Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2004 Year of Trial: First (from 2004 report)Good Qualities
Great for fall, especially after frost has killed summer flowers; Stem length looks good already in the field, color is good but not that much different from Red Crane, no detectable differences at this time in head shape or color, we try to schedule to harvest cabbages after Oct. 31 for the Thanksgiving market, florists in our area are just now getting used to using cabbages, some florists love the, others don't; Nice color in the few plants that looks well; Never having grown the flowering kales as cuts, this was an interesting and unique addition to our array of flowers; Easy to grow; good for those 'different' kinds of flower arrangements, good for fall holiday arrangements, also edible!Problems
Some heads too big to use, maybe because of our spacing; Gets same pests as regular cabbages, must use strong netting and pots, stripping leaves, this year we=ve had problems with harlequin beetle on cabbages, also aphids, which we never have had in previous 4 years of growing ornamental cabbage, biological control and Dipel (BT) has worked well, had to use Sevin for the harlequin beetles; Transplanted as robust seedlings, but few plants established well once in the garden, heavy feeding by caterpillars; Lots of aphids, sometimes difficult to work into our mixed - cottage garden style bouquets because of size; We are in USDA Zone 7 so the kale did not achieve full color until November when the weather got cool enough, hick stems may cause difficulty in floral foams.Postharvest
Without any treatment.Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | Average Spacing (in2) | Average Postharvest Life (days) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||||
| Average | 1.0 | 19.8 | 4.0 | - | 4.5 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 121 | 8.0 |
| Range of Responses | 2-5 | 16-76 | 4 | - | 4-5 | 4-5 | 1-5 | 60-216 | 8 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
¹Data shown are from those respondents who harvested stems. Some respondents may not have harvested stems because they were too short. Flowering stems may be longer next year after plants are established. See comments section for more details.
Comments
Similar to Red Crane (3) and other cultivars; We have not yet harvested this one, but it is looking good in the field, next year I would like to try this as a spring crop as all of the cole crops do well in our marine climate (Zone 9); Flowering kale draws comments from delighted gardeners because of its novelty; Excellent specimen for large, specialty arrangements; There is limited demand for this crop, plants should have been spaced closer (6 inches) to obtain smaller flower heads on longer, thinner stems.