Fertilization Techniques for High Yield of Lettuce

Lettuce is a common vegetable in our life, which is an annual or biennial herbaceous crop, which can be eaten directly, crisp, tender and refreshing, slightly sweet. in recent years, with the expansion of market demand, its planting area is also expanding rapidly. Fertilization is a key point if you want to increase yield when planting. Let's take a look at the fertilization techniques of lettuce.

1. Characteristics of fertilizer requirement

Lettuce mainly needs nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer during its growth, and there is a great demand for nitrogen fertilizer at the seedling stage, followed by phosphorus fertilizer and less demand for potash fertilizer; while in the peak growing season, the demand for phosphorus and potassium fertilizer increases, and a large amount of nitrogen fertilizer is needed for growth. Nitrogen fertilizer is at its peak at this time; in the middle and later growth period, also when lettuce begins to bear balls, the demand for nitrogen fertilizer gradually decreases, while the demand for potash fertilizer reaches its peak. According to the research, for every 100 kg of lettuce, it needs to absorb 0.37 kg of pure nitrogen, 0.14 kg of phosphorus and 0.33 kg of potassium. In addition to nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer, it also needs trace elements such as boron, iron, copper, magnesium, zinc and molybdenum. These elements play an extremely important role in it, all of which are indispensable, otherwise, light will reduce production, affect quality, heavy will lead to mass death, resulting in no harvest.

2. Apply sufficient base fertilizer

Base fertilizer can continuously improve the nutrition needed for production and growth for a long time, so it is recommended to apply a large amount of mature organic fertilizer, which can increase the content of trace elements in soil, improve soil structure and avoid the symptoms of element deficiency during planting. However, the fertilizer effect of organic fertilizer is slow, so it should be mixed with quick-acting chemical fertilizer to make lettuce grow rapidly. 1000-2000 kg of organic fertilizer per mu and about 100kg of compound fertilizer are applied. Spread it evenly on the ground, combined with land preparation and ploughing to mix it evenly with the soil.

3. topdressing at the right time

Timely and reasonable topdressing according to different growth stages of lettuce to speed up its growth and development. In order to make lettuce emerge and grow quickly, 8-10 kg of nitrogen fertilizer per mu was applied at this time, and 1-2 kg of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer was applied, which was the best time to apply it with water, so as to avoid damage to the seedling root system caused by concentrated fertilizer. When it comes to the rosette period in the peak growing season, there is more demand for nitrogen and potassium fertilizer. Generally, 11-14 kg of urea and 8-9 kg of potassium sulfate per mu can be applied, and the effect is better. When it comes to the balling period, lettuce has more demand for potash fertilizer, but less nitrogen fertilizer, generally applying 11-14 kg urea, 8-9 kg potassium sulfate or 45% high-nitrogen potassium compound fertilizer 20-25 kg per mu, and can also be applied with molal high-nitrogen potassium water-soluble fertilizer, 5 kg per mu with water.

4. Matters needing attention in fertilization

Water-soluble fertilizer is generally 5 kg of molal water-soluble fertilizer mixed with 1000 kg of water, stirred and dissolved, and then ditched or slowly irrigated to make its distribution uniform. In addition, lettuce is leafy lettuce, which is different from melons and fruits vegetables, there is little demand for fertility, so we should pay attention to the amount of fertilizer, strictly in accordance with the instructions for standardized operation.

The above is the high-yield fertilization technology of lettuce. I hope it can help you. If you want to know more about vegetable planting, please follow us.