Iceberg lettuce · Puerto Montt, Los Lagos Region, Chile
When to plant iceberg lettuce in Puerto Montt
Main outdoor window
11-25 Jul
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
1 August
In Puerto Montt, 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 Puerto Montt
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
20 Jun - 4 Jul
Six weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Sow direct
11-25 Jul
Three weeks before your last frost.
Transplant
18 Jul - 1 Aug
Two weeks before your last frost.
Harvest
29 Nov - 30 Mar
Iceberg lettuce through the year
Against the frost risk in Puerto Montt
Why these dates
Start indoors six weeks before the last frost and plant out two weeks before. A check to growth at any point gives you a loose head rather than a dense one.
Takes around -3C. The long season means a late sowing can be caught by the first autumn frost before it has hearted.
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. Iceberg lettuce 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 Puerto Montt.
The median frost-free season here is 320 days, against 70 to 85 days to maturity for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Puerto Montt
Other vegetables to time
Growing iceberg lettuce in Puerto Montt
When should I plant iceberg lettuce in Puerto Montt?
Aim for 11-25 Jul in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 10-24 Aug - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will iceberg lettuce be ready to harvest in Puerto Montt?
Expect to start picking around 29 Nov - 30 Mar, based on 70 to 85 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will iceberg lettuce tolerate?
Takes around -3C. The long season means a late sowing can be caught by the first autumn frost before it has hearted.