Kitchen Garden Forum

Help please. When can I start sowing? I can sow in a cold green house and a cold frame. I live just outside of London.
Thanks
Bal

I think you will have to have artificial heat to start them off, ideally 20C., certainly no lower than 15C. Bottom heat is most effective.Note that if they are too cold during growth they are more likely to bolt. Without heat by the time they get started a spring crop is doubtful before it gets too hot under cover, outside you get the risk of flea beetle damage.

Hello Bal - we had a very successful crop last season sowing ours in a cold greenhouse for the first time. Tried this to escape the flea beetle damage we always encountered outside. We sowed in a growbag around mid-March and harvested around early to mid-June. No heat was used and we had a crop that looked just like it had come from the supermarket, but much tastier - 100% germination and no bolting either. The variety we grew (and will grown again this year) is an F1, Riko. Go for it! Would love to hear how you get on.

Bal, if you have a look back in Best Practice I asked a question about Pak Choi and had some very useful answers which may help you. The last posting was on 17 January.

Chantal

I only have trouble with it bolting when very hot weather, spring and autumn provide much better crops !

How many plants did you put in the growbag.

Joi Choi, Mei Quing Choi, Riko (Fothergill)
Any other varieties?
I grew Pueblo for several years, that is no longer available.Tozer seeds have other varieties but they deal only in large commercial quantities.

Hello Nog - we grew 10, in a double staggered row so they had room to develop fully.

Johnsons do 2 more varieties, Choko and (Ivory)Koko.
I have sown the second one in a batch along with Riko and Joy Choy & Mei Quing Choi. It will be interesting to compare them.

I will have a go with that. I planted them in 6" pots at the end of last year but the became rootbound very quickly.

Hi Folks
Many Thanks for your replies
Bal

You have to regard Pak Choi as a quick crop, 4 or 5 weeks which means that it won't have time to recover either from clumsy transplanting or the real depths of winter when the temperature is low and poor light as well. I have resorted to small pots to sow in, no more than 3 seeds to a pot, spread out and thin to 1 per pot, plant out with minimum disturbance and then await results. I have found the germination rate very high so it pays to spread the seeds individually in the pot such as with forceps.

Allan's post just reminded me, we have never transplanted Pak Choi, as we sow directly into the growbags - very carefully, with the seed being so small. Forceps are a good idea as Allan suggests, or you could just sow randomly and thin them out as they grow (eating the thinnings, of course!). This works well too.

Hi Bal,
I do not quite understand some of these postings as I have found Pak Choi to be quite a tough little plant. I grow it in Modules and transplant and have even sent it Mail Order and people have come back for more so it must work.
Varieties grown: Joi ChoiF1, Mei Qing Choi F1,
Dwarf Canton and Rosette Pak Choi. (Tatsai)
The one most commonly seen in Supermarkets is Mei Qing Choi F1 with green stems and makes small plants which are generally cooked whole. Joi Coi F1 is a much larger plant with white stems not unlike Swiss Chard in a way and indiviual leaves can be picked.
These two were the main ones people asked for.
There is a good recipe for Chicken Thighs and MQC on a mixed bed of Onion, Leek and Celery all set in a White or Cheese sauce (in my case Stilton) and topped with grated cheese finished off under the grill. A more than passable snack!!
I recommend Joy Larkom's book on Oriental Vegatables as with all of her books it is full of good information.

johnboy, Any info on minimum or optimum germination temperature. By default I tend to 10-13 C. but this is a guess.
It's a wounderful catch crop as long as you can keep rabbits and flea beetle off.
Allan