Growing Kalettes: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · August 10, 2026
Kalettes is a trademarked cross between kale and Brussels sprouts, grown for small, frilly-leaved florets that look nothing like the tight round sprouts of its Brussels parent, with a milder, sweeter flavor to match.
A heavier feeder than most brassicas
The best florets come from truly fertile soil with a pH between 6.5 and 7.5. Fertilize at about 75 percent the nitrogen rate used for Brussels sprouts, and irrigate during dry weather to keep growth steady; skimping on fertility shows up directly in floret quality rather than just plant size.
Grown like Brussels sprouts
Culture otherwise follows Brussels sprouts closely: start seed indoors around 6 weeks before the last frost, a quarter to a half inch deep, and transplant out once the season allows. Expect a similar overall plant size and growing timeline, just with a more open, ruffled harvest at the end instead of tight buds along the stalk.
Kalettes has no recorded companions or antagonists in our data. See the full companion guide for kalettes for how it’s tracked. At 1 plant per square foot, it’s a good brassica-bed addition to the Garden Designer for gardeners who want something a little different from standard Brussels sprouts.
Source: Kalettes: Key Growing Information, Johnny’s Selected Seeds.
Companion planting guide for Kalettes · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-11. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Method: Start indoors: Start indoors from seed, then transplant outside. Kalettes needs a head start most zones can't give it by direct-sowing alone.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Kalettes plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 2-3 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- 'Autumn Star' (F1) Kalettes: Johnny's Selected Seeds recommends this hybrid for an early-season harvest, their standard Kalettes offering. (source)
Cited from the source shown next to each variety. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement.
Where to buy kalette seeds
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Some links on this page also go to other retailers we may earn a commission from as an affiliate, at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products with a genuine consensus of positive, independent reviews. See the sources cited on each item.
See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing kalettes" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Kalettes: A trademarked cross between kale and Brussels sprouts, grown for small, frilly-leaved florets rather than the tight round sprouts of its Brussels parent.
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