Proper growing of lettuce on a windowsill from seeds. When to plant lettuce in open ground

The very first crop, since it is very cold-resistant and can withstand frosts down to -5 degrees, so sowing can begin as soon as the ground thaws. To quickly get the first greenery, you can plant it through seedlings or grow it.

Features of planting watercress

This is the fastest ripening species; it can be eaten within 15-17 days after planting. Make a low bed, add fertilizers: wood ash, nitrophoska. Carefully level the surface and water generously. Make even rows at a distance of 12-15 cm from each other and about 1 cm deep. Sow the watercress seeds and sprinkle them with soil. When planting early, the bed can be covered with a covering material, for example, lutrasil - this will help the emergence of friendly shoots.

It is best to grow all types of lettuce in areas where crops such as potatoes and cabbage were grown the previous year, that is, after crops for which organic fertilizers were applied.

Seedlings. There should be a distance of 4-5 cm between plants. A week after planting, feed (1 teaspoon per 10 liters of water) or complex fertilizer. After 2 weeks, the watercress is ready for use; other types of lettuce can be planted in its place.

Features of planting lettuce

A bed for leaf lettuce is prepared in the same way as for planting watercress. You can also add rotted manure or humus in the fall and dig up the bed. Leaf lettuce can be used before winter and in early spring. There is no need to thin out lettuce; pull out the bushes completely as they grow.

When growing head lettuce, thinning should be done, otherwise the heads will not curl and ordinary leaf lettuce will grow.

Features of planting arugula

Arugula is a salad with a piquant taste; only young leaves are eaten, since the old ones are quite bitter. This feature should be taken into account when planting this lettuce. Sowing should be done every 1-2 weeks in small portions, then there will always be young fragrant leaves with a nutty-mustard taste on your table.

Bury the arugula seeds 1.5 cm into the soil; they will begin to germinate on the third day and will quickly begin to grow. The optimal temperature for growing it is 20-25 degrees, so sow this salad in late May-early June.

Greetings to everyone who has opened this page of my blog. Let's continue to get acquainted with the crops that can be grown on your site. Lettuce (lettuce) belongs to vegetable plants that are not popular enough in our country, but for Europeans it is a familiar crop for the dinner table. Some countries grow it in industrial scale. To grow this healthy vegetable in your garden, you must first of all know how to plant lettuce in open ground seeds.

Its main purpose is as a food product for humans; its use in poultry farming and pharmaceuticals is limited. There are two types of this vegetable:

• leafy - forms a rosette of edible leaves;
• cabbage - a loose head of cabbage is formed from the leaves.

Each species has many varieties, the differences between which are in the time of ripening, taste, shape, and color palette of the leaves. The most common and productive leaf salads:

• Yeralash - mid-early;
• Abracadabra - mid-season;
• Fun - mid-season;
• Odessa curlytail - medium late.

Among head lettuces, the mid-season varieties Yakhont and Roger are popular among vegetable growers.

Requirements for place and soil

Its unpretentiousness to growing conditions allows the vegetable to be cultivated almost anywhere. makes it a leader among vegetable crops. It contains vitamins A, C, K, KK, B, P, microelements: iron, copper, cobalt, iodine, zinc, manganese, boron. Lettuce is indispensable for medicinal and dietary nutrition and simply as a healthy and wholesome food.

The green crop is quite light-loving; shaded areas have a bad effect on the development and nutritional properties of the lettuce. Nitrates accumulate, flower shoots are thrown away, and yields drop. The site is constantly changed, returning to the same place after three years.

It is recommended to grow lettuce after tomatoes, peas, cucumbers, and beans. It is good to place the vegetable near the onion, which will repel aphids. But you should not plant lettuce next to tall plants or those that form dense tops. The shadow they create will adversely affect the development of lettuce, and nitrates will accumulate.

The soil is dug up in the fall, fertilized with humus and ash. Add mineral fertilizers: ammonium sulfate, superphosphate, potassium salt. The acidic soil must be limed, otherwise the lettuce will grow very poorly. In spring, the soil is thoroughly loosened so that no small lumps remain, since the seeds are very small. To speed up the time of germination, cover the soil with black film to warm it up.

Sowing lettuce

Buy seeds good quality: clean and with good germination here. The seedlings will be strong and healthy, the plants will develop quickly.

The salad does not respond much to duration daylight hours, resistant to low temperatures. These qualities make it possible to sow lettuce in different terms: the first sowing is carried out in early spring (mid-April), and the last - before winter (October). In order to constantly have nutritious, healthy greens, they set up a lettuce planting conveyor. Early varieties are sown in April-May, middle ones - from spring to the end of June.

