How to grow baby brassica greens with the Jang seeder

Jang settings for baby brassica greens

Set the Jang to the F24 roller with 14 x 9 sprockets (front x rear) and the brush down, and seed 10 rows on a 30″ bed.

Roller	F24
Sprockets (front x rear)	14 x 9
Brush	Down
Rows per 30″ bed	10
In-row spacing	1/2″
Seed per 100′ bed	200-315 g (by mix) (+/-)
Cultivars	KX-1 kale, Red Russian, tatsoi, mizuna, Ovation mix, Elegance mix
Days to maturity	21 days
Harvest window	14 days
Harvest size	3-5″ leaf
Yield per 100′ bed	45 lb (2 cuttings)

Bed figures are for a 100′ x 30″ bed. From the Paperpot Co. Growers Notes, developed with farmers Erich Schultz (Steadfast Farm) and Seth Davis. Adjust for your climate and conditions.

Bed preparation

• Broadfork the bed to aerate and loosen the soil.
• Smooth and shape the bed with a bed prep rake, removing any debris.
• If the previous crop was fertilized, brassica greens will do fine without reapplying. If not, either layer on 1″ of compost (enough to mostly cover the native soil) or sprinkle on alfalfa meal and/or pelleted chicken manure.
• If you layer compost, don’t tilth it in, so surface weed seed stays smothered. If you add amendments, tilth the top 1″ to mix them in.
• Irrigate for 10 to 14 days* to germinate weed seed in the top layer of soil, then flame weed once the weed cotyledons are up.

Seeding

• Set up the Jang: F24 roller, 14 x 9 sprockets (front x rear), brush down.
• JP1: seed 10 evenly spaced rows across the bed.
• JP5: fill all five hoppers and seed the bed in two passes, one from each side.
• LJ24 also works for larger-seeded mixes. Test at the bench first.

Bed layout

Irrigation

• Water with overhead irrigation or four lines of drip. The first watering chases off flea beetles already in the soil.
• Right after that first watering, cover the bed with floating row cover (insect netting in warm weather) and weigh the edges down with sandbags every 5 feet. It only comes off for cultivation and harvest, so flea beetles never get a chance at the leaves.
• Water right over the cover.
• Frequent, shallow waterings give faster growth and better flavor. Keep watering through hot days in the warm season.

Cultivation

• 10 days after seeding, cultivate with a flex tine weeder (2 passes per bed).
• Repeat 5 days later.
• Put the row cover back right after each cultivation.

Harvest

• Harvest at a 3-5″ leaf with no more than 1″ of stem.
• The JP5 rows line up with the Quick Cut Greens Harvester: one pass along each side of the bed cuts 5 rows at a time.
• Keep the blades sharp and the harvester out of the dirt.
• Rake the bed gently after the first cutting for a cleaner second cutting.

Washing and packing

• Agitate the greens by hand (or with a bubbler) for no more than 4 minutes in the wash tub, scanning for debris, bugs and damaged leaves.
• A produce-safe sanitizer such as SaniDate 5.0 in the wash water kills pathogens and helps shelf life.
• Spin dry, bag (usually 1/2 lb or 1 lb bags) and store at 35°F. Sell brassica greens within 3 days of harvest for the best quality.

Baby brassica greens with the Jang: FAQ

Other crops

arugula · baby kale · baby lettuce · baby spicy greens · spinach · carrots · radishes · salad turnips · snap peas. All settings in one place: the Jang seeding chart and the growers notes hub.