Lettuce (Lettuce sown, or lettuce) is mainly used as a vitamin green. The leaves, cauliflower, and thickened stem are used as food. Leaves and cauliflower are edible fresh until the plant develops a stem, then they become bitter. Juicy lettuce leaves are rich in vitamins (C, B, PP and others), salts of potassium, iron, phosphorus and other elements, carotene, contain sugars, citric and folic acids.

Types of cultivation

The germination time of the seeds is 4-12 days. Young plants with a height of 10 cm are not suitable for the market, but can be used for food in the household. In six weeks, the diameter of the cabbage reaches 65 cm, but a good marketable lettuce has a diameter of 23 cm. Lettuce needs plenty of nutrition and plenty of water. It grows best when the root medium is neutral (pH 7) and when the ratio between nitrogen and potassium in the nutrient mixture is 1:1.[1] For other data, the recommended pH is 6.2-6.8.[3]

A special nutrient mix is available for commercial lettuce culture.

Lettuce does not tolerate excess moisture around the root neck, so the nutrient solution must be fed into the pan so that it does not go up to six crops. The feeding area of the plants is 23x23 cm. Commercial culture of lettuce should be continuous, so it is important to always have seedlings ready. When growing in vermiculite, the seedlings develop a very abundant root system. Since vermiculite forms a clump with small roots, the plants tolerate transplanting well. Immediately after harvesting, sprouts are planted in a free place. For home consumption, lettuce is grown in between the rows of tomatoes or cucumbers, which provide the necessary shade for it.

The recommended variety is Great Lake. Nutrient mix: A nutrient mix for lettuce. Because lettuce consumes a lot of iron in the summer, the mix should be replenished regularly with this element.

Growing lettuce using the floating platform method

These days, lettuce is grown on an industrial scale by the floating platform method - huge rectangular concrete basins are filled with a soft nutrient solution, and rectangular foam rafts with lettuce seedlings float in them. Each day one end is harvested from one row of rafts. The other rafts are pushed up to make room for a new row added at the other end. The lettuce crop is harvested once every 30-35 days, hence the 30-35 rows of rafts. Not an inch of space is lost; there are no aisles. The same solution is kept most of the season, only water and salts are added to balance the solution