Lettuce Not so good, help

[peggylgb]

I ordered heirloom lettuce, but it looks horrible it got very leggy and cut it back and then flowered removed flowers, then gave haircut.  What I ended up with some scrawny, and the ones that were left looked a bamboo trunk with a bunch of leaves.  Also the lettuce seemed bitter. 

I am going to replant but I know that I must clean out the unit, I have Bounty slim,  it has 6 holes when I plant again should I only use 3 of the holes, does anyone have suggestions on what to grow.  I initially bought aerogarden due to romaine recalls.  

I like buttercrunch, sweet lettuces but not bitter like some of the heirloom or escarole.

Having great luck with cherry tomatoes, tomorrow 2 will be ready to eat.  Herbs mint won't grow no matter what I do. 

[Shawn]

Hello,

For the lettuce, there are a few questions to ask.

- How long has the project been growing?

- How much nutrients were you feeding it?

- Did you harvest the lettuce on the day of or within two days after feeding it?  The uptake of nutes can give it a bitter taste

- Was the water warm?  If so add ice cubes.  The warm water can cause going to seed fastr.

[akivalocal]

Also: how far did you raise the lights above the lettuce? Your comment about flowering makes me wonder.

[Sher]

If the lettuce flowered prematurely, that is called bolting. Once the lettuce bolts, it is very bitter and can't be fixed.

The primary reason for lettuce bolting is being too warm. That could be from room temperature or heat from lights being too close. As Shawn said, adding ice to the water can help keep it stay cooler.

Whether you use all the holes or not depends on what you are growing. You can either prune severely to try to keep the plants small, or leave space for larger plants to give them more room. Or if things grow too big, you can remove the smaller plants that are being shaded out. Or you can repot the larger plants to give the smaller ones more light and air.

It's mainly trial and error and finding out what works for you.