Lettuces in my 3 hole Sprout (now terminated)

Only you can be the judge of that. Give it a go and then you will know if you fancy the taste for the next time.

[Shawn]

I find that after three they start to thin and do get bitter.  Plus being these are on the faster side of growing I do not mind restarting these after a couple of harvests.

[thegrindre]

Thanks, guys, I'll try it. I've always liked experimenting anyway. I'm ripening up another avocado by placing it under the grow lights. I wonder if that'll help the process any.

I've left those 'add-on' lights on for 24 hours. Not very bright but they are supposed to be 40w on full. They do have 4 settings, BTW. We'll see I guess.

@shawn

you will never be a Choi fan LOL!  I love that raw slightly bitter taste. Another taste I love is raw spinach.Yum!

[Shawn]

Jun 7, 2019 7:06:32 GMT -5 @cornne said:

@shawn

you will never be a Choi fan LOL!  I love that raw slightly bitter taste. Another taste I love is raw spinach.Yum!

You are so correct.  I do not like bitterness.  That is ok  love my different romaines

[thegrindre]

This is harvest 2. Also was a water change and fresh nutes added. Lettuces are on day 28 I believe. (Getting old is such a bummer.) (Well, actually it is the next day or the 29th day that I'm posting.)

Oh, by the way, those large green plastic snips are GREAT! I love 'em.

I got a lot more leaves this time cuz that first plant did finally catch up.

[thegrindre]

I just devoured another fresh salad from my garden.

A little chopped up red onion, a small tomato, a chopped up small carrot, small slices of avocado, dark red kidney beans, and of course lots of lettuce leaves then topped off with homemade French dressing.

I'm really looking forward to salad #3.

I keep forgetting to ask, do I need to wash off my lettuce leaves? There aren't any bugs or poison spray on them or anything else that I know of. Do they need washing before eating?

Isn't it  gratifying to eat from the AG?! And fun !  As for washing, I have to Swiffer my furniture just about every day because of the construction in the neighborhood, not to mention the pollen. Washing my lettuce is a must here..it sits in the machine for weeks...no Swiffering  

[thegrindre]

Jun 12, 2019 21:10:53 GMT -5 Corinne said:
Isn't it gratifying to eat from the AG?! And fun ! As for washing, I have to Swiffer my furniture just about every day because of the construction in the neighborhood, not to mention the pollen. Washing my lettuce is a must here..it sits in the machine for weeks...no Swiffering

Oh yes, really fresh and vine ripe groceries is always a wonderful delight.

OK, that makes sense.  Just household dust and stuff need rinsing off I guess.

I've just been notified that a handicapped apartment will become available next month. YeeHaa!

I'll be moving into a larger apartment and will have room for more gardens! Yippee!!!

I've been on the list for close to a year now. And FINALLY.

I used to live on the 6th floor but not as handicapped. Their regular apts are rather small is why I moved out. BUT, their handicapped apts are nice and large. More room for gardens.

Thanks, Corinne,

[Shawn]

Well an early congrats on the new place. 

I have an air purifier and cleaner in my home as my husband and daughter have bad allergies.  Yes  my house can get the normal dust in it, the room I grow my lettuce in for some reason remains mostly dust free.  Of course I check the deck when I harvest lettuce and if it is dust free I will just eat it. 

My Herbs are in the Kitchen and I just pick and use.  I do dust and vacuum daily however (well not while I was recovering but plants were slow or murdered LOL).    I do notice in the main part of the house where my herbs and peppers grow, in the spring and fall I will rinse off more because I have windows open and hte pollen and dust from outside comes in.

[ravenlocke]

I have discovered if you just take the large outer leaves from multiple plants, you can harvest for much longer without things getting bitter. I actually couldn’t keep up with twelve plants last run and they went to seed. This time around I am going to be more aggressive with my salads and take salads to work for lunch on a daily basis...

[Shawn]

FOr me it is better is I chop off the tops and have three harvests.  We eat large salads so that is better.  I do not mind starting fresh.

[ravenlocke]

My goal is to eat daily from my farm with as little work as possible. Maximize consistent yield, minimize maintenance... Overall I have been really enjoying the experience :-)

[thegrindre]

After trimming off the last of the outer leaves yesterday, I made a mini salad that was lacking in lettuce but still good nonetheless. (Tomato, beans, onion, carrot in French dressing is still good, BTW.)

After the 'haircut' I gave 'em the other day everything is starting to grow back straight upwards this time and it's looking pretty good too. Not sure I'll get a good bunch of leaves in a few days tho. It may take a few days longer this time but we'll see.

I don't think I'll give 'em a 'haircut' trimming again tho, I'm going to trim/prune the outer leaves off from now on to get my harvest. It seems to be the best way to get continuous harvesting for eating. I believe someone else said this and I agree. (Ravenlocke?)

I, too, don't like bitterness. Give me sweet every time.

This sure is fun, the learning process too,

[thegrindre]

Update:

Day 35 if my calculations are correct.

They sure are growing back again!

Since I'm a one-person household I'm not too sure about harvesting these yet so I'm going to wait another week I think.

[thegrindre]

Man! These plants are drinking up the water. I'm having to add it every other day now. Pruning up the roots didn't seem to affect their growth at all. They are still growing like weeds. I had to move the light up a couple notches too.

This harvest will be the third and the 25th of this month will be day 42.

Gee, I am very happy with my very 1st lettuce garden.

Thanks all.

[thegrindre]

Jun 13, 2019 6:20:40 GMT -5 Shawn said:

Well an early congrats on the new place. 

I have an air purifier and cleaner in my home as my husband and daughter have bad allergies.  Yes  my house can get the normal dust in it, the room I grow my lettuce in for some reason remains mostly dust free.  Of course I check the deck when I harvest lettuce and if it is dust free I will just eat it. 

My Herbs are in the Kitchen and I just pick and use.  I do dust and vacuum daily however (well not while I was recovering but plants were slow or murdered LOL).    I do notice in the main part of the house where my herbs and peppers grow, in the spring and fall I will rinse off more because I have windows open and hte pollen and dust from outside comes in.

Oh, BTW, when I lived on the 6th floor it had central heat and air and after 3 1/2 years there I never had to dust. I never saw any dust! I'm a bit of a computer geek and completely clean the insides of my PCs out once a year but after moving in and cleaning it that first time, it was spotless the on the 3rd year. I was shocked.

I'm hoping the same will be true on the 8th floor. I don't think I'll need an air purifier up there. LOL

[thegrindre]

Couldn't help myself. Had to harvest yesterday to make another wonderful salad. That's three now. I'm going to go for 4 harvests as I continue to experiment with my very first AGs.

Toms are coming along just fine too.

Pix tomorrow on day 42.

[thegrindre]

Update for day 42.

Not much to see other than that they are still growing. I made a salad a couple days ago but didn't harvest the center leaves as you can see.

I'll try a 4th harvest to decide if they become too bitter as I go.

Still growing strong and having fun.

[thegrindre]

I harvested another salad last night. That's harvest #5 and the lettuces ARE getting a little bitter now.

Thanks, all,