in my earlier posts i have showed in detail how to grow lettuce in floating bed. i had showed the procedure in making a float bed, with all imputs necessary like thermocol sheet, black plastic sheet, dishwasher sponge etc with transplanting technique.
now i plan to show the growth stages of lettuce in a step by step pictoral guide from seedling tray/tub stage to harvest stage.
i had first managed to transplant the young lettuce seedlings in grow bed which had coconut peat and rice husk as substrate as shown above. 
transplanting was done when the seedlings were about 6 cm in height.
notice the roots on the day of transplanting. the photos were taken on march 3 2009.
in just a weeks time, there was rapid growth as seen above. the pic was taken on march 11, 2009
notice the height of the plant when i transplanted it from seed tray to grow bed. it was approx 6 cm.
the photo above shows me holding the same plant after it was transplanted in the float bed, just 15 days later. its height now is nearly 18 cm.also look below and see how long the roots have grown.
the above 2 pics were clicked on 21 march 2009, 10 days later. they seem to have grown a lot more & also very healthy and green.- remember to continuously aerate the float beds for min 2 minutes daily. i aerate it twice daily.
- lift the thermocol sheet and spalsh the water with your hand till bubbles are formed
- bubbles formed in aeration provide atmospheric oxygen to the roots & also destroy any insect eggs, if found.
all photos and data by pritham dsouza. to view photos in original size, click on photo to enlarge
Dear Pritham
ReplyDeleteHave you planted the Californian Grand Rapids variety of Lettuce or some other. from your pics it looked like Grand Rapids. I also had the same problem. Let me see if I can provide some data on the reasons for the drooping.
However i notice that even though they droop, the leaves are quite crunchy. Did you also notice something similar?
Look forward to hearing from you soon.
Regards
CV
hi cv...
ReplyDeletethe thing is i dont really know the variety. coz the packet was in japanese. i bought the seeds from my regular seed retailer & since , he told me, lettuce really is not a popular choice for growing among local farmers, there are no local companies, and so the lettuce he had was imported. it costs 350 rupees for 10 grams!. it was in japanese n so couldnt really figure out... will let u know if i come across it again. have u asked peggy about the drooping? what does she have to say?
Hi Pritham,
ReplyDeleteI think the lettuce is slightly drooping due to a slight deficency of phosphorus in the water below.
Try adding a little phospate (DAP) to it and see if it works.
thanks for your concern... the reason the lettuce looks droopy is because i clicked the photo at night using the flash in my camera. i should have taken the photo during day time. and the nutrient mixture that i use has the recommended dose of phosphorous along with other major nutrients. when i grow lettuce again, i promise to take the photos during day time, when they look all healthy and lush green. btw, it tasted excellent.. burp
ReplyDeleteHello Pritham,
ReplyDeleteNice growth there, notwithstanding the droopings. I had similar problem in the normal grow bed using cocopeat+groundnut shells+sand and not in the water bed, in which the growth was even better and erect. Cdr. CV Prakash had noticed it and had said it could be due to the different variety. He gave me another variety of seeds and I am yet to try them out. The lettuce are now about to yield seeds and the leaves have become a little bitter! Even the stems of coriander were badly drooping and yield was thin in substrate bed, may be because the seeds were from my kitchen store! In the mean time I had very good (and very tasty) yields of Brinjal (Bijapur thorny variety, normal seeds). I did not have similar luck with tomatoes (Bijapur variety) due to attack from white flies, which could not be effectively controlled with garlic/garlic+tulsi+turmeric/neem oil+water/neem oil+garlic/neem oil+garli+tulsi+turmeric+ neem leaves extract sprays. But using these sprays, they reduced attack on brinjal plants. Lettuce, coriander, ladies finger, bottle guord, Spinach, garlic and ginger were free from any insect attacks. Unfortunately I haven't taken any photographs of various vegetables grown with satisfaction, but our Guru, CV Praksh has seen them a number of times. All this was on a small scale at my home. Shortly I am likely to indulge in to organic and nutrient based hydroponics on a commercial basis at Jath (62 km west of Bijapur). I would then need a lot of guidence from your vast experience. Regards