Its undemanding nature allows you to sow seeds in open ground even in July, when other vegetables are not doing well. favorable time. True, the dry and hot air of this time of year will cause rapid bolting, but you will get a small harvest of fresh greens. For sowing at this time, choose shoot-resistant varieties.

To reap a good harvest in the fall, sow romaine lettuce in July. This is the name given to lettuce with oval-shaped heads. Varieties of this species are very resistant to cold and are suitable for forcing in winter.

Seeds are sown in rows in two ways: continuous and in holes. Sowing several grains into holes saves seeds, but takes more time. But seedlings, compared to continuous sowing, appear earlier. To sow furrows, they are cut 20 cm apart, the seeds are sown densely to a depth of half a centimeter, then sprinkled with soil. Sowings done in early spring are covered with film from the cold. This way the shoots will appear faster.

The film is removed every day so that excess moisture does not collect, which contributes to the formation of rot. When seedlings emerge in early spring, arcs are installed to cover the plants at night to protect them from frost.

Sprouted seedlings must be thinned out. This operation is carried out several times to maintain the optimal distance between the bushes. The bushes that are removed are used for food. The cabbage variety is well formed when the distance between the bushes is 20-30 centimeters. Leaf lettuce requires smaller spaces between plants to form a large rosette: 15 centimeters.

Lettuce responds well to watering. In dry weather, watering should be done generously: two buckets of water per square meter. Head varieties require feeding two weeks before heading. Apply complex fertilizer: 30 g per 1 m2. Instead of nitrogen fertilizers, herbal infusions are used.

It is best to prepare them from nettles, although any weed can be used. The greens are crushed into a non-metallic container and filled with water. Everything ferments for one to two weeks; the slurry should be stirred every day. When it ferments, dilute it with water 1:10 and water the plants. Application organic fertilizer instead of nitrogen-containing ones mineral fertilizers will protect against the accumulation of nitrates.

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IN field conditions lettuce is one of the easiest crops to care for and grow. Because of this short period During the growing season there are practically no pests or diseases. Unless it is worth using the biological product “Trichodermin” against possible root rot.

The only difficulties in growing lettuce include the rather labor-intensive sowing of small seeds, as well as the need for thinning or picking from cassettes when using seedlings.

Another small difficulty that you will probably have to face when growing lettuce in open ground is the need to first remove the agrofibre from the beds in the morning and cover them again at night. Lettuce plantings are covered in the spring, in late March - early April.

Choosing a salad variety

Recently, due to its increased popularity, lettuce has become a crop of intensive selection. Its varieties are very diverse - leafy, half-headed, headed, with straight, slightly and strongly curly leaves, varying degrees of dissection, color, mildly pungent or neutral taste. For windowsill crops, you can choose bolting-resistant varieties and hybrids recommended for greenhouses by the world's leading breeders.

In addition, there are very popular varieties of lettuce of domestic selection: from the heads - “Kucheryavets Odessky”, “Lvovsky 85”, “Stone Head”, from the leaf ones - “Ballet” (resistant to flowering and lack of light), “Tornado” (resistant to flowering), “Dubrava”, “Zabava”, “Emerald” (resistant to flowering), from semi-headed ones - “Azart”, “Gribovsky curly” (resistant to flowering).

Sowing lettuce

Lettuce can be sown at several times with an interval of 10-12 days. But keep in mind that starting from the second half of May the plant will most likely bloom and produce bitter leaves because of this. The same problem also occurs when sowing in dry soil, so only varieties resistant to bolting are sown between July and August. Although lettuce is a cold-resistant crop, in the most early dates(as soon as the snow melts) it is better to sow it under film or under agrofibre.

The distance between seeds when sowing should be as follows: 4-5 cm for leafy ones (with a row spacing of 20 cm), 8-10 cm for half-headed forms and 10-12 cm for cabbage forms (with a row spacing of 30-35 cm). The seeding depth is 1.5-2 cm.

Lettuce care

The salad sprouts quite quickly - in about 8-10 days. In the future, to grow it, you need to keep the soil loose and water it, combining this with weeding. The disadvantage of direct sowing of lettuce in the ground is the need for thinning in the phase of 3-4 true leaves. However, such plants are already suitable for food purposes. An attempt to do without thinning, immediately sowing seeds at the required distance, will not work due to the unreliable germination of lettuce. After thinning, the plants are left at a distance of 15-20 cm - for leafy and semi-headed forms and 30-35 cm - for headed varieties.

