I have planted mesclun and romaine, and I'm wondering if I should cut off the leaves of the plant now. Will other leaves sprout up if I do this? I certainly don't want to kill the plant. Right now we're still having warm weather in California and we're bothered by white flies, and that's why I want to trim those leaves.
Diane M
The usual method is to keep removing outer leaves, leaving the plant some of the newer growth. Minor nit: I thought mesclun was mixed greens, rather than a specific variety. I've seen a wide range of greens grown and leaves picked while they are pretty small.
Gary Woods AKA K2AHC- PGP key on request, or at home.earthlink.net/~garygarlic Zone 5/6 in upstate New York, 1420' elevation. NY WO G
Mesclun is French for "salad greens."
I do what Gary said -- pick the outer leaves and let the inside leaves grow more. If you whack the plant off at the base, it's done, IME.
Jan
We have always harvested leaf lettuce by shearing off the tops off with scissors. One can get 2 or 3 shearings before pulling out the entire plant. Picking only the outer leaves prolongs the useful life of the plant but you miss out on the tender tips of the lettuce.
The word "Mesclun" is used in some of the provincial dialects in Southen France, probably a corruption of the word "Mesclumo" which simply means "mixture". Mesclun salade is a salad made up of the tender shoots of mixed salad greens. In the US, the mesclun salads seem to be any mixture of greens, not just salads made of of tender young plants.
Olin
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