Contents
Cabbage is one of the main vegetable crops in our latitudes; it is grown almost everywhere in household plots. Therefore, it is often necessary to obtain her seedlings. In this article, we will consider the features of planting cabbage for seedlings, tell you what needs to be done in order to achieve an excellent result.
Variety choice
Getting down to the idea of planting cabbage, however, like any other vegetable, you first need to decide on its variety. There are a wide variety of varieties. They differ both in their taste and ripening time. You also need to consider why you are planting it: for spring salad, autumn sourdough or winter storage. There are the following varieties of cabbage:
- early ripe;
- mid-season;
- late-ripening.
Early varieties are considered low-yielding. They are characterized by small (average about 1,5 kg) heads of cabbage with an average density. Early ripe varieties ripen within 90-120 days. These include the following types: Solo, Start, June, Transfer, Athlete, Cossack, Parel, Polar K-206, Eaton, Malachite, Craft.
At the same time, medium-term varieties are suitable for summer consumption, and for salting and storage. They have a ripening period of 150-170 days (there are also mid-ripening varieties that ripen a little faster – in 130-150 days). Mid-season cabbage varieties: Rinda, Pegasus, Slava 1305, Nadezhda, Rodolfo, Bronco. Mid-late varieties: Krautman, Mother-in-law, Dobrovodskaya, Sibiryachka-60, Midor, Druzhny, Megaton, Amager 611, Zimovka 1474, Belorusskaya 455.
And late-ripening cabbage is perfect for long-term fresh storage. These varieties ripen in 160-180 days. The most famous of them: Krumont, Cade, Gingerbread Man, Galaxy.
Seedling growing technology
The next step is the actual cultivation of seedlings for planting. This stage is considered very important, because the quality of the seedlings themselves will depend on how high-quality the seeds were. Therefore, only high-quality seeds for planting cabbage for seedlings should be selected.
Not the last place in the cultivation of seedlings for planting is played by the place of its growth, the choice of soil and proper care. Let’s consider all these stages in more detail.
Site preparation
Many people think that the process of planting cabbage seeds for quality seedlings is simple, but this is a misconception. First you need to choose a suitable place. Experienced gardeners recommend picking seedlings, this will help to get a sufficiently large volume of the root system of the seedling. In this case, the seedlings will turn out strong and squat. In this case, it will be much easier to transfer it to a permanent place of growth.
Cabbage seedling picking scheme
Usually cabbage seeds are sown in a vegetable or tray. A specially prepared soil mixture is placed in a container. It is recommended to carry out this process in the fall.
Instructions for preparing the soil mixture for obtaining good seedlings:
- mix one part of humus and sod land;
- then a little ash should be added to the resulting mixture (approximately 10 tablespoons for every 10 kg of soil). Ash will be used by the plant as a source of macro- and microelements, and will also serve as an excellent antiseptic;
- mix the resulting substrate well.
There are other options for soil mixtures. They may differ in the main component. For example, peat can be used instead of sod land. The main thing in your experiments is to get well-aerated soil with a large supply of nutrients. Then the substrate should be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate.
It is not recommended to use garden land that has previously been grown with cruciferous crops, as they are very likely to contain infections that are characteristic of cabbage.. This can lead to the development of various diseases and reduce the quality of the crop.
Before sowing, it is necessary to water the prepared soil well. Then the seeds can be sown. Seeds should be grown on the substrate in rows. The distance between them should be 1 cm, at the same time between the grooves – 3 cm. It is necessary to sow the seeds in a fairly blurred range. Seeds of early varieties should be sown in early March, medium ones – from the end of March and all of April, but late ones – throughout April (up to the 20th of its numbers).
Seed care
After you have prepared the necessary soil and sowed the seeds, you need to create suitable conditions for their germination. Temperature is important here. For seed germination, a temperature of + 4-5 degrees is required. After they have sprouted, the temperature should be + 20-25 degrees. Once the seeds have germinated, the seedlings need to be thinned out. The temperature should be 10 degrees below. After one week, it should be already +17 degrees (at night – +9, and on cloudy days – +14).
When the seedlings are two weeks old, they pick it. To do this, they are planted according to the scheme (cassettes can be used for such purposes). It is necessary to deepen the seedlings into the substrate to the cotyledon. Then, after two weeks, they are transplanted again, but this time already in pots, paper or plastic cups or other similar containers 5×5 cm in size. Before planting in a cup, the seedlings are treated with a weak solution of copper sulfate (blue) or another drug that prevents the appearance various fungal diseases. During this period, the temperature should be +21. If you do not want to make a pick, then you need to plant the seedlings immediately in separate pots. In this case, trauma to the root system practically does not occur. At the same time, you should not overmoisten the soil, otherwise your seedlings may be affected by black leg disease.
A prerequisite for growing seedlings at home is its additional illumination with a simple fluorescent lamp. When the seedlings grow up, they can be planted in the soil.
Landing in the ground
After you have received a good and strong seedling, it must be planted in the ground. But 12 days before that, it should be hardened in order to gradually accustom it to wind, sunlight and ambient temperature. It is not recommended to plant seedlings in open ground when the air temperature is low, because in this situation the seedling will give an arrow with seeds in 30 days.
Usually planting is carried out at the beginning (this applies to early varieties) or at the end of the month of May (for late varieties). Before sowing in open ground, it must be well watered. After that, the seedlings are not watered to prevent the development of diseases of the root system.
Early varieties of cabbage should be planted according to the scheme 45×25 cm. At the same time, the scheme 35×60 cm is suitable for planting late varieties. At the same time, seedlings need to be deepened by 1 cm.
Care of seedlings
After all the above steps have been successfully completed, in order to obtain a high-quality and abundant harvest, certain rules for caring for seedlings must be followed.
For these purposes, the following procedures are carried out:
- Periodic feeding of the plant will allow you to get a tasty and healthy harvest. For top dressing, a solution of complex fertilizers with microelements is used, which is sprayed on seedlings;
- necessary watering. Only under the condition of frequent watering will you get an elastic ovary and, as a result, a good head of cabbage;
- preventive treatment of formed heads of cabbage with various disinfectants to prevent the development of diseases;
- periodic weeding of emerging weeds.
Observing all the above rules, recommendations and technology for breeding seedlings, you can get an excellent result. Despite the fact that getting seedlings is a rather painstaking process, but its result will definitely please you.
Video “Sowing cabbage for seedlings”
This video will tell you how to sow cabbage for seedlings.
