Is anyone interesting in doing a Napa Cabbage (Brasica rapa var. pekinensis) Landrace?
Or crossing Chinese Cabbage (Brassica rapa) with Typical Eruopean Cabbage (Brassica oleracea) to form an interspecies hybrid cabbage landrace? Hybrid would techically be a Brassica napus Cabbage
I have just started to Learn about the Diversity with in the Napa Cabbage Group. Apparently they taste similar to Romaine Lettuce, can anyone confirm? And theyāre also sweeter after frost?
Aparently Napa Cabbages are very susceptible to diseases (Even more so than the typical oleracea cabbges) but they seem to grow well in fall from Late Summer Planting.
Can I do this with Napa Cabbage, cut off the main head carefully to leave the rest of the plant alive to produce more mini Cabbages or go to seed? I want to harvest my crop & get seeds from the same plant. I know this works on Brassica oleracea Cabbages, so why wonāt it work with Napa Cabbages?
Does anyone know why you push down the outer 1-2 layers of leaves to harvest the head? How high up do you have to cut where you can still keep the plant alive to make seeds?
Napa cabbage does have a really good crunch like romaine, but the flavors are distinct.
Iāve got too many other brassica projects going right now to be of great help, other than to say that I would be tempted to include some Tatsoi (also Rapa) in the mix. It has a similar but more interesting flavor and deeper color. I had an accidental volunteer broccoli raab x tatsoi cross a few years ago that Iām trying to recreate.
My reason for leaving the bottom leaves in the field is to have less cleanup: leave most of the dirt, bugs, etc. behind.
Tokyo Bekana is sometimes used as a lettuce substitute. Maybe not exactly like romaine, but in that direction. It is more heat tolerant than most lettuce. It is also frost tolerant. When I received it from 2 different suppliers, the one strain was hard-frost hardy whereas the other strain was only light-frost hardy.
I am interested in doing a landrace of Chinese cabbages and Chinese greens. In fall of 2023, I grew out a bunch of different varieties in this category, and I took some notes on their frost-hardiness, vigor and marketability. I did not save seeds though. At some point, I would like to follow up on that, with a landrace that focuses on hard-frost hardiness. Other things that would interest me to select for (in order of interest): resistance to cabbage moths, mild flavor (that picky eaters would eat), color variations, and if it can retain crunchy texture after freezing (in the freezer). I would be inclined to mix heading and non-heading plants together.
For the past 5 years, Iāve been wanting to start a landrace of cabbageāheading, European cabbageābut havenāt done it yet. Iām going to start a separate post about that.
I am not particularly interested in trying to cross the 2 types (Chinese and heading European).
Most plants die in a hard freeze because their cells rupture. I should think that if you get a variety that can handle a hard freeze it would be more likely to stay firm in the freezer as well.
ah so mixing Bok Choys with Napa Cabbage & others like Mustard Spinach & Tatsoi? No Spicy asian Greens right?
why? Is there something I should know or be aware of that would make it a bad cross?
Is this why Sweeter Brassica are more cold tolerant because Sugar is an Anti-Freeze? By selecting for sweeter veggies, we also select for better cold tolerance?
Yes, a mixing of various Asian cabbage types. The traits that interest me most in this category are cold hardiness, and the potential for ācut-and-come-againā multiple harvests into early winter when other fall crops have hit their limits. So thatās the only reason why Iām not interested in mixing heading European cabbages into them.
