2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is a leafy green vegetable which can be grown year-round in high tunnels in West Virginia. The summer growing season at higher elevation areas provides a suitable microclimate for warm season head lettuce production. The high tunnel also provides sufficient low temperature protection during the winter for extended season production. Like many U.S. states, there has been a tremendous expansion of high tunnel production of specialty crops within the last ten years. These same high tunnels provide tremendous capacity for wholesale marketing of lettuces and other leafy greens to institutional buyers such as schools and hospitals. From 2014-2018 approximately 70 lettuce and other leafy green cultivars have been critically evaluated for stress tolerance, quality, shelf life, disease tolerance and marketable yield within high tunnels. From these evaluations, select cultivars for year-round production have been identified.