Growing seedlings

If you grow lettuce from seedlings, you can get greens even earlier and avoid labor-intensive thinning. At the end of February - beginning of March, sow one seed per cell in cassettes. After germination, it is important to take the cassettes to a cool and bright place, creating a temperature of +12-15 °C during the day and +8-10 °C at night. In the phase of 1-2 true leaves, transplant the seedlings under agrofibre with the specified density, discarding the weak ones and those that have not sprouted.

Transplanting

For salad, cassette or potted seedlings are best suited (possibly in peat cubes). Seedlings do not tolerate damage to the root system. Lettuce should be planted very shallowly - so that the peat cube is not completely buried in the ground and rises 0.5-1 cm above the soil level. When planted in depth, the lower leaves are affected by fungal diseases and rot. If fertilizers have not been applied since the fall for recomposition, you can apply them to the beds when planting.

Literally everyone loves greens. Lettuce leaves are also extremely popular and healthy, as they contain many microelements and vitamins. Salad is a source of fiber, which has a positive effect on digestion. It is for these reasons that every summer resident tries to grow a plant on his plot. When to plant lettuce in open ground in the spring of 2019? Exact dates for different climatic regions will help to sow seeds in a timely manner.

The agricultural technology for growing lettuce is simple; no special care for the plant is required.

When to plant lettuce in open ground in the spring in the middle zone?

Nutritionists have long recommended including lettuce leaves in every person’s diet. Plant fiber is a breeding ground for millions of bacteria in the intestines. By eating lettuce, we provide bacteria necessary nutrition, and they, in turn, release vitamins through fermentation. Our body receives a lot useful substances, thanks to the coordinated work of bacteria.

Growing lettuce is very easy. The plant is cold-resistant and tolerates short-term, nighttime drops in temperature. However, if the temperature is expected to drop below -5 degrees, it is recommended to cover the crops. IN southern regions It is not necessary to organize a shelter, which makes the task easier when growing lettuce.

You can start sowing seeds in open ground in central Russia in the second ten days of April - early May. The plant develops well at temperatures above +10-15 degrees. When the snow has cleared from the site, it is time for preparations. If a summer resident wants to harvest all summer, sowing work is repeated every 10 days. Before this, the planting material is treated with the drug “Fitosporin” to destroy pathogens.

When to plant lettuce in open ground in spring according to the lunar calendar?

More and more summer residents, when planting plants, are guided not only by the weather, but also take into account the phases of the moon. It has been noticed that sowing on a waxing moon has a positive effect on seed germination, growth and development of crops. We suggest you find out when to plant lettuce in open ground in the spring of 2019 according to the lunar calendar:

• April – from 6 to 18;
• May – from 6 to 18;
• June – from 4 to 16;
• July – from 3 to 16;
• August – from 2 to 14;
• September – from 1 to 13.

With a long growing season, lettuce leaves become bitter and tasteless. Such plants are removed. In order to have greenery throughout the season, the seeds are sown every 10 days in the right amount. The bed must be freshly dug and the soil fertilized with organic matter.

People need fresh vitamins all year round, and there is a special need for them in winter and early spring, when the garden and vegetable garden are resting. But so that our body does not experience a deficiency in vitamins, we can: winter time grow crops with valuable medicinal and nutritional qualities, such as green onions, watercress and lettuce, in greenhouses or on the windowsill. Moreover, it is not as difficult as it seems at first glance. And in early spring you can sow them again in the garden. In this article we will tell you about such an important crop for the human body as lettuce and how to plant and care for lettuce at home and in the open ground.

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Planting and caring for lettuce (in brief)

• Landing: sowing seeds of early-ripening varieties in open ground - from April to May, mid-ripening and late - from April to mid-June. You can sow early varieties before winter - at the end of October or at the beginning of November. Sowing seeds for seedlings can begin in April, and seedlings are planted in open ground in May. When growing lettuce at home, sowing is done at any time.
• Lighting: bright sunlight or bright diffused light.
• The soil: loose, nutritious, humus, moderately moist - chernozems, loams, carbonate soils with pH 6.0-7.0.
• Watering: usually once a week in the mornings or evenings. From the moment the heads form, watering is reduced. In extreme heat, water the salad at night.
• Feeding: Not needed. Fertilizers are applied to the soil before sowing or planting seedlings.
• Reproduction: seed.
• Pests: lettuce flies, lettuce stem aphids, white-striped fillies and slugs.
• Diseases: white and gray rot, peronosporosis, powdery mildew and viral mosaic.

