Kitchen Garden Forum

Due to waiting for beds to be free I left my winter brassicas in the nursery bed longer than intended & they were quite big. Today they looked OK but had lost all their bottom leaves although the central ones were green & healthy.

Does this mean they have been too stressed with the move & as such will just bolt rather than mature? They look weird with just long stalks with a tuft of healthy growth on the top. Should I try to buy some more plants or keep fingers crossed?

Westi

I would plant them quite deep, Westi, with the soil coming well up to the stems. With a lot of watering in and keeping them damp, I am sure they will grow on perfectly well.

Thanks Monica - I will pop them in a bit deeper then. Will be better for any root rock as well I expect.

Westi

Hi Westi,
I take it that the leaves your winter cabbages have shed are the cotyledons which is a very normal occurrence.
The cotyledons are used as a store of food to provide nutrition to the growing plant and when all the food is used up they, as part of the normal growing process, simply fall off the plant. Depending on the amount of nutrition your plants can take up from the ground the next two pairs of leaves my also be used as food for the plant and they to may fall off the plant and still nothing to worry about.
Here we plant out by root formation and not how many pairs of leaves on the plant.
Sincerely,
JB.

Thanks Johnboy. Some are still dropping full sized bottom leaves. The sprouts & PSB are stopped but the kale & caulies continue. The stalks are about 8 inches tall but quite thick on what is settled so I'm just earthing them up a bit as don't want to stress them more & dig them up to plant them deeper.

Will have to keep fingers crossed & see what happens I guess. Have looked for replacements just in case but all catalogues & garden centres around here are sold out.

Westi