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chickencoupe1

Russion Red Kale to Seed

chickencoupe
10 years ago

First, I'm almost clueless. Being well-read doesn't mean experience.

I planted this stuff in the spring based on the seed pack from a group of heirloom seeds I bought a couple years ago. It took me an hour to figure out what it was!!

I'm thinking I want to keep these pretties for rabbit fodder and need to let them go to seed.

If anyone has some basic info on harvesting seed, could you please let me know? I've no idea what the seeds look like or where they come from on this plant. I assume:

1) It will bolt

2) Grow flowers somewhere

3) The flowers will contain the seed or pods will grow??

Thanks a bunch. Hope everyone is having happy harvests. :)

Bonnie

Red Russian Kale?

Comments (9)

  • MiaOKC
    10 years ago

    I don't know the variety, but my ornamental kale planted last fall sent up beautiful yellow flowers this spring, and in the late spring the flowers went away and long skinny seed pods formed (kind of like small, skinny, 1-2" green beans) and now the seed pods are dried and the seed pods are kind of cracking open - all this time, the plant stays flourishing and is about 2 feet tall and 3 feet wide. I'm going to see if they will self-sow, I love ornamental kale. I hope I don't regret letting them do this. I'll see if I can snap a pic of the pods for you tonight - I wondered if that bit in the lower left corner of your pic might be the seed pods, they kind of look similar.

    The yellow flowered thing on the left is the kale:

  • chickencoupe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    You have a good eye, Mia. I noticed a pod there and assumed it was from a radish I planted. I thought to dig and see the plant base, but the kids distracted me. I'll go look now.

    Thanks!

  • chickencoupe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    It belonged to the radish.

  • Macmex
    10 years ago

    Bonnie, Kale planted this spring will probably flower next spring. It's a biennial which requires a cold season to go to flower. I'll try to remember to post a picture of some which has seeded in my garden. It looks just like radish or turnip flowers and seed.

    Our family LOVES kale! Late last summer I planted it for the first time in my adult life. We ate kale until the middle of the winter. When we ran out there was great sadness in the household. I'm saving seed and hoping it doesn't cross with turnips. Will find out within a year if it does!

    George
    Tahlequah, OK

  • chickencoupe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thank you for that, George. It would have been funny not knowing and waiting... and waiting.. lol

    I haven't tasted this variety. I should.

  • Macmex
    10 years ago

    Here's a picture of the seed pods of this kale. They are virtually indistinguishable from those of turnips or rutabagas.

    George

  • chickencoupe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    My Red Russian Kale is in it's third? season. It's coming back again. I guess it will over winter again?

    Planted in spring of 2012. Will it ever go to seed? Can't complain, though. Beautiful plant, too.

  • Macmex
    10 years ago

    I don't know if it will or if it won't. Three years is a long time. Apparently, there's some condition which that variety requires, and it feels it isn't being met, in order to seed. I saw this in Hidalgo, Mexico, with Swiss Chard. We could let it over winter for years and it would never seed. But, a local woman had some "criollo" (native/local) chard which would seed every spring. The problem was that we simply didn't receive enough cold hours to trigger Fordhook chard. If we have a hard winter, that may trigger your kale to flower the following spring. I

    I also wonder if it isn't somehow protected where it's growing. That might keep it warmer than say, if it were more exposed.

    George

  • chickencoupe
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I also wonder if it isn't somehow protected where it's growing. That might keep it warmer than say, if it were more exposed."

    It's h-kulture bed underneath the planter. Might be why.

    Thanks for heading me in the right direction. I'll look into the growth pattern. Good lesson. At least I have a great tasting/looking plant that I know will thrive under the right conditions. Would be nice if everything else is so persistent.

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