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Old December 19, 2015   #61
Worth1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by salix View Post
Aubergine, I am sorry to be so late with an answer to your question. Drunken Woman is a large, semi-looseleaf lettuce, bright green with red/mahogany tips. It is rather frilly, and apparently that is why the name (a tousled, 'frizzy' appearance). It is slow to bolt, and does well in cool weather.
There is nothing I cant stand worse than a drunken women (or man) tipsy yes, drunken no.
Slow to bolt and does well in cool weather would fall in the description of drunken too.

Worth
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Old December 19, 2015   #62
bower
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A couple of years ago I got a packet of Red Iceberg which was on special at Tradewinds Fruit. Grew it with others in 'cut and come again' situation for winter and it was awesome. So juicy in a winter salad, and tasty and nicely green/red. It really renewed my interest in iceberg, which I only knew as those solid and very pale green lumps in the grocery store which have no taste to speak of.

Another thing I noticed this year, my fall lettuces outdoors got hit by frost, but the couple of iceberg among them were fine and the last ones still great to eat. This was I believe a var called "New York" iceberg and regular green.

If I wasn't so busy I would have started some indoor lettuce awhile ago, I'll be starting it soon. Lisa, lettuce or any winter green you want to cut and come again indoors can be left under fluorescent lights 24/7. You want the lights to be pretty close, within a few inches of the growing leaves. Any fluorescent will work and the cool colours or ordinary shop lights are just fine, and energy cost is minimal. Best location is a cool room, of course, to keep them from drying out and some types will bolt if it's too dry. For indoor winter lettuce I find the leaf lettuces do great, as well as the iceberg which managed to be juicy. Butterhead types were ok but more tendency to be dry, and really the romaines tended to be on the dry side and didn't add anything positive to the mix. Both of these were slower growing too under lights in the 'cut and come again' setup. I don't think I've tried a 'Batavia' type but they sound great and for sure on my wish list to try.
Asian greens like mizuna or komatsuna do well but short lived for me indoors, they were more prone to bolt than the lettuce but certainly nice and crisp as long as they lasted.
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Old December 19, 2015   #63
greenthumbomaha
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Thanks Bower, I guess I'll be waiting on Asian Greens till spring!

That is good to know on the fluorescent lights. I'd like to reserve the bulbs my T5's for the tomatoes and peppers. Last year I had onions under shop lights 24/7 for 2 weeks due to snow at my country place. I had meant to buy a timer but never got to go back. I was sure they would have burned up but they did great so I just left them basking in the light for the entire winter.

Black seeded simpson is about an inch tall and I picked up a package of dragons tongue (another leaf lettuce) from my seed library (love that place!) I also started a package of mixed lettuce so hopefully I'll have some of the reds in there.

I hope you find time to start your winter greens. So many temptations in this thread.

- Lisa
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Old December 20, 2015   #64
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Blushed butter oak, glossy bronze cos, and cougar batavian from Frank Morton's wildgardenseed.com are outstanding in every regard. There is that source for lettuce seeds and a bunch of others trailing behind as not very close seconds.
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Old December 20, 2015   #65
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Theoretically speaking.
If I were to start an onion seed in optimum growing conditions under a light I could control.
Would I be able to keep it in a constant state of bulbing?
In other words have a basket ball sized onion.

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Old December 20, 2015   #66
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The different posts about growing vegetables under artificial light remind me of a document published by the University of Alaska full of useful information : “Controlling the Greenhouse Environment”
http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publica.../HGA-00336.pdf

I’ve been struck by the huge quantity of light needed by lettuce seedlings, I had already noticed that placing them behind a window facing south didn’t give them enough light…
I made a few excepts, adding a table about the influence of distance between lights and seedlings.

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Old December 20, 2015   #67
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Worth
Good question. If you grew a short day variety under lights and kept the duration at 14 on to 10 off, maybe. If you then planted out with close to the same photo period, your plants I think would continue to grow as they did under lights. I suppose you could grow an onion under lights to a large size, but perpetually I don't know. Even without a change in the photo period would the plant at some time be programed to go to seed.

No matter how long you grow a plant indoors, I think your best chance to grow the biggest bulb would be to finish outside.

I grow long day varieties, Copra and Candy. I start in late Jan. and set out in late April. The daylength is the same as my indoor lights. The plants start to put on a good size bulb in June and finish in July. That's 150 plus days start to finish. These are near fist size, not very big.
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Old December 22, 2015   #68
Worth1
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Thanks to you guys I bought 3 pack of lettuce seeds.
Parris Island romaine.
Black seeded Simpson.
Bibb.

Worth
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Old December 22, 2015   #69
Jonnyhat
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what if you kept it under 24 hour light? I know with some plants this keeps it in the vegetative state and prevents going to seed, as long as you kept the plant full of water and nutes I would think this would work? I am a novice with onions, but by accident i kept mine under 24 for the first 2 months last winter and they were prolific both with root formation and bulbing under floro.
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Old December 23, 2015   #70
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You guys are tempting me.
I am going to start some, like in Feb, inside and then take them out to my cold frame, then into Rbed. How am I gonna deal w/ the slugs ?
I got an idea : Cover them with fine nylon tulle.

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Old December 23, 2015   #71
Worth1
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gardeneer View Post
You guys are tempting me.
I am going to start some, like in Feb, inside and then take them out to my cold frame, then into Rbed. How am I gonna deal w/ the slugs ?
I got an idea : Cover them with fine nylon tulle.

Gardeneer
Slimy Slugs live under ground too and can come up through the soil.
I just killed one last night in December of all times.

Worth
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Old December 23, 2015   #72
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I can keep lettuce in my garden from October to June but even in shade, I can't get anything to last through the whole summer. I like to mix a crunchy lettuce like Little Gem (sort of a mix of romaine and bibb) with softer lettuces like Tom Thumb (butter) and Oakleaf (loose leaf). Tom Thumb also makes a nice little lettuce cup for salads and fillings.
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Old December 23, 2015   #73
Worth1
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I fired up the old tractor and did some row cropping.
About 240 lettuce seeds planted.
Seed starting mix on top of potting soil.
Worth

IMG_20151223_34485.jpg

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Old December 23, 2015   #74
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Worth1 View Post
Slimy Slugs live under ground too and can come up through the soil.
I just killed one last night in December of all times.

Worth

Yeah, but I know where them slugs hide, not in the open in the middle of garden bed.

Nylon tulle is a versatile tool. It can even keep the rabbit and rats , squirrels away. It has a Saran Wrap factors (tangling) that those animals don't like it. It feels like a trap to them and they avoid their feet getting tangled up in the tulle. You heard it here first. .
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Old December 23, 2015   #75
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I love this thread. I am semi new to growing lettuce and cant wait to try Merlot and a few others.. :-)

Ginny
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