The Ultimate Kohlrabi Growing Guide: From Seed To Harvest #kohlrabi #garden #vegetablegarden #plants

This is a full growing guide on everything you need to know about successfully growing kohlrabi from seed all the way to harvest. I show you how/when to start seeds, mitigate pests, fertilizing techniques, and how to harvest.

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I feel like Kohlrabi is such an underrated crop like more people should be growing this it is part of the Brassica family like broccoli and cauliflower and cabbage however it is way easier to grow than those crops in my opinion so here in my Florida garden it’s a struggle trying to properly grow heading types of brassicas like cauliflower and broccoli because our winter weather just fluctuates so much all of a sudden we have a cold day and then it’s followed by many many days of warmth so that will trigger uh broccolis and cauliflowers to instead of forming a nice head they’ll just go to the flowering stage so it gets tricky some years are better than others but I find that Kohlrabi doesn’t have that issue because for one it’s not trying to form a head instead Kohlrabi forms like a swollen bulb and this is not a bulb underground so it’s technically it’s not a root crop but it does form like this edible bulb portion above ground actually all of the members of the Brassica family came from one plant that was bred and manipulated by humans over thousands of years to get different kinds of variations that’s how we get broccoli cauliflower cabbage brussels sprouts and Kohlrabi every part of the Kohlrabi plant is edible but what is more desirable is the bulb personally I like to grate it up and add it to my salads like raw it just adds a nice fresh crisp to my salads it can also be shredded into slaws it could be pickled it can even be fried like french fries I also really like the greens for my chickens they taste just like collard greens or any kind of like leaves that you would get from kale or cabbage something like that but um my favorite way to use them honestly is to throw them to my tickets I will be harvesting all of this Kohlrabi today but first I want to talk to you guys how I grew this from seed all the way to harvest just so you know you can find a copy of this growing guide in written form on my website jarrahsgarden.com there’s a Blog section that’s called gardening info and growing guides so I have all my video uh growing guides on my YouTube channel written down on the blog section and there’s also a lot of other very useful gardening information especially my monthly growing guide so if you want to follow along with whatever seeds or things that I’m transplanting in my garden by month you can find all of that information there so let’s talk about cultivar selection there really honestly isn’t much of a difference between them I mean they come in different colors some in white green or purple this variety here is the purple variety because I think it’s just so beautiful but they all have the same white interior and there’s not much difference between heat tolerances but I do hear that in general any kind of purple or dark colored vegetable tends to have a little bit more of a heat tolerance than its regular variety lastly there might be a little bit of difference in size in general you want to harvest the Kohlrabi when they’re like three inches in diameter that’s basically the size of like a tennis ball but there is a giant cultivar that naturally just gets bigger in size when it’s ready to harvest let’s talk about sewing the seeds my preference is to direct so this particular crop now it’s not a root crop because all root crops you really need to direct sow them it technically is forming it’s like a bulb above ground but if you start it in 72 cell seed trays or four inch pots you have to be really really careful when you’re transplanting it that you’re not going to disturb the root system or cause any kind of damage or disturbances to the Taproot that it sends down General sewing guidelines are going to say something like durexo the seeds immediately after your last spring Frost has left or three months before your first winter frost of the season moves through your area if you don’t know your average frost dates you can go check out a website called plantmobs.com and I’ll link it below you put in your zip code and it’ll give you a lot of important gardening information specific to your area including your Frost dates growing any kind of brassicas is really challenging in warmer climates like mine I’m in Orlando Florida Zone 9B I would say if you’re a Zone 8 or up Gardener it could be a little challenging to grow these kinds of things Kohlrabi specifically needs three months in a row of like temperate or cool temperatures to develop properly if you try to grow them during a hot time of the year like summer or something like that it’s not going to work the heat will stunt their growth and they’ll stay super tiny for a long time and they might not ever recover from that if you’re in a warm Garden like me it might be easier to just decide to grow your Kohlrabi and other brassicas during its ideal growing temperature range and for Kohlrabi that’s 65 to 75 degrees fahrenheit as an example in my garden I like to direct sow these seeds in October like the middle or the end of October and then I will start harvesting about three months later we’re going to want to pick a spot that gets at least six hours of sunlight like they could take some shade so this spot gets really really bright Morning Sun but like complete afternoon new shade but it does really well growing