SEVEN FOOT VEGETABLE: New Giant Purple Tree Collard Seedling, Peasant King, Improved Variety Testing

Tree collard seedling project my best new Improved seedling variety, Peasant King, Healthy, Large Leaved and Resistant to Drought.
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Tree collards are a perennial vegetable. They are the same plant as cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, collards and kale.
They are perennial in mild climates and will grow for many years to over 10 feet tall. The leaves are cooked as a green. It can be rooted from cuttings and many varieties do not produce seed very often even when they flower. I am trying to grow some new vigorous, healthy varieties from seeds and have one promising selection so far which I've named Peasant King.

[@SkillCult]

Chris Homanics has been working with breeding perennial collard kale mixes for a while and has seeds out that can be grown to select new varieties. They are available here: store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/kaleidescope-perennial-kale-grex

[@N8urecure]

SkillCult awesome

[@agustasister5624]

Oh i love those leaves...

[@sandygap1]

Love what you do! Very interesting and educational. Thanks for sharing.

[@SkillCult]

thanks!

[@ajaxtelamonian5134]

Think these could grow fine in the Uk last time it got to 18 Farenheit here was probably the 1500s xD they look really cool.

[@Kinjo2008]

*What you are doing here is outstanding. I see this video was back a few yrs ago. Do you now offer any cuttings? Subscribed.*

[@SkillCult]

Not yet. I finally got some more planted out to create more cuttings,but it's still going to be at least a year and I won't have a lot for a while.

[@Kinjo2008]

@@SkillCult Thank you for that fast reply. You are putting in the real work that will help out so many of us who may not have the time to discover the superior plants. I for one appreciate this and will stay tuned for that day.

[@weimortgage1635]

Do you still have the runty one with the great color at 9:45? That might be a good plant for people that have gardens in the city without a lot of space.

[@trollforge]

Excellent! Too bad they're not Zone 3 hardy.

[@SkillCult]

Not remotely :)

[@christurley391]

Super nice color.

[@manatoa1]

They look like you could upholster a chair with those!

[@demagmusic]

Damn. Too cold here (Still 24" of snow currently and about 20 degrees here, mid-march). I love perennial edibles

[@SkillCult]

Look at the link I posted to seeds. There may be some hardier genes in that population.

[@johnlord8337]

Can always cut these back, replant in potting soil, and continue to regrow in further segments. YT Plant Abundance had a good vid on this.

[@gileschapman1961]

We have similar here in the UK mostly growing near the sea. Keep the chickens coming but watch out for the manic chicken hawk behind you !

[@SkillCult]

I didn't catch that. I'll have to watch again. The hawks come through in the spring and fall while migrating and sometimes take out a chicken or two. I lost a chicken recently and was thinking that might be from a hawk. The resident hawks are red tails and they don't bother the chickens. It's the smaller fast flying bird hunters, not sure what species, but I always see them dive bombing the quail. They are very agile fliers.

[@jeffmarchand6168]

Not cold hardy enough for me. Bummer. I move my brassicas around in my garden so clubroot does nt set in. Obviously you dont do that with perennials. Is clubroot a concern with tree collards?

[@SkillCult]

I've never seen club root. I don't even know what it is, so I guess we don't have it.

[@SkillCult]

Check the link I pinned for seeds. That seed population might have more hardy genes in it.

[@jeffmarchand6168]

Its a fungus that attacks all brassicas. I love brassicas so its bad news. It greatly reduces yields Once its in the soil you can not grow any brassicas there for seven years. That includes wild mustard weeds. Ive never had it but is in Ontario, just not where I am yet. Its a major pest of canola in Alberta. Wiki says it prefers moist soils so you probably dont have to worry about it in your climate.

[@SkillCult]

bummerland

[@oxbowfarm5803]

There are quite a few strains of oleracea that are propogated perennially, Purple Tree Collards and Daubenton are probably the most famous. There's a very good thread that's been running for almost a decade on Homegrown Goodness where various people are experimenting with perennial kales, and crosses between perennial and biennial kales. I do sometimes get two or three years out of some napus kales, but our winter climate is too harsh for perrenial kale, and now that we have swede midge on top of it, there's really no point for it here. I know a guy in Oregon who's got lots of perennial strains he's crossed and collected, I can get you his name if you want some more germplasm.

