Perennial Kale and cold frame

Last fall I planted some perennial kale seed that I picked up from the experimental farm network in a cold frame. It has done well since then. I'm wanting to put the cold frame in the same spot sometime soon. The kale plants are too tall to fit into the cold frame. If I cut the kale back to around 6" high will it re-sprout and bush out?

I don't know the answer though it seems to me the plant is used to being harvested so a "deep" harvest would be okay.

I also think it will grow back. If I were you however, I'd try and take some cuttings from the parts you cut off. Just strip the leaves off, leaving one or two developing, on a 6" stem and put into a pot of damp compost. Leave on a cool windowsill overwinter and you'll have new plants to plant or give away in spring...

In my experience, yes. I grew some Dwarf Blue Curled (which isn't even supposed to be a perennial) and it died back to the woody stem in winter, then started budding off that and re-growing the next spring. So if that can bounce back from such an adverse circumstance, then yours should be fine.

Ok, thanks for the replies. I might try the cuttings but I probably have enough of this kale for now. For what it's worth this Homesteader's Kaleidoscopic Perennial Kale Grex seems more like collard greens than kale.

I have that same kale. About half of mine survived over the winter with no protection. It was a mild winter for the most part (only saw -15ishC for a couple weeks), but the kale was totally covered in snow. I heard Chris homanics, its creator, say in an interview that protecting the stem from snow is a good idea. I totally didn't. The deer chomped a bunch of plants off 8-12" above the ground, leaving bare stems. None of those plants survived. I haven't pruned any the way you're describing, but I'm going to try it with the giant one growing in my cold frame, too.

I don't seem to have much variation in mine, nothing like the pictures. I've got little differences, like some leaf edges are  totally smooth, some a little frilled; one plant is very blue green, one plant has white ribs, a few have a bit of a purple tinge. Pretty much all collardy, like yours.  The most different plant grows huge clumps of leaves at every node after the main leaf has developed. It turns into this super dense bush that's actually hard to harvest from. It's always got lots of really tender new growth, though, perfect for salad or snacking. Overall, it's a really nice variety.