Allotments 4 All
Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: Gillian on November 23, 2005, 21:08:14
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Hi,
I'm trying to grow winter lettuce but the seedlings keep coming up all long and stringy. What am I doing wrong?
They're in a heated propagator, on a sunny (well if there is any) windowledge but still the same.
It says on the packet to sow until Jan - I am trying!
Any ideas?
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Light levels are so low at this time of year I suspect your seedlings just ain't getting enough solar energy. I don't bother sowing any small seeds (i.e. without stored energy supplies) until mid January when the light levels in my greenhouse improve again...
As for winter lettuce I sow my last lot in October when they get a chance to grow (really slowly) for eating into January. Nov/Dec is really a no sow zone in my book...
It may be different in the sunny south, however...
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i suggest you pay me to take them to the bahamas for a week to help them along
carl
OK OK I offerd lol
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oh bugger - I bet you're right it's just not a good time for wee seedlings.
Oh well, I'll ditch them and try again in January.
Thanks for the advice.
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Its no better in the sunney south with lettuce seed.Light levels are so low at this time of year been trying all ways. P/ S I'm in somerset
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Too hot,too little light and either too late or too early depending on which way you look at it! I never get round to sowing my winter lettuce at the right time either,Gillian,I seem to spend several weeks saying I must to it and I've never managed it yet!
......and one day a man shall land on the moon.........
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Mine says it can be sown right through the winter and to cloche it if it gets a bit too cold to germinate. I hope so because I took my eye off my first sowing and the slugs and snails levelled it.
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Gillian - see the difference that a growing light (on the right) can make even in March.
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Lovely picture Tim.
Lettuces definitely don't want a heated propagator in order to germinate - did trials last year, and the best result was in fact at around 8 - 10 degrees in spring, with shelter from the weather in an open polytunnel.
When I sow them out on the plot, I generally do it in the shade cast by a fruit cage - that way it keeps cool enough to do successional sowing throughout the summer.
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i sowed mixed leaves at the end of october and some(gawd help me!)last week and put all under bell cloches..they are doing really well and we get...um.about a small salaad a week from them-just enough to keep the scurvy at bay!
i brought my pepper plants into the (cold..and i mean cold)conservatory and they are slowly and healthily ripening to a cheery red...
i would try again in jan feb time under cloches ....
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I have a growing light at work, perhaps I can keep some small lettuces going there ...
Derekthefox :D
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I've got a good row of winter lettuce doing well on the lotty, still small but delish,
Will they still grow or will they stop until weather warms up ?
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They'll grow slowwwwwly... (from memory) I think winter growth rates are a third of those in summer...
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Yes, having grown parella red one year in my unheated greenhouse, they seemed to take forever ...
Derekthefox :D
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We used red (or is it called black) perilla in one of our flowerbeds this year not realising it was edible. It's called shiso and is used as a wrap for sushi.
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I was disappointed with the flavour, they seemed rather bitter, but so much is trial and error anyway ...
Derekthefox :D
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Wonder if being wrapped round a piece of raw fish would make it more palatable :P
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Wrapping them around anything would make them seem better I guess !!! ;D
Derekthefox :D
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Mine, Derek, had 4 hours extra morning & evening.
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Just been to plot and checked on my winter lettuce. They look a bit limp and browning at the edges. Bit like meself :)
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exfoliation wardy!-thass wot you need..... ;)
mine are growing in a south facing bath(of soil..we are having to get a strip wash in the horse trough.)
nothing new there then ;D
but they are growing a bit-
wrapping it round raw fish will make it taste better.
yes-wrap it round some sushi,garnish with parsley.place neatly in the bin and go down the chippy ;D ;D ;D
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then you will be beautiful.
ahem...even MORE beautiful wardy!
bloomin parky it is here....
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Ey up Kits I'll have you know that I am the proud owner of a new exfoliating machine and all the potions that go with it nah then! No batteries like ;D It was a pressie. Would I have bought one meself ;D
What's that then - an orbital sander?
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ohhh clanger-duck sweeetie!
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...couldn't you just shave instead? (runs)
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are you two tired of living? :o
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You lot have got me in stitches now !!!
Derekthefox :D
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Who cares what anything has to do with winter lettuces Wardy, this is excellent free entertainment !
Derekthefox :D
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poor mrs clanger...
her christmas presents going to be a choice between an orbital sander and a router for those stubborn lines...
clanger!you are spoiling her! ;D
and it has everything to do with winter lettuces..thats clangers christmas dinner once mrs clangers opened her prezzy! >:(
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Wardy how could you doubt me. :o Ever wondered why a man's face is so smooth after shaving - not unlike a babe's bot? Sure the bristles have gone, but also any dead layers of skin. Exfolliation par excellence! Having just shaved my facial hair off for the first time in two years I can vouch for this scientific fact.
Apologies always accepted.
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...I'm waiting....
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dont hold yer breath tm-she's busy with leaves ;D
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is that with a good news paper or without ?
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TM You smarmy git! I bet you cheated and used orbital sander first and then Gillette's finest and then to catch any stragglers applied some Immac. "Vanity, vanity, all is vanity" (quo by Wardy from thesis on "How long men spend in the bathroom", Nov 05, pub. Blue Bell)
;D
Actually, I used loppers....