Celtuce · Renca, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile
When to plant celtuce in Renca
Main outdoor window
31 Aug - 21 Sep
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 September
In Renca, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 Nov - 30 Mar
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Renca
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
3-24 Aug
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
31 Aug - 21 Sep
Two weeks before your last frost.
Sow direct
31 Aug - 21 Sep
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
29 Nov - 30 Mar
Celtuce through the year
Against the frost risk in Renca
Why these dates
Sow from two weeks before the last frost. Unlike a leaf lettuce you want this one to run up, so bolting weather is working in your favour.
Takes about -3C, the same as any lettuce, and the stem is no hardier than the leaf.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Celtuce are timed from 6 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 2 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Renca.
The median frost-free season here is 265 days, against 70 to 90 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Renca
Other vegetables to time
Growing celtuce in Renca
When should I plant celtuce in Renca?
Aim for 31 Aug - 21 Sep in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 21 Sep - 12 Oct - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will celtuce be ready to harvest in Renca?
Expect to start picking around 29 Nov - 30 Mar, based on 70 to 90 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will celtuce tolerate?
Takes about -3C, the same as any lettuce, and the stem is no hardier than the leaf.