How to plant cabbage seedlings at home

Many novice farmers are faced with the fact that cabbage seedlings, which have appeared quite successfully, subsequently die. To learn how to grow cabbage seedlings at home, read the article, and if you follow all the recommendations, you will get a good harvest of this healthy vegetable.

Growing a large crop of cabbage depends on the following conditions:

• Seed quality
• Land preparation for planting
• Cabbage fertilizer
• Proper care of seedlings: germination, picking, planting in the ground, measures for the prevention or control of diseases and pests, weeding, watering, cleaning.

Sowing preparation  

To get healthy seedlings, you should properly prepare for planting: choose the seeds, decide on the sowing date, prepare the soil and containers.

Selection of planting material

The choice of seeds for seedlings depends on the following factors:

• The desired harvest time: the choice of variety depends on this – early ripening, mid-ripening or late.
• The planned quantity and size of the crop.
• The climatic conditions where the vegetable will be grown: the selected seed variety must correspond to them.

Cabbage, if you follow certain rules, can be stored until the spring of next year (until May). Vegetables are great for pickling. Therefore, it does not hurt to purchase seeds of late varieties of cabbage in large quantities.

Getting a rich harvest depends on the quality of the seeds, so it is important to choose them correctly.

It is recommended to buy seeds with a margin, as some may not sprout or die during cultivation. If you choose a variety for planting that you have not bought before, do not purchase a large number. It is better to take a little of different varieties.

It is advisable to buy seeds in a store: this way you will know exactly the expiration date, growing conditions and cabbage variety. It should be remembered that the closer the date to the expiration date, the lower the percentage of seed germination. Cabbage seeds retain their quality for 5 years after harvest. If you buy seeds “from your hands”, there is a high risk of getting seedlings that will transmit diseases of the parent cabbage.

Purchased seeds should be stored at a temperature of +5 degrees and 60% humidity.

Planting time for seedlings

The term for planting seeds for seedlings depends on the variety of vegetable and the climate of the region. Vegetable sprouts appear within 12 days from the moment of planting, 45 days after germination, the cabbage is transplanted into the ground. Thus, the cultivation of cabbage through seedlings should begin approximately 2 months from the planned date of its planting in the ground.

Preparing material for planting

Before preparing the seeds, it is necessary to remove from the total amount unsuitable for planting: defective or very small. To check the remaining material for germination, you can plant them on a sample. A check is made at least 2 weeks before the start of the sowing season: you need to take a few seeds and plant them in the ground. As a result, you will know exactly whether or not you will get seedlings, and how many days it takes for the process of sprouts to appear (this information is useful for determining the timing of planting seeds).

Also, the seeds can be pre-sprouted in order to plant precisely high-quality material in containers. To do this, place the seeds in a damp cloth or gauze. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the future seedlings are not in one place – it is necessary to distribute the seeds separately from each other. The fabric must be put in a container and removed in a semi-dark place with an air temperature within +25 degrees. Until the seeds germinate, it is necessary to control the degree of tissue moisture – add water as needed. Usually sprouts appear within 5 days.  

To prevent fungal infections, seeds are recommended to be treated, unless the annotation indicates that the material has already been treated accordingly. To do this, they must be placed in gauze or other cloth, and immersed for 20 minutes in a 2% solution of potassium permanganate. After the procedure, the seeds must be washed.

To stimulate germination, planting material is immersed in a nutrient liquid for half the time of the day: one teaspoon of fertilizer per liter of water. After the time has elapsed, the material is washed and left for a day at a temperature of +2 degrees.

Before you start growing cabbage seedlings at home, it is advisable to harden the seeds. To do this, place the material in hot water (+50 degrees) for a quarter of an hour, then lower it into cold water for 60 seconds.

Land preparation for sowing

Peat is suitable for growing cabbage. Ideal if it is:

• humidity not higher than 60%;
• with a low degree of decomposition;
• riding;
• with a pH level of not more than 6,5.

High salt content in peat or its low acidity can lead to poor development of the root system of cabbage seedlings.

If not high-moor peat is used for seedlings, one sawdust should be added to its three parts.

Before use, it is recommended to steam the peat to disinfect it.

How to grow seedlings of cabbage at home so that it is strong? You need to add top dressing to the peat. It is better to use a universal, smallest, complex fertilizer.

Preparing containers for growing cabbage

There are many types of containers in which cabbage is grown. The positive and negative aspects of each, see the table:

Sowing cabbage seeds

Consider two popular sowing methods: growing cabbage seedlings in cassettes and in “snails”.

Cassette cultivation of cabbage

The cassettes must be filled with earth, not reaching 3 mm to the top edge, so that the roots of the seedlings cannot grow into the adjacent cell. In the center you need to make a recess of 3 mm, in which to lay the seed. One cell is for one plant.

Until the sprouts appear (about two days), the cassettes must be kept in a room with a humidity of at least 80% and a temperature of +20 degrees. If the seedlings are kept under the same conditions, after the shoots appear, they can stretch out, which will negatively affect the quality.

The cassettes themselves are best placed on frames to ensure air ventilation under the cells.

