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  • From: Allan Balliett <igg AT igg.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Watering Lettuce Beds
  • Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2003 08:37:39 -0400

I'm running into a fair amount of unanticipated trouble keeping my cutting mix lettuce beds watered.

What's happening is that I'm getting rot on the lower leaves of buttercrunch-type lettuces. My customers like the fluffy head lettuces in the mix, so I include them. I'm also getting some areas of the beds that just fall down. I assume that this is a fungus, also due to watering from overhead.

The beds are within open hoophouses, so they have not been subject to the outrageous amt of rain we've had this season in Northern Virginia. I've been hand watering them and have been using mister irrigation. I was initially using broadcast beds, but have moved to following Anna Edey's suggestion to transplant 4inch within row/4inch between row. Unfortunately, I'm still having rot using this method.

I am not overwatering the lettuce in any of the usual sense. It does appear that leaf lettuce is not having the same problems, HOWEVER, I would really like to use my black-seeded simpson and other head lettuces in the mix.

I'm thinking of using mixing to start the seeds and during early growth and then move to a drip system. Imagining that I'd need 4 tapes to a bed, however, makes me cringe at installing drip, especially since it locks into transplanting, something I'd sure like to avoid. Anna Edey went to an underbed watering system, which, about now, seems like a very intelligent choice.

I'd appreciate hearing your suggestions and how you deal with similar issues.

Thanks

-Allan Balliett
The Plains, VA




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