Cabbages - a trick!

[sincerity]

I was told recently, by an experienced gardener, that it is possible to grow further cabbages from the stem of a cabbage already harvested. He described the method as first of all cutting the cabbage, leaving the stem in the ground, secondly cutting a cross shape across the cut end of the stem and then applying some chemical fertiliser. The end result is that each portion created by the cut, will produce an entirely new cabbage. Thus you could have four cabbages on one stem.

[Nature's Babe]

If you cut lettuce a little higher than usual, not right at the base, they will regrow too.

[alan refail]

Hi sincerity

You can stop at the cut a cross stage - no fertilizer needed. You will get get four small cabbages. As NB says, works well with lettuce - and no need to cut the cross even.

[oldherbaceous]

I have just finished the last of my Spring cabbage by doing this, some varieties seem to respond this treatment better than others, though.

[FelixLeiter]

I've done this and it works. I'd definitely skip the chemical fertiliser bit, though — apart from it being unnecessary, my sensibilities tell me that it could only potentially be harmful to the cut stem.

[Johnboy]

Certainly cross cutting a cabbage stump to me is a blast of the past and in my experience you do not get cabbages as such but a very welcome selection of spring greens which are exceedingly flavoursome.
Having said that I have not pursued the practice for at least forty years because when one crop is finished I want to out the old and prepare for the next crop. A selection of different cabbages would be of far greater value. To me cross cutting is somehow scraping the bottom of the barrel and it would be far better to tight grow pointed cabbages and thin out accordingly because this would give you something more meaningful.
Certainly do as NB suggests with lettuce because this is a really quick return but again you really only get a good selection of leaves and not really a full lettuce but it certainly extends the same crop.
JB.

[Nature's Babe]

Hi Johnboy that makes sense, I do that with mixed salad, thin then let the rest grow. Did u get my message to say thank you for those seeds? I thought it posted, OK Then had doubts.

[Tony Hague]

For the last couple of years I've grown cabbage Caramba, and after harvesting the first head, simple left the stump in - no cutting crosses, fertilising or anything. I have been rewarded with a couple more decent cabbages per plant - perhaps not quite as dense as the first, but definitely a good cabbage head, not just loose greens. Some of them send out several new growths; thinning down to 2 per plant seems to give the best heads.

This approach turns cabbage growing into a really quite space efficient process, whereas often they are dismissed as taking too much space for small plots. I should say that i have heavy clay that has had a few trailer loads of manure added over the past 3 or 4 years, so it might be that I get good results because of a fertile soil (the weeds certainly like it !).

Whilst on the subject of cabbage - I also tried transplanting mine through holes in a big sheet of brown paper (reused packaging) as recommended by Geoff Hamilton. It helped keep the soil moist even in the really dry part of spring, and did seem to keep the weeds down a lot. I will use this method from now on, I think.

[Johnboy]

Hi NB,
Letter not received but am relieved to hear that the seeds reached you.
I was begining to think that they had gone astray.
Our local post office is now very unreliable so I gave the packet to a person who works in Knighton (Powys) post office and she has given me all the posting details. The unreliability of our local post office is down to the post office and not the people who run it. Money not turning up for pension day parcels due to be collected at 11am not collected because the postman has had his round extended and cannot get there half the time.The five o'clock collection has ceased. The post office was closed for 6 weeks this year because of faults on the post office main computer which they failed to repair.
This is what is occurring in many rural areas now and the government think that everything can be done on a computer sadly sending parcels is not an option but they are cost cutting to the degree of making the postal service a mockery. It has been a wonderful service until this last year.
JB.

[Ballydoolagh]

I had cut my cabbage and left the root there for a couple of weeks(laziness). Had not thought that a second cabbage would grow from this. Later pulled them out as I thought if I left them in it might encourage diseases to grow (first year growing veg). Saw no signs of new growth though.