Cabbage is the vegetable that is present on our table throughout the year. Almost all summer residents grow it on their plots. But cabbage has one significant feature. It is subject to all sorts of diseases and pests. Industrially grown cabbage is undeniably very beautiful. But to achieve this result, it is treated with the strongest chemicals. If you want to get an exceptionally he althy vegetable, you can grow it yourself. In our article, we want to talk about how to plant cabbage for seedlings and how to take care of it in the future to get a good harvest.
Seed Selection
You can get good seedlings of cabbage only from high-quality seeds. In our climate, culture is usually grown from seedlings. To obtain it, you need to purchase high-quality seeds. It is better to buy them in specialized stores. For landing it is better to take zonedvarieties. They usually have greater resistance to diseases and pests. In addition, they are prepared for sowing and do not require additional processing.
When choosing seeds, pay attention to:
- Variety name, ripening period (late, early or middle).
- The date of sowing, as well as the period of planting in open ground.
- Recommended Growing Region.
- The timing of the harvest.
Usually, gardeners prefer to grow cabbage of all maturation periods. It's quite convenient.
Pots for seedlings
Cabbage has very delicate foliage, so you need to think about how to grow seedlings in order to injure them in the least possible way. The following options are available:
- No bacon.
- In boxes.
- With a pick.
- In separate containers, etc.
Cabbage seedlings can be grown without picking. For this, plants are planted one at a time in separate pots. However, growing with a pick in some cases has its advantages. For example, if seedlings are planted early, but due to bad weather conditions, they cannot be transplanted to a permanent place. In this case, picking slows down the growth of plants. Cabbage seedlings become more squat. In the future, it is easier to transfer the transplant to open ground.
Soil preparation
Cabbage seeds for seedlings should be sown in a light substrate that has a good supply of nutrients. The soil must be sufficientmoisture-intensive. You can purchase suitable soil in the store or cook it yourself.
If you decide to prepare the soil for sowing cabbage for seedlings yourself, then it can be obtained from the following components:
- Soddy or leafy soil as a base. You can also use two soil options by mixing them in equal proportions.
- From biogumas or high peat.
- Sand, perlite and sawdust will help lighten the soil.
All components are mixed in a ratio of 1:2:1.
However, there are simpler options for obtaining good soil. You can mix one part garden soil with 20 parts soddy soil. They also mix one part of sand, lime and ash (a source of micro and macro elements).
If you buy a ready-made substrate in the store, you can immediately use it for sowing. As for self-prepared soil, it must certainly be disinfected by calcining, pickling, steaming or freezing.
At the last stage, fertilizers must be applied to the soil. On average, ten kilograms of mass adds from 15 to 20 grams of ammonium nitrate or urea, granular superphosphate (20 g), lime (25 g) and potassium sulfate (10 g). If you do not have these fertilizers, then you can add nitroammofoska (30 g).
Ten days before sowing, the soil must be treated with antifungal agents - "Fitosporin", "Gamair" or "Alirin". Well prepared soilwill allow you to get he althy seedlings.
When to plant cabbage seedlings?
Let's decide on the timing of sowing seeds. Early varieties should be sown in late February or early March, medium varieties from late April to late April, late varieties throughout April.
In general, it is worth saying that the sowing period largely depends on the variety of crop, lighting, ripening time and climate of the region. First of all, it is necessary to focus on the length of the growing season of the crop. Early varieties, for example, are harvested after 90-120 days, late - 160-180 days, medium - 150-170 days.
All species can be sown at the same time or do it in stages with a gap of 10-12 days.
Sowing seeds
Knowing when to plant cabbage for seedlings, you can slightly move the dates depending on the circumstances. For planting seeds, you can use disposable cups, peat pots, boxes. If you decide to grow cabbage seedlings at home in boxes, then the seeds must be sown in rows, leaving a distance of about three centimeters between them.
When using individual pots, it is enough to put two seeds in the center of each. If seedlings are successful and two plants appear, the weaker seedling can be removed. Seeds are placed to a depth of one centimeter. After sowing, the pots are covered with foil, creating greenhouse conditions.
