Collards–additionally known as collard greens–is a tall emerging form of kale whose coarse leaves borne in tufts are eaten like greens. Collards are a cool season crop then again they may be able to stand additional sizzling local weather than cabbage or unusual kale, and so are as a result grown inside the South.
Georgia collards are the standard variety grown maximum often inside the South, where seedlings are started like cabbage in February or March for spring use. Inside the North, for a fall crop, collards are sown in midsummer.
Collards are a hardy biennial grown as an annual. Collards are cultivated like cabbage. Collards increase 2 to 4 toes tall (.6-1.2 m) with rosettes of large, non-heading, gentle green to dark green to crimson waxy leaves emerging on temporary trunk-like stems.
Collards are crowned by way of a loose cluster of cabbage-like leaves that do not form a head. Collards will also be grown as a wintry weather annual inside the South by way of planting seeds in September and transplanting the seedlings to the garden; a harvest of the leaves begins in spring a few at a time. Seeds sown in spring will undergo leaves for harvest the following fall or wintry weather.
Collards Speedy Emerging Tips
- Get began seed indoors 4 to 6 weeks faster than the overall frost in spring.
- Sow seed out of doors when the soil will also be worked in spring.
- Place transplants inside the garden when they are 3 to 4 inches tall (7-10cm) as early as 3 to 4 weeks faster than the overall frost in spring.
- In mild-winter spaces, get began seed in late summer season for a wintry weather or spring harvest.
- Mature crops can face up to temperatures as low as 20°F and as top as 95°F.
- Yield: Plant 2 to 3 collard crops consistent with family members member.
Where to Plant Collards
- Broaden collards in entire sun. Collards will increase in partial colour.
- Collards want well-drained fertile soil rich in herbal subject with a soil pH of 6.5 to 7.5. Perform a soil check out faster than planting.
- Add aged compost to planting beds in advance of planting in particular where the soil is sandy.
Collards Planting Time
- Collards are a cool-weather crop and can tolerate temperatures as low as 20°F (-6.7°C).
- Collards are additional tolerant of heat than cabbage.
- Collards are maximum steadily grown from transplants.
- Get began seed indoors 4 to 6 weeks faster than the overall frost in spring. Sow seed out of doors when the soil will also be worked in spring. Seeds are tiny, dark, and round. Immature leaves sprout from double heart-shaped cotyledons.
- Place transplants inside the garden when they are 3 to 4 inches (7-10cm) tall as early as 3 to 4 weeks faster than the overall frost in spring.
- In most spaces, collards will also be planted in early spring and again in late summer season for a fall crop or wintry weather harvest.
- In late summer season, without delay sow seeds inside the garden. In mild-winter spaces, get began seed in late summer season for a wintry weather or spring harvest.
Planting Collards
- Sow collard seeds 1 inch (2.5cm) deep and 3 inches (7.6cm) apart.
- Thin collards from 12 to 18 inches (30-45 cm) apart when seedlings are big enough to lift by way of their true leaves. Replant thinned crops in some other part of the garden.
- House rows 24 inches (61cm) apart.
- Transplant thinned seedlings to some other part of the garden when crops have 4 or 5 true leaves.
- Transplants which may also be leggy or have crooked stems should be set deeply up to their first leaves so that they won’t grow to be top-heavy.
- Plants that increase top-heavy may need staking.
- Plants started indoors will also be transplanted to the garden 3 to 4 weeks faster than the overall spring frost date. Remove all of the plant from its pot and loosen the basis ball faster than transplanting into the garden.
Further tips at: Collard Seed Starting Tips.
Collards Partner Planting
- Plant collards with tomatoes, southern peas, and peppers.
- Do not plant with celery, potatoes, or yams.
Container Emerging Collards
- Collards will also be grown in containers or increase luggage.
- A single plant will also be grown in a 10-inch (25cm) pot.
- In higher containers set collards on 18 to 24 inches (45-61cm) amenities.
Watering Collards
- Water collards steadily so that leaves do not increase difficult. Give collards about 1 to at least one.5 inches of water (6.5 gallons) each and every week.
- Underwatering may cause collards to turn into stringy.
- Water at the base of collard crops to avoid powdery mildew and damping off.
- Mulch spherical collards to stick the soil rainy.
Feeding Collards
- Collards are a heavy feeder; add aged manure or a slow-release herbal nitrogen fertilizer to the planting bed inside the autumn faster than planting.
- Aspect-dress more youthful crops with aged compost early inside the season and again at mid-season.
- Give collards monthly supplemental foliar feedings of fish emulsion or seaweed extract.
- Yellowing leaves is in most cases a sign of too little nitrogen.
Blanching Collards
- The green leaves of collards will also be blanched resulting in a tender texture.
- To blanch collards, when the crops are about 1 foot tall, slip a powerful rubber band spherical all of the plant about 8 inches above the soil. Leave the band in place until harvest time. The dark green leaves will turn whitish and clean.
Collards Care
- Collards emerging in the home garden may need a stake as quickly because the crops get leggy and top-heavy.
- If collards bolt (send up a flower stalk) in sizzling local weather, remove the bolting stalks faster than they flower; decrease away the bolt about 1 inch above the growth degree of leaves underneath; use a pruning shear.
