How to Grow Pointed Cabbages USA
On this page
Pointed cabbages (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. acuta) — biennial grown as an annual.
Core growing advice on this page is checked against named horticultural sources — see References.
Pointed Cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. acuta)
2 sources cited · Verified
At a Glance
Quick Facts
| Factor | Value |
|---|---|
| Soil texture | chalk, clay or loam (RHS); deep, humus-rich loam preferred (Grove.eco) |
| Drainage | well-drained |
| Lifecycle | biennial grown as an annual |
| Edible parts | leaves, head |
Soil & Growing Conditions
Water: moist but well-drained (RHS)
Growth Stages
| Stage | BBCH | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sowing | 0 | Sow 2cm deep; spring cycle starts indoors early February for a late June/early July harvest, autumn cycle direct-sown early April or transplanted in May for a mid-September to mid-November harvest (Grove.eco). |
| Transplanting | 3 | Transplant after a 40-day pre-growing period; space 50cm apart in 60cm rows, in firm, fertile, full-sun soil (RHS, Grove.eco). |
| Head formation | 4 | Heavy feeder; conical, pointed heads develop over roughly 95 days total growing period (Grove.eco). |
| Harvest | 8 | Cut the stem with the root using a sharp knife once the head is dense and pointed, late spring to early autumn depending on sowing (RHS, Grove.eco). |
Harvest & Storage
When to pick: Harvest late spring through early autumn depending on sowing time, once heads form their characteristic dense, pointed shape (RHS). Cut the stem along with the root using a sharp knife to help prevent clubroot spreading (Grove.eco); refrigerate for about a week.
Diseases
Pests
Pointed Cabbage, Seedling to Cone
Plan your Pointed Cabbages planting
When to sow and plant Pointed Cabbages 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 Pointed Cabbage in another region
Sowing dates, frost timing and local advice differ by country. Use the guide for where you garden.
Sources
The full list of 2 sources behind this guide (Grove.eco, Royal Horticultural Society) is in the references of our UK guide to pointed cabbages; they describe the plant itself, which is the same wherever it grows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What problems affect pointed cabbages?
Our data links 1 disease and 4 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 2026-08-29
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.