Grow Out Times

[Chris Smith]

A recently post has questioned grow out times being claimed by some. There seems to be a lot of misinformation out there on this subject this so I would like to get a record of what our community is doing in our back yards and compare it to all the claims out there. I see claims of lettuce from seed to harvest in 30 something days and I cannot believe them based on my years of growing experience. I have achieved close to that but not on a consistent basis.

It will be important to include your area, system type, media, crop, water temp, and any other important information.

For me I grow lettuce from seed to plate in about 6 weeks. My grow time can vary a little each way depending on time of year as some of the year we have afternoon clouds and rain.The max time on lettuce in cloudy/rainy weather is 8 weeks. Many of my crops can be continuously harvested such as basil, celery, chard, and tomatoes. These crops have been successfully and continually harvested for up to 6 months.

[TCLynx]

Well with lettuce, some people will harvest baby lettuce and give the times it takes for that but not share the info that they are growing it as micro greens or baby lettuce which would definitely skew numbers.

 

Or the other common point of confusion (which I think often happens from lettuce growing in hydroponics) is that people will give the time from transplant of the seedling to harvest which is often 4 weeks under ideal conditions.  But again, it kinda ignores the two weeks the plant spent as a seedling not yet set out in the system.

 

I think this thread is gonna need pictures.  I've got towers planted with lettuce and I kept the markers I used when I seeded and they have dates on them.

[RupertofOZ]

Your timeline... from seed... (42-45 days)... is pretty well spot on Chris... and is probably the best acheivable in optimum conditions... as are your figures (56-60 days)...for less optimal conditions...

And TCL rightly points out that many claims are based on transplanted seedling stocks...

Heres a typical real timeline... in my aquaponic mixed media "mega" system...

16/12/2008... seedling stock from a supplier to commercial hydroponic growers...

 

09/01/2009... 24 days...

 

15/01/2009.... 30 days...

 

Harvest... 30/01/2009... 45 days...

 

The lettuce could probably have been harvested earlier... on average each head would have been 1 kilo+

[RupertofOZ]

I could also supply numerous examples to time lapse photos of many varieites of plants... from seed to harvest...

 

This is my preferred method in my client systems...

 

You can chase them down in the "Holmes-A-Court", "Bamarang" or "Wallaby Hill" threads on the BYAP forum... or I will happily email them to anyone interested...

[TCLynx]

Can you give links to those time lapse pages in the threads?  Some of those threads are long enough that it might take a while to find the right post.  (Better yet maybe you could have the time lapse slide shows on your web site and share the links.)

[TCLynx]

This one was seeded on Oct 17 and the pic taken Nov 17

The one on the Right pic-11-17-11-seeded-10-27-11

pic-11-17-11-seeded-10-8-11

pic-11-17-11-seeded-10-8and9-11

pic-11-17-11-seeded-10-9-11

Most of these towers on hanging on my East wall so they only get sun in the mornings but last winter it grew such lovely lettuce that I decided to go ahead and set up that position again for the cool months.

Some stuff was seeded on the proper days according to the planting by the moon and others not.  I can't really say if it had much effect on the lettuce.  Squirrels and caterpillars have given me troubles with the open seeding shelf that I've had to try some new things since last month.

[RupertofOZ]

Talk about putting pressure on a man TCL...

My website is about to undergo a complete (long overdue)...software upgrade and re-design... and such a "slide-show" is an intended feature..

Until then... this is the best I can do...

 

System seeded  02/10/2010... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=246738#p246738

First seeds ...     04/10/2010..  http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=247078#p247078

10 days later..    14/10/2010 .. http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=248110#p248110

14 days later ...  26/10/2010... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=249355#p249355

11 days later...   06/11/2010... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=250738#p250738

8 days later...     14/11/2010... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=252209#p252209

13 days later...   27/11/2010... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=253969#p253969

8 days later...     04/12/2010... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=254820#p254820

11 days later...   15/12/2010... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=256034#p256034

 

Radish... 6 weeks from seed to plate... http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=250743#p250743

 

Bear in mind... this was a brand new system... cycled with fish... and planted immediately...

 

P.S... above date format is dd/mm/yyyy...

[TCLynx]

But it's real results and you share the details which is a good thing Rupe.

 

Good Luck on the web site re-design.  (a little over a year ago I got the kick in the pants to improve my web site so I know what it's like.  And I should be constantly adding more to it and other improvements.)

[RupertofOZ]

You know me well enought TCL... to know I post without "fear or favour"... and that I have a finely tuned "bullshit" meter..

[TCLynx]

[wes]

 Hey RupertofOZ was looking at you grow system and just wonder what is the spacing for you lettuce in those troughs??? 6 inches 8 inches?????

RupertofOZ said:

Your timeline... from seed... (42-45 days)... is pretty well spot on Chris... and is probably the best acheivable in optimum conditions... as are your figures (56-60 days)...for less optimal conditions...

And TCL rightly points out that many claims are based on transplanted seedling stocks...

Heres a typical real timeline... in my aquaponic mixed media "mega" system...

16/12/2008... seedling stock from a supplier to commercial hydroponic growers...

 

09/01/2009... 24 days...

 

15/01/2009.... 30 days...

 

Harvest... 30/01/2009... 45 days...

 

The lettuce could probably have been harvested earlier... on average each head would have been 1 kilo+

[RupertofOZ]

Those troughs are a 300mm hole spacing... 12" ...

Normally for lettuce I'd use 250 mm ... 10" .. or even 200 mm...8"...  for some cos varieties...

[wes]

Thank rupertoOZ that is good info, I was looking at your green house and was
wondering what type of cover material you used for the top? It looks like clear
but I couldn’t be sure from the photos, awesome setup by the way.