Pak-choi salad: description, cultivation and care, reviews

Pak-choi cabbage is a leafy two-year early ripening crop. Like Beijing, it does not have a head of cabbage and outwardly it resembles a salad. The plant has different names depending on the area, such as celery and mustard.

Description of Chinese cabbage Pak-choi

Pak-choi is a relative of Beijing cabbage, but has many differences – both external and taste. Her leaves are darker, rougher, with smooth edges. The taste is sharper, spicier.

Pak-choi looks very impressive in the garden. Cabbage leaves form a beautiful rosette that resembles a fancy vase. It reaches a height of 20-50 cm, in diameter it reaches 45. Petioles and leaves may have a different color. In the first year, Pak-choi only forms a rosette, in the second year it produces a tall flower. After flowering, many seeds appear.

Cabbage petioles are convex, thick, pressed. Usually their mass is a third of the entire plant. They are very crispy, juicy, and taste like spinach.

When choosing cabbage, you need to pay attention to the color of the leaves and their elasticity. They should be bright, juicy, not sluggish.

You can see Pak-choi cabbage in the photo.

Especially prized are young small rosettes, which are considered more tender.

Advantages and disadvantages

Chinese cabbage has many benefits:

1. It ripens quickly – after a month you can eat.
2. Differs in resistance to diseases.
3. It is unpretentious – unlike white cabbage: it is not afraid of cold weather, it can tolerate small frosts not lower than -4 ° C, it is not picky about soils, it does not require careful preparation of beds for planting.
4. It is rich in vitamins, including A, B1, B2, C, PP, K. It contains iron, potassium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, as well as citric acid, pectin, fiber, and bioactive elements.
5. Low-calorie – contains only 13 kcal per 100 g.
6. It is actively used in cooking – it is fried, stewed, baked, marinated, boiled. Salads and various savory snacks are prepared from it.
7. It looks very impressive in the garden: its leaves form a beautiful rosette that resembles a fancy-shaped vase.

Pak-choy has practically no disadvantages and contraindications for use, or they are very insignificant.

Pak choi yield

This indicator may differ depending on the Pak choi variety. The high-yielding ones include the following (in kg / sq. M):

Less productive varieties of Pak-choi cabbage:

Some varieties of cabbage are high yielding

When to Plant Pak Choy

Seeds can be sown into the soil already in April at a temperature of +4 °C. Pak choi is sown in batches one week apart, allowing you to enjoy the young leaves longer. Overgrown plants become too coarse, so they are valued much less.

Seedlings are planted in open ground or in a greenhouse at the age of 2-3 weeks, when 4-5 true leaves appear on the cabbage sprouts. The air temperature outside should rise to + 15-17 ° C.

Cultivation and care of Chinese cabbage Pak-choi

For growing pak choi from seeds, choose a well-lit area where precipitation does not stagnate. A bed for spring sowing is recommended to be prepared in the fall. It’s good if beans, pumpkin, tomatoes, cucumbers grew here before.

The soil needs to be fertilized. For each square meter, you will need half a bucket of humus, 1 tbsp. l. potassium sulfate, 2 tbsp. l. superphosphate. After making the soil, dig to the depth of the shovel bayonet. For acidic soils, chalk, dolomite flour or hydrated lime are needed.

In the spring, the beds for cabbage should be loosened, leveled, not too deep grooves should be formed at a distance of 30 cm from each other. Water the soil and plant the seeds to a depth of about 1 cm. Before planting the seeds of Pak-choi cabbage, about two days in advance, it is recommended to treat them with a solution of microelements so that they germinate better.

After the seedlings have two leaves, they must be thinned out so that the distance between them is approximately 30 cm.

If you want to see cabbage on the table as early as possible, it is better to grow it in seedlings.

To grow seedlings, well-moistened seeds are sown in a container prepared in advance with soil. The time of sowing cabbage depends on the climate of the region. It is usually performed from the end of March to the middle of April. If Pak-choi cabbage seeds are immediately planted in individual containers, no picking is required. Usually 2 seeds are placed in one pot, after germination a more powerful sprout is left.

Pak choy needs regular watering, thanks to which the petioles become juicy. If the soil is constantly dry, the cabbage will be tasteless, with a rough texture. But excessive moisture is not recommended, the moisture in the ground should be in moderation, otherwise the plant may begin to rot.

Early ripe cabbage does not need fertilizer if it was applied during the planting period. On soils poor in humus, 2 top dressings are carried out. Usually these are natural fertilizers. A solution of cow dung (1 to 10) with an admixture of wood ash works especially well on Pak-choy.

In a month, you can have low-growing cabbage Pak-choi of early varieties on the table, if you provide it with proper care. Tall specimens will reach maturity about 2 weeks later.

Diseases and pests

Like most garden crops, cabbage is prone to disease and pest attack.

Pak choi do not have many enemies, but in large concentrations they can destroy a significant part of the crop.

To combat the cruciferous flea, plantings are treated once a week with a mixture of wood ash and tobacco dust, taken in equal amounts. These insects are especially dangerous for young cabbages. Potatoes, tomatoes, cumin, coriander, and dill planted around the beds with Pak-choy will help protect against this pest. It can also be flowers: marigolds, nasturtium, calendula.

The cruciferous flea makes large holes in the leaves, which slows down growth.

One of the popular ways to deal with cruciferous flea is vinegar 9%. A glass of vinegar is poured into a bucket of water and cabbage leaves are sprayed. Of the chemicals, Kinmiks has proven itself well.

Another dangerous enemy is the cabbage white. It is best to destroy it in the initial stage. To do this, periodically check the reverse side of the leaves of Pak-choi cabbage and neighboring plants for the presence of oviposition and remove them. It is much more difficult to fight with an adult caterpillar. From folk remedies against this pest, ash, infusion of tobacco or wormwood are used.

You can prepare mustard infusion. For 100 g of mustard powder, you need to take 10 liters of water, insist for several days, then dilute it by half.

Garden slugs and rain snails can significantly spoil the crop. Usually they are harvested by hand or set baits from alcohol infusion and bran.

Pak choi is resistant to most diseases and often gardeners and gardeners manage to avoid them.

Application

Cabbage is primarily used in cooking. All parts of Pak-choi are edible, both roots and leaves. It is fried, stewed, baked with vegetables and meat, used as a side dish.

Heat treatment kills many useful substances. Therefore, the best way to eat cabbage is fresh salads, which are sources of vitamins. Bulgarian pepper, carrot, ginger, sesame and other ingredients go well with pak choi. Vegetable salads are seasoned with lemon juice, olive or sunflower oil.

Chinese cabbage is convenient and easy to peel and cut.

Before cooking, the cabbage leaves are separated from the petiole, then chopped or chopped. The latter is cut into circles.

In addition to cooking, Pak-choi is used in folk medicine. It is believed that it has anti-inflammatory, diuretic, laxative properties. Juice and fresh cabbage leaves speed up the healing process of wounds and burns. The vegetable helps fight constipation, makes bones strong, and prevents the development of Alzheimer’s disease. Due to the content of B vitamins, it has a positive effect on the nervous system.

Conclusion

Pak choi cabbage is a healthy vegetable that is loved not only for its excellent taste, but also for its easy cultivation, unpretentiousness, and health benefits. It belongs to dietary products, well suited for people who adhere to a healthy diet.

Pak choi reviews