Lettuce checking: What do the bugs look like?

amother

Bronze

Mon, Oct 08 2018, 5:58 pm

I only use hearts of romaine. I don't rinse or soak first, I find that water running down my arm is very distracting! I take one leaf at a time and hold it up to the light and check pretty quickly since I THINK I know what I am looking for. If I find something I rip off that part of the leaf and throw it out. If I find a very infested head I just toss it.

But do I know what I am looking for?

I have only ever found three kinds of bugs on my romaine:
1) Tiny thin black threadlike bugs (you can sometimes catch them moving)
2) Tiny oval light green bugs that like to blend into the leaves (I've found them moving too)
3) Big flies (you can't miss these)

What other kinds of bugs have you seen?

ra_mom

Mon, Oct 08 2018, 6:15 pm

The thrips are tiny, same clearish greenish color as the lettuce. If you look closely, you'll see legs.

See this short video.

At minute 3:05, the star-k rabbi begins to talk about checking romaine lettuce hearts (full introduction to romaine lettuce hearts begins earlier at minute 1:55).

https://youtu.be/WcsBQrYJAGA

amother

Bronze

Mon, Oct 08 2018, 6:23 pm

Link isn't working for me.

What shape are the thrips? Have you seen them? Could that be the tiny oval green bugs I have seen?

Edit: I see you updated the link. I don't like the soak method of checking. I prefer to check one leaf at a time. I just want to know what the bugs look like!

seeker

Mon, Oct 08 2018, 9:58 pm

amother wrote:

From your description I'm assuming your green ovals are aphids. The thin brown/black ones would be thrips.

Most romaine hearts will have some flies/gnats that rinse right off. After that, lettuce bugs are almost always aphids. Once in a while you get a really infested bunch and then it's so gross you probably want to toss the whole thing. Most of the time there's nothing. In between, I'd guess maybe 15-20% of the time in my NY experience, there are some aphids in which case you need to give them an extra rinse and a double check. If there are no aphids in the soaking water, near the stem, and in the first few leaves I check, then I still check the rest but not as slowly and carefully - just look in the light to make sure nothing is amiss.
I've had thrips on lettuce maybe a couple of times in years of frequent checking.

@OP, you definitely need to rinse/soak romaine lettuce! It's better to do it before you check it because it will remove many bugs, and then you get a preview of whether to expect bugs in the lettuce because some will come off into the water. Also, there's dirt...

amother

Bronze

Mon, Oct 08 2018, 10:11 pm

I always assume I will find bugs. I check every single leaf. I just rip off buggy pieces if I find them, or rinse off the bug.

I wash off the dirt afterwards, but it’s much easier for me to check dry leaves. I only soak lettuce if it wilted and I need to make it crunchy again.

Soaping and soaking and washing and checking water are a lot more overwhelming for me than checking leaves for known bugs.

I find thrips (the little lines) pretty often, aphids much more rarely. I rarely find more than 5 or 10 bugs in a head, often none at all - even in [Walmart] organic lettuce. Maybe the lettuce is cleaner here? I also only pick firm tight heads.