If you like lettuce wraps, you’ve probably had butterhead lettuce before. Like most lettuce varieties, butterhead doesn’t handle extreme temperatures well. If you live in a warm climate, you might have avoided growing it altogether. But that just means you haven’t tried Buttercrunch lettuce yet! This guide will show you how to grow Buttercrunch lettuce to enjoy its crisp, buttery leaves straight from your garden.
What is Buttercrunch Lettuce?
Buttercrunch is a type of butterhead lettuce. Butterhead lettuces are loved for their rich, buttery flavor and velvety texture. Their small, loosely formed heads produce delicate yet sturdy leaves perfect for lettuce wraps. Butterhead varieties have soft green leaves that gently curl around a loose inner core of blanched, sweet-flavored leaves.
Buttercrunch lettuce offers all these qualities with a bonus. It handles heat better than most butterhead types. Unlike other varieties that bolt quickly in warm weather, Buttercrunch stays mild long after others turn bitter. George Raleigh developed it at Cornell University. This variety became an All-American Selection winner in 1963, setting the gold standard for butterhead lettuce for years.
How To Grow Buttercrunch Lettuce
You can grow buttercrunch lettuce from direct seeds or transplants. Plant in early spring, as soon as the soil is workable. To get a head start, prepare your garden beds the previous fall by adding manure or compost and raking the soil smooth to create a fine seedbed. Since lettuce seeds require light to germinate, plant them at a shallow depth and cover them with a thin layer of growing medium.
From Seeds
Sow Buttercrunch lettuce seeds about 1/8 inch deep and 1 inch apart. Once the plants have two or three true leaves, thin them out. Space crisphead varieties are 12 inches apart, and other types are 6 to 10 inches apart. You can also lightly broadcast the seeds in a patch instead of planting in rows for loose-leaf varieties.
From Transplants
Sow in 1-inch cells for 3 to 4 weeks before transplanting them outside. To harden the seedlings, reduce water and lower the temperature for 3 days before transplanting. Hardened plants can tolerate temperatures as low as 20°F. When transplanting, space crisphead varieties 12 inches apart in rows 18 inches apart, and space other varieties 6 to 10 inches apart.
How To Care for Buttercrunch Lettuce
Use row covers to protect your early plantings from the cold, shield young plants from insects, and, when supported by hoops, provide shade once warm weather arrives.
Make succession plantings every week or two to ensure a continuous harvest, and consider growing different varieties with varying maturity dates. High temperatures, especially at night, and moisture stress can encourage bolting. As the season progresses, opt for more bolt-resistant varieties. Position your plants where they’ll be partially shaded by taller plants to reduce heat stress.
Since lettuce has a shallow root system, keep the soil moist to support continuous growth. Mulch to retain moisture and suppress weeds. Fertilizing with a low-nitrogen fish emulsion can promote faster growth without making the leaves bitter. Water lightly but consistently to maintain steady growth.
For fall crops, time your planting so lettuce matures around the first expected frost. Mature lettuce plants are less tolerant of freezing temperatures than seedlings.
Pests and Diseases
Like other varieties, Buttercrunch lettuce can attract a variety of large and small pests.
Deer often nibble on the tender leaves, while rabbits target young plants, sometimes demolishing them. Insects like aphids, caterpillars, flea beetles, and fungus gnats are also common culprits, and they can contribute to the spread of diseases.
Slugs and snails are particularly fond of lettuce and leave ragged holes in the leaves as they feed. A significant infestation of these pests can quickly damage or even destroy your crop.
Like most garden plants, Buttercrunch is also susceptible to various diseases, so it’s important to stay cautious and take preventive measures.
Seedlings that suddenly die could suffer from damping off, a condition caused by soil-borne fungi that attack young plants. Downy mildew is another fungal infection that affects lettuce. Bottom rot is caused by various species of fungi in the Rhizoctonia genus. It directly affects the roots and stems of plants.
Bacterial leaf spots appear as black lesions on the outer leaves, and if left unchecked, they can spread rapidly and destroy your entire crop.