Read more about growing lettuce below.

Lettuce plant - description

Plant salad, which would be more correctly called lettuce, is a herbaceous plant of the Lettuce genus of the Asteraceae family. This crop is represented by annual, biennial and perennial varieties. The name of the genus comes from the Latin word lac, which means “milk” - the plant contains milky juice. There are several varieties of lettuce - leaf, half-head and head, as well as romaine (Roman). All these forms are equally popular in amateur gardening.

First, the lettuce develops basal leaves, and only then does a highly branched flowering stem appear, reaching a height of 60 to 120 cm. Yellowish-green, sometimes red, lettuce leaves form a basal rosette. They are obovate, sessile, horizontal, large, entire, jagged or rugged, smooth, wrinkled, curly or corrugated. In head lettuce, the leaves close together to form a round or flat-round head. On the underside of the leaves along the midrib are bristles. Lettuce inflorescences are small cylindrical, pitcher-shaped heads, consisting of small reed bisexual yellowish flowers, which are collected in large numbers into panicles. The fruit of lettuce is an achene.

The origin of the lettuce is unknown for certain, but it is suggested that it originated from compass lettuce, which grows wild in Western Asia. North Africa, Central Asia, in South and Western Europe. The herb lettuce was introduced into culture long before our era: there is evidence that lettuce was cultivated in the ancient states of China, Greece, Rome and Egypt. In Europe, it began to be grown in the 16th century.

Lettuce is a cold-resistant, light- and moisture-loving crop. Fresh lettuce leaves containing a large number of vitamins and minerals. However, as the stem begins to grow, the leaves of the plant acquire a bitter taste and become unsuitable for food. Not everyone knows beneficial features salad, which we will introduce you to, as well as salad contraindications, which, fortunately, are very few.

Sowing lettuce seedlings

When to sow lettuce seedlings

Lettuce is grown through seedlings to obtain early production or under late conditions. cold spring. Salad in the Moscow region or other regions middle zone You can sow directly into the ground, but in more northern regions it is better to use the seedling method for growing lettuce. You can sow lettuce in boxes, or in protected soil under a film. Lettuce seeds are sown for seedlings 30-35 days before planting the seedlings in open ground. For sowing, it is best to use pelleted seeds - they are more convenient to sow and they have a high ability to germinate. If you have regular seeds, mix them with sand to make your work easier.

Growing lettuce from seeds

To prepare the substrate, you need to add two parts of high-quality humus soil to the sand and peat, taken one part at a time, and mix well. Although it is easier to purchase “Universal”, “Vegetable” or “Biosoil” soil in the store. Boxes and containers can be used as containers, but it is better to use pressed peat cubes with a side of 4-5 cm. The seeds are pickled for 2-3 hours in a pink solution of potassium permanganate and scattered over the surface without covering them. If a box is used for sowing, the seeds are sown in grooves no more than 1 cm deep. The distance between the rows should be 5 cm, if you later pick the seedlings, and if you decide to do without picking, then the interval should be at least 10 cm. Sowing Water generously but carefully and place under film. It is better to keep them in a bright place at a temperature of 18-21 ºC.

Shoots may appear as early as the third or fourth day, and as soon as this happens, the temperature is lowered by 3-4 degrees, otherwise the seedlings may stretch out. When the seedlings develop 1-2 true leaves, they are pruned if necessary. Seedlings are planted in open ground at the stage of development of 3-4 leaves after two-week hardening of the seedlings, which consists of staying for some time daily on fresh air, and the duration of these sessions is gradually increased until the seedlings can spend the whole day in the yard. Growing lettuce at home does not require hardening procedures.

How to grow homemade lettuce

Growing lettuce in an apartment can be done all year round. Lettuce is planted in boxes or pots with a capacity of 1-2 liters, which are placed on bright, sunny windowsills in the spring. In winter, most likely, you will have to provide the plant with additional lighting with lamps. daylight or phytolamps to increase the duration of daylight by 2-3 hours.

As a substrate, you can use the mixtures we have already mentioned, or you can make it up from one part of vermicompost and two parts of coconut fiber. Pickled, as mentioned, the seeds are immersed in a moist substrate, laid out in pots on top of the drainage layer, by 5-10 mm, after which the crops are watered, covered with polyethylene and placed in a dark place. As soon as shoots appear after 3-5 days, the film is removed and the crops are transferred to light. You can eat lettuce when it develops 5-10 leaves. Do not wash cut lettuce if you plan to store it because it will rot.

