Cabbage Family growing tips
Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower and cabbage
Many nutrition experts say that broccoli and kale are the most healthy of all veggies and worth their weight in gold. But, in our area Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cauliflower and Cabbage are more heavily damaged by pests like the cabbage looper and cabbage worm than other plants in the Cabbage Family. Plus, broccoli can be heavily damaged by “clubroot,” making it the most difficult of the cabbage family veggies to grow in our area. These growing tips will give you the knowledge to grow all the cabbage family veggies successfully. But as you will see the extra time and energy may not be worth the return.
Cabbage/Brassica Family includes Arugala, Bok choi, Broccoli, Brussel Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Collards, Cress, Horseradish, Kale, Kolhrabi, Mustard Greens, Radishes, Rutabagas, Turnips
Our goal is healthy veggies, not perfect ones. We can eat green leafy veggies with a few caterpillar holes as long as we wash them first. A few holes doesn't hurt humans or the plant. But a few holes may not be okay with neighbors and friends who share your harvest. An easy first line of defense against Cabbage Family pests are crop rotation, intercropping, companion planting and “floating row cover.” If you still get some caterpillars tips for killing them are lower on this page.
Floating row cover on all your cabbage family veggies for the whole season will prevent cabbage moths from laying their eggs on your plants. Floating row cover is a thin white gardening fabric that allows in sunlight and rain. make sure you weight down the edge of the fabric so the moths can’t fly inside.This only works in a bed that has NOT grown cabbage family veggies last year since the eggs could be in the soiled will hatch into cabbage moths.
Intercropping and companion planting: Interplanting means mixing together many friendly plants (companions) in the same bed. This masks the scent of the plant that the pest is attracted to. It also helps to grow pest resistant varieties of your favorite veggies. The goal is to keep the pests under control so your harvest is not severely damaged or your yield reduced. Since we are not a commercial growers we don’t expect 100% perfect veggies.
Companion plants that discourage cabbage worms are catnip, dill, geranium, nasturtium, sage, and thyme. Plants that discourage cabbage loopers are catnip, dill, nasturtium, peppermint, rosemary, sage, spearmint, and thyme. Learn about intercropping with tomatoes. See video
Broccoli growing tips
Broccoli is a sun-loving, cool-season crop that is best grown in the spring or fall. It’s also incredibly healthy, rich in vitamins and minerals, and is a good source of Vitamin A, potassium, folic acid, iron, and fiber. Once you harvest the main head of a broccoli plant, it will often keep producing smaller side shoots. Summer heat can cause bolting, so grow in spring and fall.
Broccoli is attacked by multiple pests and diseases in our area. Many local home gardeners have given up growing broccoli and focus instead on other greens like kale, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, Chinese broccoli and Bok Choy. See a visual guide to 10 varieties of Asian greens. Article “What is Chinese cabbage?”
Prevent clubroot: Broccoli is prone to a root fungus called clubroot that can be prevented by careful planting and planning.
Plant in a space that was not previously used for a cabbage family crop. The fungus stays in the soil over the winter.
Sterilize the soil to kill the clubroot fungus if your broccoli planting area is small and you don’t have other spaces you can use instead. Heating the soil to 200º should work.
Test soil pH. Optimal pH is 7.2. Amend with lime if needed. Clubroot won’t grow in 7.2 pH soil. Our favorite pH testing tool is “3-in-1 Soil Meter” (pH, light and moisture meter) by healthywiser.com. It works great and is very affordable.
If the plant wilts quickly dig up a broccoli plant and inspect the roots. The white root will be gnarled and misshapen. Dig up and throw away any broccoli plants infected with clubroot. Don’t throw them in your compost pile.
Compacting soft crumbly soil has been scientifically proven to prevent clubroot. Make a long trench 3 inches deep. Pack the soil down forcefully with your foot. If you have the right type of loose soil it will stay crumbly even after compression. If it is no longer loose and crumbly after compression add equal amounts of compost and sand and stomp on it again. Place your broccoli seedlings in the trench with the correct distance apart. Fill in the troche with soil. View video
Avoid spreading the clubroot fungus to your broccoli bed. Keep a separate clean shovel and garden gloves for you broccoli bed that you don’t use anywhere else in the garden.
If you can prevent clubroot and protect the plant from cabbage moths with a protective “floating row cover” all season long, you can look forward to a great broccoli harvest. See more pest solutions below. Learn more about broccoli pests in this article “Five problems killing your broccoli”
Planting: Broccoli thrives at 65°F to 70°F and is very sensitive to temperature. Plant in early spring when the soil is damp since broccoli will bolt in warm weather and not produce the “floret” the bushy part). You want the plant to move slowly into seed and have time to give maximum energy to producing the large floret. Plant seedlings (with 4 or 5 leaves) about 2 to 3 weeks before the last spring frost date, 10 inches apart, in a trench slightly deeper than their container depth. Space rows 36 inches apart. Close spacing sometimes yields smaller main heads. Try some at 15” apart to see if it matters.
