I'm looking for Pak Choi, preferably a dwarf variety. I have many vegetable seeds to trade. Please take a look at my trade list and let me know if anything interests you.

Jay, I grew baby bok choi two years ago here on the Western edge of Wyandotte County and it did well. I ordered several varieties from Evergreen seed. Because we have hot summers as you know, that will often go weeks without rain, I had a variety that was rated for growing all year and was heat resistant. The only problem I had was with the typical cabbage worms and maybe some flea beetles so I will use floating row covers in the future. I know I could us Bt but that won't work on flea beetles, I don't think. The baby bok choy were great for spring too. I like them chopped up in stir fries and you can add them to soups like you would cabbage, kale or greens. They are also good stir-fried by themselves with some onion, soy sauce, a dab of fish sauce and some garlic. I grew several types of salad mix that people seemed to like. They liked the Mesclun mixes. I had a French mix and an Italian mix I found at the Grass Pad in Kansas City. I grew red chard and regular Lucullus chard. It did not sell well and I started putting recipes out with it. Also, the red was so productive I would give out samples of it with instructions on how to prepare it. This is a great food because it is high in iron and calcium My sister, who is a breast cancer survivor says her nutritionist highly recommends chard due to its high phytochemical content. Kansas City has a good okra market because a lot of our population is either from the South or has close ties to the South and so most of us have been used to eating or at least seeing okra. Heirloom tomatoes are still getting more popular but I'm surprised how many people are still scared of an orange or a yellow tomato. You're not far from Ft. Riley so you may have a market amongst some of the Asian population there in Junction City and surrounding.

In hot summer climates, it requires minimal sunlight and more shade than sun is suggested to prevent too rapid bolting. If growing for a winter crop, more sunlight is desired just due to the lower sun intensity and the fact that cooler fall and winter temps reduce bolting. This is a very popular winter crop in my area, even commercially. And 3 hours of sunlight in late fall or winter here would be considered a gift!! If you count overcast days as no direct sunlight, bok choi grows perfectly well with almost no sun :-) But it is slow to mature.

They do like it cool. If it was still consistently cool up there when they bolted as young plants that's usually something else. Watering, sunlight, pests, etc. I grow mine through winter frosts to get cool enough weather here, so to be clear they don't like anything too long around 80f. If it starts hitting 79-85 too often mine bolt. Even when that decides to happen in February. Once they get on the flowering path, cooler days following warm days don't change their minds. Choy hasn't been as sensitive to frosts vs something like lettuce, plus I don't play that trying to find spring game ("after last frost"). I grow choy out in the open. Frost rarely damages more than an outer leaf side, and only after it's been 70-75f too often just before the dip.