Red Romaine Lettuce

An Intro to Red Romaine

MY STATUS: Grown Successfully to Harvest   

Red Romaine is a variety of loose-leaf lettuce that is belongs in the Romaine familyand may have come from Romania (hence the name) . It's identical to Parris Island Cos, except that the leaves are deep red or magenta instead of light green. The plant can grow to be 10 inches tall. It's a great lettuce for mixed-green salads.

SOIL

The plant grows well in well-drained, loamy soil.

HOW MUCH SUN?

I've found this species to be very tolerant to Pohnpei's hot, humid conditions, but even so it should not be left out in direct sun after about 9 AM. Keep it in open shade for the rest of the day.

HOW MUCH WATER?

Each plant needs about 1 inch of water a week. Keep the soil moist, but avoid waterlogging, which will rot the roots. Water at the base, not on the leaves, as the latter can encourage mold growth.

GROWING IN CONTAINERS

I've found Red Romaine to be container-friendly. It grows well in fairly small pots, too, but make sure it has good drainage.

PESTS

The usual lettuce villains threaten, but you can avoid almost all of them simply by keeping your containers on a porch away from the ground.

PICK OFTEN

Cutting leaves when they are small and tender is the best tactic. Young leaves are more flavorful, and the constant picking will stimulate the plant's growth.

FERTILIZE

Like most lettuces, Red Romaine does best when compost or fertilizer is added on a regular basis (once a week)--especially when growing in containers. I use a fish emulsion most of the time, but high nitrogen fertilizers, like chicken or steer manure, work will with plants grown for their leaves.

HARVESTING

Parris Island Cos should be ready to pick about 70 days after germination. Individual leaves can be picked as needed. Cut them off near the base.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

I sowed my Ferry-Morse StartSmart seeds in a shallow, rectangular container. I put a thin layer of gravel on the bottom and filled the rest with a standard mix of potting soil. The container is being kept in full sun until germination, after which it will be moved to the shade.

DAY 3 - GERMINATION

The Red Romaine has been the third fastest germinating of the varieties in my mesclun mix. Just over 48 hours. Once germinated, the container was moved to open shade, as these plants prefer cooler weather.

DAY 12

Seedlings have increased in size and some are starting to see the development of true leaves.

DAY 19

A several-day stretch of hot, sunny weather wiped out a lot of my seedlings but the strongest have survived.

DAY 49

Development has been very slow, but the plants are making it. They get about an hour of direct sun early in the morning and stay in open shade the rest of the time.

DAY 64

The best-looking Red Romaine plants in my original container were transplanted into their own small pots and are thriving. I think they are about ready to harvest.

DAY 90

I've been really enjoying this lettuce. Nice flavor, crisp leaves, beautiful color. We've been having nice mixed salads regularly. These plants may be nearing the end of their life cycle, however. One symptom of picking leaves from the bottom is that it has encouraged the plants to grow taller and taller. They have long stems now. They're still producing leaves, but slower than before. I'm guessing they'll bolt fairly soon.

DAY 107 (9/3) - END OF RUN

Today I decided my lettuces have reached the end of their growth period. The hot weather has pushed them to go to seed in the last day or two, and though I've picked off the flower buds, the stems have lengthened, the leaves have darkened and become tougher, and the flavor of the leaves is getting bitter. It's been a great run--two solid months of fresh almost daily gourmet salads. I never would have expected the plants to grow here, much less be so productive and healthy. I'm considering sowing again, but not until this hot weather subsides.

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Parris Island Cos Lettuce

An Intro to Parris Island Cos

MY STATUS: Grown Successfully to Harvest   

Parris Island Cos is a variety of loose-leaf lettuce that is belongs in the Romaine family and originated in the warm humid climate of South Caroline. It has light green elongated leaves with crunchy ribs and a slightly "spicy" flavor. The plant can grow to be 10 inches tall. It's a good type of lettuce for caesar salads.

SOIL

The plant grows well in well-drained, loamy soil.

HOW MUCH SUN?

I've found this species to be very tolerant to Pohnpei's hot, humid conditions, but even so it should not be left out in direct sun after about 9 AM. Keep it in open shade for the rest of the day.

HOW MUCH WATER?

Each plant needs about 1 inch of water a week. Keep the soil moist, but avoid waterlogging, which will rot the roots. Water at the base, not on the leaves, as the latter can encourage mold growth.

GROWING IN CONTAINERS

I've found Parris Island Cos to be container-friendly. It grows well in fairly small pots, too, but make sure it has good drainage.

PESTS

The usual lettuce villains threaten, but you can avoid almost all of them simply by keeping your containers on a porch away from the ground.

PICK OFTEN

Cutting leaves when they are small and tender is the best tactic. Young leaves are more flavorful, and the constant picking will stimulate the plant's growth.

FERTILIZE

Like most lettuces, Parris Island Cos does best when compost or fertilizer is added on a regular basis (once a week)--especially when growing in containers. I use a fish emulsion most of the time, but high nitrogen fertilizers, like chicken or steer manure, work will with plants grown for their leaves.

HARVESTING

Parris Island Cos should be ready to pick about 70 days after germination. Individual leaves can be picked as needed. Cut them off near the base.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

I sowed my Ferry-Morse StartSmart seeds in a shallow, rectangular container. I put a thin layer of gravel on the bottom and filled the rest with a standard mix of potting soil. The container is being kept in full sun until germination, after which it will be moved to the shade.