Watering the lettuce

Lettuce at home needs regular watering once every two or three days; it is especially important to water the lettuce in hot weather, since drying out the substrate accelerates the formation of flower shoots and, accordingly, the appearance of a bitter taste in the leaves. In general, the optimal temperature for growing seedlings is 16-20 ºC, although on the loggia they feel great at a temperature of 6-7 ºC. More dangerous than coolness is elevated temperature and dry air for salad, so fresh young greens must be sprayed daily with a spray bottle. You need to water and spray the salad in the pot with settled water at room temperature.

Feeding lettuce

Intensive growth of lettuce is possible only with adequate nutrition, so it is advisable to add liquid complex fertilizer to the substrate every week. But since lettuce has the ability to accumulate nitrates, the amount of nitrogen added needs to be controlled, or even better, fed homemade salad organic matter, for example, an aqueous solution of mullein in a ratio of 1:10.

Planting lettuce in the ground

Since lettuce is a cold-resistant crop, it can be sown in the ground before winter - at the end of October or at the beginning of November. In the spring, early-ripening varieties of lettuce are sown from April to May, mid-ripening and late varieties - from April to mid-June. If you want to have fresh lettuce all summer, you can sow it multiple times every 7-10 days until mid-August.

The conditions for growing lettuce require placing the bed in an open, sunny place. Sow lettuce in loose, nutritious soil with a sufficient amount of organic matter and microelements. The acid reaction of the soil should be slightly alkaline or acidic - from 6.0 to 7.0 pH. Only heavy clay soils are not suitable for the plant, but lettuce grows normally in black soil, loam, carbonate soils and sand.

It’s good if, before the salad, early cabbage, zucchini, potatoes or cucumbers were cultivated on the plot, for which fertilizers were added to the soil, and next to the lettuce it is better to grow all types of cabbage, radishes and radishes - the cruciferous flea beetle, which harms cabbage crops, really does not like lettuce. Lettuce is also a good neighbor for plants such as strawberries, peas, tomatoes and spinach. The salad itself benefits from its proximity to onions, which repel aphids from it. Lettuce is grown in one area at least at two-year intervals.

Prepare a bed for salad in advance: dig it up, adding compost or rotted manure at the rate of 1 bucket of organic matter per m² of area. In the spring, when loosening before planting, add 1 tablespoon of superphosphate, 1 teaspoon of potassium sulfate and 1-2 tablespoons of Mortar per m² into the soil. On acidic soils, instead of Mortar, use Nitrophoska in the same amount, always adding 200 g of dolomite flour per unit area. Sow seeds mixed with sand in a ratio of 1:0.5 into grooves 5-10 mm deep, made in moist soil at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other.

Seeds germinate at a temperature of 5 ºC, but keep in mind that at 20 ºC lettuce germinates worse. When the seedlings begin to rise en masse, they need to be thinned out so that between the seedlings there is ultimately an interval of 6-8 cm for leaf varieties and 10-15 for cabbage varieties. It is better to carry out thinning in two stages.

If you prefer to grow lettuce in seedlings, then plant seedlings of compact early-ripening varieties according to the 25x25 pattern, and large lettuce - 35x35 cm. Planting is carried out in wet soil. The root collar of seedlings should be at surface level or slightly above.

How to grow lettuce in the ground

Growing lettuce in open ground requires, first of all, regular watering, loosening the soil and weeding. Try to loosen the soil after each watering or rain and promptly remove weeds from the area.

Watering the lettuce

Lettuce in open ground is watered once a week, in the morning or evening. For leafy varieties, it is better to use the sprinkling method, and head lettuce is moistened by watering the soil along the rows. From the moment the lettuce begins to form heads, watering should be reduced so as not to provoke the development of putrefactive phenomena. In order to prevent internal necrosis of lettuce, in extreme heat it is better to water at night. In general, the need for watering is determined primarily by weather conditions.

Feeding lettuce

If the soil was well fertilized before sowing, there is no need to feed lettuce varieties in the future. But if nutrients There is not enough in the soil to get a crisp salad, you need to add nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium to the soil. Head lettuce, since it takes longer to ripen than leaf lettuce, needs one or two feedings. As fertilizers, you can add fermented infusion of grass, mullein diluted with water (1 part fertilizer and 10 parts water), bird droppings diluted with water in a ratio of 1:20, or vermicompost. Fertilizing is usually combined with watering the lettuce.

