Beginner Gardening: Kale seedlings not growing, 0 by Gymgirl

Gymgirl wrote:
Bro. Jim,
Just like there's "no crying in baseball," there's "no stupid" in gardening," LOL!

The only thing you really need to remember is that Cole crops are cool/cold weather crops. Ergo, they perform better growing into cool/cold weather. If you check your 1st frost date and back that up by about 10 weeks to sow seeds, you should be fine, and your plants will not stall trying to withstand the summer heat -- especially our summer heat!

I suggest backing your sowing schedule up 10 weeks because that gives you about two weeks for the seeds to come up and put on at least 5-6 true leaves right as the air starts to get a chill. Once they feel that chill and their roots are established enough (the next 6 weeks or so), they will begin to take off like a bullet!

The final four weeks (of the 10) will see them fully established, up and running, just as the temps begin to dip down toward the mid- to low-40°s, which is when they put on the suntan oil and begin the beach volleyball games!

I've been monitoring the Zone 8-9a Texas posts, and have observed that regardless of when the seeds were sown, the plants didn't really take off until right after that chill hits the air. And, if they seedlings had been in the ground too far ahead of that chill, the plants just stalled, like they were making you pay for setting them out in all that heat. Once they decide you've paid enough, they start throwing on new growth. But, I've also observed that those plants that stalled weren't nearly as robust as the ones that were planted and established closer to the ambient air "chill change".

I believe they waste fruiting energy struggling against the heat. I think (and this is just me talking) that these "water" plants need all the hydration they can get pulled through their stems and leaves to produce good, healthy heads. Cabbages, broccoli, cauliflowers, especially need to be filled with water. When it's too hot outside (again, just me theorizing off the top of my head), these plants experience high transpiration (the exchange of moisture for cooling off), just like we do when we perspire. If we make the plants throw off necessary moisture to keep cool, it has no reserve to send to the fruiting system. Just check out a too hot broccoli plant -- it actually will faint in the heat! Leaves droopy, stem flacid. It's a shame to see!

Ok. Enough waxing eloquent, here...LOL!


Ya'll lmk how you make out this season. Keep posting your progress AND your pictures, here, please!

Godspeed, and Good Harvest

Linda