Bitter buttercrunch

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13Turtles Springfield, OR(Zone 8a) May 30, 2014

Why would my butterhead lettuces be bitter when it hadn't even been hot here yet?

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jmc1987 Cascade, VA(Zone 7a) May 31, 2014

causes can also range from too little water, being picky about the nutrients in the soil that its growing in (particularly an over abundance of nitrogen), aster yellows disease (usually brought on by leaf hoppers), or as i am finding out for myself this year--even not spacing them far enough apart.

This message was edited May 31, 2014 11:33 PM

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13Turtles Springfield, OR(Zone 8a) May 31, 2014

Wow, interesting; I didn't know any of that. I did suspect the too little water factor, although the leaves are nice and juicy. Thanks for your response. I hope you get some non-bitter heads.

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drobarr Hummelstown, PA(Zone 6b) Jun 01, 2014

Picking the lettuce and washing it and then chilling it in the fridge a couple of days can also reduce the bitterness.

Water is a key factor as well as the age of the lettuce...if it gets very mature it can get more bitter. But butterhead usually arent very bitter compared to some of the leaf lettuces.

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jmc1987 Cascade, VA(Zone 7a) Jun 01, 2014

i myself tend to stick to the butterhead varieties for that reason, and also the romaine varieties for their better heat tolerance than most other lettuce.

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drobarr Hummelstown, PA(Zone 6b) Jun 01, 2014

jmc1987...

Same here...but i cant resist trying other types of lettuce as well. Sometimes I like to pick a leaf off and eat it while working in the garden but notice a better flavor after chilling it in the fridge a day or two.

I think we have become so accustomed to eating vegetables picked a week or longer ago from the store that when we taste something freshly grown they don't taste like what we are used to eating.

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jmc1987 Cascade, VA(Zone 7a) Jun 02, 2014

oh yeah same thing here with the venturing out of the ordinary, lol but i still always have a butterhead and romaine around here somewhere ;)

and i agree about the chilling before eating thing as well. matter of fact, it works for just about any cool season crop i have come to find out.

and i do agree that we have grown so accustomed to the ones in the stores, that have gone a long time since picking--and add onto that, the plants being specially bred to survive the shipping at the cost of flavor and nutrients.

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WillyFromAZ Sierra Vista, AZ(Zone 8b) Jun 02, 2014

I'm jealous that you haven't gotten warm yet!

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drobarr Hummelstown, PA(Zone 6b) Jun 02, 2014

Willy,

We got to the mid 80's today. But still lots of 60's and 70's and will have lettuce yet a few more weeks. The jealousy is reversed in January when we are frozen and you are growing your lettuce.

John

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