Lettuce or letsugas is among the most famous vegetables in the world because it’s the main ingredient in many salad recipes. After all, it’s rich in vitamins A, K, folate, and protein. On the other hand, farmers and gardeners enjoy growing lettuce because it’s easy to do.
There are several types of lettuce, with Loose Leaf, Romaine, and Crisphead being the most well-known.
A fertile, loamy soil rich in organic matter and a pH of 6.5 to 7.0 is suitable for growing lettuce. Lettuce is usually grown in cool areas at 12 to 20 degrees Celsius. Some lettuces can be grown in low places.
Start planting lettuce by pulverizing the soil and adding one kilogram of dried chicken manure and 300 grams of carbonized rice hull per square meter. Put it in the seedlings and moisten. It is better to use a seedling tray so that it is easy to plant and pull it out.
If there is no seedling tray, make furrows in the seedling with an interval of seven to ten centimeters. Soak the seeds in warm water for four hours. Air dry them and spread them thinly on the seedbed. Cover the seedling with some soil.
Transplant the lettuces when they are ten to four days old. Water each hole thoroughly and transplant one seedling per hole. Transfer the plants early in the day or afternoon to avoid shocking the plants during hot days.
Frequent watering is necessary. Sprinkler or drip irrigation is also feasible. Also, apply manure tea or fermented plant juice once every week to keep the plants healthy and increase their resistance to disease and pests.
Leafhoppers and semi-loopers are the leading pests of lettuce. To control them, spray crushed chili (100 grams in 16 liters of water) mixed with a spoonful of soap. Decay caused by fungus is also a prominent disease. Avoid it by maintaining good drainage and a high level of plantation.
Harvest Crisphead varieties after 45 to 60 days from transplanting or if the heads are hard. Loose Leaf varieties can be harvested before flowering and when they have reached the required size. Do this early to prevent the leaves from wilting. Cut off the entire plant above the ground to keep most of the leaves.
This information is from the Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI)