Jack Frost and the Brassicas

Record setting cold wave this past weekend with lows of 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Nipped the turnip greens pretty good. Shogoin took the most damage because it had the prettiest most succulent leaves.

Cauliflower took a major hit to the foliage. Heads are ok. This is White Cloud which I harvested until the middle of January last year.

Mustard faired much better than the turnip foliage. This is Tendergreen.

Broccoli shows no damage. Of course the collards are doing great. They will really take some cold weather.

Sorry FarmerDill I just had to laugh when I read record breaking cold wave (ah the differences in zones! ;)....sorry to hear about your crops early damage tho.

Aren't climate zones amazing. I'm guessing 15 degrees F in winter is probably a record breaking HEAT wave in SK?

Sorry to see the damage Farmerdill. Certainly another reason to love collards. Heat or cold, they seem to produce.

12° recently got my last cauliflower and browned the remaining broccoli side shoots.

Yep. Note that I am not complaining. A grower must learn to live with vagaries in weather. Just trying a limited documentation of the low temps at which permanent damage occurs, since that question is sometimes asked. 15 degrees was definitely a setback for some brassicas, but the damage is not permanent at this stage. Indy's report indicates that it was close. Low teens is probably the limit for every thing but kale and collards.

Farmer,

I had at least 2 episodes of about 12° plus low 20s° a couple times earlier that they escaped from.

Question,
When it gets that cold do you cover them with plastic or something or are they tough enough to just brut it out?

It could be useful to cover them a time or two with covers for an early or freak cold snap...preferably warmer covers than plastic. Still, I resign here in Indiana to the inevtiable in December.

'Twas 14º here last Saturday, all my collards, brocolli, cabbages survived just fine! Yay! (And those collards are so sweet now! Just fixed a big pot of them for supper!)

Turnip patch did good, as did the mustard and kale. (Mustard and kale fared a bit better than some of the turnip patch though, but enough turnip greens are left to enjoy! Plus we've had days in the upper 60's and low 70's lately and I'm sure that may stimulate more growth)

Gotta have my greens! Ain't nuttin' better for ya!

Great pics and wonderful thread, F-dill.

Shoe.

PS...O'klingon, nope, no need to cover with anything (especially plastic). These plants will do just fine thru quite a few low temps. Indy, wish I could FedEx you a big pot of these greens!

Horseshoe,

There is a couple of pots in the front window of greens...still...........but ..........well........

Oh dear...I better quit braggin about my supper, I feel for ya.

Enjoy your pots of greens though while you can, I hear they are healthy for ya!

Shoe

double post. :(

This message was edited Dec 15, 2006 10:19 PM

I did notice your lack of complaining FarmerDill. :)

garden_mermaid that it would normally be........except today we were above 32 F (and it rained.......then snowed). :( I AM complaining. We are much happier being at temps where just snow falls (ice lasts here for months and months).

Enjoy your fresh garden greens guys.......let's see (hmmm counting on fingers here) it will be about 7 more months before we see them again (and 3 others just went by). I'll have some cheese with my whine please. ;)

Took a stroll out to the "garden" patch today, first time in awhile because of time/work etc. Expected to see everything in a "dead" state - the tomatoes - dead, the squash -dead, the carrots were still alive and so were the broccoli (the broccoli are not doing much because of a lack in soil nutrients but I will work on that next) I was kinda amazed that anything survived the rather cold temperatures we have had here lately. Just waitin' on spring - again. It will be better this year.

Dyson, if you like kale and collards, they will overwinter fine in Franklin county. Both will take subzero temps and keep standing. They won't grow when the the ground is frozen, but they will stand and you can pick them anytime you can do it without freezing your hands. I had kale in the New River Valley., that was unfazed by a solid week at -15 F, ground frozen to over two feet deep and it did not bother it all.

Has ANYONE TRIED the " Flash collards" yet?? I saw them advertised at Terrirorial Seeds.

LarryD

Haven't tried them, Larry. I've only grown Vates, Morris, "Cabbage collards" (my favorite!) and another one that the name escapes me right now. (Georgia maybe?)

Shoe.

Nope I have not tried that Abbot and Cobb hybrid. Twilley carries it so maybe next year. Blue Max and Top Bunch for this years crop. Have grown Georgia, Green Glaze, Hevi-Crop, Morris . The hybrids are consistant yeilding, but Green Glaze is my favorite for taste. The Cabbage Collards are also very good, but even harder to find then Green Glaze.

I don't think I'm imagining this - there have been times when the temp really dropped steeply but didn't stay there long and some plants pulled through better. If the soil takes longer to react than the foliage does then mulching helps offset short term exposures.

I'm I planted Flash collards in October and have harvested several times off them already. They are fast producers with delicious flavour and are more tender to eat than some other varieties of collard. The thermometer in my covered bed has registered down to 25 F at night a few times. The plumeria has frost burn on the leaves but the Flash collards just kept growing.

garden_mermaid.................. That's good to hear and I appreciate your input!!!

Larry D

Farmer Dill:

I had a lot of frost damage too. My cauliflower is very wilted but the small heads appear fine.

Is there anyway to tell when frost actually harms a brassica beyond repair?

BB

With cauliflower and broccoli, it is finished if the heads brown up. The leafy ones like turnip and mustard when all the leaves are damaged. Of course that does not hurt the turips which will still be fine. It has never gotten cold enough here to hurt rutabaga, kale or collards.

BB, frost doesn't harm them too much unless they are in the early tender growth stage or not quite "hardened off" enough for an out-of-the-blue early hard frost.

Freezing will sure hurt brocolli heads but not to the point that makes them too inedible. Hard freezes will make the broccoli heads a bit soft and rubbery sometimes; still okay and tasty to eat but most likely won't be appealing enough for sales.

I haven't grown cauliflower in quite a few years and that was usually Spring planted and did fine until the heat caused it to bolt so can't comment on Fall planted ones.

F-dill, last week it went down to 14 here, kale, collards, greens did fine and I was elated to see the cabbages came through with flying colors also! (Some of the greens, mainly turnip, ended up with a "burnt" look on their leaves but the ones that were really sown close together and not thinned really held out pretty good. Yay!)

Shoe.

--been down to 25 here, but just for a few Hrs, the sprinkler system was on and the Bananas and Yams and taro, have all survived, --it was a wonder as the Ice was formed all over the plants and frozen all over them and all the way to the ground, --some broke from the weight but when it warmed up and melted and I turned off the water all had survived, - some burnt and brown on the ends and edges, but OK, --Michael