Two sets of lettuce seeds sown at the same time; the first grown under a plastic take-out container “cloche”, the second grown without.
With Cloche
Without Cloche
Here it is with the cloche on.
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10 thoughts on “A Tale of Two Lettuces”
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THAT is CRAZY. i never woulda thought it could make that kind of a difference. did you wait until they sprouted to put it on? my lettuce and spinach is being awefully slow to sprout, maybe that would help!
wow! great experiment, thanks for sharing. did you leave the cloche on the whole time or just at night?
That’s it, I’m getting some floating row covers for next year. My lettuce has been coming agonizingly slow.
I put it on right away and leave it on most of the time. It is lightly propped so air still gets underneath. I sometimes lift it for a period of time to water or when it rains.
Assertagirl: I have row covers at my community plot and they have been doing the same but I am rarely there so the one problem is that rain does not get underneath… it’s seems ridiculous that I have to lift them and water after a rainfall when the rest of the garden is wet.
I have been using the plastic package from cherry tomatoes, they have little holes in the bottom(top when its a cloche) so *some* water could get in, and its vented. I have seen other larger packages with the holes but they produce they contain is not coming to mind right now.
Just make sure you dont get plastic made from corn if you want it to really last—–> http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2006/May/24/style/stories/01style.htm
I should get my photos of my lettuce. I was all proud of myself planting one set then another 3 weeks later. Turns out because it was so cold still for the first set, that inspite of being nearly a month apart, the plants are nearly the same size. There is some difference, but really not much. In hindsight I should have totally used some kind of cover. Then there’s my wild fantasies about a greenhouse… but that’s for next year (maybe).
So would this also be beneficial to other direct sown veggies like radishes?
I’m going to give this a try when it cools off.
Ariane: Sprouting spinach seeds is faster if you freeze them fist–This causes small breaks in the outer covering of the hard seeds. I put one seed in each hole of an ice cube tray and fill it with water and freeze it. Then I “plant” the ice cubes.
ingrid: Yes, radishes would work too… although I’m using cloches to protect my plants from the blaring sun now rather than to keep them insulated and warm.
Julie: That’s a great tip.