[Philmx]

Hi I've got romaine lettuce growing on my allotment and yesterday I went to pick some and the whole lettuce was loose from the ground and had no root, 3 of my lettuces have had this. Anyone know what this could be? Thankyou

[Trillium]

Don't have an actual explanation but I've had this on occasion with mine. Could possibly be those seeds weren't planted quite deep enough and the very shallow root system couldn't anchor itself properly to start with, particularly if it's been dry.

If you've had lots of rain, then you could have a bit of a soil fungal problem, possibly related to root rot .

[Kajazy]

Lettuce root aphid? Don't know much about it, but could this be a culprit...? (One of my lettuces was the same)

[galen]

I had the same problem a few years ago but since then I've started them out in modules and have never had it since. Though I do remember a lot of ants being in the same area at the time...

Find out next year as the lettuces will be in the same place where they had their problems 

[compostqueen]

They might not all be affected.

I'm growing these and mine have been under fleece since planting out. I did firm them in quite well 

[sunshineband]

Could be a wire worm (just one even, travelling from plant to plant can do masses of damage) so dig around and you might find it

OR a cut worm

They both do this: wireworm love lettuce 

[Philmx]

Hi Thankyou for the replys I think it is wireworms I dug and found 2 of them.

[sunshineband]

Hi Thankyou for the replys I think it is wireworms I dug and found 2 of them.

If you had two then there may well be more around

Keep your eyes skinned when you are digging 

(I had hundreds when I took over my plot  )

[compostqueen]

I think we seem to have more of the darned things this year, I have them everywhere

Still, food for the birds