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Post by meateater on Mar 19, 2020 8:52:38 GMT -5
They sprout surprisingly fast! Just 4 days!
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Post by dvg on Mar 19, 2020 13:47:52 GMT -5
Nice! And it's a super food too.
Which variety of kale are you growing Meateater?
dvg
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Post by meateater on Mar 23, 2020 14:45:27 GMT -5
The package says 'Dwarf Blue Curled'. I saw several varieties available but I'm new to Kale and know nothing about it. Which variety is better?
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Post by dvg on Mar 24, 2020 11:47:54 GMT -5
Meateater, that is as good as any to start out with. Because it is a dwarf variety, it will stay fairly compact. I've had the chance to grow out a few varieties of kale over the years and have grown blue kales, green kales, Russian kale, Red Russian kale, curly kales and dwarf kales. But the most novel kale that i've ever grown is an Italian kale known as lacinato kale or dinosaur kale. It looks different than other kales, is a bit sweeter in taste and has more tender leaves, which makes it easier to eat raw in a salad. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lacinato_kaledvg |
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Post by meateater on Mar 25, 2020 20:00:38 GMT -5
Interesting! Italian kale doesn't look much like the typical kale in supermarkets. I'll keep an eye on seeds next year. Already at full capacity before season starts!  |
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Post by dvg on Apr 1, 2020 12:08:16 GMT -5
When i was in Home Depot last Saturday, i happened upon these on their seed racks.  The lacinato was more than a dollar more per packet than for the Dwarf Green Curled, but of the two, the lacinato does mature faster. dvg |
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Post by dvg on Jul 2, 2020 14:34:33 GMT -5
Hi Meateater, how is your kale growing for you? With all of the rain we've had lately, our garden is pretty wet, but was able to take a few pics of the kale that I seeded this year. Here is the lacinato or dinosaur kale, my personal favorite.  Here is the dwarf green curled kale on the left, with lacinato on the right.  Here is my largest variety, the Siberian kale, up the middle row.  And a row of lacinato (left center row) with the Siberian just to its right.  Meateater, i hope yours are growing like weeds as well.  Cheers, Doug dvg |
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avery
Junior Member
Posts: 50
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Post by avery on Jul 3, 2020 11:19:05 GMT -5
Wow! Your kale looks great. I planted those varieties as well- but this year I didn’t get a single kale plant.
While my lettuce, spinach, chard did just fine- my kale and arugula were absolutely decimated by flea beetles. I didn’t get a single kale sprout. Any ideas?? I plan to reseed for a fall harvest (never tried that before).
It’s quite frustrating and while certain plants get resistant once they’re large enough (Brussels sprouts, eggplant), there are certain crops that I can no longer even get out of the ground- kale being one of them (I’ve had great kale harvests in the past)- possibly just the year?
I really don’t want to use pesticides, etc... I think we as a society are already so over dependent on herbicides/pesticides. Not really a battle we can win, imo...
I would do a soap spray, etc... but as soon as anything sprouts they’re chewed down to ground level again. Anyways, your plants look great!
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Hal
Junior Member
Posts: 61
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Post by Hal on Jul 3, 2020 11:30:05 GMT -5
Wow! Your kale looks great. I planted those varieties as well- but this year I didn’t get a single kale plant. While my lettuce, spinach, chard did just fine- my kale and arugula were absolutely decimated by flea beetles. I didn’t get a single kale sprout. Any ideas?? I plan to reseed for a fall harvest (never tried that before). It’s quite frustrating and while certain plants get resistant once they’re large enough (Brussels sprouts, eggplant), there are certain crops that I can no longer even get out of the ground- kale being one of them (I’ve had great kale harvests in the past)- possibly just the year? I really don’t want to use pesticides, etc... I think we as a society are already so over dependent on herbicides/pesticides. Not really a battle we can win, imo... I would do a soap spray, etc... but as soon as anything sprouts they’re chewed down to ground level again. Anyways, your plants look great! I know the frustration! This year I planted kale three times in the same rows and enough plants got through the bugs to give me a decent crop. I have lacinato and a small Scottish variegated variety. Now, as for striped cucumber beetles, they can f right off! Actually, I've finally found a small blue squash that's fairly resistant, so I'll plant some tasty sacrificial squash over in the field for the bugs and plant the resistant ones in my garden.
