Growing Flashy Butter Oak lettuce isn’t difficult, and the reward is a great-tasting lettuce with a mild flavor and crispy, tender texture. A newer type of lettuce, Flashy Butter Oak is a compact plant with puckery, red-speckled, oak-shaped leaves. Interested in growing Flashy Butter Oak lettuce in your vegetable garden this year? Read on and learn all about it.
How to Grow Flashy Butter Oak Lettuce Plants
Lettuce ‘Flashy Butter Oak’ is a cool weather plant, ready to pick about 55 days after planting. You can harvest baby lettuce or wait a couple weeks longer for full heads to develop. Flashy Butter Oak lettuce plants grow in nearly any type of moist, well-drained soil. Add a generous amount of compost or well-rotted manure a few days prior to planting. Plant Flashy Butter Oak lettuce as soon as the ground can be worked in spring. Lettuce doesn’t do well when temperatures exceed 75 F. (24 C.) and will bolt in hot weather, but you can plant more seeds when the temperature drops in fall. Plant lettuce seeds directly in the soil, then cover them a very thin layer of soil. For full-size heads, plant seeds at a rate of about six seeds per inch (2.5 cm.), in rows 12 to 18 inches (30.5-45.5 cm.) apart. You can also start Flashy Butter Oak lettuce seeds indoors four to six weeks ahead of time.
Lettuce ‘Flashy Butter Oak’ Variety Care
Keep the lettuce patch consistently moist, irrigating whenever the top inch (2.5 cm.) of soil feels dry to the touch. Don’t allow the soil to be either soggy or bone dry. Lettuce may rot in soggy conditions, but dry soil may result in bitter lettuce. Sprinkle the lettuce lightly any time the leaves look wilted during hot, dry weather. Apply a balanced, general-purpose fertilizer as soon as the plants are a couple of inches (2.5 cm.) tall. Apply granular fertilizer at about half the rate suggested by the manufacturer, or use a water-soluble product. Always water well immediately after fertilizing. Apply a layer of compost or other organic mulch to keep the soil cool and moist, and to discourage growth of weeds. Weed the area regularly, but be careful not to disturb the roots. Check the plants frequently for aphids, slugs, and other pests.
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