Last edited by shiny on 7 Nov 2026. View history

Lacinato Kale

Brassica oleracea Acephala group WD

Also known as Tuscan kale (en) Tuscan cabbage (en) Italian kale (en) Dinosaur kale (en) cavolo nero (en) cavalo nero (en) black kale (en) flat back cabbage (en) palm tree kale (en) black Tuscan palm (en)

A variety of kale

How to sow lacinato kale: Direct seed outdoors or transplant seedlings

Sun requirement for lacinato kale: Plant in Full Sun

Lacinato, Dinosaur, Tuscan, or Italian Kale has very dark green or blue-green leaves that are heavily crinkled or blistered (savoyed) instead of curled. The leaves have a rich, tender taste and are softer than curly green kales. Can be harvested at baby or adult stage. Delicious raw or cooked. Light frosts increase the sweetness of the leaves.

15: plantings
20: harvests
2: seed packets

Growstuff is a free, community-run site for people who grow food. Keep track of what you plant and harvest, find seeds to swap, and see what is growing near you. Join to record your own lacinato kale.

Lacinato kale facts

Lifespan

Annual living and reproducing in a single year or less

35 weeks median lifespan

First harvest expected

8 weeks after planting

Last harvest expected

27 weeks after planting

Height × spread

75cm × 75cm

Row Spacing

45cm

Grown for

leaf harvested 20 times

What are growing degree days?

A plant grows with warmth, not with days. A growing degree day is one day's worth of useful warmth: how many degrees the day's average temperature is above the lowest temperature the crop grows at. Add them up from planting and you know how far along the crop is, whatever the calendar says.

Say that lowest temperature is 10°C. A day averaging 17°C gives 7 growing degree days. A day averaging 8°C gives none, as it is too cold for the crop to grow. That is why the same lettuce takes about 50 days in a summer and 90 in an autumn: it needs the same total warmth either way.

For lacinato kale, the FAO EcoCrop database gives a lowest growing temperature of 7°C and a shortest growing cycle of 60 days at its best temperature, about 690 growing degree days to a first harvest.

Where you've told us where your garden is, we use this and the weather there to predict when your lacinato kale will be ready to harvest. We don't use it for how long a plant lives or when it finishes: we go by what members have logged for that.