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Vegetables

Leaf Lettuce Growing Guide: Planting, Care & Harvest

Non-heading lettuces picked leaf by leaf over many weeks, sown in succession and grown easily in pots or window boxes.

Leaf Lettuce

Lactuca sativa var. crispa

Growing calendar

Typical timing for central Japan (Kanto region). Shift it for your own climate, and record your actual dates.

Sow / plantHarvest

Guides

Common problems

Start from what you can see on the plant.

Pests and diseases (39)

Problems recorded for this plant, most serious first.

Aphids

Pest

Small green or black insects cluster on shoot tips and leaf undersides, crinkling the leaves and stopping growth. The honeydew they excrete supports sooty mold that blackens the foliage.

Fusarium Yellows

Disease

Yellowing starts on the lower leaves, the petioles twist and the plant leans to one side. Vascular tissue browns, growth stops, and heading vegetables may die without ever forming a head.

Powdery Mildew

Disease

White patches appear scattered on the upper leaf surface at first, then the whole leaf is coated in a white powder. Leaves later yellow, brown and die back, and reduced photosynthesis cuts growth and yield.

Late Blight

Disease

Dark green water-soaked lesions appear on the leaves and expand quickly into brown dead tissue. White mold forms on the underside and at the lesion edge, and dark brown lesions spread to stems and fruit.

Tomato Spotted Wilt

Disease

Brown necrotic spots and ring patterns appear on the leaves and the growing tips shrivel and darken. Fruit develops concentric yellow rings that make it unmarketable.

Brown Leaf Spot

Disease

Small light brown to gray-brown spots form on the leaves and enlarge into irregular lesions. When they merge the whole leaf dies and plant vigor drops sharply.

Cucumber Mosaic Virus

Disease

New leaves show a yellow-green mosaic, crinkle, and the whole plant becomes stunted. Fruit colors unevenly and grows misshapen.

Sclerotinia Rot

Disease

The crown, stem or head rots in a water-soaked way and is covered in white cottony mycelium. Black sclerotia later form inside and on the surface, and the plant wilts and dies.

Rust

Disease

Small raised orange-yellow to red-brown pustules form on both leaf surfaces, then rupture and release powdery spores. Heavy infection yellows the leaves and kills them early.

Southern Blight

Disease

The stem rots at soil level and white silky mycelium spreads over the crown and the surrounding soil surface. Brown sclerotia the size of rapeseed then form and the plant wilts and dies rapidly.

Potato Leafroll

Disease

Lower leaves roll inward into tubes and become stiff and leathery. The plant is stunted and yellowed, and tubers are small and few.

Bacterial Soft Rot

Disease

The crown or the head becomes water-soaked and soft, then collapses into a slimy mush. The rotting tissue gives off a distinctive foul odor.

Root-lesion Nematode

Pest

Elongated blackish brown necrotic lesions form on the root surface and fine roots rot away. Above ground the stand is uneven and plants stay small with pale foliage.

Root Rot

Disease

Fine roots rot brown to blackish brown, growth stops and the lower leaves yellow. The plant wilts easily in the daytime and eventually dies outright.

Root-knot Nematode

Pest

The plant wilts in the daytime and does not recover with feeding or watering. Pull it up and the roots carry beaded chains of galls of varying size with few fine roots.

Gray Mold

Disease

Water-soaked brown lesions form on flowers, fruit and leaves, densely covered by a fuzzy gray mold. Fruit rots and drops, and decay continues in storage after harvest.

Bacterial Spot

Disease

Small water-soaked spots appear on the leaves, later turning brown with yellowing around them. Fruit develops water-soaked or scabby spots from which rot spreads.

Leaf Spot

Disease

Small round brown to gray-white lesions appear on the lower leaves, the centers turning gray with tiny black specks. As they multiply the leaf yellows and drops early.

Downy Mildew

Disease

Pale yellow to yellow-brown angular lesions form on the upper leaf surface with a gray-purple mold in the matching spot underneath. Lesions merge, the leaves die back and the plant declines early.

Rhizoctonia Foot RotFoot RotShot HoleCorky RootGibellulopsis RotVerticillium WiltLettuce Big VeinPythium Foot RotPythium WiltPlectosphaerella RotMosaic DiseaseRhizoctonia Damping-offSclerotinia Minor RotCrown BlightPlant-parasitic NematodesGray Leaf SpotFusarium Wilt and Damping-offBacterial RotTarget SpotBlack Root

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