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| Anyone going to give this a try this year? I've been trying to figure out what I think about it, and I admit - I'm skeptical. Thoughts? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| Johnnys is always trying to come up with the 'next big thing'. It's kind of silly sometimes, like last years 'flower sprouts'. But I guess they're just doing what they can to sell seeds. Can't blame them. The Dutch seed company Rijk Zwaan is really the one that's pushing it. If the leaves are actually the size they say, the idea of one head that can be cut easily into mix size is probably smart for some situations. Whenever direct seeding is difficult due to weed load, hot weather, etc, then transplanting heads makes good sense (if it doesn't tip burn). I found that Johnnys is not the only one with this type of lettuce and "Salanova" is just a brand name (an expensive one too). I'm not quite ready to make it a big part of my market plan.... -Mark. |
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| I did a similar thing to the Salanova using the Summer Crisp type lettuces. Here are the 5 types I grew this winter. Here is another picture of them growing last November. I am switching from the salad mix to these mini-heads this year. It is alot less labor and I can sell them for less and end up making more. I was selling the mini-heads for $2.50 each. Most were over 1 pound each. The best was, cut, dunk in water, shake off and bag. I never brought any home from the winter markets. Jay |
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| i bought into it. we'll see how it goes. salad mix is very popular at our market. if this cuts down on the time it takes to get it ready it will be a winner. we'll still do head lettuce. |
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| Salad mix isn't too popular. I can sell it, but I don't sell enough of it to justify the time it takes to harvest, wash, dry and bag. I am looking at ways to lower my labor this year. Not doing salad mix is one of them. Another way is buying and using more tractor tillage. The carrot washer/Root crop washer and finally my mulch layer (if I can get it built)! Jay |
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- Posted by veggievicki 7b (My Page) on Mon, Jan 28, 13 at 20:16
| Our grocery store sells a couple of interesting things. One is where the lettuce is still sort of live. The other is four heads of lettuce in a package. They're small heads, two red two green. It seems the would be easier and also longer lasting than the salad mix. I assumed this was what the salanova thing was. |
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| Vicky, I'm not sure if the 4 pack of baby lettuce is whats being talked about (but the live lettuce sounds interesting). Salanova is a lettuce head thats made up of small, salad sized leaves. Not large leaves like usual. You have the option of using their patented cutter for it. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Salanova
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- Posted by veggievicki 7b (My Page) on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 23:38
| I'll look more closely next time I go to the grocery store and see if it specifies what varieties. I purchased one once just to try it and it is tons better than those bags Dole puts out of salad mix. What I remember about the "living" lettuce was the packaging looked very expensive. I'll look into the name brand and see if I can get any more info on it. |
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- Posted by Cole_Robbie none (My Page) on Tue, Jan 29, 13 at 23:59
| Is the living lettuce hydroponic? I am building a hydro machine right now with the intent of trying to sell miniature varieties of lettuce as live plants after they are fully grown. Doing so would solve the problem of how much to cut before market and how to keep it from wilting. I was thinking of a battery-powered air pump to aerate the roots while at market. Whatever did not sell could be taken home and stuck back into the hydro setup to keep growing. |
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| there's a guy who sells hydroponic butter crunch in round clamshell containers with the roots still intact at our market. i don't remember the price he charges but it is steep. he's even brought the tank and the floating raft with the lettuces to the market. |
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- Posted by 2fennelshirts 4 (My Page) on Wed, Jan 30, 13 at 15:17
| I bought into it too, I ordered/got both,the foundation + premier collections. Last year I tried the Live thing, I just pulled the whole plant root and all, but doing it this way took way to long to wash the soil off the roots so I did as Jay said; take the whole head-dip/shake(gently) in big tub of cold water-repeat into another tub of water-shake off gently-then I set the head on the air drying table (root end facing up to the sky). My drying table is made from an old step ladder, 8ft long piece with vinyl covered hardware cloth wired on the top (set on the shady side of our garage). Whole heads sell better at the market here, I do some salad mix in $2.00/bags for the coupon users, sometimes even $1/bags sell real well at the other market I go to. I truly think this "Salanova" lettuce will sell real good either way for me here. I grow ten other types of head lettuce as well-not all at the same time of course. Deb |
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| I am doing Salanova this year as well. 1000 of the premier and 1000 of the foundation as a trial. My chef customers were interested. I don't do salad mix as it qualifies as processing and I don't want the legal crap that comes along with processing. I like the concept and if it sells well I will buy more. It is NOT cheap, but I think it will work well. We will have to post our results here at the end of the season. |
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| i just harvested 10 heads of salanova. this is just the premier. i got 1.5 lbs out of it or $15 when i sell it. i mixed it with other salad mix lettuce and some baby chard. i like being able to cut the core out and get a nice pile of leaves. |
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