jersey walking stick cabbage question

[stepstephens2]

I planted 5 jersey walking stick cabbage seeds last year... only one made it. It is now 7 feet tall and flowering! Does anyone know if they are self pollinating? I would love to save the seeds if they are, but there is not a lot of info on these things so I don't know. Anyone out there know?

 

[muffy]

Its always worth a try! Don't be surprised though, if it's a hybrid and the seed won't come true..that's the mystery of plants..you just never know what will work! Good luck

 

[hoodat]

That's one of those oddity type plants so it isn't likely it would be a hybrid. It's a member of the kale family and I found a study by Cornell that shows that kale has a mechanism that prevents self pollination (very interesting). Here is a link if you'd like to read a summary of the study.
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Nov99/Pollenstigma.bpf.html

 

[muffy]

A few years back I had a customer that badly wanted some of these walking sticks.I obtained the seeds from some obscure seed company..and tried to grow them.
I did grow them actually, but I couldn't get the height or the thickness for them to be functional, which is what this guy wanted..I had my own nursery and greenhouse, but no matter what I did I couldn't get any size on the buggers, so I am impressed that you have one this big!
I was in the southern Sierras where it gets very hot (108) so I always had a hard time with orn. cabbage and kale during the summer.
So thats all I know!

 

[stepstephens2]

I tried to insert a picture here... but this is the first time I've tried that, so if it doesn't come up sorry.
I planted 50 more of these this spring and they are starting to come up. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with them so except that they kind of remind me of my polish chickens. I was thinking that if I could get the things to produce seed I could quit buying the seed. Other than that, I guess everyone I know will be getting a wizard staff for Christmas in a couple years once I figure out how to cure them.

 

[stepstephens2]

Oh, the trick to getting the right thickness and to get it that tall is that you have to break off the leaves as it grows... I had another one make it to about 4 feet but was too thick and couldn't support itself properly before I figured out to break the leaves off. Thanks everyone for the responses!

 

[beavis]

I grew those one year.

They were totally cool!

 

[hoodat]

If you have more than one you should be able to get some seeds. The limit is only against self pollination not pollination by another kale. It might be worth it. The seeds are very expensive to buy, when you can even find them. They were developed on the Isle of Jersey in England so I would guess the key to getting good quality would be a long, cool, foggy growing environment.