in those kinds of conditions or full sun while Robbie grows best and soil that is like full of organic matter but if you’re in a state like Florida where you have very sandy soil it will grow good in sandy soil but you need to make sure that you fertilize frequently and make sure that you monitor the watering situation because it’s sandy soil the nutrients in the water just wash right out very quickly you’re going to want to direct sow some seeds one foot apart so I have this weed blocking material here and I burn holes into it since it’s plastic every one foot so it’s already spaced out for me and I just took a few seeds and sprinkled them into each hole you don’t really have to cover with any soil they’re very tiny seeds so I just like to press them down into the soil surface to make sure that they make contact and then keep it really really moist until they germinate just like other members of the Nebraska family they germinate pretty quickly like within three to five days this crop doesn’t get too big or out of control like it does get a little bit wide but it stays shorter to the ground usually no more than two feet tall so I actually think it makes a great companion planting for other taller crops like if you’re growing tomatoes because here in my Florida garden I am growing tomatoes during the winter time since you’ve sprinkled a few seeds per each one foot spacing you’re gonna get more than one that germinates most likely and you should thin it out to just one plant or the strongest seedling that you notice per one foot now this one here I allowed two other ones to start growing with it and it’s okay like they have space this one here is definitely ready for Harvest this one is still small and I’m Gonna Leave it a little bit longer so it’ll size up but just as long as they’re not bunched together and like touching each other hitting each other you’re good to go what you don’t want is for them to be growing and smashing into each other because that will prevent them from spreading out or you know gaining in size I’m going to start your own transplants though I recommend that you sew them in these 72 cell seed trays you’re going to want to start seeds about 10 weeks before whatever your target date is for transplanting them into your garden any Zone that is lower or colder than zone eight you’re going to want to transplant these about two weeks before your last spring frost date if you’re in a warmer Zone like me which is basically zones 8 and up and you have a Target date of let’s say October to transplant them in your garden you’re going to backtrack 10 weeks from there and start them from seed in your seed trays that will land you probably at the end of July which it’s still really really hot outside in July so if you’re going to start your own seeds for transplants make sure that you keep them indoors the heat outside will stunt your little seedlings and they probably won’t ever recover one thing to keep in mind about Kohlrabi which is kind of unique compared to other vegetable crops is if you are planting your transplants in the ground they don’t like loose soil like you have to actually compact that soil down so I just pop my little transplant out put it in its hole and then press with my fingers all around it deep down into the soil to make sure it’s not loose and it’s nice and snug if you’re enjoying this video and learning something new make sure you subscribe to my channel that way you get notified of every time I post new videos your support is greatly appreciated and motivates me to create more videos just like this one also make sure you connect with me on social media I am on Instagram and Tick Tock I’m most active on Tick Tock where I post it daily now that your Kohlrabi seedlings are growing let’s talk about its requirements they do require about an inch of water during the growing season every single week make sure that you soak the soil thoroughly and do not water again until the first two inches or three inches of soil is completely dried out if you are in Florida like me you’re growing this during fall winter and spring which is also our dry time of the year it’s our dry season so just pay a little bit of extra attention and make sure that they are staying consistently moist if the Kohlrabi plants get stressed out from maybe being overheated or they’re not getting enough water it actually causes them to taste bitter it could also cause the bulbs to be fibrous and or crack as for their growth habit as you can see they’re pretty bushy it reminds me of kale and they have very broad leaves this one is really pretty I love growing the purple one because even the stems and the leaves have like purple veining in them I almost don’t want to harvest them because I love looking at them the more leaves the plant will have I mean that just means it’s able to harvest more energy from the Sun and then produce nice big bulbs therefore I don’t recommend that you prune any of these leaves unless you find one that is very diseased or it’s turning yellow or just dying off you might as well remove those since leafy green growth is so important to get really good bulb formation I like to fertilize initially with blood meal this is an organic product it’s basically pure nitrogen so if your direct selling seeds I like to scratch into the soil or the surrounding soil with a bunch of blood meal that’ll give the seeds a nice Head Start if you’re transplanting I like to put a nice handful of blood meal in the transplanting hole and kind of work it in with the soil before you pop your transplants in about halfway through the growing period