How soon is too soon for a fan on lettuce?

[pfunnyjoy]

My lettuce garden (Parris Island Cos romaine) is 8 days old. I'm wondering if it's too soon to get them used to a fan or whether I should wait another week or two? The fan oscillates about 90 degrees, so it's not a continual flow of air.

I have it on now for the first time tonight, just for a little bit, will turn it off when I leave the office.

[LoveSalads]

Good question. With my Tomatoes I wait for about 20 days. This is about 10 days before they flower but I am trying to avoid them getting leggy. This is the first time I have had my fan on Lettuce because I have 2 tomato plants next to them. Both my Luttuce plants are mature, Merlot and, a 7 or 8 variety mix. Obviously you are not going to blow them over so I guess it can't hurt. Maybe 30 minutes a day ?  

[pfunnyjoy]

30 minutes a day sounds good.

That's about what I did last night, and they all look happy and growing today. It's too late for me to bother with it tonight, I'm going to shut down in here shortly, but I'll let them have some breeze again tomorrow.

[slw]

I never found any difference in lettuce from using a fan, and I ran a fan daily for a few months last year.   The wimpy lettuces remained wimpy so I just changed to planting mostly Romaine varieties for more crunch.

I do believe the fan helped pollinate my peppers and tomatoes, though.  Seeing the pepper leaves blowing in the breeze was kind of nice.  I have an oscillating fan on a stand that will cover most of my grow room so I just let it run a couple of hours a day when the fruiting plants begin to bloom. 

[pfunnyjoy]

Oct 18, 2024 12:49:46 GMT -5 slw said:

I never found any difference in lettuce from using a fan, and I ran a fan daily for a few months last year.   The wimpy lettuces remained wimpy so I just changed to planting mostly Romaine varieties for more crunch.

I do believe the fan helped pollinate my peppers and tomatoes, though.  Seeing the pepper leaves blowing in the breeze was kind of nice.  I have an oscillating fan on a stand that will cover most of my grow room so I just let it run a couple of hours a day when the fruiting plants begin to bloom. 

I have generally felt that most of my greens are happier with at least some fan action. It's a boon to chard as it helps them thicken at the base and stand up on their own quicker, as opposed to flopping about on the grow deck and interfering with each other. At any rate, the Parris Island  Cos and other plants in the office are getting some now, while I take a break from vacuuming to visit the forum.

I definitely think it helps with tomato/pepper pollination. And I found it a must way back when when I grew green beans, as otherwise, the heavy leaf canopy would literally be dripping. They needed ventilation! It made a difference to the failed ground cherry plants, which were suffering badly from edema. So overall, I'm a fan believer. Does no harm for the most part, and can help a lot of plants.