How to Grow Pak Choi USA
On this page
In the US, pak choi — sold in most grocery stores as bok choy — grows best sown during the cool stretches of the season, spring or late summer into fall, rather than through hot, dry summer heat, which triggers premature bolting. Baby leaves are ready to harvest in as little as 28 days, with full-sized heads taking up to 70 days.
The short answer
- Ready in
- 28–70 days
- Site
- soil pH 6–6.4
- Biggest risk
- Brassica downy mildew
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Pak Choi (Brassica rapa Chinensis Group)
Also known as: Chinese white cabbage, bok choy · 12 sources cited · Verified
Quick Facts
At a Glance
Diseases
Pests
Soil & Growing Conditions
Growth Stages
Harvest & Storage
Plan your Pak Choi planting
When to sow and plant Pak Choi depends on your own frost dates. Check the USA vegetable planting calendar. To work out where it fits in your beds, sketch your plot in the free Garden Layout Planner.
Growing Pak Choi in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
-
Native to China, specifically the Yangtze River Delta region; cultivation recorded as far back as the 5th century AD, widely grown in southern and central China and Taiwan.
These 3 sources are specific to this region. The full list of 12 sources behind this guide (Clemson Cooperative Extension, FAO EcoCrop, NC State Extension and others) is in the references of our UK guide to pak choi; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does pak choi take to grow?
Typically 28–70 days, depending on cultivar and growing conditions.
What soil pH does pak choi need?
A pH of about 6–6.4. That span reflects genuine variation between the authorities we cite rather than a single agreed figure — the References section lists each source's exact range.
What problems affect pak choi?
Our data links 3 diseases and 5 pests to this crop. See the sections above for each one and how to manage it.
Plan next season before the problems start
Almost everything on this page resolves to your own frost dates rather than the calendar — the last spring frost moves by roughly two months between zone 3 and zone 10. The USA Garden Planner works from your zone so the timing is already decided before the season starts.
Get the USA Garden Planner →Instant PDF download · Written for US growing conditions
How this guide is put together
The growing data on this page — sowing windows, pests, diseases, soil and site requirements — comes from named horticultural sources, listed in References below, checked against USDA hardiness-zone and frost-date data, with Cooperative Extension sources cited directly where one exists for a crop. An automated pipeline assembles that verified data into the page you're reading: it selects which facts to lead with and builds the surrounding prose and layout. It does not invent a date, a source or a number — where a verified value for a field isn't available, the page leaves it out rather than guessing. A person reviews and publishes each page; nothing goes live unverified.
Related Problem Guides
Last verified 2026-09-02
Related guides
More from the same group (brassicas & mustards):
Growing advice for your part of the USA
Timing and conditions change a lot inside one country. These guides cover frost dates and growing seasons region by region.
Where To Go From Here
Take this crop from reading into a written plan for your own beds.
Keep going
Plan the next step
Use the printable SoilCommander planner for your region to turn this guide into sowing dates, bed layouts and weekly garden tasks.