Just how long will a collard plant grow with the right conditions... I still have 7 plants from last spring getting new leaves. We have had a somewhat mild winter, but I figured the 8" snow, and freezing temps since mid December would have done them in.... (Zone 6, upper middle Tennessee - Georgia collards.)I feel sorry for them out there cold and unprotected ~grin~....if they are going to last, I will put a poly tent over them.....

-- Don Everhart (bullrock@twlakes.net), January 26, 2002

Answers

Don, my collards survived several inches of snow and ice last winter and continued to grow after everything had melted. If the crown of the plant isn't killed, I suspect they will keep producing for you. Freeze certainly won't hurt. True collard lovers claim they don't taste right until after a hard freeze! I'm not even sure you need the tent..I just let the leaves pile up around mine.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), January 26, 2002.

Do not cut the collards, continue to harvest by taking off the bottom leaves, they will grow higher than you can reach.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), January 26, 2002.

We had one that was three years old before it expired, and my dh was so frustrated. He had childhood memories of a neighbor with a row of collards about as tall as an adult...

-- Mitzi Giles (Egiles2@prodigy.net), January 29, 2002.