed brain . However , non - heading variety show , and even romaine lettuce , will produce a becoming second harvest .
How Many Times Can You Regrow Lettuce?
On average , you could regrow and harvest the same lettuce plant at least once . And , reckon on the bread variety and how you pick it , you’re able to reap a unexampled flush of leaf for at least a month .
With heading lettuce type or if you ’ve already cut off most of the head when harvesting , your dinero will regrow once . At a pushing , and if you ’re providing it with ideal grow condition , perchance you may get a third crop . However , the leaves will be significantly smaller .
With cos ( romaine ) , Bibb , and looseleaf boodle varieties , you could harvest single outer will 3 or 5 time using the thin out - and - fall - again method . After that , the plant will start out growing smaller leaves , with a noticeably acid taste , and tough , stringy shank .
Can You Regrow Lettuce Indefinitely?
The brusque response is no , for two chief reasons .
Lettuce is an annual industrial plant , which means that it only lives for one growing season . It will pass the first part of its liveliness developing roots and growing foliage . It will then pass all its energy on grow flowers and going to seed . In the process , it will store as many nutrients as it can in the seeds , to secure that the young plants will thrive after seed germination . As a termination , it will expend few nutrients on grow new leaf .
Lettuce is also a long - day harvest . This means that when the daylight are longer than 12 hours , the plant life will slowly enter the bloom and seeding part of its lifecycle . geminate with raging temperatures , your lettuce is guaranteed to start bolting at some dot during summer .
Another thing to keep in mind is that scratch plants course produce a milky , latex - alike substance call lactucarium . This bitter substance helps the plant seal baseball swing on leaves and stems , and protects plants from pests and range wildlife — or , in this case , gardeners who really love their salads .
unremarkably , this bitterness is quite mild . But if your wampum harvest is suffering from water stress , not enough nutrients , gamy temperatures , or if the works has decided it ’s near the end of its outgrowth cycle and starts bolting , the bitter taste will become much more detectable .
Unless you wangle to find a mode to rise lucre in a coolheaded speckle , with plenty of access to water and nutrient , and you manage to keep daylight distance in check , Mother Nature will eventually follow its row . Your bread will grow fewer , belittled leaves , and they will develop an increasingly acrid taste with each harvest .
However , there are a few things you’re able to do to prolong your gelt harvesting time of year .
5 Ways to Maximize Your Lettuce Harvest and Enjoy It Longer
Here are some must - know horticulture tips that will prolong your kale develop season , and even keep you busy harvesting lettuce despite the summer heat .
1. Plant Lettuce Seeds Every 2 Weeks
Succession planting is the easiest way to secure that you’re able to enjoy fresh lettuce for farseeing . Lettuce seed do n’t take long to rise , and some variety are ready to reap after just 40 twenty-four hours . Sow your first slew of seeds in early natural spring , then implant more seeds once every 2 week until July .
2. Provide Shade
blending concealment and shade cloth are your friend in observe your lettuce cool and preventing run out . They aid trick the flora ’s internal clock by making the sidereal day seem shorter , and countenance you to keep acquire pelf during the summer calendar month . As a bonus , they will also keep simoleons safe from pests .
3. Water, Mulch, and Fertilize Regularly
wampum plants are more likely to set off bolding in dry conditions , or if they ’re not get enough nutrients . Water - related stress will also get the lettuce leaves to deform blistering .
To keep your works levelheaded and productive , keep the grease moist but not soaked , add a layer of mulch around the plant to preserve ground moisture , and give them a liquid , nutrient - fertile plant food once every two weeks .
4. Plant Heat-resistant Lettuce Varieties
Lettuce will set out to work bitter and bolt in temperatures above 21 ° C ( 70 ° F ) . Butterhead , looseleaf , and oak leaf moolah change are more heat tolerant , as well as resistive to bolting .
They are the best choice if you ’re plan to develop lolly in summer . Crisphead and romaine lettuces are sensitive to heat , although some cultivars , such as Jericho , Nevada , and Cimarron , are more bolt - resistive .
5. Plant a Mix of Heading and Non-heading Lettuces
develop several lettuce cultivars in one bed will add texture and color to your salad bowl , but also facilitate your garden produce a longer harvest .
Romaine and looseleaf dinero can be harvested first , by pick the out parting once every two workweek .
you may then harvest your heading lettuce by veer the head 2 inches above the grease personal line of credit , and give the plants another 2 to 3 workweek to grow a new flush of leave .
check up on out ourguide to 19 clams varietiesthat would make a tasty add-on to your veg garden .
Grow, Snip, Repeat
One of the best thing about simoleons is that harvest it repeatedly is astonishingly well-to-do . When using the dilute - and - come - again method acting , it will grow new leaves in just 2 weeks , and you could pick the same industrial plant up to 5 time .
But remember : you could only harvest lettuce so many clock time before the leave startle flex bitter and the plant decides to spend all its energy on bolting . And when that hap , it ’s always good to just start a newfangled bread crop .
write By
Amber Noyes was born and raised in a suburban California townsfolk , San Mateo . She hold up a victor ’s degree in horticulture from the University of California as well as a BS in Biology from the University of San Francisco . With experience working on an constitutive farm , urine conservation research , Farmer ’ market , and works nursery , she read what makes plants thrive and how we can best translate the connexion between microclimate and plant health . When she ’s not on the land , Amber loves inform people of Modern ideas / things related to horticulture , especially organic gardening , houseplants , and raise plant life in a small distance .
