Feeding your soil and protecting your lettuce garden from pests and diseases is not complicated when you know what to look out for. When selecting products for your garden it is important to consider what factors are important to you. Do you want an organically grown garden? Do you have young children or pets that may play near your garden that you wouldn’t want to expose to harsh chemicals? What about biological products that can revitalize your soil? Today we are exploring products to consider based on what is important to you.
Fertilizing
After transplanting you should do your first fertilizing three weeks later. Lettuce prefers soil that is high in organic material, with plenty of compost and a steady supply of nitrogen to keep it growing fast. Organic alfalfa meal or an organic slow-release fertilizer such as Superzyme 1-0-4, Promot MZM, or Promot Plus are fantastic solutions for fertilization without adding harsh chemicals to your lettuce garden.
- Superzyme 1-0-4 offers a unique fermentation process specifically designed for root health and plant growth response. It supplies plant nutrients and activates soil’s biological activities to establish a healthy living plant environment.
- Promot MZM revitalizes root systems by increasing the amount of active beneficial micronutrients in the rhizosphere. It emphasizes greater root and plant growth while reducing growth time and improving seedling survival.
- Promot Plus is a multifunctional natural plant growth promoter. It improves seedling survival, stimulates root growth, and delivers increased production.
Primary Plant Nutrients
Some instead choose to use chemical fertilizers. When selecting a chemical fertilizer for a lettuce garden you want to keep in mind the importance of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium.
- Nitrogen: Nitrogen helps promote strong early growth in lettuce.
- Phosphorous: Phosphorous helps building healthy roots as well as with early maturity.
- Potassium: Potassium helps encourages root growth and increases resistance to diseases. Potassium is essential for flowering and growth.
Irrigation Considerations
Too much moisture at the soil surface causes soils to form spores and fungi that can cause lettuce drop. It is important to remember not to overwater your lettuce to avoid this. However, finding the balance between over and underwatering may prove to be difficult in the beginning. To counter, continue using a fungicide.
- Fosphite is the perfect product for those who want to guard their gardens but avoid toxic chemicals. Fosphite is an EPA approved systematic fungicide. It delivers safe and superior disease protection with a four-hour reentry interval and a zero-day preharvest interval.
Lettuce Pests
There are a variety of pests that love crisp lettuce almost as much as we do. This includes aphids, leaf miners, thrips, whiteflies, and more. To avoid these pesky garden invaders, we have a few recommendations.
- BioRepel is a natural insect repellent that gets rid of pests from infected areas or can stop the infection from ever happening. Made from garlic extract, BioRepel is non-phytotoxic, OMRI approved, and biodegradable.
- Pest Out is an all-natural and organic pesticide that made from natural oils that are toxic to pests but gentle to gardeners, children, and pets. It is 100% biodegradable and free of harsh chemicals.
Where to Shop
You can find any of the aforementioned products here on the Safergro website. Here you'll find farm quality products at reasonable prices for all of your growing needs. We are also always on standby to answer any of your gardening lawn care dilemmas. If we missed any of your questions feel free to reach out to us on Instagram or Facebook.
