He Grows Lettuce Year-Round

He Grows Lettuce Year-Round CROPS Miscellaneous Ray Tyler grows lettuce year-round selling to customers from Memphis to Nashville and south to Mississippi About half of his market gardening is devoted to leafy greens in an area where greens are usually only a spring crop for most growers “We grow lettuce in the winter with high tunnels and in the summer with a heat index of 125 degrees and 99 percent humidity ” says Tyler “Summer-grown lettuce won’t be as high in quality as winter grown but our customers are happy with it It keeps our farm employees happy and well paid full-time and year-round ” Tyler is quick to admit his success didn’t come easy It included downsizing his farming operation from livestock and vegetables to concentrate on salad production He and his wife Ashley went from earning $35 000 on an acre and a half of vegetables in 2015 to over $100 000 on a half acre in 2016 “We spent tens of thousands of dollars on failed methods and tools to get the crop to grow before we figured it out ” says Tyler Some factors such as fertility are important regardless of the season Winter success was largely a matter of protecting the roots Tyler insists that lettuce will survive as long as the roots don’t freeze Summer success has a lot of factors some of them surprising such as limiting use of shade cloth Tyler learned that lettuce goes leggy under shade cloth “We only use shade cloth over new transplants to help the roots acclimate ” says Tyler Giving lettuce the proper moisture was an expensive lesson admits Tyler Relying on memory to water when the heat index was over 120 degrees was an epic failure “It took us 3 years to realize we had to invest in the proper infrastructure ” he says “Once we did it was a complete game changer Now we have our entire watering system on an automatic timer ” Tyler also learned to take care of the seedlings “To harvest and sell year round I have to have healthy plant stands every week ” he says “If you want 100 transplants but only 25 emerge you’ll miss your sales target in 8 weeks ” Tyler learned the hard way that lettuce doesn’t like to germinate at high temperatures It needs a consistent temperature and humidity “We tried walk-in coolers and refrigerators but if conditions fluctuate germination is poor ” says Tyler “We failed miserably at germination for about 5 years ” The answer was to build a germination chamber with a thermostat that keeps the seed and seedlings at a perfect 71 degrees no matter how hot or cold it is outside “We maintain nearly 100 percent germination week after week ” says Tyler He patterned his germination chamber after one developed by Michael Kilpatrick from In The Field Consultants ITFC “You can pay thousands for one or take an inexpensive course from Michael ” says Tyler Another key to success was growing the right varieties “A basic summer crisp that we like is Muir ” says Tyler “We trial dozens of new varieties every year but we always go back to Muir ” Cracking the nut of year-round lettuce growing has helped with other crops as well “We are following similar protocols with carrots baby kale mustard and more though they are not high return crops like lettuce ” says Tyler Tyler shares his 10 years of experience through his online Masterclass The course grew out of Tyler’s need to share his methods and thinking with employees “I needed a system that any employee could follow ” says Tyler “I realized that others could use the information too I do a lot of consulting and sometimes people need a roadmap The Masterclass is it ” Tyler worked with Kilpatrick to develop the class and market it through ITFC For $500 students receive 8 audio/video/transcript modules released over 4 weeks on growing lettuce year-round in all climates In addition to Tyler’s mid-South experience Kilpatrick provides a northern lettuce plan “We also do weekly Q&A’s and offer access to additional modules as they are developed ” says Tyler “We have a Facebook group that meets almost every week as well If we don’t have the answer to a question we bring in an expert who does It’s a one-time fee for ongoing learning ” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Rose Creek Farms 999 Lola Whitten Rd Selmer Tenn 38375 ph 731 645-7543 or 731 645-2834; ray@rosecreekfarms net; rosecreekfarmsconsulting@gmail com; www rosecreekfarms net

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