Skip to main content
Problems with signing in?

We use your email to save the items in your cart, and occasionally send notifications about your cart contents. We will never sell your email address.

Merlox Red Oak Oakleaf Lettuce - Organic

seeds
Choose an item size to add to your cart.
$3.75
Item: 2781-A
$11.50
Item: 2781-B
$29.00
Item: 2781-C
$50.00
Item: 2781-D
$175.00
sold out
Item: 2781-E
Lactuca sativa
(53 days) Open pollinated.

Frank Morton’s first release of his “Merlox variations” combines the ultra-dark pigmentation of Merlot with the superior flavor of larger Emerald Oak. This uniform compact 10– 12" oakleaf head boasts showy deep maroon leaves with a hint of blanched green in their centers. Loose but upright habit makes for clean cutting in salad-leaf harvest. Known as a cool-season lettuce, yet in the dry early heat of summer 2018 we found no bitterness at all—unique for such bold coloration. Good for winter culture as well: left outdoors in central Maine with no row cover, mulched only by a generous snow cover, two-thirds overwintered and were ready to eat in early May. Bred with strong horizontal resistance to DM and SC.

Breeder Royalties. OSSI.

Supplier Transparency:
① Small seed farmers including Fedco staff
ships year-round
Quick Details
Hybrid Status
open pollinated
Cold Hardy
Yes
Days to Maturity
53 days
Lifecycle
annual
OSSI
Yes
Breeder Royalties
Yes
Color
dark red
Compare
Compare with other Oakleaf Lettuce
Variety Product Type Hybrid Status Cold Hardy Days to Maturity Lifecycle OSSI Breeder Royalties Color
Bronze Beauty Arrowhead
Organic 		seeds open pollinated 46 days annual bronzed green
Antares
Organic 		seeds open pollinated 48 days annual Yes Yes pink and bronze-green
Camo Oakheart Gene Pool
Organic 		seeds open pollinated 55 days annual Yes Yes multi-colored
Elf Ears Oak
Organic 		seeds open pollinated 50 days annual Yes Yes bright green
Lingua di Canarino (Canary Tongue)
Organic 		seeds open pollinated 50 days annual light green
Merlox Red Oak
Organic 		seeds open pollinated Yes 53 days annual Yes Yes dark red
Flashy Green Butter Oak
Organic 		seeds open pollinated 54 days annual Yes Yes red-speckled lime green
Italienischer
Organic 		seeds open pollinated 55 days annual bright green
Oscarde
Organic 		seeds open pollinated Yes 30 days baby, 45 days mature annual deep red
Additional Information

Lettuce

  • 700–1100 seeds/g.
  • Days to maturity are from emergence after direct sowing; for transplants, subtract 20 days.

Culture: Direct seed outdoors as soon as ground can be worked and repeat every 2 weeks for continuous supply. Or start indoors in March and at regular intervals thereafter for early transplanted successions. Optimal germination temperature range 40–70° though many varieties won’t germinate in soil temps above 75° and most shut down above 80°. Thin sowings frequently and ruthlessly to a final distance of 1' for full heads. Heavy nitrogen feeders.

Hardy. All save icebergs tolerate heavy frost. Fall and overwintered harvests are becoming standard practice. For summer harvest, select varieties carefully: bolting, bottom rot and tipburn are problems if a variety can’t take the heat! Using shade cloth can keep lettuce tender and sweet longer into summer. Sesquiterpene lactones produced in the latex render lettuce bitter when it bolts.

Saving Seed: Saving lettuce seed is easy! Leave spring-planted lettuce heads to bolt. Flowers will become white tufted seeds. Once dry on stalk, rub seeds off the plant into a paper bag. To ensure true-to-type seed, separate lettuce varieties by 10 feet.

Diseases:

  • BOR: Bottom Rot
  • DM: Downy Mildew
  • LMV: Lettuce Mosaic Virus
  • PM: Powdery Mildew
  • SC: Sclerotinia
  • TB: Tipburn
  • X: Xanthemonas

Pest: Aster Leafhopper (vector for Aster Yellows disease)
Cultural controls: control perennial broadleaf weeds near lettuce plantings, plow lettuce fields immediately after harvest.

Pest: Slug
Cultural controls: avoid mulch or nearby grassy areas.
Material: Sluggo

Disease: Bottom Rot
Cultural controls: rotate with grass-family green manures, plant in well-drained soil or on raised beds, more upright varieties escape infection.

Major Diseases: Downy Mildew, Grey Mold, White Mold
Cultural controls: rotation, reduce duration of leaf wetness, plant parallel to prevailing winds, use wide spacing, control weeds, use well-drained fields in spring and fall.
Material controls: MilStop

Germination Testing

For the latest results of our germination tests, please see the germination page.

Our Seeds are Non-GMO

Non GMO

All of our seeds are non-GMO, and free of neonicotinoids and fungicides. Fedco is one of the original companies to sign the Safe Seed Pledge.

Shipping

From early May through mid-December, items shipping from our garden seeds warehouse ship twice a week, usually Tuesday and Thursday. For quickest turnaround time order online by noon Monday or Wednesday.