Cut-And-Come Lettuce

Maximize your profits while minimizing time to grow and seed costs with this easy cut-and-come approach to growing lettuce salad mix.

- ZACH LOEKS

There is good profit to be made by growing lettuce mixes for salad greens - especially if there is higher yield from a piece of ground. In early spring, the potential to cut greens and have them grow again for a repeat harvest is good. But this process does require some care and understanding to ensure the quality and quantity stays high. Growers need to consider varieties, planting and harvest techniques, and overall soil quality.

Cut-and-come-again lettuce can be grown in pots, window boxes, gardens or even indoors on a sunny windowsill.

CUT-AND-COME GROWING BASICS

Cut-and-come refers to growing lettuce to a good size for harvest, then cutting, washing, bagging and selling the product as a salad mix. The lettuce is then allowed to regrow so another harvest can be had.

If you yield is one bag per bed foot, for instance, then allowing the lettuce to regrow will provide two bags per bed foot. A third harvest could yield yet another bag. This increases the return on space, seed and planting cost, and time as growing from seed takes longer than regenerating from a cut plant.

TIPS FOR CUT-AND-COME LETTUCE

Here are some pro tips for this type of lettuce production.

• Don't grow the lettuces mixed within the row. If you want a colorful mix of different lettuces or to add other types of greens into the mix (like arugula or baby kales), these should be grown in separate blocks within the bed, in separate rows or even within separate beds.

This is because different varieties have different grow habits and days to maturity, which may interfere with easy production.

For instance, some varieties of lettuce may bolt (go to seed) quicker than others. If mixed, they will hamper harvest of varieties with a longer period to bolting. Additionally, greens like arugula require different pest management techniques than lettuces.