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-Grade Cambros
- Cambro Lids
- Scale
- Ladder with Tray Attachment
- Utility Cart
- Sanitizer
- 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-grade cambro with the lot tracing code, the crop type and the expiration date.
- 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 cambro 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 cambro.
- Move up the wall one section at a time.
- Rest your cambro in the ladder tray attachment as you reach the upper sections of the wall.
That 1/2 inch of stem is the handle you grip when the rockwool plugs 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 cambro.
- Subtract the empty bin weight you recorded.
- Record the net weight.
- Move the cambro 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 cambro.
- Move up the wall one section at a time.
- Rest your cambro in the ladder tray attachment 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 cambro.
- 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 Digital Log.
- Mark the harvest Complete.
Marking the harvest Complete is what starts the wall clean on your Flex Acre, so leave it until your last cambro is weighed and stored. Logging your Flex Acre Tasks & Readings covers the rest of what your harvest entry asks for, including the storage alert your log raises on basil.
Your crop is cut, weighed and stored—well done! Continue to Cleaning your Panel Wall After Harvest (Part 1 of 3) for next steps.