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Along with early cabbage, which is well suited for summer salads, gardeners also cultivate late-ripening cabbage, suitable for long-term storage. However, even if the variety description promises good keeping quality, this property largely depends on the quality of care and other nuances. For example, you need to know when and how to remove late cabbage from the garden, to be able to visually determine the degree of maturity of heads of cabbage.
Is cabbage afraid of frost
Cold resistance largely depends on the characteristics of a particular variety or hybrid. The gardener can increase it by hardening seedlings, but not significantly. However, later varieties are grown with the expectation of long-term storage. And the keeping quality will be good only with a relatively short exposure to negative temperatures.
Late cabbage has better cold resistance than early and mid-ripening ones.
Some specifically leave late varieties in the garden to be slightly “grabbed” by the first frosts, arguing that this has a positive effect on taste – the leaves become juicier and sweeter. Also, late cabbage, “frozen” before harvesting at a temperature of -3-4 ° C, is considered ideal for pickling.
“Wait until the last” is possible only if autumn is dry
When the crop remains in the garden under the snow for a long time or it is harvested at temperatures below -6 ° C, the outer cover leaves freeze. When the heads are brought into the storage room, they thaw. High humidity creates favorable conditions for the development of pathogenic microflora, primarily rot. It is impossible to save the crop after harvesting for a long time.
Collection rules
Its keeping quality directly depends on compliance with the rules for harvesting late cabbage. Each head of cabbage is carefully dug in with a pitchfork or a shovel, removed from the soil along with the roots and carefully shake off the remnants of the earth. If the substrate is very soft and loose, they can be “twisted” by hand.
Immediately after harvesting, late cabbage is sorted. Small, deformed, cracked specimens with traces of damage by insects and fungi are sent to “non-standard”. But it is not necessary to throw them away, most of them are quite suitable for food or processing.
The most important thing in the cleaning process is to avoid mechanical damage (bumps, cracks, dents), even minor
Regardless of the method chosen, it is impossible to send late cabbage for storage immediately after harvesting. It is dried at least a few hours outdoors or indoors, providing good ventilation and protection from direct sunlight. Preliminarily remove all integumentary leaves except for 2-3, closest to the head of cabbage.
Late cabbage grown in soil supersaturated with nitrogen, even if all the rules for harvesting it, are not suitable for long-term storage. This macronutrient “looses” the leaves, reducing the percentage of solids in them, which increases the risk of rot.
Phosphorus and potassium contribute to the increase in keeping quality
Signs of ripe cabbage
They start harvesting late cabbage only after letting it fully ripen. The keeping quality of unripe heads of cabbage is significantly lower. You can determine the “condition” yourself, focusing not only on the ripening period of late cabbage indicated in the description of the variety or hybrid and approximate sizes, but also on other criteria:
- The density and elasticity of the head, slight crunching when pressed. Unripe late cabbage is quite soft, easy to serve, almost crumpled under the palm of your hand. Also, unnatural softness may indicate rotting from the inside.
- Almost white, with a very slight greenish undertone, the color of the outer leaves. In certain varieties, there is also a bluish or bluish-purple tint, a glossy sheen.
- Yellowing, drying and dying lower leaves. The process in the garden should go en masse. If it affects only one or a few heads of cabbage, this may indicate damage by pathogenic microflora or pests.
- Clearly stopped the process of “mass gain”. If the head of cabbage is still growing in size, ripening is not completed, it is too early to remove late cabbage from the garden.
When a head of cabbage is just tied, its leaves are light green, as they ripen, they gradually turn pale
When to harvest late cabbage in the fall
For harvesting late cabbage, choose a dry, relatively warm day. Too early, when the dew has not yet dried, it is not recommended to start the procedure. On wet heads of cabbage, mold and rot almost inevitably develop, you can not count on good keeping quality.
Lunar calendar 2021
Some gardeners collect late cabbage, focusing on the recommendations of the lunar calendar. Not only the phases of the moon are taken into account, but also other nuances; based on them, the most favorable days are determined.
It is recommended to harvest late cabbage in 2021:
- 3-8, 13-16, 24-28.09;
- 3-8, 13-16, 24-28.10;
- 1-9, 18-21, 25-30.11
However, you should not blindly follow the recommendations of the lunar calendar when starting to harvest late cabbage if the weather is clearly unsuitable for this (for example, it is raining heavily). It is also impossible to pull too long, waiting for a favorable day, when it is already clearly cold outside.
According to the lunar calendar, it is necessary to start harvesting when growth processes are inhibited – this happens in the phase of the waning moon.
In Siberia and the Urals
Due to the long vegetation period – late cabbage ripens in 120-150 days – it does not always have time to fully form in these regions. And when harvesting unripe heads of cabbage, one cannot count on good keeping quality.
In these regions, negative temperatures are often set by mid-autumn. Therefore, it is necessary to finish harvesting late cabbage in the last decade of September or at the very beginning of October.
In Western Siberia and the Urals, the cultivation of late varieties and hybrids is a big risk; early and mid-ripening varieties are more often cultivated here.
In the Moscow region and the middle lane
The Moscow region and central Our Country are characterized by a certain climate instability. Here autumn can be both long-warm and short, cold. Therefore, you need to focus on the long-term weather forecast. In good years, with the harvesting of late cabbage, you can stretch until the last days of October or even the beginning of November. The “unfavorable” must be completed by the end of September.
In the Leningrad region
Autumn in the Leningrad region and the North-West region is most often cool and rainy, but you have to wait a long time for stable frosts. Therefore, late cabbage harvesting begins in the first half of October.
How to cut cabbage
Some gardeners prefer not to cut the roots and stem at all after harvesting late cabbage, laying it in storage in a “raw” form. This method has the right to exist, since its application in practice shows very good results.
If, after harvesting late cabbage, the root and part of the stem are still cut or chopped off (for example, for greater compactness), do it with a sharply sharpened and well-disinfected knife or ax. Ideally, after each head, the blade should be treated with any antifungal drug or “antiseptic”. This minimizes the risk of the spread of pathogenic microflora.
It is impossible to cut the stem completely after harvesting late cabbage – leave a stalk 4-5 cm long and 2-3 cover leaves. The latter protect the head from mechanical damage and prevent rapid loss of moisture.
A cut of the stem, if it is not processed, is a ready-made “gateway” for infections
Conclusion
It is necessary to remove late cabbage from the garden on time and following simple rules, otherwise its keeping quality, transportability, taste and benefits suffer greatly. Many gardeners, when determining the dates, are guided by the lunar calendar, but it is much more important to take into account the weather on the street, the climatic features of a particular region and the degree of maturity of heads of cabbage.