- Collards get pleasure from heavy mulching. Pile chopped leaves or dry grass clippings spherical collards as fall approaches. Once the ground starts to freeze, cover collards with numerous chopped leaves to give protection to crops right through the wintry weather.
- Collards that do not get enough gentle will increase long and spindly.
Collards Pests
- Collards could also be attacked by way of cabbage family pests: aphids, thrips, flea beetle, cutworms, cabbage loopers (preceded by way of small yellow and white moths), imported cabbage worms, cutworms, and root-knot nematodes.
- Aphids and thrips will suck the juices from leaves; wash them off the plant or regulate them with neem oil.
- Cabbage loopers (caterpillars) and cabbage worms chew holes inside the leaves. Use a row cover to exclude the ones pests.
- Handpick the ones pests or spray crops with neem oil or Bacillus thuringiensis.
- Collards grown in cool local weather will attract fewer pests than collards grown in warmth local weather.
Collards Illnesses
- Collards are prone to diseases that strike other brassica family vegetation: Alternaria, Cercospora, white leaf spot, clubroots, and damping off.
- Downy mildew, leaf spot, and black rot can occur. Avoid overhead watering and make sure the soil is definitely drained. Plant where there is also substantial air motion.
- Alternaria fungi that keep inside the soil would possibly purpose damping off when new crops appear.
- Remove leaves affected by sickness and get rid of them inside the trash.
- Avoid soil-borne diseases by way of rotating cabbage-family folks.
Harvesting Collards
- Collards are ready for harvest 85 to 95 days from seeding and 75 to 85 days from transplanting.
- Choose or decrease particular person leaves on a cut-and-come-again time table as soon as crops reach12 inches tall. Leaves 6 to 8 inches long will be the most clean.
- Harvest more youthful, clean leaves from the bottom up; decrease leaves with a pruner or snap them off the stalk faster than they get earlier and tough. The entire plant will also be harvested at any time by way of lifting it from the soil.
- Frost will cause one of the most essential carbohydrates inside the crops to turn to sugar and can make leaves sweeter tasting.
- Whole the harvest faster than the principle arduous freeze.
Moreover see: The best way to Harvest and Store Collards.
Storing and Protecting Collards
- Collard leaves will also be stored inside the refrigerator in a plastic bag for up to one week or in a cold rainy place for 2 to 3 weeks.
- Collards will also be frozen, canned, or dried. Blanch collard leaves faster than freezing.
Collards Kitchen Use
- Collards are served cooked. Get ready dinner collards as you’ll spinach; steamed, braised, stir-fried, sauteed, or added to soups and stews.
- All parts of collards are fit to be eaten even though the stalks and ribs are difficult if no longer cooked,
- Collards are a staple foods in Africa, Spain, Portugal, and India.
- Leafy green collards are top in calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C.
Collards Frequently Asked Question
Q: Why increase collards?
A: Collards are a type of primitive kale, some describe collards as a non-heading cabbage. Collards are top in calcium, iron, and vitamins A and C. They do not ideas frost and they may be able to go through truly intensive summer season heat, which is why they are so widely grown inside the South. Collards are delicious after they have been touched by way of frost.
Q: When is the most efficient time to plant collards?
A: Sow collards any time right through the emerging season allowing 80 to 90 days to mature. Sizzling spaces plantings will also be made in the summer so that the plant will mature with a slightly of frost–which sweetens the leaves. In cold wintry weather spaces, plant collards in spring. Early spring to mid-spring crops will ship a summer season harvest. In mild-winter spaces, plant collards in late autumn for a spring crop. Spring crops will increase additional clean than summer-grown crops.
Q: What emerging conditions do collards need?
A: Broaden collards as you’ll other folks of the cabbage family. Collards need a very good supply of phosphorus to thrive.
Q: How are collards harvested?
A: Pull or bring to a close the lower leaves as sought after the use of the cut-and-come-again manner. The graceful, central loose head will also be harvested, then again new collard leaves may not practice.
Q: Will collards increase a 2nd season?
A: Collard crops no longer lifted utterly from the ground will sprout new leaves the following spring. Collards which may also be allowed to flower will drop seeds and new crops will appear the following spring.
Collard Varieties to Broaden
- Varieties. ‘Blue Max’ (68 days); ‘Champion’ (60-80 days); ‘Georgia’ (70-80 days); ‘Top Bunch’ (67 days); ‘Vates’ (55-80 days).
Collards Seed Saving and Propagation
- Allow a few tough crops to mature and flower. Small broccoli-like flower heads open to four-petaled yellow plant lifestyles.
- Allow plant lifestyles to die and dry, then harvest seedpods and place them in a paper bag where they will burst or will also be frivolously threshed. Separate the seeds from the pod remnants.
About Collards
- Common identify. Collards
- Botanical identify. Brassica oleracea acephala, Brassica oleracea var. viridis
- Family: Brassicaceae (Cruciferae)–cabbage family; other cole vegetation include cabbage, kale, turnips, kohlrabi
- Emerging zones: Collards increase best in USDA Zones 6-10; they are biennial in Zones 7-10; crops decrease to the soil in wintry weather will resprout in spring.
- Basis. Europe, Greece; under cultivation for about 2,000 years
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