What to plant after lettuce

Next year, in the area where you grew lettuce, it is best to plant peppers and tomatoes.

Pests and diseases of lettuce

Lettuce diseases

The most harmful diseases of lettuce are white and gray rot, downy mildew, powdery mildew and viral mosaic. The difficulty is that lettuce diseases cannot be controlled with chemicals, since the leaves of the plant accumulate not only nitrates from nitrogen fertilizers, but also fungicides.

Gray rot of lettuce, caused by the fungus botrytis, affects the stems and leaves: necrotic brown spots appear on them, which gradually spread from the lower part of the plant to the upper. Favors the development of gray rot overcast And high humidity air.

Methods of protection: The most important technique for preventing disease is crop rotation. Keeping the area clean and immediately removing affected leaves and plant debris at the end of the season will help protect the lettuce from gray rot. In addition, there are lettuce varieties that are not so susceptible to gray rot, for example, Moscow Greenhouse, Khrustalny or Maysky.

White rot affects the ground organs of lettuce. The infection penetrates leaves that are close to the ground or lying on it, then the disease penetrates the stem through the petioles and forms light, watery spots on it. The affected tissues are covered with a flaky white coating of mycelium.

Methods of protection: In the fight against white rot, a prerequisite is the rotation of crops and the timely removal of affected leaves and specimens. In autumn, it is recommended to carry out deep plowing or removal of plant residues. Do not grow lettuce in heavy acidic soils and control the amount of nitrogen in the soil.

Downy mildew, or downy mildew, also affects the ground organs of lettuce: almost yellow, blurry or angular spots appear on the upper side of the leaves, while on the lower side the leaves become covered with a white coating. As the disease progresses, the spots turn brown and the diseased leaves dry out. The disease progresses under conditions high humidity air and the presence of droplets of moisture.

Methods of protection: It is necessary to strictly observe the rotation of crops on the site and sow healthy seeds. If there are doubts about the quality of the seed, etch it in an eighty percent TMTD solution. Do not thicken the crops - follow planting patterns for both leaf and head varieties of lettuce.

Marginal burn– with this disease, rot gradually takes over the entire plant, and it dies. Too much nutrients in the soil contributes to the development of the disease.

Methods of protection: compliance with crop rotation, balanced application of fertilizers, especially nitrogen, to the soil, regular watering, timely removal and destruction of diseased specimens and plant debris from the site at the end of the season.

Powdery mildew It affects the stems, heads and leaves of lettuce - a white powdery coating appears on them, the growth and development of the plant slows down. Lettuce seeds suffer the most during the flowering and seed ripening stages. Powdery mildew progresses during periods of sharp fluctuations in day and night temperatures.

Methods of protection: The disease can be prevented by observing crop rotation, removing diseased leaves and heads of cabbage during the growing season and plant debris after its end.

Lettuce pests

Among lettuce pests, the lettuce fly, lettuce stem aphid, white-striped fly and slugs are especially dangerous.

Salad fly- an insect 7-8 mm long. Females are ash-gray with wide-set red eyes, while males have a black velvet back. Flies damage the seed plants of the plant - they lay eggs on the inflorescences, and the larvae that emerge from them destroy the seeds. Damaged inflorescences do not open and darken.

Methods of protection: as soon as the first larvae appear, the plants are treated with Phosfamide in strict accordance with the instructions. Inflorescences damaged by the pest should be cut off and destroyed.

Stem lettuce aphid a very common pest. Wingless insects are from 1 to 2.5 mm in length, winged ones are slightly smaller - up to 2 mm. These are sucking pests of grayish-green or dark gray color that colonize flowers, stems and leaves of lettuce. Organs damaged by aphids become discolored, curl, and the color of the lower leaves becomes mosaic. As a result, plants lag behind in growth and development. In autumn, lettuce aphids move to currants.

Methods of protection: Treating lettuce leaves with infusions of onion peels, dandelion leaves or green potato tops will help you protect your lettuce from aphids.

White striped, or slender filly- a polyphagous pest of locusts of grayish-yellow, green or brown color. The length of the filly is from 13 to 21 mm. This is a chewing pest that damages the leaves and stems of lettuce.

Methods of protection: To prevent the appearance of these insects, you need to remove perennial weeds, especially wheatgrass, from the site. After harvesting the lettuce, spray the plant debris and soil well with Karbofos solution, and the next day remove the residue from the site.

Naked slugs They also often damage delicate lettuce leaves by making large holes in them. Most active gastropods They appear in the evening and at night, and during the day they lie down in cool dampness - among the leaves, in the shade of plants.

