Chapter 6. Cole Crop Production¹

Lincoln Zotarelli, Peter J. Dittmar, Monica Ozores-Hampton, Nicholas S. Dufault, Bonnie Wells, Johan Desaeger, Joseph W. Noling, Eugene J. McAvoy, Qingren Wang, and Christian F. Miller²

This is Chapter 6 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida, 2018–2019 edition. The most current version of this chapter may be found at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/cv/cv12200.pdf.

Botany and Planting

Broccoli—Brassica oleraceae Italica group, Brassicaceae (Cruciferae).

Cabbage—Brassica oleraceae Capitata group.

Cauliflower—Brassica oleraceae Botrytis group.

Chinese broccoli—gailan or gai lan / kalian or kai lan / flowering kale—Brassica oleracea var. alboglabra

Chinese cabbage—napa (tight headed), chi-hili (semi-loose headed)—Brassica rapa var. pekinsis

Chinese mustard—bok choi, shanghai choi / baby bok choi / yuchoi / yuchoy / u-choi / choy sum—Brassica rapa subsp. Chinensis

Kohlrabi—Brassica oleracea var. gongylodes

Oriental radish—Daikon (Japanese) / lobok or lo bok (Chinese)—Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus

Collards—Brassica oleraceae Acephala group.

Kale—Brassica oleraceae Acephala group.

Mustard—Brassica juncea.

Turnip—Brassica rapa Rapifera group.

Table 1.

Planting information for cole crops.

Planting dates	Broccoli	Brussels sprouts	Cabbage¹	Cauliflower¹
North Florida	Aug–Feb	Aug–Feb	Aug–Feb	Aug–Feb
Central Florida	Sept–Feb	Sept–Feb	Sept–Feb	Sept–Feb
South Florida	Oct–Jan	Oct–Jan	Sept–Jan	Sept–Jan
Planting information
Distance between rows (in)	24 - 40	24 - 40	24 - 40	24 - 40
Distance between plants (in)	10 - 15	18 - 24	9 - 16	12 - 18
Seeding depth (in)	0.25 - 0.5	0.25 - 0.5	0.25 - 0.5	0.25 - 0.5
Seeding per acre for field (lb)	1 - 2	1 - 2	1 - 2	1 - 2
Seeding per acre for transplant (lb)	1.25 - 1.5	1.25 - 1.5	1	1.25 - 1.5
Days to maturity from seed	75 - 90	90 - 120	85 - 110	75 - 90
Days to maturity from transplant	50 - 70	70 - 90	70 - 90	50 - 70
Plant populations (acre)	10,400-26,000	Up to 15,500	Up to 29,400	Up to 29,000
Planting dates	Collards	Kale	Mustard	Turnip
North Florida	Aug–Feb	Aug–Feb	Aug–Feb	Aug–Feb
Central Florida	Sept–Feb	Sept–Feb	Sept–Feb	Sept–Feb
South Florida	Sept–Jan	Sept–Jan	Sept–Jan	Sept–Jan
Planting information
Distance between rows (in)	24–36	18–24	12–36	12–36
Distance between plants (in)	12–24	8–12	5–10	2–6
Seeding depth (in)	0.25 - 0.5	0.25 - 0.5	0.25 - 0.5	0.25–0.5
Seeding per acre for field (lb)	2–4	2–4	3–5	2–3
Seeding per acre for transplant (lb)	1.25–1.5	N/A²	N/A²	N/A²
Days to maturity from seed	70–90	50–70	40–50	40–60
Days to maturity from transplant	50–70	—	—	—
Plant populations (acre)	Up to 21,800	Up to 43,500	Up to 116,200	Up to 261,400
¹ It could be planted in double rows (15–24 in between rows; 10–12 in within rows; 40–60 in bed centers). ² Direct seeded.

Cultivars

Table 2.

Cabbage cultivars.

Green	Red	Savoy
Bravo (H)	Cairo	Clarissa (H)
Bronco (H)	Garnet (H)	Melissa (H)
Capture (H)	Red Dynasty (H)	Savoy Ace (H)
Cheers (H)	Red Hawk (H)	Savoy King (H)
Expat (H)	Red Jewel (H)
Grand Vantage (H)	Rio Grande (H)
Ramada (H)
Superstar (H)

Table 3.

Broccoli, cauliflower, collard, kale, mustard, and turnip cultivars.

Broccoli	Brussels Sprout	Cauliflower	Collards	Kale	Mustard	Turnip	Turnip Greens
DuraPak 19 (H)*	Dagan (H)	Bermeo	Bull Dog (H)	Blue Ridge (H)	Florida Broad Leaf	Just Right (H)	Top Star (H)
Eastern Crown (H)	Marte (H)	Flamenco	Flash (H)	Darkibor (H)	Green Wave	Purple Top	Topper (H)
Emerald Crown (H)		Majestic (H)	Georgia	Starbor (H)	Red Giant	Royal Crown (H)	All Top (H)
Imperial		Whistler (H)	Hi Crop (H)	Vates	Southern Giant Curled	Southern Green
Green Magic (H)		White Passion (H)	Top Bunch (H)	Winterbor (H)	Tendergreen
Packman (H)			Vates
H = hybrid, * = for northeast Florida

Asian Crucifers

The term “Asian Crucifers” is a broad category which encompasses Asian crucifer vegetables grown in the countries that comprise Asia and those eaten mainly by people of Asian extraction or who like Asian cuisine. Since many of the Asian crucifers which are described in this chapter belong to the crucifer family that are covered in depth of this chapter in this volume, that information will not be duplicated elsewhere.

This group of Asian crucifer vegetables include crops with edible leaves like cabbage, broccoli, and bok choi but also kohlrabi, with an edible swollen stem and daikon which is an edible root. The crops can be grown on raised beds with or without mulch and with drip, overhead or subsurface irrigation. Fertilizer recommendations for these crops can be found in chapter 2, Fertilizer Management for Vegetable Production in Florida, for general information. For pest control products, these crops are included under this chapter, with the exception of daikon.

Tables

This is Chapter 6 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida, 2018–2019 edition. Tables 4–10 and the most current version of this chapter may be found at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/cv/cv12200.pdf.

Footnotes

This document is HS724, one of a series of the Horticultural Sciences Department, UF/IFAS Extension. Original publication date June 1995. Revised November 2018. This is Chapter 6 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida, 2018–2019 edition. Visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

Lincoln Zotarelli, assistant professor, Horticultural Sciences Department; Peter J. Dittmar, assistant professor, Horticultural Sciences Department; Monica Ozores-Hampton, associate professor, UF/IFAS Southwest Florida Research and Education Center; Nicholas S. Dufault, assistant professor, Plant Pathology Department; Bonnie Wells, Extension agent I, UF/IFAS Extension St. Johns County; Johan Desaeger, assistant professor, UF/IFAS Gulf Coast Research and Education Center; Joseph W. Noling, professor, UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center; Eugene J. McAvoy, Extension agent IV, UF/IFAS Extension Hendry County; Qingren Wang, Extension agent I, UF/IFAS Extension Miami-Dade County; and Christian F. Miller, Extension agent I, UF/IFAS Extension Palm Beach County; UF/IFAS Extension, Gainesville, FL 32611.

The use of trade names in this publication is solely for the purpose of providing specific information. UF/IFAS does not guarantee or warranty the products named, and references to them in this publication do not signify our approval to the exclusion of other products of suitable composition.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other UF/IFAS Extension publications, contact your county's UF/IFAS Extension office.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, UF/IFAS Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A & M University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, dean for UF/IFAS Extension.

Chapter 6. Cole Crop Production1