Raps Standardsorte

Cultivation Break

Season Overview

Description

Oilseed rape (Brassica napus), also known as Reps or Lewat, is a plant species from the cruciferous family (Brassicaceae). It is an economically important crop. The seeds are mainly used to produce rapeseed oil and the by-product rapeseed cake. Brassica napus is an allopolyploid hybrid resulting from the bastardization of rapeseed (Brassica rapa) and kale (Brassica oleracea). Rapeseed (from the Low German rapsād, with the second element, as the plant is cultivated for its oily seeds, to Low German Rapp, borrowed from the Latin Rapa) has been cultivated for centuries due to the high oil content of its seeds. The rapeseed plant was already known to the Romans. Rapeseed originally comes from the eastern Mediterranean and was used to produce cooking oil and, above all, lamp oil. Rapeseed is an annual or biennial herbaceous plant and grows to a height of 30 to 150 centimetres. It can develop a fleshy taproot. The upright stem is branched at the top. The above-ground parts of the plant occasionally have very faint gray cilia on the veins and leaf edges, but are usually completely bare or slightly hairy at the base. Leaves: The basal leaves on the lower part of the stem consist of a petiole up to 15 centimetres long and a leaf blade that is 5 to 25 (rarely up to 40) centimetres long and 2 to 7 (rarely up to 10) centimetres wide, ovate, oblong-rounded to lanceolate, pinnately lobed or lyre-shaped, sometimes undivided. The terminal lobe is ovoid and toothed, wavy or with entire margins. There are one to six lateral leaf lobes on each side of the midrib, significantly smaller than the terminal lobe, occasionally absent and also toothed, wavy or with entire margins. The leaves at the top of the stem are sessile with a leaf blade that is lanceolate, ovate or oblong with a length of up to 8 centimetres and a width of up to 3.5 centimetres, its ear-shaped blade base encloses the stem and the leaf margin is smooth or wavy. Inflorescence/flowering: Depending on the weather, the flowering period of a specimen is around three to five weeks, but a single flower will have faded after just one or two days. 20 to 60 flowers stand together in a terminal, racemose inflorescence. The hermaphrodite flowers are quadripartite. The four ascending or rarely almost upright sepals are elongated with a length of 5 to 10 millimetres and a width of 1.5 to 2.5 millimetres. The four bright to pale yellow petals are usually 1 to 1.6 (0.9 to 1.8) centimetres long and 6 to 9 (5 to 10) millimetres wide, broadly obovate with a rounded upper end and a 5 to 9 millimetre long nail. There are six stamens. The filaments are usually 7 to 10 millimetres long (rarely up to 5) and the 1.5 to 2.5 millimetre long anthers are elongated. The ovary is elongated with a short to barely recognizable style and a capitate stigma. Both self-fertilization within the flower and cross-fertilization by bees occur. Fruits/seeds: The sparse or ascending, straight fruit stalk is usually 1.2 to 2.3 (1 to 3) centimeters long. The unstalked pod is 5 to 9.5 (3.5 to 11) centimetres long, 3.5 to 5 millimetres in diameter, linear, cylindrical to slightly square and contains twelve to twenty seeds. The dark brown to blackish round seeds are spherical with a diameter of 1.5 to 2.5 (1.2 to 3) millimeters and a finely reticulated surface.

Growing tips

Cultivation

Details

Light requirement

Sunny

Water requirement

Moist

Soil

Medium (loamy)

Nutrient requirement

High

Dark germinator

Germination temperature

8 - 12 °C (Degrees Celsius)

Plant distance

20 cm

Row spacing

40 cm

Seeding depth

2 cm