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key growing information
Growing Chinese (Napa) Cabbage From Seed
How to grow Chinese (napa) cabbage from seed: spring versus fall crops, avoiding bolting, transplants or direct sowing, spacing, pest and disease prevention, harvest and storage.
By Hensley’s Seed Co.
Chinese Cabbage - Key Growing Information
SCIENTIFIC NAME:
Brassica rapa
CULTURE:
Napa cabbage grows best in late summer, when days are getting shorter and temperatures cooler. A spring crop is possible if you take care to prevent bolting: for spring and early-summer plantings, don't transplant or direct sow before your last frost date. Frost, or more than a week of nights below 50°F (10°C), can make young plants bolt early.
DAYS TO MATURITY:
Counted from transplanting; allow 14–21 more days when direct sowing.
TRANSPLANTING:
Spring crops: sow 1/4" deep, 2 seeds per cell, in 72-cell plug trays. If possible, hold the soil above 75°F (24°C) until seedlings emerge, then keep air temperatures at 60–70°F (16–21°C). Plant out after 3–5 weeks, around the last frost date (see the bolting notes above), disturbing the roots as little as possible, and water plants in. Summer and fall crops: start seedlings the same way in mid- to late June, or direct sow from late May to mid-July as described below.
DIRECT SEEDING:
From late May to mid-July, plant groups of 3–4 seeds every 12–18" in rows 18–30" apart, and thin each group to one plant.
AVG. DIRECT SEEDING RATE:
At 3 seeds per foot in rows 2' apart: 1,000 seeds sow about 333', 5,000 about 1,666'; plan on roughly 66,000 seeds per acre.
INSECT PESTS:
Floating row covers laid over the crop at planting keeps out flea beetles and cabbage root maggots.
DISEASE:
Prevention is the best approach: (1) rotate with non-brassica crops for several years, (2) use clean seed-starting mix and seedbeds, and (3) keep tools and fields clean. Select Chinese cabbage seed lots that tested negative for black rot (Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris) and black leg (Phoma lingam).
HARVEST:
Harvest once heads are very firm.
STORAGE:
Heads keep 1–2 months in a humid cooler just above freezing, or in a root cellar if trimmed and wrapped in newspaper.
TRANSPLANTS:
About 700 transplants per 1,000 seeds.
SEEDS/LB.:
About 136,800 on average.
PACKET:
100 seeds per packet, enough for about 33'.
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