[@SkillCult]

The standard old purple tree collard is all people grow here and it could use improving for sure. There is a guy on youtube Plant Abundance that has a really nice looking Kale/PTC cross. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aF68o6p8nNxqibM The non bolting trait is what I'm curious about though. It seems to be partially inheritable at least from this batch. Seriously, the conditions these seedlings have endured ought to push anything to bolt lol. But once other varieties are thrown into the mix, I wonder how often a plant will be inclined to grow three or more years without throwing up flowers. I probably should chat with that guy and trade some stuff. While I think these ought to be worked with and improved by crossing in fresh genes, I probably won't make much of a focused effort out of it. I'm likely to do my simple selections from this batch of seed and let someone else do whatever with the best of those if they're inclined. But, who knows. mixing in some kale and running some seedlings through the gauntlet like this could be pretty interesting. Or for that matter, just getting what is already out there and testing it under these conditions. Thanks. Insightful as usual.

[@oxbowfarm5803]

Some of the non-bolting traits is almost certainly due to viral load and chromosome damage. Similar but less severe than the sterility affecting garlic. Wild oleracea is a short lived perennial on the sea coasts of southern Europe. But they routinely flower, so I'd say it is somewhat indicative of some kind of damage to the reproductive signaling system that normally switches the cells in the meristems to make flower buds vs more leaves. It could be as simple as a increased vernalization requirement, or increased stress tolerance. Normally stressful conditions induces flowering as a survival strategy, but if you ramp up whatever those genetic thresholds for vernalization time or other stress signals, that might make a kale permanently vegetative, especially in mild winter climates like yours.

[@SkillCult]

I haven't counted, but I may have 25% or so bolt resistance over three or four growing seasons. That shows some apparent transferability, whatever the mechanism. If it were the living virus, that would not be passed through seed as I understand. Genetic damage maybe, but I'm wondering about epigenetic switching. The new paradigm is that inheritance is partly which gene expressions are turned on and off. All other oleracea I've observed bolt reliably in the second spring here, so there is something distinctly different about the tree collards. I know that Kelly Winterton said he thinks that potato onions and shallots will simply stop seeding over time if propagated perennially for long enough. In my population of Potato onion seedlings I've seen some apparent transfer of bolt resistance, but I lost all of them by now except one single plant that a gopher is about to eat unless I get in there and can trap it today.

[@SkillCult]

BTW, I've communicated with Chris Homanics about apples before and just messaged him about tree collards. he has a seed mix of perennial kales here. store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/kaleidescope-perennial-kale-grex Awesome.

[@oxbowfarm5803]

Well, Chris was "the guy" I was talking about, so. You don't need my help!

[@dr.christygarner5079]

I'm obsessed with growing tree vegetables and I admire your commitment to experimenting. Could I purchase a few cuttings of your favorite successful varieties? I live in the Santa Cruz mountains of Cali.

[@SkillCult]

I hope to have some available in the near future. Keep an eye on my blog at skillcult.com or here on youtube.

[@aezram]

My experience with the sort of "purple tree collards" in common circulation around the Bay Area is that without support they're rather prone to tipping over and branching extensively (not necessarily a bad thing... makes for many leaves, with a great leaf quality and very rare flowering). Are these true old world walking stick varieties of a substantially different growth habit, or is it just a matter of cultural conditions that allows you to grow them so straight, tall, and rigid?

[@SkillCult]

I don't know, but I know what you mean about the lanky ones. Most of these are upright and rigid. They are not pruned a lot though and were grown from seed. I'll have to see how they do once propagated out more.

[@jovanbergh33]

Interesting. Never knew about tree collards/kale until recently. The YT channel Plant Abundance has some varieties, he gives some seeds every once in a blue moon. Maybe try linking up with him, might be able to trade some good info? I believe he resides in California too, but that's not saying much considering the size of the state.

[@SkillCult]

Funny, I just left a comment on one of his tree collard vids right after publishing this. His tree collard kale cross looks awesome.

[@jovanbergh33]

What a funny coincidence. His hybrid does look to perform very well. I think he also experiences a lot of variation in his seeds. It'd be interesting to see you two have an exchange, you have varying approaches to maintaining your land and seemingly both have a great wealth of knowledge. I'm sure everyone would come out learning something new.

[@jovanbergh33]

Oh, and great content as always. Glad you're continuing to post this year.