Methods of protection: Cans of beer are placed on the site, and when the slugs crawl in to drink, they are collected and destroyed.

Types and varieties of lettuce

Lettuce is a species of the genus Lettuce, therefore, when they write “types of lettuce,” they most likely mean four of its varieties - leaf, half-head, head and the so-called romaine, or Roman.

Leaf salad

They are used without pulling out or digging up the plant, but by tearing off leaves from it - large and whole (oblong, fan-shaped or triangular) or cut-out (dissected or oak-leaved). The most famous varieties of lettuce:

• Kritz– heat-resistant early-ripening lettuce for protected and open ground, ripening in 40-45 days. Him thin leaves light green with a yellow tint. The weight of one plant is about 250 g;
• Emerald– a mid-season variety resistant to heat and stemming with dark green, obovate, finely blistered leaves of excellent taste. The plant weighs about 60 g and does not age for a long time on the vine;
• Ballet– a variety resistant to bolting and lack of light for growing in spring and winter in protected ground, and in open ground in summer. The leaves are large, dark green, crisp, fan-shaped with a scalloped edge. The weight of one plant is from 300 to 600 g;
• Fun– a mid-season variety resistant to diseases and stemming with bright red, large leaves with an oily texture. The weight of the socket is about 200 g;
• Sandwich– an early variety with tender and crisp leaves of light green color with wavy edges. Average weight one plant is about 180 g. The variety is ideal for making sandwiches and salads;
• Moscow greenhouse- an early ripening variety for protected soil, ripening in 30-40 days, with large, sweetish, juicy and delicate light green leaves up to 18 cm long. Rosette weight from 100 to 200 g. The advantage of the variety is also that its leaves remain for a long time fresh and do not acquire a bitter taste.

In addition to those described, leaf varieties such as Tornado, Roblen, Dubachek, Dubrava, Lollo Rossa, Lollo San, Lollo Biondo, Lakomka, Royal, Kitezh, Crispy Vitamin and others are popular.

Half head lettuce

looks like ordinary leaf lettuce, and its leaves are collected in small but open heads. The most famous varieties of this type of lettuce are:

• Odessa curly haired– a mid-season variety resistant to flowering, forming a loose rosette with a diameter of 24-32 cm and weighing no more than 200 g. The leaves of plants of this variety are green, fan-shaped, with a corrugated edge, crispy, of excellent taste;
• Eurydice– a mid-season variety with a semi-raised compact rosette about 35 cm high and about 33 cm in diameter. The leaves are large, dark green, bubbly with a wavy edge, crispy, of excellent taste;
• Festival– mid-season variety, ripening in about 70 days. It has a large round rosette weighing up to 150 g, consisting of juicy light green leaves of excellent taste;
• Berlin yellow– also a mid-season variety with a rounded rosette with a diameter of up to 30 cm and a weight of up to 200 g, consisting of yellowish leaves;
• Kucheryavets Gribovsky– a disease-resistant mid-early variety with a loose rosette weighing from 250 to 470 g. The leaves are bright green, large, fan-shaped with a finely corrugated edge, crispy and juicy, of excellent taste.

Half-headed varieties such as Kado, Stone Heads, Grand Rapids, Azart, Admiral and others are also popular.

Head lettuce

By appearance resembles dense heads of cabbage. Scientific name Creepsheads lettuce - crispy heads because the leaves of this lettuce really have a lot of crunch. This variety was bred by California farmers back in the 20s of the last century. Types of head lettuce:

• Iceberg– a high-yielding variety that is not prone to bolting, ripens in 75-90 days, with pleasant-tasting bubbly leaves with wavy edges that retain freshness for a long time. The weight of heads of cabbage of this variety is 300-600 g;
• Great Lakes– a crisp, late-ripening, high-yielding variety that is resistant to flowering and burns, ripening in 85 days. It has a large round head with a closed top, consisting of dark green leaves, shaped like oak leaves;
• Attraction– a productive mid-season variety with a high rosette, consisting of large, light green, slightly wavy along the edge, oily triangular leaves. Weight of one head is 230-260 g;
• Four seasons– mid-season variety for open and protected ground with medium-sized heads. The outer leaves are red-bronze, while the inner leaves are yellow-green. The texture of the leaves is delicate and oily, taste qualities excellent;
• Design- a high-yielding, stem-resistant, mid-late variety with a head up to 20 cm in diameter. The leaves are green, crisp, medium-sized, round-flat, bubbly, wavy along the edge, with small cuts in the upper part, excellent taste. Head weight 500-650 g.

