Red Cabbages not heading up properly

[George the Pigman]

Over the last couple of years I have had problems with my overwintering red cabbages not heading up properly. They produce lots of outer leaves but very small heads or no heads at all.
Has anyone an idea why this might be happening?

[George the Pigman]

[Beersmith]

It could be worth checking your timing.  On what dates did you originally sow, plant out, etc?

Growth is always rather slow in winter.  If a late autumn / winter cabbage has not formed a reasonable head by October you cannot expect much to happen during the cold winter months.

But loose leafy growth could also be a sign the roots are not in sufficiently firm ground.

[George the Pigman]

They were planted out in Late Summer. Previously I used to plant them out this time of year and they headed up OK
My other brassicas did reasonably well. Our plot as it is clay soil so ideal for brassicas (more of a problem for root veg!)

[pumkinlover]

Have you changed variety?

[saddad]

I like to get mine out by the end of May... so they head up by October... my recent problems are with the mild Winters they are continuing to grow and split... causing extra slug damage and rotting.

[George the Pigman]

The year before last I grew Ruby Ball from seed and it headed up poorly. Last year I had a germination failure so I bought some plants from the garden centre, otherwise I would have been very late in planting.
Can anyone recommend a variety. I am about to start buying seeds for this coming year!

[saddad]

I've always had a good result from "Red Drumhead"...

[George the Pigman]

Well Saddad I've just bought some Red Drumhead seed from a local family run garden centre. Our allotment society arranges an Allotmenteers Night with them and we get reductions on seeds, compost etc (50% in the case of the Red Drumhead seed!)
We'll see how it goes.

[saddad]

Fingers crossed... try to get them out into their final positions by the end of May...

[saddad]

Finally lifted my last Red Drumhead yesterday, a good solid 3kg. There were a couple more in the bed but they had split and started going to seed. Going into town to get some belly pork to keep it company..