[@sinjint4247]

Are you still planning on getting that frog treatment you mentioned?

[@SkillCult]

I've done it five or six times and will probably continue. I'm approaching it somewhat cautiously. I suspect that it will have better effect if I can make progress with my health in other areas. When it works right, it's not very fun lol.

[@mynameisnotcory]

...frog treatment?

[@SkillCult]

It's a traditional frog poison treatment from the Amazon region called Kambo.

[@quintond.7888]

Thats an insane looking plant, hard to believe its the same thing as the collards i grew up with. You said you were going to eat them right away? Are they bitter?

[@SkillCult]

Same species, very divergent breeding a long, long time ago I'm sure. They are sweet. I don't eat them raw much, but they are not bitter cooked for sure. The sugars can get pretty high in the winter time. I think it functions as antifreeze. Imagine what it will look like if I take good care of it. hoping it will be prehistoric like.

[@quintond.7888]

Interesting. Our collards would get harsh if they were allowed to get tall. Like you said, very divergent haha! We always prepared much like you describe in the video but served alone, drizzled with cider vinegar and eaten with hoe cakes. Now I want some greens...

[@SkillCult]

I think a lot of the world has slow cooked greens with salt pork as a staple food. The tendency now it to cook them minimally, but it seems more traditional to cook them for a long time and consume the pot liquor.

[@kirstenwhitworth8079]

Interesting. It's too bad you don't have seed from each one that you consider a failure because the beauty of such a strong, diverse genetic bank is that it would probably do well over a large area, perhaps even across a continent. I'd predict that some of the varieties you cull would do better in, say, wetter or cooler or _x_ climates. You are doing an awesome job of creating a landrace for your specific location.

[@SkillCult]

My problem with saving the seed from the early bolters is that they are just that. If the perennial trait is not passed, there is not much sense in growing this over regular collards. I may keep most of what is left that hasn't bolted, or at least the larger specimens and save seed when they finally bolt, but I'm inclined to throw anything out that bolts in year two and probably year three as well. I wasn't even sure the trait would be inheritable, but it seems to be. There are still a sustantial percentage of plants that have not bolted yet.

[@SkillCult]

store.experimentalfarmnetwork.org/products/kaleidescope-perennial-kale-grex

[@kirstenwhitworth8079]

Fair enough. I wasn't dissing your methods at all, quite the opposite - I have profound respect for your methods, especially the benign neglect. I just hope your friend was able to give those seeds to people all over the country. I heard about a similar set of seeds with high genetic diversity that was smuggled of of Iran, I believe. The seed was sent all over Europe, and different qualities performed better according to location. That was my only point.

[@kirstenwhitworth8079]

💖💝💖💝💖 - Thanks!

[@SkillCult]

I didn't think you were. Sorry if I was blunt. I have a special talent for not being able to understand the way I say things will be perceived by people. I'm like a robot or something lol :) I know I gave some seed away and also a lot of plants and I know some other people got the same seed that I did. One of them has a small seed company and was working I believe on keeping a seed pool going. If I remember right, his goal was just the opposite and he was thinking that seeding was a valuable trait, since ours usually flower only sparsely, even when they do flower. I don't see them on his website though. I think Chris Homanics idea is great and should help create some new local varieties that people can keep going, much like people here have been trading purple tree collards for decades.

[@karlhungus5554]

Matt Stone brought me here.

[@SkillCult]

Awesome. Matt rocks. He has had quite a bit of influence on by thought process and philosophy re: thinking globaly, in context outside the box etc...

[@congamike1]

I'd love to intern for you. There is no way I'm coming to California. Great video!

[@SkillCult]

Thanks. I'm still not ready for interns yet anyway. Are you sure though, it's pretty much like Baywatch 24/7 over here lol.

[@congamike1]

I'm sure that's true! Enjoy!

[@LAWMAN662]

you know anywhere one can order some Giant Tree Collard seeds? Somewhere in the Balkans?

[@SkillCult]

I don't. A friend with a small seed company was trying to produce seed from the same batch of original seeds, but he doesn't have them on his website.

[@ProfKSE]

Glad to know they are all the same plant. Now I know why I don't like them all.

[@MrDoomperson]

Thats the strangest kale I have ever seen.

[@hughclayton4272]

Kept waiting for you to spaz out and harvest the whole crop with a modified boy's axe--dissapointing.