How To Grow Pak Choi

When sowing and planting pak choi buy green stemmed cultivars as these are commonly more tastier than white stemmed types. It is a very adaptable plant that can be grown as a cut and come again crop or simply harvested as a mature plant.

Pak choi seedlings can be sown from April if using bolt resistant cultivars. You can place seeds in the ground as soon as the soil is upto temperature e.g no danger of frost and then you can continue sowing until late into the Summer.

When sowing pak choi, place them 15cm apart for small varieties of pak choi and 20cm apart for medium size plants, and 35cm apart for very large plants. Pak choi has very shallow roots so needs watering only a little and often rather than drowning in water.

Pak choi is sadly susceptible to the entire barrage of brassica ailments including flea beetles, cabbage whitefly, caterpillars, slugs, snails and birds to name just a few predators!

When to harvest your pak choi? Well pak choi can be harvested at any stage from 4 to 13cm in height, and depending on growing conditions, this can be as within just three weeks of sowing. Two or three further cuts may also be possible.

A headed crop of pak choi, which should be ready in around after six weeks, can be lifted entirely or cut around 3cm above ground level and then left to resprout.

Storing pak choi? Well it is far less likely to get damp like lettuce, although it is not as firm as a good firm cabbage. For best results pak choi is best kept in the fridge and eaten within a week.

Lastly it is just worth noting that as it has shallow roots pak choi is ideal for growing in containers. Also see Pak Choi Pests And Diseases

By Richard Allen -