Growing Kohlrabi

Growing kohlrabi, a hardy biennial member of the cabbage family. Kohlrabi is considered one of the healthiest foods, suitable for raw or cooked consumption. Similar to kale leaves, its leaves can be added to your smoothie.

How to grow Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a cool-season plant that is easy to grow. You can start from seedlings in February in the Northeast, or six to eight weeks before the last spring frost. Alternatively, you can directly seed it as early as two weeks before the last spring frost. It requires good drainage or a raised bed and should be planted as soon as the ground can be worked, similar to peas in a south-facing area.

If you plant it later in the season, it will survive the hot summer if mulched and the soil is kept moist. Kohlrabi can be planted later in the summer for a fall crop. You can do several succession plantings starting in late summer until a month before the last frost. Kohlrabi does survive a light frost.

It requires full sun but does tolerate some light shade. Add lots of organic matter, as it is considered a heavy feeder. The pH should be around 7.0 though it will tolerate a wider range from pH 6.0 to pH 7.5. As a heavy feeder, it should be watered once a week with compost tea (see blog on Compost tea) for proper fertilization. See video Apply compost/garden tea

Spacing

Plants should be set around six inches apart and the rows about fourteen inches apart in regular beds. If you are using a raised bed about ten to twelve inches apart.

For crop rotation purposes, you can plant it in the same bed or area with other cabbage family members like broccoli, mustard greens, and kale. To learn more about this family see blog on Growing cabbages This way, you can move the whole family to a different section of the garden to facilitate a three year rotation. 

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Harvesting

The plants can be purple or green but the interior of the bulb is white. The plant has small cabbage plant leaves with a pregnant stem. The stem develops a bulb at the base of the plant the size of a turnip. Once the bulb reaches about three inches thick, you can harvest it. The bulb starts to get woody and can crack when left past four inches in thickness. Peel the outer skin and eat the bulb raw.

Pest

All the pest and diseases that attack the rest of the family will attack kohlrabi. These include cabbage worms, cabbage loopers, cutworms, cabbage root maggots, aphids, flea beetles, slugs and snails, and nematodes.  There are several diseases that attack this family, like downy mildew, bacterial mildew and soft rot, among others.