bolting lettuce

[johnk]

Why are my lettuce bolting as soon as I put them out, they don't even start to heart up
Thanks
John

[Clanad]

My first thought is temperature and water... too much of the first and not enough of the last...

All types of lettuce (crisphead, butterhead, leaf or bunching, and romaine or cos) require cool, moist growing conditions. Daytime temperatures of 70 to 75 (F) and nighttime temperatures of 55 to 60 are ideal. Adequate supplies of moisture and nutrients are also important. Lettuce requires one inch of water per week.

One of my favorite sites says: "...Lettuce has an internal counter that keeps track of the number of daylight hours the plant receives. Once a critical number of hours are received, the plant sends up its flower stalk. The exact number of hours varies from cultivar to cultivar..."

I have friends that plant the first crop as early as possible and the second and third crops are shaded with some tenting to fool the crop into thinking the daylight hours are shorter than they are... they say it works, but then they also tell me about alien abduction...