Temperature conditions
After the cabbage is planted for seedlings, it is necessary to create a suitable temperature regime,moreover, it will be different in different periods of development of seedlings:
- It is recommended to maintain a temperature of about +10 degrees in the first five to seven days in a greenhouse.
- After germination, the temperature can be increased to +15 - +17 degrees.
Of course, not everyone can create such a regime for cabbage seedlings.
Seedling picking
We have already figured out when to plant cabbage. In the future, after the emergence of seedlings, the plants must dive. This is done when the seedlings reach two weeks of age. Seedlings are transplanted into separate cassettes or small pots. Their size directly depends on the variety. When transplanting plants, you need to pinch the root, and then place it in the ground. Dive seedlings are kept at a temperature of +15 degrees during the day, at night it can be lower.
Protection of seedlings from pests
In order to protect seedlings from diseases, it is necessary to irrigate with Fitosporin. The soil can be dried with mulch or dry sand, this will protect the roots from decay.
Cabbage seedlings can also be affected by pests: cabbage aphids, cruciferous fleas, cabbage moths, cabbage whites, cabbage scoops, etc. For pest control, you can use Fitoverm and Intavir biological products. Moths and leaf-eating can be de alt with with Bitoxibacillin, Dendrobacillin and Lepidocide. Chemicals undesirableuse for cabbage as they linger inside the head.
Water and light seedlings
Cabbage seedlings need sunlight. If the weather is cloudy, then the seedlings will have to be illuminated. Lack of light causes a delay in the development of plants. For additional illumination, you can use a fluorescent lamp.
During the entire period of growing seedlings of early cabbage or late cabbage, the soil should be moist. But it is also impossible to allow stagnation of liquid. Soil waterlogging is dangerous, especially at low temperatures. In this case, a still weak root system is easily affected by rot. The easiest way to moisten the substrate is with a spray bottle. After the seedlings should be moderately watered once a week.
Preparing the beds
Before planting seedlings in open ground, it is necessary to prepare the beds. The area where planting is planned must be dug up, removing weeds. If the soil was dug up for the winter, it is still necessary to dig it up again. The clods of earth must be carefully broken up so that no heavy breasts remain. To dig up the site, you can use not only a shovel, but also a pitchfork.
Planting seedlings in open ground
Cabbage is planted at a great distance from each other. Between the bushes it is necessary to maintain a distance of 50 to 70 centimeters. The holes for the plant should be deep enough, up to 20 centimeters. It is better to form them with a shovel. Add manure to each hole before planting. But fresh manure is better not to use. We also add wood ash to the wells (approximately matchboxes). Next, fill the holes with water. It is worth spending up to a liter of water for each hole. For plants it is very important that the soil is moist, surface watering cannot provide enough moisture. Next, we plant the seedlings, having previously processed it with Kornevin. Rooting stimulator helps plants to take root. During planting, it is simply impossible to avoid traumatizing the roots, but thanks to Kornevin, losses can be minimized.
When transplanting, the plants are taken out of the pots, and, together with a clod of earth, are lowered into the pits. From above, the roots are covered with earth and rammed the soil. In the event that your seedlings are in peat pots, they are planted in the ground right with them. In this case, the root system is practically not injured.
In the process of growing home seedlings, it is very important to thin out the plants on time. Cabbage is planted one bush per hole, so when picking, it is necessary to plant single seedlings in individual pots. Otherwise, when transplanting into the ground, the plants will have to be separated from each other, and this leads to unnecessary trauma to the root system.
Cabbage seedlings must be well watered, forming holes near each plant. Watering is carried out at the rate of one liter per bush. Water is poured carefully so as not to wash away the roots. After watering, part of the seedling may fall on its side. In this case, you will have to correct it. After an hour, the soil near the plants can be mulched, this will prevent the appearance of a crust.
Care after planting in the ground
After the seedlings are planted in open ground, all care comes down to regular watering. Feeding can be done after the appearance of 6-7 leaves. For such purposes, it is better to use organic fertilizers - humus or manure. The use of chemicals is not desirable, since all harmful substances accumulate in the heads of the plant.
In addition to manure, nettle can be used as an organic fertilizer. Five kilograms of grass are placed in a barrel and poured with water on top. After the nettle is fermented, cabbage is poured with water. Such top dressing should be enough to get a good harvest. After each harvest, it is desirable to loosen the soil around the bushes.
