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Creating a cabbage grex

In this project, I will be crossing a wide range of cabbage varieties to create an adaptive grex for different climates
Description

As an easily storable green vegetable, cabbage is a very valuable crop. But the available OP varieties tend to be inbred and weak. Commercial hybrids are generally created through the use of pollen sterility. Also, there are relatively few varieties of cabbage available, compared with other vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, melons, and squash.

This situation has inspired me to start a cabbage landrace. I am offering a proto-grex of 16 different cabbage varieties (listed below) to anyone in the USA who is willing to plant them this year for overwintering, who will keep them isolated from other B. oleracea (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, many kales, and kohlrabi) while they are flowering and who will return some of the harvested seed. Eventually, I hope to offer the resulting grex through Going to Seed.

Send me your address if you would like to participate, and let me know if you have any questions.

If you are worried about your ability to isolate the plants from other B. oleracea, remember that time isolation can work. I’m planning to save seed from a broccoli grex in addition to the cabbages, but I will simply eat any broccoli shoots that would overlap with the flowering of the cabbage.

The following varieties are included in the mix:

The Peace Seedlings Belarus Cabbage Grex
Primax
January King
Chieftain Savoy
Amarant
Testa Di Ferro
Charleston Wakefield
Glory of Enkhuizen
Amager
Futog
Danish Ballhead
Mammoth Red Rock
Winter King Savoy
Red Acre
Golden Acre
Brunswick

Researcher background
I have some seed-saving experience, though I am not an expert. I started this project because it seems that cabbage is a strangely neglected crop in the world of seed saving and amateur plant breeding.
Are you seeking volunteer growers or other types of volunteers?
Yes, seeking volunteer growers
How many volunteers do you need?
5
What will you ask volunteers to do?
Volunteers will receive a mix of cabbage seeds; they will grow them out this year, protect them over the winter, and allow them to flower in the spring while keeping them isolated from other B. oleracea (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, many kales, and kohlrabi) and will then return some of the harvested seed. (If you are worried about your ability to isolate the plants from other B. oleracea, remember that time isolation can work. I’m planning to save seed from a broccoli grex in addition to the cabbages, but I will simply eat any broccoli shoots that would overlap with the flowering of the cabbage.)

In subsequent years, volunteers will continue to select for cabbages that thrive in the local climates; in particular, I'm interested in heat resistance, ease of overwintering, and resistance to cabbage aphids.
Is this a multi-year project?
Yes
Can volunteers expect to be able to keep some germplasm (seeds, bulbs, cuttings, spores, etc) at the close of the project?
Yes, of course
Researcher Location

80120
United States

Plant Breeding

Project Updates

I am interested in your project


project update by
witchplease
Monday, July 28, 2025 - 11:20

Forgive me if there is something I am missing, but I cannot figure out how to contact the project leader in order to share my address. I would like to participate in growing the cabbage grex.