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Vegetables · Leafy

Growing haakh

Brassica oleracea var. viridis · also called haak, hak saag, kaleKashmir's everyday leafy green, a loose-leaf kale picked leaf by leaf over a long season. The valley grows it twice a year, with the main crop raised in July and picked from October.

Sub-tropical foothills: Jammu, Kangra, Dehradun

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Includes AI suggestions where no published guide covers a detail
Broad green collard leaves laid side by side, showing differences in leaf shape
Photo: Ann Perry · PDM

At a glance

Haakh in the Sub-tropical foothills

  • Season

    Rabi (winter) crop in the Jammu division3

  • Sowing to last picking

    About four to five months of pickings from transplanting, through the winter until the plants flower in spring.

    No published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • Nursery

    September to early October

    No published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

  • First harvest

    40 to 50 days after sowing

    No published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Across India

When to sow it

Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.

Too late this season

The window here was September to early October. The next one opens in September.

  • Nursery
  • Transplant
  • Harvest
  • Today
  • Not suited here
Sub-tropical foothillsJammu, Kangra, DehradunTemperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiNot suited here
Compare all 12 regions
Temperate HimalayaKashmir valley, Shimla, KulluCold desertLadakh, Lahaul and SpitiNot suited hereNorth-west plainsPunjab, Haryana, DelhiNot suited hereGangetic plainseastern Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal plainsNot suited hereNorth-east hills and valleysAssam, Meghalaya, SikkimArid westRajasthan, Kutch, north GujaratNot suited hereCentral plateauMadhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, VidarbhaNot suited hereDeccan plateauinterior Maharashtra, Telangana, north KarnatakaNot suited hereSouth interiorBengaluru, Mysuru, interior Tamil NaduNot suited hereWest coastKerala, Goa, KonkanNot suited hereEast coastcoastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal AndhraNot suited here
Today
See the dates as a table
RegionSowNurseryTransplantHarvest
Sub-tropical foothillsSeptember to early OctoberOctober to early NovemberDecember to March
Temperate HimalayaMid-February to mid-March, under cover if frost is expectedJulyLate March to AprilAugustMay to JulyFrom October onwards
Cold desertNot suited here
North-west plainsNot suited here
Gangetic plainsNot suited here
North-east hills and valleysSeptember to early OctoberOctober to early NovemberDecember to March
Arid westNot suited here
Central plateauNot suited here
Deccan plateauNot suited here
South interiorNot suited here
West coastNot suited here
East coastNot suited here

From seed to harvest

One season, day by day

Days from sowing

  1. Before sowing

    Well-rotted farmyard manure or compost

    15 to 20 t per hectare · Mix into the soil while preparing the field · Field preparation, before transplanting

    VermicompostNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    About 100 g per plant · Spread round the plant, work in lightly and water · After every two or three pickings

  2. Day 0

    Sow

  3. Day 5 to 10

    Seeds come up1Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.

  4. Day 28 to 35

    Transplant1

  5. Day 40 to 50

    First pickingNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    Pick the lower full-grown leaves every 10 to 15 days.

  6. Day 120 to 150

    Last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water straight after transplanting, then every 8 to 12 days through the winter, a little more often in dry, sunny weeks. Do not let the soil dry out, or the leaves turn tough.No published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

What it needs

Soil, sun and warmth

  • Soil pH1

    5.5 to 6.5

    Well-drained loam rich in organic matter

  • SunlightNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

    At least 6 hours a day

    Full sun. Light shade is fine in warm weather and keeps the leaves tender.

  • Temperature1,2

    Grows best at 15 to 21 °C

    Takes hard frost.

    Monthly temperatures for the Sub-tropical foothills aren't in the library yet.

Water and feeding

WateringNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Water straight after transplanting, then every 8 to 12 days through the winter, a little more often in dry, sunny weeks. Do not let the soil dry out, or the leaves turn tough.

WeedingNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Weed by hand two or three times in the first month after transplanting, and pull a little soil up round the stems at the second weeding.

WhenWhatHow muchHow
Field preparation, before transplantingWell-rotted farmyard manure or compost15 to 20 t per hectareMix into the soil while preparing the field
After every two or three pickingsVermicompostAbout 100 g per plantSpread round the plant, work in lightly and water

SourcesNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Varieties and yield

Typical rangeNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

15 to 25 tonnes a hectare

Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.

Good neighboursNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Grows well with

Pests and diseases3

Organic and cultural controls only.

  • Pest

    Cutworm

    What to do

    • Plough the field deeply before planting

  • Pest

    Cabbage butterfly

    What to do

    • Release Trichogramma egg parasitoids at weekly intervals from mid-January

    Prevention

    • Plant border rows of mustard and coriander; their flowers support Cotesia wasps, which parasitise the caterpillars

  • Pest

    White grubs

    What to do

    • Plough the field deeply before planting

  • Pest

    Tobacco caterpillar

    What to do

    • Set pheromone traps to catch and destroy the adult moths

  • Disease

    Black rot

    Signs

    V-shaped yellow patches at the leaf edges that later turn dark brown; the veins may turn black or brown.

    What to do

    • Destroy diseased plant debris after harvest

    Prevention

    • Collect seed only from healthy plants, in areas where the disease has not appeared

  • Disease

    Damping off

    Signs

    Seedlings die before or just after they come up.

    Prevention

    • Use healthy seed
    • Transplant only healthy seedlings with no signs of disease

  • Disease

    Downy mildew

    Signs

    Water-soaked round spots on the underside of the leaves.

  • Disease

    Stalk rot

    Signs

    Leaves droop and the stalk rots from inside and turns hollow.

    What to do

    • Pull out diseased plants and destroy them

Seed and the season's end

Saving seedNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

Keep a few healthy, true-to-type plants over winter and let them flower in spring. Keep them well away from other cabbage-family crops in flower, or they will cross.

When the seed is ready

Pods turn yellow-brown and dry, and the seed inside turns dark.

Cleaning the seed

Cut the seed stalks as the pods dry, dry them in shade for a few days, then thresh and clean the seed.

Store dry seed in a sealed container in a cool, dark place. It keeps well for about three years.

After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the Sub-tropical foothills, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.

When the plants bolt as the days warm in March and April, pull them and compost them. Follow with a summer crop outside the cabbage family, such as okra or a gourd.

Pull the old plants once they bolt and compost them. Burn or bury plants that showed black rot rather than composting them.

Rotation

Do not follow with another cabbage-family crop for two to three years. Peas, beans, onion or a summer cucurbit are good next crops.

Sources

Where this comes from

Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.

These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.

  1. 1Kales and collards: superfoods for health and wealth (Indian Horticulture, September to October 2026)ICAR-Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture, Srinagar (Malik, Jabeen and others)Read the source
  2. 3Package of practices for vegetable crops 2016SKUAST-Jammu, Directorate of ExtensionRead the source

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