Last edited by shiny on November 08, 2026. View history
Winter Lettuce
A variety of lettuce
How to sow winter lettuce: Direct seed outdoors, thin to 20cm when seedlings are 3cm tall
Sun requirement for winter lettuce: Plant in Partial Sun
A finger or endive type lettuce with curly, long green finger leaves that can be picked all winter. One of the first heritage vegetable seeds given to a Koanga (a NZ seed bank) founder, from Kaiwaka, Northland. Sow in trays in autumn, prick out at 2.5 cm and transplant at 25 cm diagonal spacing, timed to mature around May in warm climates and March in cold climates.
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Winter lettuce facts
Lifespan
Crop cycle
Max altitude
Optimal light
What are growing degree days?
A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.
Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.
For winter lettuce, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 5°C and a shortest growing cycle of 35 days at its best temperature, about 403 growing degree days to a first harvest.
Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your winter lettuce will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.
Growing winter lettuces
deterring pests
- place tilted jars of yeast+warm water (or beer) as slug traps at planting out every month
Growing lettuce
- Sow seeds in trays 3 weeks before planting out
- Dig compost into the bed 1 week before planting out
- Water regularly at planting out every week
- Weed around the seedlings 2 weeks after planting out
- Sow another batch for a continuous harvest 4 weeks after planting out every month
- Start picking the outer leaves at first harvest
- Pull out plants that have bolted 6 weeks after first harvest
Plant winter lettuces with
bell pepper
spring onion
elephant garlic
bonnie bell sweet pepper sfg
Photos
Photos
Winter lettuce plantings
Video
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Time to harvest
If sown now, expect a first harvest in about 35 to 85 days.
From the growing cycle in the FAO EcoCrop database, which is the same wherever it is grown.
Ecological requirements
Data from the FAO EcoCrop database for Lactuca sativa var. capitata L.
| Family / Taxonomy | Magnoliopsida Asteridae Asterales Compositae |
|---|---|
| Killing temperature | growth: 0 °C, rest: -1 °C |
| Life form | herb |
| Life span | annual, biennial |
| Habit | acaulescent (or rosette plants) |
| Optimal soil depth | shallow (20-50 cm) |
| Optimal soil texture | medium, light |
| Optimal soil fertility | moderate |
| Optimal soil drainage | well (dry spells) |
| Optimal soil salinity | low (<4 dS/m) |
| Photoperiod | short day (<12 hours), neutral day (12-14 hours) |
Learn more about winter lettuces
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