Harvesting Lettuce & Herbs from your Flex Acre (Part 6 of 6)
Part 6 of 6: How to cut, weigh, and store lettuce and herbs from your Flex Acre, then hand the wall off for its post-harvest clean
After your crop finishes the grow cycle you started in Transplanting Seedlings into your Flex Acre (Part 5 of 6), you can begin harvesting. Set your station up first, then work from the heading that matches your crop, as lettuce and herbs are cut two different ways. Both crops finish the same way, with a net weight in your log and your Flex Acre handed off for its wall clean. Follow the steps in Keeping your Flex Acre Clean before you begin.
Gather Tools:
- Harvest Knife
- Scissors
- Food-Safe Storage Containers with Lids
- Scale
- Ladder
- Utility Cart
- 3% Hydrogen Peroxide
- Clean Towels
- Labeling Tape
Setting Up your Harvest Station
- Clean your utility carts and every work surface.
- Sanitize your utility carts and every work surface.
- Label each food-safe container, sometimes called a cambro, with the crop type, the seed lot number and the date you cut it.
- Unplug the Primary Pump on the Flex Acre you are harvesting.
- Unplug your Light Bars on the same Flex Acre.
- Bring your ladder to your Flex Acre.
- Weigh each empty container without its lid, as a lid on the scale puts every net weight you report out by the same amount.
- Record each empty weight, as you subtract it later to get your net yield.
Harvesting Lettuce
Lettuce is a clear-cut crop, so the head comes off whole and the plant does not grow back. Your herbs, basil included, are cut to regrow instead, so work from Harvesting Herbs for those.
- Start at the bottom of the wall.
- Cut each head off whole with a sanitized harvest knife.
- Leave approximately 1/2 inch of stem on the rockwool.
- Place each head into a labeled container.
- Move up the wall one section at a time.
- Rest your container on the ladder's tray, if yours has one, as you reach the upper sections of the wall.
That 1/2 inch of stem is the handle you grip when the used rockwool cubes come out of your wall during the post-harvest clean. Cutting flush against the rockwool leaves you nothing to pull on.
Storing your Lettuce
- Weigh the full container.
- Subtract the empty bin weight you recorded.
- Record the net weight.
- Move the container into refrigeration as soon as you record the weight, as cold is what holds the shelf life.
Harvesting Herbs
Herbs, basil included, are a cut-and-come-again crop, so what you leave standing on the plant is what grows your next cut. Your lettuce comes off whole instead, so work from Harvesting Lettuce for that.
- Start at the bottom of the wall.
- Cut with sanitized scissors or a sanitized knife.
- Take no more than 1/3 of the plant's total height.
- Place the cuttings into a labeled container.
- Move up the wall one section at a time.
- Rest your container on the ladder's tray, if yours has one, as you reach the upper sections of the wall.
Your herbs regrow from the growth you leave standing, so a heavier cut leaves the plant too little to recover from and finishes your herb crop after one pass.
Storing your Herbs
- Weigh the full container.
- Subtract the empty bin weight you recorded.
- Record the net weight.
- Move sensitive herbs such as basil to a cool, dark area rather than into refrigeration.
CAUTION: SENSITIVE HERBS SUCH AS BASIL TAKE COLD DAMAGE IN A REFRIGERATOR. DO NOT REFRIGERATE BASIL.
Finishing your Harvest
- Repeat the process on both sides of the Flex Acre until the harvest is complete.
- Record every net weight in your Data Log.
- Mark the harvest Complete.
Closing out the harvest is what starts the wall clean on your Flex Acre, so leave it until your last container is weighed and stored. Logging your Flex Acre Tasks & Readings covers the rest of what your harvest entry asks for.
Your crop is cut, weighed and stored—well done!