Tell me about Bok Choy

Gardening with Rabbits

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TheSeedObsesser said:
What did it taste like? I'm guessing that you would grow it kind of like you would spinach or kale. :/
Kind of cabbage like, but maybe even better. I had it in a vegetable stir fry. I am wondering if it is easier to grow than cabbage. Not sure if I should start it inside for zone 5. I did both with kale. By planting seeds outside it took longer to get kale. Spinach I started from seed outide. Cabbage started inside and planted out was a disaster this year, but have a few for fall. I started them in June inside and then planted out last part of July or Aug. 1, can't remember.
 

TheSeedObsesser

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Hmm, sounds good to me. I like anything that tastes like cabbage. It's related to cabbage so you will have to deal with the same pests, they should have similar growing requirements too. (I am not speaking from experience though.) I'd recommend trying kohlrabi if you like cabbage-flavored, it's got the cabbage flavor but kind of crispy like a radish. Otherwise, on not of much help on this one.
 

digitS'

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Bok Choy as a garden vegetable was a great discovery for me. It doesn't require much other than fertile soil, even soil moisture, the right growing temperatures . . . well anyway, it's fast!

I just keep sowing the seeds until summer heat kicks in. Then, sow a little more seeds after the 1st of August. Gee, I guess there's only about a month or so that I'm not sowing bok choy seeds :p. The 1st sowing is under the plastic tunnel and I've also done the out of the greenhouse routine for transplants. The last sowing is about August 15th but I'm putting some in my greenhouse bed for the fall/winter this year to see how that works.

There seems to be kind of 2 types of bok choy: a standard size and baby bok choy. If you visit an Asian market, you may find that they only sell the baby green-stem bok choy in their produce section. That type is also known as Shanghai bok choy.

At a Chinese restaurant, the greens in there with all sorts of dishes are either Chinese cabbage or bok choy. They are both Brassica rapa and are sometimes said to be in the turnip family. Cabbage is Brassica oleracea along with collards, kale and kohlrabi.

Steve :)
 

journey11

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We are on a bok choy kick here too. :) My spring planting didn't do well at all. I direct sowed it and I guess it just got too hot here too fast. I should have started it indoors in late winter. Now the fall crop was a whole other story. I direct sowed those in mid-July and they went bonkers. Unless you want to eat bok choy for days on end, you're going to want to sow a little bit in succession like Steve said. I've had to give some away. But at least it stays yummy and tender for a very long time in this weather. We're still eating it anyway. Boy, you just feel healthy after having a big ol' mess of it for dinner. I'd say it is easier to grow than regular cabbage because it matures so quickly there's not much time for pests to wear it out like those caterpillars do, chewing up a head of regular cabbage like swiss cheese if you don't get the BT right after them. I didn't have to spray anything on the bok choy.
 

digitS'

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The flea beetles go after bok choy, especially in the early months. They will chew it up almost as bad as they do radishes. Spinosad will kill 'em but it may take a couple of sprayings. Start that, just about as soon as you see those characteristic shot holes.

Bok choy may also have leaf miners but not nearly so bad as beets and spinach. And yes, the cabbage moth caterpillar may show up on 'em but they can't hide very well on bok choy.

Their biggest problem is that heat, Journey talks about. I am also convinced that transplants can be set out in too much cold and will bolt to seed because of that stress.

Steve
 

meatburner

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Bok Choy was maybe my best wonderful surprise. Yep, the same pests like it as cabbage and brussel sprouts but it grows so fast that it can be done with little effort. We love stir fry and just happened on a you tube video of a garlic recipe for baby bok choy/pac choy and it just looked so tasty we wanted to try to grow it. We ordered seeds from Bakers Creek just to see. It was so wonderful. They have a dwarf plant that only grows about 2" tall and look like a full grown plant. Really cool. They are so tender and tasty and I was soooo surprised at the wonderful flavor. The nice thing is they can be harvested in about 30 days from seed. I was shocked. Give it a try and hopefully you will be very pleasantly surprised.
 

hoodat

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Bok choy is in the mustard family and you grow it the same way. Push the growth as fast as you can. If it ever hesitates it will bolt. It likes cool weather and fertile soil with good drainage. If it bolts all is not lost. The entire stem can be harvested just before the flower buds open and eaten in stir fry. If the stem has a thick skin you can peel it by stripping the skin. I just start at the bottom of the stem and seperate the skin from the pulp with a fingernail, then strip away the skin. The inside will not be fibrous. It can also be cut into short lengths and used in salad.
 
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