Fertilizing: You are growing leaves first and need nitrogen (blood meal). Broccoli is mainly a leaf crop and you eat the leaves too. Don’t worry about the floret nutrients now. Focus on adding lots of nitrogen. You could also add a multi-purpose fertilizer that contains mycorrhizae fungus, micro-nutrients, phosphorus, and potassium like:
Care: Keep moist but don’t over water. Fertilize broccoli three weeks after planting seedlings with a low-nitrogen fertilizer. Provide consistent soil moisture especially in drought conditions (1-1.5“ per week.) Don’t get the heads wet when watering, as it can encourage rot. Roots are very shallow, so try not to disturb the plants. Mulch to suffocate weeds and to help keep soil temperatures down. To promote the growth of a second head after the first has been harvested, maintain an active feeding and watering schedule. If bottom, then top, leaves start to turn yellow, add blood meal.
How to harvest broccoli: Harvest broccoli in the morning before it heats up when the buds of the head are firm and tight, just before the heads flower. If you do see yellow petals, harvest immediately, since flowering will decrease quality rapidly. Cut heads from the plant, taking at least 6 inches of stem. Make a slanted cut on the stalk to allow water to slide away. (Water can pool and rot the center of a flat-cut stalk, ruining the secondary heads.) Most varieties have side-shoots that will continue to develop after the main head is harvested. You can harvest from one plant for many weeks, in some cases, from spring to fall, if your summer isn’t too hot. Also harvest and eat the leaves.
How to store broccoli: Store broccoli in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. If you wash before storing, make sure to dry it thoroughly. Broccoli can be blanched and frozen for up to one year.
More tips on pests and diseases:
Insecticidal soap is an organic DIY pest spray you can use If intercropping and row cover doesn’t. Learn more here. Spraying at least once a week with organic homemade solutions takes time and is extra work. Use a sprayer with a powerful stream. We use Dawn brand dish soap.
Aphids: Curling leaves may mean that the plant’s sap is being sucked by insects. Spray heavily with insecticidal soap (soapy water) to all sides of leaves whenever you see aphids. Dawn brand dish soap works well.
Cabbage moths like to lay eggs on kale, swiss chard and cabbage before they attack the broccoli. Use a floating row cover just after planting through harvest to prevent cabbage moths form laying eggs which hatch into caterpillars.
Cabbage loopers: Small holes on the leaves between the veins means small green cabbage looper caterpillars. Look at the undersides of the leaves. Hand pick if the problem is small or control with Bacillus thuringiensis (BT), a natural, bacterial pesticide. More on BT organic pesticide lower on this page.
Cabbage root maggots: Cabbageworms and other worm pests: Treat same as loopers.
Downy Mildew: Yellow patches on leaves are usually caused by moist weather. Keep leaves as dry as possible with good air circulation. Buy resistant broccoli varieties.
White rust
Whiteflies
Nitrogen deficiency: If the bottom leaves turn yellow and the problem continues toward the top of the plant, the plants need high nitrogen (but low phosphorus) fertilizer or blood meal. Blood meal is a quick nitrogen fix for yellowing leaves.
Commercial pesticide sprays
Use Spinosad and BT organic commercial sprays only if you see signs of pests. Both of these commercial sprays are used by experienced organic gardeners and farmers who pride ourselves in growing perfect veggies. Many experienced Deep Roots gardeners prefer not to use these organic chemicals because we don’t trust the claim that it is “perfectly safe” for humans, pets, beneficial insects, and soil microbes. Spinosad (pronounced spin OH sid) is a relatively new insect killer that quickly controls a variety of caterpillar, beetle and thrips pests. Spinosad is derived from the fermentation juices of a lowly soil bacterium called Saccharopolyspora spinosa. It is applied every 3 to 4 weeks. Spinosad requires fewer applications than BT. The BT bacteria eats the caterpillar from the inside. Use a minimum of 2 tsp per gallon. Video on BT
Kale
Nutritious and delicious: Kale is extremely nutritious, providing you with more than 100 percent of the daily value of vitamins K and A. Steam kale for maximum nutrition and flavor and toss with a Mediterranean dressing, add the steamed kale to whole grain pasta dishes or eat it plain. It’s also versatile in the kitchen and a nutritious addition to salads, stir fries, omelettes, casseroles, and other dishes. The small, tender leaves can be eaten uncooked and used in salads. Cut and cook the larger leaves like spinach, but be sure to remove the tough ribs before cooking.
