Well, this post may not really contain much green in it since most of it is purple. Some of the shades of green on the larger leaves are pretty cool though.
What you see in the photo is about the size of a baseball. Wait until you see what it's growing out of.
Let me give you a 'step by step' ⤵️
A few months ago, I started eating kimchi, which is cabbage, carrot, onion, and kale, fermented in a jar. I found that the purple cabbage kimchi is really, really tasty but the problem is it has a lot of salt. I cannot eat a lot of salt in my diet.
So I started mixing kimchi that I bought in the store with fresh cabbage. So I'm going through a lot of cabbage in the house lately.
six day old home made kimchi - an attempt.
I use the same jars that I buy after washing and boiling them. Let me know if you want to see the process. Back to propagation.
I used to cut the cabbage in half which includes cutting its base or stem in half as well. But since propagating them, I decided to use the whole base, which grows many more root strands.
Now I take slices off the very top of the cabbage, opposite the stem.
Every day when I take some off the top, I flip it over,and moisten the stem before I wrap it back up and put it in the refrigerator.
If you don't eat cabbage every day and you skip a few days, you will see growth at the top where cabbage has been sliced off.
Most vegetable markets slice the stems extremely close to the leaves to try to prevent people from just sticking them in the ground and getting free cabbage the next time around.
If that's the case with yours, you can pull off the large outer leaves and cut them with a little bit hanging off near the stem to give more rooting space.
I'm doing this one a little bit early, for this post, but when you're halfway done, you can begin to put it in a bowl or a cup depending on the outer circumference of the cabbage.
The stem needs to be sitting in the water, but you don't want the leaves soaking in water. It doesn't matter if it's in the refrigerator or if it's on the counter. Either way, you're going to see growth where you've been slicing from.
It's very important to change the water every day, otherwise it gets slimy. I use filtered water from the tap.
It's debatable on how far you should eat your cabbage down - before putting it aside and letting it grow. The most successful one that actually turned into a new head of cabbage is the one in the cover picture. You'll see it below. That one had about 40% of the cabbage left when I stopped eating it. It also had the edges cut on angles.
Before I show you that one, first I'd like to show you a smaller cabbage that is about 60% gone, 40% left. Cut flat.
This one was smaller around and I kept it in a cup with the stem touching the water. I think it is also important to oxygenate the water when you change it. That is a simple process. In the cup that I filled I let the filter stream into the cup from high up, so that it made lots of bubbles in the water. (like a fish pump makes air go under water - oxygenation)
So how do you know when to go from a cup or bowl to the dirt?
It doesn't matter if you see growth from the top or from the bottom. As I said, I have seen them grow partial leaves while wrapped, sitting in the refrigerator.
When you see more than four roots that are at least a quarter inch in length, then it is time to switch to dirt. You need only loosen the top soil and set the cabbage stem on top of that loose soil, then flood the planter. Water normally after that.
The one from the cover photo.
This one surprised me. I water the plants out back every 3 days or so and this one has been seen in dirt that is as hard as a brick, yet it still grows. Big oops on my part. I am starting to think that cabbage plants like less water than other plants.
The above is the cover photo..
Let's get some other views of the this one. Look at the little head of cabbage. I have two larger cabbage plants out front and they have not started turning into a ball yet.
Remember, this one was set in the soil and has only seen 40 to 50 degree weather during its propagation.
My back terrace is very, very windy. It's in a pocket between a lot of tall buildings and for some reason, the wind comes down and throws things around. I do use that smaller patio for experiments and plants that are not too tall.
If these were regular cabbage plants, the leaves would all be snapped off because they break very easily.
The front patio is huge but lots of birds and other critters, including some lizards, frequent that patio - and they eat whatever they like.
If you need a reason to try this, just get yourself some kimchi and try mixing equal amounts of kimchi with fresh cabbage. I add chopped green olives, a little bit of diced onion, and mayonnaise.
A quick mix, some salt and pepper if you like, and you're all set to eat. Grated Parmesan goes really good in this dish too.
If I think of it, I will post a picture of the morning pro-biotic miracle in the comments tomorrow when I make it.
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