Allotments 4 All

I am trying to grow pak choi this year and had some plants doing very well.  they were 3" high when I planted them outside but have all bolted.  So much for harvesting large pak choi plants.  Got a second batch on the go in my greenhouse but am looking disheartened so far.  Advice please. ???

Sow after midsummer's day.....

we grow pak choi now as a salad leaf, and keep sowing it until it keeps going to seed in May....then we grow it for the whole plant, trying in late summer, early autumn. It really is worth growing - it grows so quickly, and is lovely all round

Pak choi does not take kindly to transplanting so this might be part of your problem.

Treat it like lettuce and that is sow a little often.

I don't know if summer has come yet but if you plan on sowing some soon have some cloches or similar ready should we get a cold spell.

I've just looked at my packet that I've got ready to sow and it says indoor sowing NA, so mine will be going in direct very soon, little and often up until July.   ;D ;D ;D

my first lot were sowed in feb in the cold poly, transplanted into a trough in march, grown on indoors for 3 weeks, then put outside as it was too warm in there, they don't like it too hot or to be short of water so mine are now going to seed but we ate half of them and will eat the rest as they're all edible, including the flowers  :)

I have had good success sowing these direct where the early potatoes come out. They do bolt easily if they dry out.

Like a lot of Asian/Equatorial  plants these are light sensitive.

They like to grow 12 hours light 12 hours dark in a moderate to warm temperature

Either grow a lot and pick them very young and immature for the kitchen or find a way to simulate the 12 hour rotation for them.

There are a lot of these veg like Chinese Cabbage which are not totally suitable for our Northern hemisphere.

I have several (10 to equal one)  to pick tomorrow for a Chinese duck meal  I am cooking. Most are just at the point of 'going to seed'.

It is just one of those things. There are a lot of things they can not grow which we can.

"There are a lot of things they can not grow which we can."

Yes, my daughter-in-law from Bangkok is most impressed by my stands of leeks. She once tried to cook an English meal in Bangkok that needed leeks and found they were very expensive indeed - she finds them exotic and exciting here in Sussex.....

I have been growing pak choi indoors in gutters for salads.

My Pak Choi says sow in June so for the first time ever I'll be following the advice.  Everything else I have ignored and have been lucky so far (there you go.... the kiss of death  :))  but there's plenty of time for bolting :(

The last time I tried to grow Pak Choi the leaves were full of tiny holes so were useless, I havent tried since. My radish leaves are also riddled with these holes any idea what it is and how to avoid it?

Quote from: TheEssexYorkshireman on April 27, 2011, 12:31:09
The last time I tried to grow Pak Choi the leaves were full of tiny holes so were useless, I havent tried since. My radish leaves are also riddled with these holes any idea what it is and how to avoid it?

http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,66831.0.html

might be of help

Quote from: TheEssexYorkshireman on April 27, 2011, 12:31:09
The last time I tried to grow Pak Choi the leaves were full of tiny holes so were useless, I havent tried since. My radish leaves are also riddled with these holes any idea what it is and how to avoid it?

Flea beetles.... hard to get rid of now Derris is banned..... there are crawling insect insecticides but they're a bit wide spectrum....

The plants soon outgrow the capacity of the beetles to damage them, so it's not as bad as it looks.