Kale

Short description of the species

Botanical name

Kale

Latin name

Brassica oleracea sk. viridis

Family

Brassicaceae

Plant height

to 1.80 m

Exposure

relatively undemanding (sun or semi-shadow)

Temperature requirement

frost-resistant (to -12/-15 °C)

Keeping

medium

Water requirement

high

Soil requirement

medium-heavy, permeable, high humus content (requirement of direct organic fertilisation)

Soil pH

6.2 – 7.5

Edible part

leaves

accessibility

Usage

direct consumption – salads; processing - freezing

Growing technology and harvest 

Propagation 

• generative – direct sowing or growing from seedlings 

Spacing 

• 0.60-0.80 x 0.60-0.80 m 

Harvest 

• manual harvest – gradually from bottom leaves 

• large-scale growing – mechanized harvest of whole plant and sequential processing 

Important dates 

• direct sowing + covering textile (protection against lower temperature in germination period + protection against pests) 

• growing from seedlings + covering textile (late cultivars – protection against pests, mostly 2-3 weeks after planting)

Storage 

• temperature = 0-1 °C 

• relative air humidity = 85-90% 

• short-term storage ability (wilting and yellowing of leaves) 

Use 

• direct consumption – salads 

• processing – freezing 

Diseases and pests 

• the most dangerous disease: clubroot (Plasmodiophora brasssicae) – incorrect crop rotation 

• virus diseases: virus mosaics 

• bacterial diseases: black rottiness (Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris) 

• fungus diseases: falling of germinating plants (several species of microscopic funguses - Botrytis cinerea, Fusarium spp., Mycosphaerella brassicicola, Olpidium brassicae, Phytophtora spp., Pythium spp., Thanatephrous cucumeris, Verticillium spp. etc.), downy mildew (Hyaloperonospora parasitica), Alternaria leaf spottiness (Alternaria brassicicola, A. brassicae) 

• pests: cabbage root fly (Delia radicum), cabbage aphid (Brevicoryne brassicae), flea-beetles (Phyllotreta spp.), white butterfly (Pieris brassicae, Pieris rape), cabbage moth (Mamestra brassicae), cabbage whitefly (Aleurodes proletella)