Varieties: Multiple varieties offer choice of leaf shape and color. Our favorite varieties are Dinosaur (Lacinato) Kale and Winterbor Kale. Vates kale is a hardy and does not yellow in cold weather. It also has curly, blue-green leaves. Winterbor resembles Vates kale, but is frost tolerant. Red Russian has red, tender leaves and is an early crop.
Pests: In our experience kale is more resistant to pests than any of the other cabbage family varieties we have grown. The Asian varieties of the cabbage family are even more pest resistant. Just keep it covered with floating row cover to keep the cabbage moths from laying eggs which hatch into nasty little green caterpillars that make holes in the leaves..
Seasonal tips: Kale is a cold-hardy resilient plant. It will continue to grow through the summer. The flavor changes depending on when you harvest it – mildest in spring, more bitter in hot weather, and sweeter after a frost. Plant in early spring or late summer for a fall crop. Cool weather brings out the sweet, nutty flavor of this highly nutritious green. Plant seedlings very early in the spring (3 to 5 weeks before the last frost). Since the temperatures can dip below the 20s, have floating row covers on hand so you can cover them on cool nights. Or, create a makeshift cover with tarps and old blankets propped up by hay bales or other supports. Mulch the soil heavily after the first hard freeze in the fall; the plants may continue to produce leaves throughout the winter.
In the fall, kale can be planted 6 to 8 weeks before the first frost for fall and winter harvests. Harvest it from fall until the ground freezes in winter as the flavor sweetens after a couple frosts. You can extend the harvest season with a mini hoop house covered in plastic. Add a row cover fabric resting directly on the plants inside the hoop house.
Pick your location and prepare your soil: Kale does best in full sun but tolerates partial shade. Soil needs to drain well and also be enriched for tender leaves. The soil pH should be 6.5 to 6.8 to discourage disease. Based on the soil test, amend your soil with nitrogen-rich compost or blood meal. If you didn’t test your soil, mix in a few inches of compost. Our favorite pH testing tool is “3-in-1 Soil Meter” (pH, light and moisture meter) by healthywiser.com.
Planting: When planting, add fertilizer (1-½ cups of 5-10-10 fertilizer per 25 feet of row into the top 3 to 4 inches of soil. If you’re planting seeds, sow ¼ to ½ inch deep into well-drained, light soil. After about 2 weeks, thin the seedlings so that they are spaced 8 to 12 inches apart. If you’re planting seedlings, plant them at the depth they are growing in the container. Space 18 to 24 inches apart. After planting, water plants well.
Maintenance: It’s important to keep kale well watered and fed. Water 1 to 1.5 inches of water each week. Regularly feed kale with a continuous-release plant food. Mulch the soil to keep down the weeds and keep kale cool as kale won’t grow in hot weather.
Pests/Diseases: Cabbageworms cabbage worms are a common pest. Chewed holes are the sign of the green cabbage worm. Wipe out Cabbage aphids by spraying with DIY insecticidal soap But keep your eye out for these tiny bugs which will be clustered between the leaves.
Flea beetles usually don’t cause fatal damage to established plants because the leaves are too large. The real danger is that they can spread bacterial diseases, such as wilt and blight, from plant to plant. Therefore, they must be controlled at once. Try this homemade spray to control flea beetles: 2 cups rubbing alcohol, 5 cups water, and 1 tablespoon liquid soap. Test out the mixture on a leaf of the plant, let it sit overnight, then spray the rest of the plant if you don’t notice any adverse effects. Spray the mixture on the foliage of garden plants that are susceptible to these pests.
Insecticidal soap kills common pests on houseplants and garden plants on contact by suffocating small, soft-bodied bugs such as aphids, mealy bugs, thrips, whiteflies, spider mites, leaf hoppers, and earwigs. The fatty acids disrupt the permeability and structure of the insects’ cell membranes, dissolving their exoskeletons and dehydrating them. Insecticidal soap recipe: Mix 2.5 tablespoons of Dawn dish soap and 2.5 tablespoons of oil with 1 gallon of warm soft water. Add washing soda to make hard water soft. Video
Harvesting: Kale is ready to harvest when the leaves are about the size of your hand. Pick about one fistful of leaves per harvest. Start harvesting the oldest leaves first from the lowest section of the plant. Discard any yellowed or torn leaves. Avoid picking the terminal bud (found at the top center of the plant) because this will help to keep the plant productive.
Storing: You can store kale as you would any other leafy green. It should last about 1 week stored in a loose plastic produce bag in the refrigerator. Or to store a large crop longer rinse and dry the leaves, cut off the hard ribs, cut up the leaves and place them in plastic ziploc bags or cloth veggie bags in the freezer.
Video: Growing kale for sowing to harvest
Buying seedlings: Buying conventional kale seedlings in 4-packs ($2 each) is easy and affordable. Contact Good Earth Greenhouse about when they will be available or call and tell them how many 4-packs you need.
