Vegetable crops
Protect the plant base and roots while delivering uniform, marketable leaves and heads.
CROP PRIORITIES
Pests, diseases and growing conditions can produce similar symptoms. Connect field history and diagnosis with the crop stage before choosing an input.
Lettuce drop caused by Sclerotinia can decay the crown and cause whole plants to collapse near harvest. Previous field incidence and wet bed conditions deserve attention from crop planning onwards. Monitor lower leaves and plant bases, and combine drainage and field hygiene with locally appropriate disease management.
Discuss this crop challenge →Pythium wilt is a documented lettuce root disease that can resemble other causes of plant collapse. Root and crown assessment helps distinguish it from lettuce drop and other rots. Use diagnosis and growing-system information to guide management; soil, substrate and recirculating systems require different root-zone assessments.
View biological products →Discuss this crop challenge →Rapidly expanding inner leaves can receive insufficient calcium even when the nutrient solution contains it. Air movement, humidity and growth rate affect delivery to that tissue. Examine the growing environment and calcium supply together before deciding that a calcium product alone will resolve the problem.
Discuss this crop challenge →A lettuce programme should connect seedling uniformity, planting date and intended harvest size. Compare the proportion of saleable plants and consistency within a batch, not just the largest plants. Biological products need a role that fits the crop duration and the actual rooting system.
Discuss this crop challenge →Heat and water stress can reduce eating quality, while bolting moves the plant away from the desired vegetative harvest. Distinguish loose-leaf and heading types, then observe leaf appearance, tipburn and saleable size. Nutrition should support that endpoint rather than simply accelerate growth.
Discuss this crop challenge →THROUGH THE SEASON
From establishment to harvest or renewal, the purpose of crop management changes with each stage.
Review previous lettuce-drop and root-disease records, then establish a healthy, uniform batch. Match root-health assessment to soil, substrate or hydroponic production.
Follow new leaves and roots, investigating patchy wilt and plant losses early. Check drainage or nutrient-solution conditions according to the system in use.
Match growth rate with light, airflow and nutrient delivery. Assess inner leaves as well as the visible outer canopy, because tipburn can begin in young tissue.
Before harvest, assess crown health, lettuce drop, tipburn and the proportion of saleable plants. Record losses by cause so that the following short-cycle crop benefits from the findings.
BIOLOGICAL INPUTS
These products have distinct roles in nutrition, root development and crop management. For a pest or disease, product selection also requires evidence for the identified target and applicable market label.
Explore biological crop protection →
Plant protein hydrolysate
Review for a defined growth-stage need, keeping the formulation’s nitrogen contribution within the complete nutrition budget.
Plant-derived nitrogen & organic nutrition
A supplementary nutrition option for compatible growing systems; solution chemistry and system compatibility require specific review in hydroponics.
Chelated calcium nutrition
Consider where calcium supply needs correction, alongside airflow, humidity and young-leaf development; additional calcium alone does not establish tipburn control.
Bacillus biological protection
Soilborne & root diseases · Sclerotinia diseases
Metarhizium biological protection · Nursery growing media
Soil-associated insect management
Sclerotinia biological protection
Sclerotinia diseases
KNOWLEDGE & EVIDENCE
Alkalinity, conductivity and individual ions answer different questions. Reading them together makes a nutrition programme easier to interpret and improve.
The move from nursery to field changes a plant’s water balance and root environment. A clear view of that transition makes product choices more useful.
Explore the scientific background to biological inputs and their agricultural applications.
University extension resources support the agronomic context on this page. Product-specific technical information is available within each product page.
Lettuce
Share your growing region, crop stage and management priorities with our team.