How to Cultivate Lettuce
Lettuce is a vegetable plant commonly grown in temperate and tropical regions. Its main use is for salads. World lettuce production is estimated at around 3 million tons, which are planted on more than 300,000 ha of land.
Nutritional Value and Benefits
Lettuce contains minerals, including iodine, phosphorus, iron, copper, cobalt, zinc, calcium, manganese, and potassium, so lettuce has the best properties in maintaining body balance. Green outer skin is the best. Slowly cooked for 15 minutes is a remedy for insomnia.
- Maintain healthy skin
- Improve the immune system
- Healthy eyes
- Overcoming insomnia
- Healthy heart
- Good for pregnant women
- Prevent bone loss
- Helps Decrease Weight
- Control blood sugar
- Throw out poisons
Cultivation Lettuce Type
capitata, crunchy lettuce (crisphead, iceberg) and butter head
longifolia, lettuce cos (romaine)
crispa, loose leaf lettuce
asparagina, stem lettuce
How to Cultivate Lettuce
- Selection of Superior Lettuce Seeds
Before you plant lettuce, make sure you have determined the type of lettuce you want. Some types of lettuce are lollo verde, lollo rosso, iceberg lettuce (head lettuce), cos / romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, radicchio and butterhead. Each type of lettuce has a texture and taste that is slightly different from each other.
In order to get lettuce seeds, we can get them from the nearest seed shop or local farmer. Make sure the seeds you choose are quality seeds. Starting from quality seeds, the hope is to get healthy and high-quality lettuce.
- Planting Media Preparation
When the lettuce seeds have been prepared, the next step in six ways is to plant lettuce and the treatment is the preparation of the planting medium. The planting media needed must certainly meet the requirements of lettuce growth to support the growth of lettuce plants. The following are planting media that need to be provided to plant lettuce seeds.
- Loose soil and rich in nutrients
- Compost
- Rice husk
- Pot or poly bag that has been given a hole at the bottom
- Knocking or a type of device for mixing soil and fertilizer
- with enough water
- After all the tools and materials are available, the process of planting lettuce can already be done.
Sowing Lettuce Seeds
Do seeding by following the steps below.
- Combine soil, rice husk and manure or compost with a ratio of 2: 1: 1.
- Mix the mixture evenly using cetok or similar tools.
- Fill poly pots or polybags used with a mixture of soil, rice husk and manure.
- Make a hole in the center as deep as 2 cm.
- Place two seeds or lettuce seeds in a hole that has been made in each pot or poly bag.
- Pile lettuce or seeds with a mixture of soil and fertilizer.
Solidify the land by tapping it slowly. - Flush with enough water. Do it gently. Make sure the nursery media remains moist.
- Lettuce seeds usually grow or begin to germinate after 3 to 4 days. Store seeds regularly.
- Let the seeds grow in the nursery until they are 17 days old. At this age the seeds usually have leaves of 4 to 5 strands. This indicates that the seeds are ready to be transferred to the land or more permanent media.
Land Processing Plant Lettuce Seeds
Before being transferred to a permanent planting medium, what is important is to cultivate the planting soil itself. Planting land needs to be given certain treatment so that land productivity increases. The following is a step to treat lettuce so that it is more fertile and ready for planting.
Providing land to plant lettuce seeds in open areas. Dilute the soil by weeding or eradicating weeds.Make a ground bubble. Hoe the soil with a depth of about 10 cm. You can adjust the size of lettuce seeds. Give and mix manure or compost into your soil. Leave your soil in place for approximately 2 days. Land of Cangkullah to soften the soil with fertilizer and charcoal husk. After the land is prepared, the next step in planting lettuce and treatment is move lettuce seeds to more permanent soil.
Treatment of Lettuce Plants
Take care of the lettuce plants by watering, weeding, and making sure the drainage system is very good to prevent crop failure! You can try the following things to treat it.
Sprinkling
Water the lettuce plants regularly, ie twice a day, every morning and evening. If the weather is rainy, you can reduce the frequency of watering. In essence, keep the soil moist.
Weeding
Whether weeding or extracting wild plants around lettuce plants. Considering that lettuce is a plant with shallow roots, its competitiveness in absorbing nutrients in the soil will be thinner than the surrounding larvae. Weeding must be done regularly to avoid crop failure.
Irrigation
Irrigation or drainage from lettuce plants needs to be monitored and considered to avoid the occurrence of puddles that can damage the lettuce plants. With regard to the drainage system, this means that you can simultaneously prevent or control lettuce pests.
When lettuce has reached the age of 40 to 60 days from the time of seeding, lettuce plants are considered ready to be harvested. The following is the right way to harvest lettuce.
- Remove or pull the lettuce to the root.
- Sort fresh lettuce.
- If lettuce leaves wither or dry, just throw it away!
- Wash the lettuce with running water until it's clean.
- Separate lettuce according to the same large leaves.
- Collect in one clean basket.
- Harvest lettuce with fast movements, remember good lettuce in a short time.
