You also can plant cuttings in large coffee cans or yogurt containers as long as you punch plenty of drainage holes in the bottom.Īs with regular kale, garden soil is too heavy for container planting, even when you are starting plants for later transplanting. At least three growth nodes should be below the soil and at least three should be above the soil. Plant your cuttings either in the ground or in a one-gallon nursery container, leaving about one fourth of the cutting above the top of the potting soil mix. If the flat end of the cutting has had a chance to seal itself before planting, help the cutting absorb water by making a fresh cut about 1 inch from the end, just below a growth node. Winter is the best time to make cuttings. To keep the cuttings from losing too much water, remove all but the two or three youngest leaves at the very tip of the cutting. Cuttings taken too soon simply wilt and die, while those from woody stems fail to form roots and grow. Cuttings must be taken before the stems begin to become woody, but cuttings taken when the stems are too young, before they measure between 1/2 inch and 1 inch in diameter, are too thin. The cuttings should be taken from kale trees that are between 18 and 24 months old. The growth nodes are the places where leaves are growing or where they have been removed or fallen off. Include as many growth nodes as possible on each cutting, at least six to eight. These angular cuts also allows water to run off the top of the cutting which reduces the chances of it rotting. To differentiate between the top and bottom of the cutting, cut the end closest to the roots of the plant straight across and make two cuts at the top of the cutting that point upward from the outer edge in toward the center, forming a point. Three to four trees, or a 6 to 8 foot space, can provide a family with enough kale for an entire year, but you will need extra cuttings because not all of them will take root and survive. Tree kale is usually grown from stem-tip cuttings that are at least 4 inches to 6 inches long, but, preferably, they should be between 6 inches and 8 inches long. They don’t necessarily produce tree kale. If it does bolt, it does die off like other kales, but unlike other kales, the seeds don’t grow true to the parent plant. Tree kale rarely bolts, flowering and producing seeds. In hotter climates, though, both tree kale and garden kale prefer partial shade. In fact, tree kale reportedly grows better in coastal areas than it does farther inland. Tree kale is grown along California’s Pacific coast and even in Hawaii. Tree kale also tolerates a wider range of temperatures and climates than other kales, from cool and temperate to humid and tropical. It will also grow in acidic soils, although sweetening acidic soils by adding lime does improve growth. While tree kale prefers well-drained soil and full sun to partial shade, like other kales, it tolerates heavy clay soils as well as loamy, sandy ones. If you want to grow tree kale, forget most of what you know or have heard about growing other types of kale. Tree Kale and Garden Kale – the Same but Different
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