Sowing cabbage seeds in “snails”

Recently, the method of sowing seeds for seedlings in “snails” has been very popular. This is not surprising, because with this method, space is significantly saved: in one “snail” you can grow up to 15 seedlings, and its diameter corresponds to the size of one medium pot. Soil for the formation of a “snail” is spent an order of magnitude less than when planting each seed in a separate container. Seedlings in “snails” are easy to care for.

Materials for planting cabbage seeds in the “snail”

To form a “snail” you will need:

1. Substrate under the laminate 2 mm thick. The length is calculated from the planned amount of planted material (about 10 cm per seed, another 10 cm must be added to this length), the width is 10-13 cm. The substrate is sold in building materials stores, it can be purchased in a roll or a separate cut.
2. Priming.
3. A container with water.
4. Syringe.
5. Rubber roller (you can exclude this item).
6. Polyethylene transparent bags.
7. Pallets.
8. Wide tape, scissors, marker, spoon, spatula.

How to form a “snail”

To form a “snail” follow these steps:

• Prepare the soil: transfer it to a container from which it will be convenient to fill the “snail” (for example, in a basin); remove the trash; break up large pieces.
• Prepare the material for planting: put it in a container where the seeds are clearly visible and from which it will be convenient to take them (for example, in a white saucer).
• Cut a strip of laminate flooring to the desired length and width, lay it out on a table or floor. It is better to lay a newspaper under the bottom, so that it is more convenient to remove the remnants of the earth.
• Use a spatula to pour soil onto the substrate, leaving 3 cm of empty space from the beginning, end and from one edge. The earth must be lightly tamped with a roller (or in another way). The width of the soil layer after leveling should be approximately 3 cm.
• Fold the part of the substrate left at the beginning without the ground in half, and begin to twist all the material inwards as tightly as possible. So that the “snail” does not fall apart, it must be fixed with at least two strips of adhesive tape. Put the “snail” in a tray of the appropriate size. Above should be the part that is not completely filled with earth. If there is no necessary pallet, you can put the snail in a transparent plastic bag.
• Use a marker to write the variety of cabbage and the date of planting on the substrate. You can not write, but attach a bag of seeds with tape.
• Sprinkle the soil moderately with warm water with a syringe.
• Lay the seeds on the ground at a distance of 10 cm from one another.
• Gently soak the seeds with a syringe. This must be done carefully so as not to wash off the small cabbage seeds.
• Spoon the soil over the top of the seeds. Do not water, so as not to weigh down the top layer.
• Cover the “snail” with a plastic transparent bag and place it in a place where there is little light and enough heat.
• Before germination, air and water future seedlings once a day.
• As soon as shoots appear, the bag must be removed, and the “snail” should be placed where the seedlings will be grown.
• Water the sprouts with a syringe of warm water as needed.

Care of seedlings

Proper care of cabbage seedlings involves competent watering, fertilizing and observing the temperature regime.

Watering

Water for watering seedlings should not be too hard, because salts may remain on the surface of the soil, which will interfere with the penetration of air. To make the liquid softer, it must be defended. It is ideal to use melt water for irrigation, which you can prepare yourself or melt snow or ice in winter (provided that you live outside the city, away from roads).

Watering should be moderate: do not allow water to seep through the bottom, but do not leave the ground semi-dry. It is ideal to use about 4 ml of water per watering. The required temperature of the liquid for irrigation is room temperature. The frequency of watering depends on the state of soil moisture, it happens that seedlings do not need liquid for up to 2 days.

Temperature regime for seedlings

In order for cabbage seedlings to be strong at home, it is necessary to maintain the air temperature within 8-15 degrees Celsius. Also, there should not be sharp fluctuations in day and night temperatures.

Additional fertilizing

You need to start feeding immediately after the first watering. During the heat, in order to avoid burning seedlings, after fertilizing, the soil must be additionally watered with liquid in a volume of 1 ml. Seedlings should be fed twice every 7 days. If cabbage growth needs to be stopped, the frequency of feeding should be reduced to once a week or two, or completely stopped.

Errors when growing cabbage, see the video:

What to do if it is not possible to transplant seedlings into the ground in time

It is advisable to transplant seedlings of cabbage into the ground at a certain time. However, there are situations when plants are ready for transplantation, but weather conditions, soil conditions or other factors do not allow this.

Seedlings can be kept in the right condition for transplanting by placing them in a cool room and following these recommendations:

• The air temperature in the place of storage should not be below +1 and above +3 degrees.
• The room should have 90% humidity.
• Seedlings should be in a container vertically.
• The ground should be slightly damp.

In this way, seedlings can be stored for no more than 3 weeks.

Preparing seedlings for transplanting into the ground

Before planting cabbage in the ground, it should be hardened. To do this, 10 days before the planned transplant, you need to take out the container with the plants to fresh air. The amount of time spent by seedlings in conditions close to real should be gradually increased to 2-3 hours a day.

How to harden seedlings of cabbage, see the video:

Helpful information

The best predecessors for growing cabbage:

• carrot;
• cereals;
• melons;
• nightshade;
• bow.

Crops after which it is not recommended to plant cabbage:

• cabbage (earlier than four years);
• sunflower;
• mustard;
• beet;
• corn;
• rape.

Conclusion

Growing cabbage seedlings at home is complicated by the fact that it needs a special temperature regime. Despite some difficulties, strong seedlings can be grown, provided that all planting and care requirements are met.