A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2006 Kohlrabi question

Does anyone grow Kohlrabi? I came across it on-line and just had to get some seeds. Sounds like a real good veggie.

My problem is, about 50% of my seedlings get 2 or 3" high and just keel over. I had them in partial sun, so I moved them to full sun but same thing happens.

I do a pretty good job watering once the soil is dry an inch or so down. The weather has been in the 70s during the day and 50s at night, so I should be good temp wise. I looked closely at the "downed" plants, and did not notice anything different than the ones I have growing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Shawn

from what i remember, they have a long tap root.
have you checked to see if its been eaten?
its the only thing i can think of!
i never moved mine, just sowed direct and thinned.
mine were grown in full sun and liked plenty of water.

Your seedlings could be having problems with 'damping off'. It's a fungal problem that rots the stem of seedlings at their base. You can spread some vermiculite over the surface, or dry sand will do, to stop the fungus moving across the surface at night. Bets to water in the mornings only too so the surface is dry at night.
I ate kohlrabi as a kid. Once. Really strong flavour like a swede turnip. Kids hate the stuff but if you like say a strong brussels sprout flavour you would like the flavour of kohlrabi.

Thanks for the replies. I have them in containers, so unless some sort of bug is getting to them, I think the roots should be okay. I've never heard of vermiculite, but will do a search to see what it is.

I water in the evenings after work, I'm not a morning guy and couldn't imagine doing much more than grabbing a diet coke and jumping in my truck on the way to work.

Everything else I have is looking great, just the Kohlrabi has issues. I only have a dozen going (trying), so compared to everything else that is going so well, I could deal with getting nothing. I was just real curious to see how they would turn out.

Thanks!

Shawn