so at one and a half to two months I will start fertilizing with something that incorporates the other nutrients the phosphorus and the potassium so that I can encourage more bulbing growth instead of leafy growth let’s talk about the pests and diseases that you might encounter when you’re growing Kohlrabi luckily for me I’m growing Kohlrabi during the coldest time of the year here in Florida so naturally The Pest and disease pressure is pretty low you might get some worm issues and you know you have worms when you find that your leaves are all chewed up and you’ll start seeing like little balls that are either like yellow orange green sometimes black that is basically the eggs of the worms or their poop and you don’t tend to see them especially during the day because a lot of those worms tend to be nocturnal whenever I have a warm issue in my garden I like to spray with BT or spinosad both of those are considered organic products another common pest that you might find are flea beetles so if you notice that your leaves have a lot of little holes in them that’s caused by the flea beetles I recommend that you just use row covers at that point because it basically blocks them from getting onto your plants let’s talk about some of the diseases that you might encounter while you’re growing Kohlrabi they are fairly susceptible to root rot which is caused by over watering or just too much moisture in general so if that is an issue in your garden I recommend that you grow these in raised beds or in containers to help with drainage another issue that you might see is Club Roots which basically is where these roots are they are misshapen and they look like a club there is no cure for that so the best bet is actually to just yank out the whole plant so it doesn’t spread to your other plants do not compost any of the plants that are infected with Club root because you can’t guarantee that composting will kill all of those pathogens and it can spread to the rest of your garden Club root also affects other members of the Brassica family so yeah I’m not going to compost with that material if I do have a plant infected with Club root lastly if you get any Leaf diseases I mean I’m in Florida we get them all at some point it’s just something you’re going to have to deal with Leaf diseases can include include like powdery mildew blight spotting yellowing of the leaves whenever I see that I just prune those leaves out or even leaves that are damaged or just getting old and dying off it is said that those damaged leaves and stuff will actually attract uh pests to the plant as they can sense that it’s a stressed out plant so it’s just best to clean keep your plants clean and remove any of those types of leaves if you have a very bad Leaf Disease I do like to spray with one cup of hydrogen peroxide per gallon of water that basically kills all the pathogens that cause those Leaf diseases hopefully you follow all those tips and tricks and you’re able to harvest beautiful mature Kohlrabi about three months from starting the seeds so let’s get to my favorite part about gardening and that is Harvest time I’m going to harvest these uh Kohlrabi actually they’re kind of past their Prime you want to harvest them when they are three inches in diameter that’s just when they are the best for eating right they’re not going to be Woody or anything like that I think I’ll be okay with these but as with most crops when I harvest I like to cut them at the base where they hit like the soil surface and I leave all of the root systems intact inside of the soil because those uh Roots will continue to break down and they feed the beneficial microorganisms of my soil I’m just going to use some scissors here and cut them off let’s see what we have and this is why I say there’s pretty good um crop to decide to grow like under tomatoes because when you harvest this you’re not going to be disturbing the roots of the tomato plants or any other you know crops or plants that you’re growing along with it since I’m just leaving them all intact but oh they’re all stuck together look at that isn’t it beautiful look at all those colors I love growing purple Kohlrabi you guys should give it a try if you’ve never grown Kohlrabi give it a try at least once this one right here is the biggest one out of all of them so far and if the other ones aren’t ready yet you could just leave them there don’t Harvest them they’ll continue growing as long as uh you know the temperatures and the weather doesn’t get too hot like here in Florida if you haven’t harvested all your Kohlrabi by around March it’s starting to get too late they’re gonna get too hot and it’s not good for just the texture and flavor my Harvest and there’s a couple more here that I need to harvest immediately but what you want to do after harvest is remove all of these leaves because they will continue to suck nutrients and water out of the roots and it’ll make the roots like kind of a weird flimsy kind of texture instead of being nice and crisp then you’re going to wash them off let them dry a hundred percent before you put them in the fridge I like to put them in like a Ziploc bag with a piece of paper towel to absorb any extra moisture the thank you for watching I hope you guys learned something new and if you haven’t tried growing Kohlrabi please give it a try and then comment below I want to know how your harvests are doing was it successful if you have any like additional information for me maybe some techniques or varieties of Kohlrabi that you really love to grow please comment below I learned just as much from you guys as you do from me