Enjoyed the links posted here. Here's my own 2 cents on this. I do all the seeding for a CSA (about 70 boxes per week), sow about 300 lettuce seeds a week for 7 months straight. The first and second year made many mistakes and got poor germination. Putting lettuce trays on heat mats did reduce greatly the germination rate. Putting the trays in a unheated hoop house also didn't work, it got too hot during the day. Now we just leave them outside. In spring gets down to 45F at night, maybe 55F during day. We use automatic overhead sprinklers, so the trays get over watered every day. Our seedling table must provide water for all the seedlings so must water enough for the largest plants. To prevent damping off, use a 1:1 perlite:peat mix (Black Gold seedling mix) with some sifted compost included 4:1 mix:compost. The overall mix is light and airy. A coir based mix didn't work, stayed too wet. Use only solid fertilizers, liquid ones get washed away with the overwatering. For the mix, I add in crabshell meal (Eliot Coleman recommendation), greensand, and soft phosphate. When I added in bloodmeal or fish meal to the mix I got damping off. To much available nitrogen. When the seedlings are about an inch tall, I sprinkle a mixture of bloodmeal and sifted compost over them. This gives them the needed nitrogen and once an inch high, I've never had any damping off. To save time I never tap the seeds into the mix. After filling the tray with mix, just drop/bang the tray against the table 4 times to get the mix to settle to a good firmness. Put the seeds on top and add a layer of fine vermiculite and overhead water. The fine vermiculite layer noticeably increased our germination rate on all seeds. Keeps the top moist and more importantly protects an emerged seedling from fungus. The vermiculite is sterile.

hydro_scotty Lettuce pH range 5.5 to 6.5, I would try for right in the middle of about 6.0. But I wouldn't worry about it if it fluctuates some, as long as it's within range. But I think your on the right track, 100 gallons for 350 plants comes out to just over 1/4 gallon per plant (0.285 gallons per plant). Small plants like lettuce should have a minimum of 1/2 gallon per plant of water volume (nutrient solution) as a general rule of thumb. Splitting your system into two systems, each fed by it's own 100 gallon reservoir should provide the minimum water volume for the 350 plants (0.571 gallons per plant). For the larger heads like Romaine you may want 3/4 gallons of water volume per plant. One of the reasons the problem may seem to come and go is the size/age of the plants at the time. If the plants are larger, they will use up the nutrients faster, causing it to go out of balance faster. The smaller plants will still be affected, but the more larger plants in the system, the faster it goes out of balance overall.

llaz Quote: "a clove of garlic and two or three anchovies" Garlic and anchovies on a BLT? What were ya thinking, Lou "pizza?" lol For you Lou I found someone who might just agree with you so smitten are they with anchovies they"ve penned an "Ode to the Anchovie" see link below. :D barkeater Quote: "You start with a thick slice of your favorite tomato, up against REAL mayonnaise, with a high quality, crispy bacon, on nonbleached italian white bread. Lettuce is insignificant and use the absolute minimum possible, and add salt and pepper to taste. Anything else is SOMETHING ELSE, not a BLT." YES, YEEESSSSSSSSS, that's it! lol So simply and eloquently stated, too. newbie_2007 Quote: "as many 1/4 inch slices of tom that you can wrap your mouth around (some have bigger jaws than others)" hehe, that's why I'm thinking you should really make your own BLT's who better to judge these things. If someone makes your BLT sandwich TOO big you gotta wonder what is it they are really saying to you, lol trudi_d Quote: "We had a spec book that gave instructions on how to make sandwiches-----we were requred to cut on the diagonal. Great thread, this is the first I've looked at it." LOL, sort of reminds me of cooking in the Army, kinda funny that. Thanks! :) cziga Quote: "I had a BLT (not made by me) the other day that had mustard on one slice of bread and mayo on the other. On no account does mustard belong in a BLT. Not that its a bad condiment, but it obscures the tomato flavor and it altogether a bad idea." Certain taste combinations don't even "sound" good together although I've been meaning to try the Elvis' "banana and peanut butter" sandwich sometime. :D moosemac Quote: "Hubby likes: A thick slice of any large home grown beefesteak tomato, iceberg lettuce, Armour Black Label bacon, Cain's Mayo and Wonderbread toasted golden brown." Brand loyalty (I love it!) and the Wonderbread is an excellent bread for a classic BLT it has no flavor doing what bread should do which is hold ingredients so you can get them to your mouth without too much "fuss & muss". :P Moosemac, just curious but have you tried anchovies with the garlic on your BLT might go good with the cibatta bread, check with Lou, hehe :P Here is a link that might be useful: Ode to the Anchovy

I prefer romaine lettuce over iceburg lettuce but that is because I like the crunch factor of romaine. I have a recipe that uses both a head of iceburg lettuce and a head of romaine in it, the other ingredients are a chopped red onion and a small bag of shredded 6 cheese blend of Italian cheese(brand Sargento is what I use.) The dressing is olive oil, red win vinegar, sweetened with a tsp of sugar, till sugar dissolves, then add minced garlic and chopped basil and oregano. Pour dressing over, toss and enjoy.