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Post by dvg on Jul 3, 2020 11:53:36 GMT -5
Thanks Avery, i haven't had to deal with flea beetles, that i'm aware of. The garden does get rototilled in the spring, just before seeding. You could try planting the kale in a different space in your garden. I found this link for dealing with flea beetles. www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/pests/insects/controlling-flea-beetles.htm#:~:text=Physical%20barriers%20such%20as%20row,soil%20from%20larvae%20to%20adult. Kale is great for late season fresh greens. The latest i've kept it alive in the garden is November 6, when it finally froze solid. It can handle frosts and overnight temps down to -6°c, as long as the next day's temps get up above freezing again. dvg |
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Hal
Junior Member
Posts: 61
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Post by Hal on Jul 3, 2020 21:18:20 GMT -5
Kale is great for late season fresh greens. The latest i've kept it alive in the garden is November 6, when it finally froze solid. It can handle frosts and overnight temps down to -6°c, as long as the next day's temps get up above freezing again. dvg I left 3 kale plants in my raised beds this fall. Zone 5 and high winds for most of the winter, but we had some decent snow cover. Anyway, they thawed out in the spring, continued to grow and just finished flowering. I had some onions that did the same.
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Post by dvg on Jul 6, 2020 0:14:25 GMT -5
[quote source="/post/173 This year I planted kale three times in the same rows and enough plants got through the bugs to give me a decent crop.
Hal, i had to reseed some partial rows too. Had problems with the beets and romaine seed tapes the first go round. Replanted more of the same seed tapes, and with all of the rain we've been getting, the second plantings have all sprung up. It seems that the seed tapes might need a little bit more extra moisture to be productive. dvg |
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Post by dvg on Jul 6, 2020 16:37:39 GMT -5
Hi Avery, thanks to your previous post here, I paid more attention to my arugula and today spotted what has been making small holes in its earlier leaves - flea beetles. They are the tiny and shiny and brown in color. When I brought my hand anywhere near them, they would jump off the leaf or fly off and disappear. The good news is that with the larger plants, (arugula is the biggest thing in the garden right now), the flea beetles haven't been making as many holes in the larger leaves being formed. And because the kales are 12 to 15 feet away from the arugula row, they are untouched by the flea beetles, who seem to really like my arugula and are leaving everything else alone. I'll just leave that arugula row in for a while, since they seem to like hanging out there and aren't putting as much of a dent in it anymore. Maybe the leaves change taste, once they've been attacked, and are not to their liking. To me it has a peanut-y flavor at first, that reminds me of the flavor of neem oil, before it becomes a bit peppery - like black pepper, not chile peppers. That slight neem oil flavor might be off-putting to them now. As to what else might be keeping them in check, we do have a lot of tiny predatory wasps flying around, perhaps they have a predator there. It would be nice to find a commercially available Cordyceps strain that targets flea beetles.... ...sending a fungal spire up out of the roof of their heads, essentially zombifying them. dvg |
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avery
Junior Member
Posts: 50
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Post by avery on Jul 6, 2020 17:11:11 GMT -5
Yes! Under normal circumstances the kale/arugula will eventually get big enough where they’re resistant to the flea beetles- but for whatever reason this year the flea beetles were particularly bad and those susceptible plants couldn’t even make it out of the ground.
Upon reflection, there were some kale plants that I’d left in the ground over the winter, and while I did pull them up in early spring, I’m thinking that it could’ve been the perfect environment to overwinter the beetles- giving them a head start this past spring.
While crop rotation could help- in my experience where there’s food- there are beetles!
I will certainly be more diligent with removing the crops in the fall after they’re harvested- it could be a simple as that??
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Post by meateater on Jul 5, 2021 19:14:05 GMT -5
Got small harvests last year, rest was ruined by bugs. Second shot this year and same bug problem. So, how to keep bugs off crops?? (I tried broccoli a few years back, also the same bugs!)
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