Already? And such a beauty. I have been thinking about planting some for the Fall, they store very well right? They are, what, 60 days from seeding to picking?

Without consulting the calendar at home, I think I started seed around March 1, Transplanted around March 21st and started picking on May 10th. So with those dates, they were about 70 days.

They grow very fast. I have stored them in the fridge, inside a bag for over a month, but I prefer to just leave them growing out in the hoop building over winter. Then just peal back any bad leaves and enjoy!

How did you manage to keep the slugs off of them? I love napa cabbage, and love growing it, but I almost think the slugs love it more than I do!

Very pretty cabbage!

Wow! How beautiful, Jay.

jrslick, your cabbage looks great! I have a question for you about growing napa. I am in zone 7a and my napa cabbages are just starting to head up. I am really worried that they will bolt since the weather might get hot very soon. Did the heading up stage take a long time for you? Thanks.

Once the leaves start folding up, it is usually 3 to 4 weeks until you have a nice head. Mine started to head between the 13 and 25th of April.

Jay

Saw these on Facebook this morning Jay. Awesome!

When I grow up I'm going to try to emulate Mr Slick.

Dan

I find this very interesting. Over here it is referred to as Chinese leaves or Chinese cabbage and is recommended for sowing after Midsummer's Day as it is supposed to bolt quickly if sown before and only be harvestable as mini leaves. So how come it grows happily for you and forms heads in the Spring? Are we labouring under a delusion over here?

Crazy, they look like Bok choi kind of.

According to the Johnny's Seed Catalog

"The crop is most at home in the gradually decreasing day length and temperatures of late summer. For spring and early summer planted crops, bolt-resistant variety selection is critical! Even the most bolt-resistant varieties may prematurely bolt to seed if young plants are exposed to frost or over a week of sub 50�F (10�C) nights. Wait until about the last frost date or after to direct seed or transplant out, or protect the plants with fabric row covers."

I tested this theory too. I put out the first flat of plants in Mid February, I froze them, lost 1/3 of them and then planted them in early March. This was one of those plants. As you can see it didn't bolt.

I am going to try to pick these quickly.

The Napa Cabbage in the fall holds really well in the tunnels. In fact my Early August planting produced by late September and I picked the last head after Christmas.

Jay

Kimchi!

Bolting is supposed to be caused by frost or cold weather followed by hot weather. In warmer areas, it is really hard to pick the perfect time to grow napa in the spring. If we plant it out too early, it is too cold. If we plant it out too late, the weather will turn hot too soon. Fall crop though is very reliable for everyone! :-)

Here is something that may interest you, Jay. There is a guy who sells kimchi jars at the farmer market, $12 per (absurd, I know). I know him and got a jar for free. It lasted four days, so you can figure out yourself what we thought of it. Obviously, I will have to grow my own and make kimchi myself, but you may consider experimenting. There is a nice video on youtube that walks you through the steps.

One big selling point is that it fosters digestive health, in a manner similar to sauerkraut or yogurt, but far, far better than the horrible yogurt you can buy in stores. I can attest to that. Just like sauerkraut, there is a million variations, but the chili and garlic that go in the concoction also have medicinal effects, so you want to explain that to your customers. They may return based on what it did for them.

Now you have started a run on Napa cabbage seeds, but I had already bought mine the moment I saw the bottom of that jar.

I made kimchi using David Chang's recipe in his cookbook and it turned out really well. It is fairly easy especially if you have access to Korean ingredients. This is pretty much why I grow napa. I don't like it much unless it's made into kimchi.

Jay, I think you are Napa Cabbage King! I'll bow down to you to learn the tricks to grow it.
Put chunks in with braised or stewed meet, thin slices go with stir fry, chopped go into dumplings., and don't forget to put some in with noodles. Give me one and I'll be in happy land!

Thanks for the input on timing of sowing. It's still a bit of a mystery because my climate could not by any extent of the imagination be considered 'hot'. I was always led to believe it was due to day length but it could be temperature. Even though we may not get a frost we can have long periods of cool weather in Spring when many veggies just sit sulking and not doing any growing to speak of. Maybe Napa doesn't like that.

Maybe I'll try it again - although all my efforts in the past have been destroyed by our voracious slugs and snails.

flora_uk, generally day time highs above 80F for a week will likely cause napa to bolt in the spring, especially if the ground is slightly dried out. The optimum growing temperature for napa is between 60 and 75. They grow really fast at that temperature.

You can try hybrids that are resistant to bolting for spring planting. Also growing smaller cabbages will help since it takes less time for it to mature.

Picked all my Rubicon napa cabbages last week. After cleaning off all the outer leaves, each weighed around 2.5 pounds. They could have gotten bigger but we were experiencing near 100 degree weather so I figured I'd better not take that risk.

Rubicon is a bolt resistant variety suitable for spring planting according to Johnny's Select Seeds. My cabbages were subjected to very cold temperature early on and very high temperature when they started heading up, but the result was very good. I will definitely grow it again in the fall and next spring. I am also going to try a large variety (10 pound per head!) this fall.

{{gwi:47954}}

Last year savoy cabbage, dug up with root and soil, and buried under leaves, lasted into March in very good conditions. Any way this can work with Napa?

I love Napa cabbage and my favorite way to eat it is a very simple salad or slaw.

I make a very light vinagrette dressing and chop a Granny Smith apple into the dressing and make sure is is coated so it doesn't turn dark. Then add a cup of chopped celery, and chopped napa cabbage. Mix together and enjoy.

jrslick, did you tie up the tops of the cabbage to foster hearting, or did it do so on it's own? I have some that is starting to fold together and wonder whether it is something I should do...approx 4 wks to frost (fingers crossed!)

The cabbage does this on it's own. I didn't do anything. It is always amazing for me to watch each year.

Jay

glib, I would think it will work for napa as it is cold stored for winter use in Asia extensively.