Cabbages Hearting and Calabrese forming tight flowers

[KarenParticipant]

Hey Charles and all,

Was wondering if you had any cabbages that just wont form hearts? I just checked some of my cabbages, some have formed really nice hearts, while some are just creating outward growing leaves. I am guessing it´s either the growing conditions weren’t right or some of the seeds were of different variety mixed into the right ones and hence growing in the wrong season.

Charles, what do you do or would you do with them? Continue waiting or just remove them so that the other cabbages will have more space to grow?

In addition, pertaining to Calabrese too…. have you had them not creating tight ball of a flower head or you too have some forming tiny flowers that are grossly spaced out. Is worth waiting or just remove them and try again?

[charlesModerator]

Hi Karen, this sounds a seed issue or an uneven variety – what variety are they?
From your description of cabbage I would eat the outgrowing ones as greens or compost them, unlikely to heart. For the calabrese, grow an F1 next time – unless it is!

[Don FoleyParticipant]

Hi Karen/Charles,

I have found that Savoy types take around 3 months to form heads. I’ve also found that lack of enough water slows the process also. I grow mine at 45cm eachway and this has caused some plants to get more rainfall than others due to their shading each other.
I hate Calabrese so sorry cant offer anything on them!

Don

[KarenParticipant]

Hey Charles,

I grew 10 varieties of cabbages… I checked and it´s these varieties that are not or forming rather lose heads (sparse leaves)

Filderkraut from a common countrywide brand Kiepenkerl (have sowed some in May from Bingenheim)
Rodynda (Bingenheim) (have sowed some again in May too) red variety
Red Lodero F1 (King Seeds) Red pointed variety
Tinty F1 (King Seeds) red pointed variety

Hey Don, you may be right… my cabbages were planted rather closely, about 30-35cm… moreover we had very little rain. The heads from all the cabbages are rather uneven. Some rather big, medium and tiny. Oddly, the Red Lodero have more space as they are growing on the outer side of the bed of cabbages. I have also removed the lower yellowing leaves and hopefully they will receive more rain. (Don, I giggled when I read you wrote you hate calabrese… Am guessing it´s similar to hating perhaps eating broccoli… or did you mean just growing them…lol)

Will try to allocate more space (40-45cm) for the next batch and see how it goes.

Ok Charles, I have sowed some F1 Calabrese just last week. Fingers crossed.

[Don FoleyParticipant]

Hi Karen,

Rodynda is the only one of those varieties I have grown. It does not mature until late autumn/early winter.
It produces very large round heads and it tastes fantastic.
Your spacing for this cabbage is too close. Definitely go for 45×45 with these.
I believe Tinty is a winter/spring cabbage, i.e., harvested Jan-March. Its too soon for either of these varieties to be forming heads.
As for the Calabrese I hate the taste of the stuff!!

Don.

[KarenParticipant]

Heya Don,

Yeah… I guess I was pushing it… I wasn’t planning to have big hearts, just big enough to have at least 2 servings of it as stir fry 🙂 plus soooo many varieties and soooo little space!

Thanks for the tip. I only followed the recommended sowing times on the seed packets for Tinty F1 (Mar to May) and Red Lodero F1 (Mar to Apr) and Rodynda (Feb to May). Will leave a couple and wait out for these varieties just to see.

lol… Broccoli is yummy. 🙂

[Don FoleyParticipant]

Hi Karen,

You could thin out and eat the thinnings or just leave things as is. Plants will be stunted/poorly formed but no less tasty which is the important thing.
Broccoli is just as bad as Calabrese…..YUK!

Don.

[charlesModerator]

Karen, Filderkraut and Rodynda are autumn cabbages and need 4-5 months warm weather to mature fully. I just planted Filderkraut at 50cm spacing, after clearing broad beans.
A good cabbage for early summer is Cabbice as in this pic taken today, was planted late March & fleeced 6 weeks.

[KarenParticipant]

Hello Don and Charles,

Will definitely thin out and remove some to give more space for others to grow for a few more weeks. I also need to soon harvest this bed to leave room for my outdoor cucumbers.

I feel rather silly now regarding Rodynda and Filderkraut, was just following the sowing times on seed packets. Will definitely NOT make the same mistake. Sure waste of time, effort and space 🙁

I did harvest 2 small heads of Premiere cabbage and they were TASTY!

Charles, I sowed Cabbice F1 too and they look very similar to yours …. yayyy! Can´t waste to harvest them and taste them! This is my 2nd attempt at growing cabbages and am delighted by it! Albeit my husband grinning away and wonders how are we gonna eat 30ish cabbages!

On that note, have a wonderful weekend!

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