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Post by daylilydude on Apr 6, 2019 12:18:46 GMT -5
First year growing dino kale and was wondering if this is to close for growing in a self watering container?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Apr 6, 2019 13:17:39 GMT -5
Nah, that should be good. They may grow a little taller rather than wider later on if they "feel" a little crowded. That should be plenty of root space.
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caesg
Pro Member
Posts: 152
Zone:: 5b
Favorite Vegetable:: Butternut Squash
Joined: April 2018
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Post by caesg on Apr 21, 2019 12:32:15 GMT -5
I take Laura's word for it. That being said, dinosaur kale grows BIG. My first thoughts (prior to reading Laura's response) was that nutrient wise that's plenty of space but the plants themselves will be knocking into each other. So, my thought was to bring it down to two and maybe us a more shallow, similarly wide container and save the deeper container for something more nutrient hungry. Laura's observations that they'll grow taller makes sense, though. Dino kale is fun. Enjoy!
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Post by Laura_in_FL on Apr 21, 2019 15:04:06 GMT -5
4 happy plants will make a lot of leaves, too. Maybe not quite so much as collards (a happy collards plant is an amazing leaf production machine), but you should get a lot of food out of that SIP.
I wouldn't be surprised if you can grow dinosaur kale well into the winter even in northern MS. I had dinosaur kale growing the year we had the ice storm and a couple of 15 degree nights. It was completely fine; no damage at all. It just grew slowly when it was cold. So you want your kale to get big before it turns cold and then it will "hold" in the garden for you to harvest at your convenience.
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Post by daylilydude on May 22, 2019 18:35:26 GMT -5
I went for broke and planted 5 in there and I'm hoping it works out... what do y'all think?
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Post by Laura_in_FL on May 23, 2019 9:14:05 GMT -5
Heh, your attitude gave me a real chuckle, daylilydude. Seriously, you might be pushing things with five plants in there. However, since you are just growing these plants for leaves, it is not as big a deal to have the plants crowded. Crowded plants will make fewer and smaller leaves per plant, but unless they are really crowded you should get more leaves overall since you have more plants. (Just don't overcrowd crops that need to make a head, form a big root, or produce fruit.) However, crowded conditions will create ideal conditions for leaf diseases and pest problems this summer. When the plants are jammed on top of each other, poor airflow around the plants during hot, humid weather provides ideal conditions for fungal and bacterial diseases to proliferate. With crowded plants, it's hard to spray underneath every leaf and inside every nook and cranny, making it harder to control diseases and pests, too. The good news is that you can always cut off the central plant at ground level later on if the crowding becomes a problem. For that matter, you can cut out even more plants later if you think you need to. But I'm curious: where did you put the fertilizer band with five plants arranged like that? Or did you mix organic fertilizer throughout the potting mix?
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Post by ladymarmalade on May 23, 2019 10:14:47 GMT -5
Lol! That's probably too many for the space, but I think it's a worthwhile experiment. Dino Kale gets tall, so what will likely happen is the first plants to "get tall" will dwarf the others and the others will seem a little bit stunted. But they'll still produce plenty of kale for you. One of my favorite things about dinosaur kale is that it's the last plant to be bothered by pests. I can have cabbage loopers decimating the cabbages, but they leave the dino kale alone for the most part. It's a very hardy kale. You'll have to keep us updated.
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