Allotments 4 All

Hi - over the years I have had a number of lettuces rot off at ground level even when well developed and it doesn't seem to matter which variety I grow.  I cannot see any obvious signs of 'animal' attack and it occurs whatever the weather.  I grow the plants in plugs for transplanting out when large enough but it makes little difference from when the seeds were sown directly into the soil. 
Has anyone any suggestions as to what this might be caused by and how to sort it?
Regards to all.

I think you might be suffering from a form of neck-rot / botrytis and this tends to happen when the plants are too close together and air doesn't get around the plant. They tend to sweat under the first leaves and this causes decay.

Try thinning them out more, OK you get less plants per yard but at least you get bigger and better plants for doing so.

Alternatively pull out any suspect /dying leaves early on!

clodhopper it may be worth scrapping around the soil under the lettuce you may find a grub which eats through the stem.  I grow my plain lettuce anything between 10 and 12" apart and webbs at 14" apart and never up to yet had any problems.

Hi Guys - thanks for the suggestions.  I do space them 10" - 12" apart as they are cos type - Counter and Winter Density.  So far this year it's the Counter that's affected but in other years it was also Little Gems which I stopped growing because of the losses.  I checked the soil round the stumps by pulling them out with a lump of soil attached and searched for keel slugs, cutworms etc but so far, nowt.  I am going to make sure the bottom leaves are off the ground with the next lot I put out to ensure good air circulation.  I've got some Nemaslug on order so hopefully that should sort out the soil borne slugs of which I've plenty.
Cheers.

This is often cuased by planting just a bit too deep, I like to see them almost fall over rather than put soil around them to hold them up, also if when you prick them out (if grown inside) and handle the stem rather than the leaf this can cause rot later on.

the ones in sandy soil seem to b doing better this year  :)

Quote from: laurieuk on May 14, 2007, 21:18:17
This is often cuased by planting just a bit too deep, I like to see them almost fall over rather than put soil around them to hold them up, also if when you prick them out (if grown inside) and handle the stem rather than the leaf this can cause rot later on.

Thanks Laurie, although I try to handle them by the plugs I probably shove them in a bit too deep as it can get pretty windy here at times.