Planting Loma Lettuce Seeds – How To Grow A Loma Lettuce Plant

Loma Batavian lettuce is a French crisp lettuce with glossy, dark green leaves. It is easy to grow in cool weather but is also relatively heat tolerant. If you are considering growing Loma Batavian lettuce, you’ll want some tips on planting and caring for it. Read on for information about the requirements for growing Loma lettuce.

Lettuce ‘Loma’ Variety

Loma Batavian lettuce produces attractive, apple-green heads, with shiny leaves frilled around the edges. The large leaves are thick and firm, but the heads are relatively small and compact.

The plant reaches maturity and is ready to harvest in about 50 days. It is somewhat heat tolerant, but it does tend to bolt in summer heat.

Loma Lettuce Plant Growing Instructions

If you have decided to start growing Loma lettuce, you can begin early. Start Loma lettuce plants around four to six weeks before the average last frost date in your location.

Usually, when you sow before a frost, you plant seeds in containers indoors. However, since lettuce is very cold hardy, you can sow Loma lettuce seeds right in the garden plot.

Plant the seeds 1/4 inch (0.5 cm.) deep in rows. When the Loma lettuce seeds sprout, you should thin the young seedlings to about 8 to 12 inches (20.5-30.5 cm.) apart. But don’t throw those thinned seedlings away; replant them in another row to get even more plants.

Care for Lettuce ‘Loma’

Once your lettuce plants get established, care is easy enough. Moisture is important to lettuce, so you’ll need to irrigate regularly. How much water? Give the plants enough just enough to keep the soil moist but not enough to make it soggy.

One danger for Loma Batavian lettuce is wildlife. Mammals, like rabbits, love to nibble on the sweet leaves and garden slugs love to munch, so protection is essential.

If you decide to plant Loma and nothing but Loma, you should plant successive crops every two or three weeks to extend the harvest season. You can treat Loma as a loose leaf lettuce and harvest the outer leaves as they grow, or you can wait and harvest the head.

Wait to harvest until the weather is cooler, and you’ll get crisp, delicious leaves. Always harvest for same-day use.