Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] hardiness of cabbage, garlic?

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Shoemaker, William H" <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] hardiness of cabbage, garlic?
  • Date: Sat, 28 Apr 2012 14:49:53 +0000

Caulifower is well-known to button if exposed to sub-freezing temperatures while young transplants. However, I've never soon broccoli or cabbage button. It doesn't seem likely in cabbage because the buttoning is a stress response which pushes the plant to transition early from vegetative growth to reproductive growth. The cauliflower head is essentially a premature floral structure, so the "button" is a tiny floral structure. Cabbage, on the other hand, is just vegetative growth turned into itself to form the head. Broccoli is the most cold tolerant of the major brassicas so it probably wouldn't button either. At least, I've never seen it in my career, or heard of it for that matter.

 

I did have the opportunity to see cabbage flower this Spring. I had cabbage overwinter quite healthy in the tunnel. It was pretty mature so it vernalized and shifted to reproductive growth. Once it warmed up in March it started pushing up flower stalks and is in bloom. I'll be removing it next week, but its been interesting to see. The yellow flowers on the red cabbage are actually quite pretty.

 

Bill

William H. Shoemaker

University of Illinois, Crop Sciences

St Charles Horticulture Research Center

535 Randall Road, St Charles, IL  60174

630-584-7254, wshoemak AT illinois.edu


From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org [market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] on behalf of grizzdover AT gmail.com [grizzdover AT gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 9:43 PM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] hardiness of cabbage, garlic?

Hello All,
 
I think the garlic will be fine.  I have ours mulched with straw (which may provide more "warmth") every year, but they have been fine during many nights of below freezing temps (except a "stalled" growth and some leaf tips browning).  We grow EJ Wakefield but I've never had it transplanted in the field with below freezing temps., but I have had transplants in uncovered coldframes (still in flats) with below freezing temps (but also decomposing straw under the flats) and all I've ever noticed is the leaves turn purplish (which goes away shortly after field planting)and maybe the first set of true leaves dies.  I've never noticed these plants "buttoning" but it also has only been one or two nights with belowing freezing temps.  I've heard that if cabbage and/or broccoli are exposed to these kind of cold temps. for 4 or more days is when they start to button.
 
Ben Saunders
Farm Manager
Turtle Farm: Certified Organic (IDALS) Fruits, Veggies and Herbs
Granger, Iowa
On Fri, Apr 27, 2012 at 8:01 PM, Richard Stewart <rstewart AT zoomtown.com> wrote:
We have several types of garlic (all hardneck), Elephant garlic, and four varieties of cabbage companion planted with each crop type taking up 24" rows.  They have all gone through sub 30F temps with zero problems.  The garlic, which forms a sort of wall around the cabbage seems to do a good job lessening frost set.  We had three day old cabbage transplants (four leaves) and it hit 28F and had a little damage on the first set of leaves.

We are already getting the first scapes and I have never seen what sub 30F temps do to them.

In the end though they are all very cold tolerant.

Richard Stewart
Carriage House Farm
North Bend, Ohio

An Ohio Century Farm Est. 1855



_______________________________________________
Market-farming mailing list
Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming

Market Farming List Archives may be found here:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/market-farming/
Unsubscribe from the list here (you will need to login in with your email
address and password):
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/market-farming




Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page