Spudding plants should be started during the formation of heads. At this time, the foliage begins to rise from the ground. In order not to erode the roots, the earth is raked to the bushes. In principle, cabbage is unpretentious, but needs abundant regular watering.
Beijing cabbage
Beijing cabbage, like any other, is a long day plant. It needs more than 13 hours of daylight to bear fruit. In this case, the plant is actively developing. To obtain seedlings of Beijing cabbage, seeds can be sown twice a year - in early spring, as well as in mid-summer. The plant tolerates cold snaps down to -4 degrees. However, under any bad weather conditions, Beijing cabbage gives an arrow, but does not form a head. Sowing seedlings in spring, you can get a harvest in the first half of summer.
Agricultural technology of Beijing cabbage is no different from any other variety. If spring seedssown in pots for seedlings, then summer crops can be done directly into the ground. As a rule, cabbage is sown in July in summer. Three grains are placed in each well to a depth of up to three centimeters. Between the beds leave a distance of 40 to 50 centimeters. After the appearance of seedlings, you can leave one, the strongest plant. Bushes spud already three weeks after sowing.
Beijing cabbage should be watered regularly, but do not waterlog the soil.
Cauliflower
To get a crop, you need to grow seedlings of cauliflower. In open ground, seeds are sown extremely rarely. For a constant harvest throughout the summer, seeds can be sown three times with an interval of 15-20 days. Early varieties must be grown in greenhouses, greenhouses or at home. Whatever variety of cauliflower you grow, the plants require shelter when temperatures drop.
In general, the most successful are medium varieties. Planting cauliflower seedlings is no different from planting other varieties. The first shoots appear after five days. They dive at the age of 8-10 days.
Some gardeners sow seeds in April directly into the open ground, but at the same time they equip a greenhouse on top to protect the seedlings from the cold. In warm weather, plants should be ventilated and opened.
If you want to grow seedlings at home, you will need 45 days. The main distinguishing feature of cauliflower fromwhite-headed is the exactingness to nutrition. This point should be taken into account even at the stage of growing seedlings. If the plants lack some microelements even at the stage of home care, then no matter how excellent the further conditions are, it will no longer be possible to get a good harvest. Bushes form ugly ugly heads. Plants react especially sharply to the lack of molybdenum and boron. Gardeners note that getting a good crop of cauliflower is much more difficult than white cabbage. The first is more demanding on microelements. The slightest deviations lead to the appearance of ugly ovaries, but, first of all, beautiful heads are valued. For this reason, the cultivation of this type of cabbage is associated with constant fertilizing.
Dangerous pests
Whatever variety you choose to plant, outdoor plants are threatened by pests such as white butterflies. They quickly settle on the bushes, turning their foliage into a mesh consisting of only holes. They may not succeed in destroying the entire head of cabbage, but they can spoil its appearance and upper layers. How to deal with whites? Nowadays, speci alty stores offer a variety of chemicals that help control pests. However, cabbage is a crop for which it is better not to use chemistry, especially in the later stages, when the harvest time is approaching.
In this case, garlic can be recommended. From it you can prepare an infusion that will help repel pests. Three heads of garliccrushed and filled with liters of liquid. Next, the solution is kept for about a week, filtered and sprayed with plants. Such a simple method is very effective in the fight against butterflies and caterpillars.
Instead of afterword
From all of the above, we can conclude that cabbage is a fairly unpretentious crop for growing in household plots. Knowing the basics of agricultural technology, you can get a good harvest of vegetables. For growing early and medium varieties, it is better to use seedlings. Growing seedlings at home is not difficult. Knowing when to sow cabbage for seedlings, and the basic rules of care, you can get a good harvest. Using the seeds of varieties with different ripening periods, you can get a crop of cabbage throughout the summer, you should start with white varieties. They are easier to care for and less capricious. Proper care will allow you to get a decent harvest.
Even an inexperienced gardener who takes only the first steps on his way can cope with planting cabbage. We hope that our article will help you understand some of the nuances of getting seedlings of the most popular vegetable.
