kale varieties and seed suppliers

[ashleighParticipant]

hello

kale is one of our main crops for market. i am trying to find the best sources of seed of the most interesting/marketable varieties. can anyone help add to this list:

– cavalo nero – now get seed from Franchi as they do organic seed in generous quantities

– red russian/red winter type – using seed from Real Seeds this time, fairly generous quantities and like to order from them as they’re such a great seed company. 

– red/purple curly type – i find this very hard to grow compared to all other kale! low germination, low seedling survival, low transplant success. is it just me? also haven’t yet found a variety that gives large leaves that’s not F1 (i’m trying to avoid F1). anyone know of  good scarlet kale with large leaves that’s worth growing? 

– green curly – what’s the best of these varieties for in terms of yield? this year we accidentally grew dwarf green curly which is silly in a market garden when you want quantity! 

– True Siberian from Real Seeds – the tastiest traditional-type kale, in my opinion. really juicy and tender, unlike the more fashionable kales. and due to its curliness, it’s more marketable than flat-leaved traditional kales.

– other fancy types. Would love any recommendations of unusual kales that are not F1. i wanted to get Fizz from Organic Catalogue but it’s already sold out. 

[StringfellowParticipant]

Can’t comment on the others, but we have been enjoying Fizz in salads and they overwinter just fine. Smallish leaves with a lovely pale green hue, easy pickin’ too.

[charlesModerator]

This is my favourite, I pick it most of the year as it almost never flowers. Customers like it, I am interested that yours Ashleigh prefer curly kale? I fnd that curly is tougher-leaved. 

I like hungry Gap too for its tenderness of leaf and cropping well in May, with nice shoots at the end.

And Thousandhead for a monster plant!

[BarbMember]

White fly is a perennial problem on my calvelo Nero kale.  How do commercial organic growers manage to avoid it?  You don’t see clouds of whitefly on the kale in the veg boxes.  Guy Watson commented on this week’s Countryfile:  growing in small fields surrounded by hedgerows attracted predators to deal with pest problems.  I interplant veg with herbs,flowers and fruit on my allotment aiming for year round biodiversity but so far haven’t found a predator that actually enjoys eating them.  Could it be that some varieties of kale are less prone to whitefly than Nero?

[charlesModerator]

These are three factors. Fields of kale are more open to wind for example.

And stress on plants leads to aphids – Steph says her kale in a walled garden is badly affected, and its worst under a tree where moisture has been short (=stress). But her allotment kale is fine, also helped by the compost mulch on top. 
At Homeacres I have made my soil really fertile and have seen very few aphids.

If you have some spare compost, I would mulch your kale plants. Also I do think that Cavalo Nero is susceptible. 

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