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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 10:00:29 GMT -6
Semposai and Komatsuna Komatsuna is a Japanese green and Semposai is a hybrid of Komatsuna and Cabbage. I didn’t see a thread dedicated to these two greens so I wanted to share my experience. I first grew both of these greens in 2018. The pictures I am sharing is from that year. A friend on another forum sent me a package of each. I had never heard of them, but we do like greens, so I was happy to give them a try. I had some old lumber laying around, so we got a local youngster to build a small raised bed and fill it with a mixture of compost, black kow, peat moss and miracle grow soil. The wife and I planted the seeds in the little round jiffy pellets to get them off to a running start. Here are a few pictures.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 10:05:08 GMT -6
The things I noticed while growing. They grow very quick! I would pick these down to all but the smallest leaves and 4 to 10 days later it was time to pick again. It was remarkable! Plus, they can be cooked just like we do our Southern greens!
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 10:08:21 GMT -6
On the days we picked them, we would set up our dish pans with cold water. One would pick the greens and one would wash and bag them. One afternoon one of the local farmers stopped by while I was washing greens. He got out, took a look and asked me what they were. We chatted a few minutes and he asked if I could spare a few seeds. I also gave him a mess of greens! A few days later he stopped and told me how wonderful these greens were!
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 10:14:16 GMT -6
We ate all we could, gave a lot to family. We were also able to freeze 12 gallon bags for future use.
They need space. I gave each plant a square foot.
These are cold tolerant down to 12 degrees. Heat tolerant up till the end of May when we started noticing them getting buggy.
my notes say we planted April 2 and we pulled them up May 27.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 10:25:54 GMT -6
I searched and found a picture of the whole bed.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 10:32:33 GMT -6
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Post by macmex on Oct 27, 2021 13:16:23 GMT -6
Anthony, this is wonderful info! Thanks! I need to look up where to find seed.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 14:01:24 GMT -6
macmex It’s just my way of trying to give a little something back. You have such a wonderful site chock full of valuable information on so many varieties and I have learned so much here. I’ve been gardening since I was old enough to hold a hoe, but there is always something to learn if one is open to different ideas and methods. I’m always on the hunt for a different variety of something and this is the time of year, I start making decisions about next year. Mom and I will be looking through all our seeds soon. My wife might look at some with us, but she ain’t as gung ho about and we are. Mom turns 90 next year, so we want a nice garden. Mom has a greener thumb than I do. Thanks George for all you do!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 27, 2021 14:35:24 GMT -6
I have never eaten or grown either of those, but I’ve at least heard of Komatsuna. The only reason that I have, though, is that Baker Creek sent me a free packet of something called “Chijimisai,” and their website describes it as being a cross between Tatsoi and Komatsuna. I transplanted six little clusters several weeks ago, but not all of them survived the transplant. I do have three plants growing in a metal planter, and I just harvested my first leaves yesterday (in anticipation of possible strong storms last night). I also harvested a bit of (egg-infested) kale, and I sautéed both sets of greens separately and had taste tests with my four kids. Three of the four ultimately preferred the kale, but everybody liked the chimjimisai. The only problem that we had last night was that there just wasn’t enough of either. I think I’m going to try to direct sow some more chijimisai because more greens is always a good thing in my opinion. The chijimisai cluster is on the right. There wasn’t much, but I’m looking forward to more. It reminded me a bit of Napa cabbage in its flavor. Your picture of the Komatsuna looks very much like the chijimisai I’m trying this fall. I’m thinking it could be a good winter vegetable this far south.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 27, 2021 15:08:42 GMT -6
chrysanthemumI have not heard of chijimisai, so I’m fixing to go look for it! As for taste, we liked them both, but liked semposai because it’s more cabbage like.
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Post by rdback on Oct 28, 2021 9:25:20 GMT -6
Great post HMK! Informative, with nice photo documentation.
Komatsuna sounded familiar. I checked my seed stock and, sure enough, I bought seeds from Baker Creek earlier this year lol. They say it's a mustard green. I never did plant it. I wonder if it would live through a Virginia winter, . Might should wait for Spring, but if it's hardy to 12F, I dunno....
Had not heard of Semposai or chijimisai. As you folks said, it looks like Semposai is a cross between a cabbage and komatsuna, and Chijimisai is a cross between tatsoi and komatsuna. I usually don't grow hybrids (except for Biker Billy Jalapeno) but they sound like they may be worth it.
By the way, remember Baker Creek has free shipping. With postal rates going up, that may become more important than it used to be. They also have Chijimisai in stock (at least right now lol).
Thanks again for starting this thread!
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Post by chrysanthemum on Oct 28, 2021 15:01:24 GMT -6
I was assuming that Chijimisai is a stablilized cross between Komatsuna and Tatsoi, not a hybrid in the sense of something that would not produce viable/stable seeds. I don’t know that for a fact, but I was making the assumption that Baker Creek wouldn’t market something that couldn’t become an “heirloom.” Obviously it’s a new cross, but I guess I just thought they would have grown it out to F7 or further before marketing. I don’t know a huge amount about the company, but do they sell F1 hybrids at all?
I first ordered from Baker Creek this year because I was looking only for a pack of Shishito peppers, and I didn’t want to pay more in shipping than for a pack of seeds. I needed to add a second pack of seeds to meet the minimum order, and that’s when I perused their okra selections and found Heavy Hitter. I have ordered a couple more things from then since then and have appreciated their selection and service.
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Post by hmoosek on Oct 28, 2021 15:48:00 GMT -6
I’ve never had a problem with them. They have always been friendly and helpful in person and over the phone. I went out to Missouri and visited their store in 2007, they were building up the land for their festivals they have. I’ve kind of always admired Jere for starting a company from his home and turning it into what it is now. I don’t know him personally though, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
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Post by triffid on Dec 15, 2021 8:46:01 GMT -6
Senposai is great! Saved a good amount of seed this year and it's nice to see others growing it. It was inexplicably withdrawn from the UK market many years ago and remains unavailable and virtually unknown.
Have you noticed it has quite a low vernalisation requirement? It bolted easily here pre-Midsummer, though I'm not sure whether that was due to increasing day length or cold evenings. It must take after its B. rapa lineage in this regard.
It'd be nice to select towards a heading habit, for a fast-maturing 'spring cabbage'.
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Post by amyinowasso on Mar 3, 2022 18:44:37 GMT -6
Komatsuna is on your average seed rack as Tendergreen. The pack I bought years ago called it a cross between spinach and mustard. I have enjoyed it ever since. Sensposai is good and grows fast, also misome. Yokatta-na is similar and I keep it in stock. I bought a hybrid komatsuna from Kitazawa called summerfest that was huge, ignored bugs and tolerated heat longer than most others. I harvested some Misome before a freeze a couple of years ago, sauted it with Ginger, turemic, garlic and onions and then added some coconut milk. It was wonderful.
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