The varieties of head lettuce Khvorost, Petrovich, Argentinas, Papiro, Khrustalny, Yadho, Kucheryavets Semko, Buru, Umbrinas, Platinas, Opal, Aficion and others are also in demand in cultivation.

Romaine lettuce or romaine lettuce

forms an elongated head of cabbage. The root of romaine lettuce is a branched stem, the head is covered with deep green leaves, and inside the head the leaves are yellowish. Romaine lettuce is available in the following varieties:

• Paris green– a heat-resistant and cold-resistant mid-season variety that forms heads of cabbage on the 84-90th day from the moment of emergence. The diameter of the loose head is 32-39 cm, weight is from 200 to 300 g, crispy, juicy dark green bluish leaves up to 27 cm long and up to 13 cm wide, taste sweet;
• Legend– a new variety resistant to downy mildew, edge blight and bolting, which forms a medium-sized compact green head of slightly vesicular leaves;
• Remus– resistant to downy mildew, a productive late-ripening variety with a closed, loose, elongated oval head of cabbage weighing on average up to 430 g. Medium-sized, dense, dark green elliptical leaves have a bubbly texture;
• Balloon– a late-ripening variety with elongated oval loose heads of cabbage up to 12 in diameter, up to 25 cm in height and weighing 300-350 g. The leaves are light green;
• roman lettuce– a mid-season variety resistant to septoria and bacteriosis with elongated obovate leaves up to 26 cm long with a barely noticeable fine-celled, weakly fibrous texture and barely ragged serrated edges. The heads are elongated-oval, of medium density, up to 25 cm in height and up to 14 cm in diameter, weighing 290-350 g.

Varieties of romaine lettuce Stanislav, Vyacheslav, Sukrain, Dendi, Veradarts, Sovsky and others are also grown.

According to the ripening period, lettuce varieties are divided into early, early, mid-ripening and late. The fastest ripening variety is Lue Leaf - leaf lettuce, the ripening period of which is 25 days. Varieties Kholodok, Lollo Rossa, Robin, Moscow Greenhouse and Dubachek reach ripeness in 35 days.

Mid-season varieties, formed in 45 days - Vitamin, Green Peak, Sunshine - make it possible to get two harvests per season.

Mid-late varieties which include Rubin and Gurman, ripen in 55 days.

Of the varieties that are not inherently bitter, we can note Green Manul, Rhapsody, Odessky Kucheryavets, Vitamin and Moscow Greenhouse.

Properties of salad - harm and benefit

Medicinal properties of lettuce

What is included in lettuce? Which ones are useful for human body What substances does it contain? Lettuce is rich in folic acid, which controls metabolism and is involved in hematopoiesis and the functioning of the nervous system. In terms of salt content, lettuce is second only to spinach. Of the trace elements it contains zinc, molybdenum, titanium, iodine, boron, copper, cobalt and manganese. Its leaves also contain potassium, calcium, silicon, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and sulfur, which plays the role of an oxidizing agent and, in combination with phosphorus and silicon, ensures good condition of tendons, skin and promotes hair growth.

Lettuce leaves are a source of vitamins A and C, contain alkaloids, resins and bitterness, and have expectorant, sedative and diuretic properties.

Since the most active element in the body is iron, it is very important that its reserves are regularly replenished. That's why salad containing iron in significant quantities is so useful. The element accumulates in the liver and spleen, and then, if necessary, is used by the body, for example, to form red blood cells in case of significant blood loss.

As a dietary product, lettuce is beneficial for sedentary lifestyles and diabetes, as it improves digestion and soothes nervous system. It is also indicated for elderly people who have suffered a serious illness.

An aqueous infusion of lettuce seeds helps increase lactation, and is widely used for heart disease. homeopathic medicines based on salad juice. IN folk medicine for chronic gastritis, liver diseases, hypertension or insomnia, an infusion of fresh leaves lettuce

To all that has been said, it should be added that the use fresh salad has a beneficial effect on fat metabolism, lowers blood cholesterol levels, which reduces the risk of obesity, atherosclerosis or hypertension.

Salad - contraindications

Salad is not recommended for people with gout. urolithiasis, as well as chronic or acute colitis, enteritis or other intestinal diseases that are accompanied by dyspepsia. Salad is not good for acute gastritis, stomach ulcers and duodenum, phosphaturia and oxaluria. Overeating salad can lead to increased gas formation, which negatively affects patients with asthma and tuberculosis.

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