Why is our KALE shooting up to tall now in April?

Hello
Some may recall, I asked what type of Kale I had found 61 plants of growing not far from our house on an empty plot in Vancouver. So it is supposed to be Red Russian but it does not look anything like the photos found on the Internet .
They all survived the transplant. They get about 3-4hrs of sun per day as they are planted full south facing the sun but the houses make shade that is inevitable.
So now suddenly some the Kale is growing up like 1.5 feet in just a week.
It does not get bushy or many new leaves they all very skinny ..
I have been told to cut the potential flowers buds on top someone else said to cut it back just above where a leave is growing out over another leaf.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2309/2217105808_0d9f6fdf5d.jpg

To get to this look do we have to wait later in the season or cut it in a special way?

Thank you for any advise..

 

Probably because of too much shade.

 

This is the time of year kale naturally flowers. We eat the flower buds (like little broccoli heads). The leaves also tend to go crazy. This is the first year I've grown a red kale- the plants are going up with out the strong leaf growth I get on my curled Siberian kales. But tasty just the same. Another couple of weeks, they will be done, pulled out and replaced by summer crops.

 

We don't get kale to winter over in our area often espessially sp.? the red russian it usually dies
over the winter, but I think the wintered over kale is trying to seed which would explain the spurt of growth, also when I've transplanted other wintered over plants the stress of transplanting, sometimes makes them bolt. just eat the leaves that are below the top ones, and keep a couple of plants for seed. hope this helps.

 

Hello .
Do you mean to say that there plants wont be good to eat from all summer ? and I should throw all the others away ? I am growing curly KALE seedings in the moment in other beds .. never had over wintered Kale before .
thanks

 

my post was a calculated guess, as I was assuming that they were planted in the previous year from your original post. Maybe they will be normal plants and in that case they should produce all summer, it just seemed strange to me that they were growing that way. The ones I've grown grow new leaves from the center, all summer, until they are frozen in late fall in our 3a zone. They reached about 16 to 18 inches in diameter (the whole plant)

 

It sounds like the overwintered kale is bolting, which is normal, but your new seedlings should produce lots of greens this summer before bolting. I only grow kale as an overwintering plant- usually plant in late July or early August - so we can eat the leaves in the fall and leaves and flower buds in spring. I've never grown it for summer harvest, but know many who do, and they get a long season of greens before they bolt.

 

so the seedling would come from letting it bold till they flower and than wait till new one grow in the same area around it ?

 

It takes weeks and weeks to form seed pods from a last years plant, I would suggest getting some
new seed, as suggested from previous poster (from West Coast Seeds). These seeds grow very fast, and you will be eating your red russian kale by early summer.