# OK, Collard Greens are growingâ¦ now what?



## BruceC (Jan 19, 2011)

Iâve been so concerned with getting the soil to grow I forgot to figure out what to do when it does grow. There are two 40 foot rows of densely planted Collard Greens that are about 8â tall. If these were in your garden, what would you do with them? Cut them now and boil them? Thin them out and let them grow another 2 months? Pick individual leaves for salad? Do nothing cause they look just fine?









Last time I grew collards they got 8â tall and stopped growing in summer then took off again in fall and turned into big bushy plants and leaves with thick tough ribs. Like what you buy in the store. But Iâm thinking gardeners who arenât trying to grow the biggest fattest (toughest) leaf for sale grow collars different.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

They need to be thinned. If you boiled and pressed the water out of all those in the picture, you would have less than a cup of greens. If you want a plant that doesn't require as much stripping, try mustard, kale, or even turnip greens.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

Same recipe I gave you in you Chard thread, you can use for the collards. These do need to be thinned out though.

WC IL?? West Central?? We're in NW IL, maybe you can join us for our Homesteading Weekend this year.


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## Sonshine (Jul 27, 2007)

Thin them out. Collards will grow well into the fall here as long as I keep cutting them.


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## bee (May 12, 2002)

If you have more crops in this condition(chard and collards so far..) perhaps there is a market close to you where you can sell transplants for someone else's garden. If you decide there is a market just remove a shovel full every other foot and and newspaper wrap them in gobs(dozen plants or so) to protect the roots and make some seed money. Years ago "row run" transplants were the norm and grew very well because they were started outside. Thin the remaining plant to 12 inches.


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## BruceC (Jan 19, 2011)

Thanks everyone for the advice. 
Iâve been thinning them out with shears. Took about a bushel out and it hardly made a dent. Yeah, collards wilt down a lot, Iâd say a bushel makes about 2 quarts cooked. A lot of people never had collardsâ¦ they donât sell them around here. Youâd have to buy a bushel for supper and what would that cost to truck in and sell for profit? But oh they be gooood eats.

Thinning out is great cause Iâm eating very tender and succulent leaves but Iâm still a little fuzzy on what I should be growing. Should I thin to 1 plant every 6â? Do you pinch leaves or cut the whole plant? They arenât buggy now but they sure look like good bug food. I worry Iâll let them go too long and bugs will get them.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

LOL. By thinning, I mean pulling out plants, not snipping the tops off.

If you do not thin properly, the plants will shade each other, causing them to grow upwards rather than develop full strong leaves. They will look "leggy" with longer stems (which are minimally edible) and tiny long leaves.

Also, when you have a number of small plants in a small area, they all are competing for the nutrients in the soil. Each plant will be weaker if you allow this, and you'll get less crop.

Thinning has to be ruthless RIGHT NOW. Those last pictures are showing them almost past the point of proper thinning. You MAY be able to do a stagger row (weeding or cultivating will be harder, but you'll have more plants). If you thin to 6", select the strongest plant in the center of a six inch circle and pull out all the others within that circle. If you use a shaking motion of the hand while pulling out plants and working around the roots of the good plant, you won't disturb it as much. You can rest the other hand on the soil near the roots of the good plant.

After thinning, give a good watering to recompact the soil a little and prevent wind damage or drying. (Keep the water off the plant and on the soil as much as possible, and try not to water within a couple hours of sundown, to keep water from sitting on the plant overnight (unless you have used harvested rainwater). That minimizes fungal and mold issues. The leaves on the remaining plants will get pronounced veins and stemminess over the next few days and start to turn a darker almost bluish green. This is good.

If you see after a few days that one or more of the remaining plants are struggling, remove it. Don't try to save it or you will invite bugs. If you have two that are two close together, you can try moving one of those into the empty spot. It might work, might not.

Harvest based roughly on the time specified on the seed package, but basically when they are a little above knee high but less than waist high and fully leaved. You will need to strip the leaves of the larger stems and veins, and collards need long cooking times when mature. They are a stronger "meatier" plant than chard or spinach. Mustard greens come closer, but collards can require more chewing. (Pork fat or bacon fat is almost a given in cooking collards.)


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## BruceC (Jan 19, 2011)

Appreciate your knowledge Harryâ¦ and your approach. I need a kick in the pants. Hehe.

I see your point. If the goal is a big plant then my plants are growing leggy and might not be able to support themselves when thinned. (I think thatâs your point, along with stunted plants in general) 

Iâm apprehensive that Iâll get big plants. The garden is in a 100+ old farm field that was wore out and the previous 2 years did pretty poor. Iâve poured mulch on it but I havenât added any amendment$ cause I was considering abandoning it for greener pastures. But this year is amazingly surprising.

I donât understand why I need to PULL out the plantsâ¦ will they grow back if I cut them? At this point Iâm afraid to pull them because of the intertwined roots. 



> After thinning, give a good watering to recompact the soil a little and prevent wind damage or drying.
> If you see after a few days that one or more of the remaining plants are struggling, remove it. Don't try to save it or you will invite bugs.


Thatâs the little tidbits I like to hearâ¦ good universal gardening knowledge.

Alsoâ¦ apologies to âBeeâ who said to thin to 12â, somehow I missed that. So many pics of gardens I see on the web show farmed raised beds and âsquare footâ type plantingsâ¦ anytime I hear 12â spacing I think âsquare footâ garden. I donât know if SF is superior or just trendy because itâs so organized looking. But I like the ideal of over planting and harvesting the thinnings early.


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## MullersLaneFarm (Jul 23, 2004)

BruceC said:


> I donât understand why I need to PULL out the plantsâ¦ will they grow back if I cut them?


Pull the plants because they will grow back. The method Harry recommended is A++. If the roots are too intertwined, you may have to replant the strongest of the plants you pull.


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## BruceC (Jan 19, 2011)

Maybe I need to be clear, I will cut the WHOLE plant at ground level&#8230; not just leaves.
Thanks MLF. I won&#8217;t have time to visit your homestead this year, maybe next. Like what you're doing.


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## Harry Chickpea (Dec 19, 2008)

When gardening, think "What is potentially yummy to bugs, fungus, and pests of all sorts?"
Then eliminate all of those factors except your crop and possibly some bait plants. Dying roots are a potential source of problems. Don't be too concerned at this point about damaging other roots. They'll grow back if you aren't too rough.

Soil compaction is another issue. In the early part of the season, when plants are tender and root growth fast, the looser your soil is (within reason), the longer the roots can grow. Once the plants are established, then a more packed soil is an option. Pulling the thinnings can help promote more roots to grow.

You don't want leggy plants because simply put they are hardly worth harvesting. They won't have enough leaf meat to be worthwhile.

Since this is new to you, do a test. Try some both ways. Pull at one end of the row, clip at the other end. I'm just sitting here waiting comfortably until it gets hot out and your weeds start to grow.    You may find why gardeners don't like soil that is not too hard or compacted.

Collards are pretty resilient plants, however you are also going to need to start looking for holes in the leaves. It is getting the season for bugs to find them. It is much easier to find bugs in a thinned row than a mass of leggy plants. Pick off bugs at least every other day for the next couple weeks. You MIGHT want to do a sevin spray after that if the problem grows too fast. (This is the opposite of squash, where you can drench the baby plant with sevin to limit stem borers, and then pick off egg casings and squash (stink) bugs and minimize use of the sevin later on.)


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## SquashNut (Sep 25, 2005)

Thin every other one, then come back and thin every other one till they are thinned to one plant every foot or so.
You get alot of meals that way. If you cann't eat them all feed them to the chickens or compost them.


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