possible hybrid kale/collard growing

[GoDawgs]

Super idea! In fact, I already have a colander that will do the trick.

[Tracydr]

This thread is making me crave kale chips!

[bower]

With everything bolted or torn up by now, I am craving some fresh greens! (Should've made chips while the going was good )
So a couple of days ago I started my brassica seed test, and here they are up. Not sure how long until the true leaves will be out, to see just how mixed up they are. I kept seed lots separate on the chance that some would have a better chance of being true to type instead of crossed. Not much chance with the purple stemmed types, since they had lost their identifying leaves before I remembered to do the seed roundup... I tried to classify them by the amount of purple (some were just purple tinged, others fully purple stems and purple pods). Still I ended up with six purple seed lots, two white stemmed mustard, 3 michihili and 3 "choy" - pretty sure these were just the "baby bok choy" that came from the greenhouse but not 100% certain if I did toss all the bolted yu choy so we shall see...


One interesting thing I noticed already: The third lot of Michihili seed is showing some purple tinges on a couple of seedlings, so likely crossed with one of the purple things (Red Russian Kale, RRK crosses with different leaf shape, or purple tinged mustard green). Anything cool looking will get personal space, of course. We actually did okay with Michihili under lights last winter (larger pot) although I wish it grew faster.

Seeing I have been without greens for awhile now, the taste testing day is bound to be my favorite part of this experiment.

Sorry for less than great pics, everything looks a little blurry to me today.

[Tormato]

So, Bower, have you decided on what brassicas from the list (at post#8) you'd like me to send into Nicky's swap?

[bower]

Mmmmm I did indeed spend an evening frolicking with brassica dreams on google..
My notes say Ryokuho F1 is a Gailan. 40 days, yummy thick stems, same family as broccoli.
Choho, Bekana and Senposai are sweet, early, chinese-cabbagey things any and all of which I do love. Those were the coolest ones I double starred as the ones most likely to grow, even in winter.


Such beauties as Violetta and Veronica romensco are for me to admire from afar.. in pictures of someone else's triumph.



It might also interest you to know that San Fan F1 is a racecar. Apollo F1 is a rocket engine. Google cannot lie.

[bower]

So here is the brassica seed test at 7 days. I'm really not seeing any purple on any of the seedlings at this stage - first true leaf just emerging. Some of the seedlots (mostly the P series) have a few tiny seedlings emerging later in the row with purple cotyledons.
All the seedlings under the LED are starting true leaf now, while our salad mix in the greenhouse planted the same day is a little bit slower. Michihili is ahead by a notch with true leaf a little longer. This is nice to see because the seed they came from (commercial source) was extremely slow! Fresh seed seems to be the answer to that.
After the pics I topped up these containers with some compost and watered.
I am hoping to see those little true leaves in another week.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

I love those Japanese greens (if that's what they are called) - Bok Choy, Mitsu, but so do the flea beetles which totally devastated them this year so it was a dead loss. Linda

I hear ya on the flea beetles! Bok choy, Napa cabbage etc are all FB magnets in the garden. So this past spring I planted some in pots next to the tomatoes up next to the house and away from the garden. Gah! They got infested with them there too! That's it. No more. Crossing these off the grow list. Besides, there's enough kale and collards growing to make more than enough greens. One CAN have too many greens.

[GoDawgs]

Originally Posted by bower

So here is the brassica seed test at 7 days. I'm really not seeing any purple on any of the seedlings at this stage - first true leaf just emerging. Some of the seedlots (mostly the P series) have a few tiny seedlings emerging later in the row with purple cotyledons.

How are they coming along? Or have you just harvested for micro greens?

[bower]

GoDawgs I totally missed your post until today! I'm afraid that hunger got the best of the seedling test... Most of them went to my Mom as micro/baby greens. I was fairly satisfied that they looked to be true to type with some minimal crossing. Some of the seed lots turned out to be really crossed though, when I grew them later - mixed up kales. The LED lights seemed to do wierd things to the anthocyanin - red turns up where it isn't or doesn't show up where it is, and you only find out what's really going on when they get out into the daylight.



I just recently started michihili seed again - this time from the one I thought had the best chance to be crossed. I started extras just to see what I could find. Most are true to type Michihili, but the crossed ones all apparently from different parents. Easy to tell the red russian kale cross! And that one tasted the best in my nibbler taste test this morning.

The true type Michihili is on the far left. The crosses are faster growing, as you would expect from their other parents! One thing noted - hairly/prickly leaf must be dominant, as it shows up in all of the offspring.