DAY 3 - GERMINATION

The Parris Island Cos has been the second fastest germinating of the varieties in my mesclun mix. It took about 48 hours. Once germinated, the container was moved to open shade, as these plants prefer cooler weather.

DAY 12

Seedlings have increased in size and some are starting to see the development of true leaves.

DAY 19

A several-day stretch of hot, sunny weather wiped out a lot of my seedlings but the strongest have survived.

DAY 49

Development has been very slow, but the plants are making it. They get about an hour of direct sun early in the morning and stay in open shade the rest of the time.

DAY 64

The most robust Parris Island Cos plants in my original container were transplanted into their own small pots and are thriving. They are now producing the most leaves of any of my greens, even surpassing the hardy Red Russian Kale. I'll start harvesting soon.

DAY 107 (9/3) - END OF RUN

Today I decided my lettuces have reached the end of their growth period. The hot weather has pushed them to go to seed in the last day or two, and though I've picked off the flower buds, the stems have lengthened, the leaves have darkened and become tougher, and the flavor of the leaves is getting bitter. It's been a great run--two solid months of fresh almost daily gourmet salads. I never would have expected the plants to grow here, much less be so productive and healthy. I'm considering sowing again, but not until this hot weather subsides.

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Micro-Greens / Mesclun

An Intro to Mesclun

MY STATUS: Grown Successfully to Harvest   

Mesclun, also called micro-greens, simply refers to a seed mix including several types of loose-leaf salad greens.  My mix has Arugula (Rocket), Green Curled Endive, Red Russian Kale, Red Romaine lettuce, Parris Island Cos lettuce, Salad Bowl lettuce, and Lolla Rossa lettuce. As some of these are more sensitive to heat than others. In my first trial, the endive and salad bowl varieties failed to germinate.

SHADE

As most lettuces prefer cooler weather, they are a little more challenging to grow on Pohnpei than herbs. The best bet is to keep them in open shade, where they will get plenty of light but not be baked by the equatorial sun.

KEEP IT MOIST

These plants need to be moist all the time, though they should never be soggy. As containers dry out fast, keep a close eye on them, especially on hot days. It helps to compose a soil mix that drains quickly and put a layer of fine gravel at the bottom of the containers.

HARVESTING

Greens should be ready to harvest 40-70 days after germination depending on the species. Individual leaves can be picked as needed.

What I Did

DAY 1 - SOWING

I sowed my Ferry-Morse StartSmart seeds in a shallow, rectangular container. I put a thin layer of gravel on the bottom and filled the rest with a standard mix of potting soil. The container is being kept in full sun until germination, after which it will be moved to the shade.

DAY 3 - GERMINATION

The mesclun has been among the fastest germinating seeds. Some species came up in less than 48 hours. I think they beat the basil. Once germinated, the container was moved to open shade, as these plants prefer cooler weather.

DAY 12

Seedlings have increased in size and some are starting to see the development of true leaves. I can distinguish at least four types of greens so far.

DAY 19

I wish I could say the greens are thriving, but they are having trouble. We had a several-day stretch of hot, sunny weather last week that was probably rough for the little seedlings of plants that already prefer cooler weather than Pohnpei has to offer. I probably should have made a better effort to make sure they stayed completely out of the sun. Some of the seedlings have withered and been pulled out. As I anticipated, certain species seem to be doing better than others. The Red Russian Kale and Red Romaine can be identified. I can't tell if there is any rocket (arugula). There are some green-leafed plants in there, but I'm not sure which variety they are yet--too small. All the plants seem to be growing very, very slowly--probably another symptom of temperatures that are above the optimal limits.

DAY 49

Development has been very slow with these cool-weather plants, but they are looking better. I give them about an hour of direct sun early in the morning and keep them in open shade the rest of the time. Certain species are certainly more tolerant of the heat and humidity. The kale is thriving. The Red Romaine, Parris Island Cos, and Lolla Rosa are doing moderately well. The rocket is growing the slowest and is most prone to heat-wilt. I've started transplanting some of the larger individuals into their own pots to give them more room to develop. No endive or salad bowl seeds germinated.

DAY 76 - STILL NEW SEEDLINGS

Here's the funny thing. Though I transplanted out all the good-looking plants from my original container, new seedlings are still coming up from the first sowing now 2 1/2 months ago! Some of these seedlings are varieties of lettuce that hadn't shown up before in this mix. I've definitely got Salad Bowl now, though still no endive. Oh well. I suppose the kids wouldn't eat the endive anyway, and I'm totally blown away by the overall success of these seeds. Who knew one little packet of mesclun could be so prolific?!

DAY 78 - SALADS GALORE

All of the lettuce species that grew from the mesclun packet continue to be very productive. I have enough plants that we can have a nice mixed green salad every 3 days without any supplementary store-bought lettuce. It's absolutely fantastic and so unexpected to be eating gourmet salad on Pohnpei! I never would have thought.  The salad pictured at right had Russian Kale, Red Romaine, Parris Island Cos, Salad Bowl, Arugula, and Lolla Rossa lettuces with sweet basil, lemon basil, parsley, and fennel leaves. With a nice caesar dressing, it was delicious and full of complex flavors!

DAY 91 - MORE PLANTS (8/14)

The second wave of seedlings (all from the first planting) are now nice plants, which I'm harvesting little by little. I wish I could figure out what the mystery species in the batch is. It's not one of the plants listed on the seed packet.

See continuation of this record on the pages for each of the individual species of greens (Red Russian Kale, Red Romaine, Parris Island Cos, Arugula, Lolla Rossa)

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