First Lettuce Harvest of 2019

Johnny's Selected Seeds packet

I planted 36 TRUCHAS OG MTO seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds on 1/5/2019 in a 36 cell propagation tray using a 60%/40% mix of Coconut Coir/ Vermiculite as a planting media. I’ve found that these seeds germinated better without the use of a propagation mat (or heating pad) with an optimal surface temperature of 68 degrees fahrenheit (F). The sprouts began to appear after about 5 days.

After 11 days under the grow light for 14 hours per day I moved the seedlings into 2″ net pots in the 2-inch by 16-inch by 24-inch STYROFOAM XPS floating rafts. These plants grew well in my aquaponic system even though it was 55 days from rafting until harvest. The seed packet says 47 days to maturity but we only use Sunlight in our backyard greenhouse and the Winter days have been short. The temperature in the greenhouse typically stays above 40 degrees F during the night and can reach 85-90 degrees F during a sunny day.

It took me about 14 minutes to harvest 29 plants on 3/22/2019. (We had harvested 7 earlier for meals). The plants were dense and weighed about 4 ounces each. In total, the harvest produced 7 1/2 pounds of lettuce that filled 10 1-gallon bags.

After washing and bagging, I delivered 9 bags with three heads each to Tree of Life Ministries in Purcellville, VA for distribution to families the next day.

God Bless you! Thanks for reading.