Lettuce – Tipburn

Key Points:

Tipburn is considered a calcium deficiency
problem which occurs despite plentiful supplies of
calcium in most soils

Calcium strengthens plant cell walls and tipburn results from the
plants inability to supply sufficient calcium to
developing leaves during periods of rapid growth

Control of tipburn is a real problem to growers because
it is so unpredictable, affecting some plantings more
than others and there are no totally effective control
measures

Control measures:

  1. Use tipburn-tolerant varieties
  2. Withhold nitrogen fertiliser to avoid rapid growth
  3. Water late in the day or at night
  4. Harvest the crop early to minimise tipburn damage
  5. Avoid irrigation water with a salinity greater than 900 uS/cm

Matters of Facts #11 Lettuce Tipburn, December 2003
No.11 download pdf 404kb


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