How to properly grow cabbage seeds at home
White cabbage is one of the most common and favorite garden crops. Most of the owners of summer cottages and household plots are engaged in its cultivation with pleasure and enthusiasm. Many of them manage to grow not only heads of cabbage, but also cabbage seeds.
What kind of soil does cabbage like when planting?
In order to grow a good harvest of cabbage, it is necessary to choose the right place for planting it... Much depends on where your summer cottage is located. So which plot to pick up in order to harvest a rich crop later? Self-selection is good, but it is better to listen to the advice of experienced gardeners. The best solution is a river floodplain, where the roots of the moisture-loving plant are provided with an abundant supply of water. The soil for this garden crop can be of any type with an alkaline or neutral reaction. Cabbage will definitely love this land. Sour soil is categorically unsuitable for growing cabbage, which increases the likelihood of a vegetable being hit by a keel. If the soil on your site has an acidic reaction, then before growing cabbage, it must be calcified.
How to grow a good harvest?
To get a high yield of cabbage, it is necessary to follow agricultural techniques at all stages of growing a vegetable crop, namely:
- properly prepare seed material;
- sow and grow strong healthy seedlings;
- plant seedlings in the ground according to all the rules;
- carry out the necessary care of plants;
- harvest the resulting crop without loss.
Preparing white cabbage seedlings
To obtain strong healthy seedlings and subsequently a large head of cabbage and a high yield of white cabbage, you should take care of obtaining high-quality seed material in a timely manner. Many gardeners are engaged in growing their own cabbage seeds.
Seedlings of white cabbage can be planted in greenhouses, greenhouses, open ground. It is possible at home, but, as experience shows, in this case the seedlings are weak, less resistant to diseases.
The most common method is still growing cabbage seedlings in greenhouses of various sizes and designs.... It is possible to sow seeds in a greenhouse from the beginning of April. The location of the greenhouse is pre-selected and equipped. Uniform illumination of the area by the sun is a prerequisite.
Seeds are carefully sown in transverse grooves, buried by no more than 10 mm. After planting, the area is leveled. The soil is slightly moistened, and the crops are covered with a film.The greenhouse is regularly opened for ventilation, about once every three days.
Seedlings are ready for open field planting approximately 3 weeks after seeding. As soon as the 4th real sheet appears. But you should not rush, you can wait until the root system and the entire plant as a whole get stronger. This will ensure that the cabbage will grow and bloom confidently outdoors. Usually full readiness for transplanting to a permanent one occurs when 5-6 leaves are deployed.
Planting seedlings in the spring in open ground
When the seedlings are ready for planting in open ground, in order to be sure that it will grow comfortably, the following activities are carried out:
- A greenhouse is opened to harden the plants.
- A week before the planned planting, the watering rate is reduced, but so as to prevent wilting.
- The day before the transfer of plants to a permanent place, they are fertilized with potash fertilizer.
- A bed is being prepared for planting cabbage: they dig up, remove weeds, outline holes.
Depending on the ripening period, the plants are placed at a distance of 50-60 cm from each other. Cabbage is planted either in rows or staggered, observing the recommended distance between adjacent specimens. It is necessary to plant seedlings carefully so as not to cover the growing point with earth. The wells are pre-spilled with water and after planting, and abundant watering is also carried out.
Care after landing
The agricultural technique for caring for cabbage is quite simple and includes:
- watering;
- top dressing;
- loosening and hilling;
- control of weeds, diseases and pests.
Watering is carried out regularly, depending on the weather, once every 2-3 days, abundantly, since the plant is moisture-loving, with cold water.
After each watering, it is necessary to loosen the soil to provide air access to the plant root system. Hilling is done as needed, about once every two weeks.
Top dressing of cabbage in the open field is carried out several times.
The first time a week two after disembarkation with infusion of mullein, diluted with water at the rate of 1 liter per 10 liters.
Re-feeding with the same composition is carried out after 2 weeks.
Potash fertilizers and urea will be used when the heads of cabbage begin to set. Both in the amount of 10 g are bred in a bucket of water and foliar feeding is carried out.
Pests
White cabbage is susceptible to attack by various pests: white cabbage, cruciferous flea, slugs and others. This culture is also affected by fungal diseases. Therefore, during the entire growing period, it is necessary to carry out protective, preventive and therapeutic measures. Today, you can purchase effective means to combat garden misfortunes and process plantings according to the instructions attached to the preparations. Folk remedies also give a good result.proven for decades.
How to get cabbage seeds
Cabbage is a biennial plant. I.e you can get its seeds only in the second yearwhen the plant forms flowers and fruits.
Thus, having grown heads of cabbage from seedlings, we pass only halfway to obtain seeds. It is necessary to select suitable plants for mother liquors.Preference is given to undersized specimens with a thin stump, a small number of outer leaves with short petioles.
The mothers are harvested before frost, stored with the roots, dipping them first in a clay chatterbox.
Leaving a head of cabbage with 2-3 cover sheets, it is stored separately from food supplies in a basement or cellar at a temperature of + 2 ° C. One month before planting, the mother liquors are transferred to a room with a temperature of + 5 ° C.
In late March - early April next year, the preparation of mother plants for planting begins. The rotted roots are cleaned and the head is cut into a cone so that the base diameter is 12-20 cm. For growing the stumps before planting in the ground, they are kept in the light for 2-3 weeks, stacked, roots inward, interlayering with humus. It is necessary to ensure that the planting material does not dry out during this time, does not freeze and does not sputter.
For the planting of mother liquors, the areas from which the snow melts first are taken away. Since autumn, when digging, such a site is fertilized with manure at the rate of 4-5 kg / m2. Compost can also be used. In the spring, potash and phosphorus fertilizers are also introduced here at the rate of 10g / m2 and 20g / m2, respectively. If necessary, nitrogen fertilization is carried out (15 g / m2).
The correct time for planting testes in the ground
Disembarkation date - end of April... Before planting, the roots of the plants are coated with a creamy mixture of mullein and clay. They are planted in holes located at a distance of 60 cm from each other, under the very head of cabbage. Plants are watered and shaded for the first time from the sun, and also protect from frost. Caring for the testes is the same as for planting other vegetables: weeding, watering, loosening, feeding.
After two weeks, the rooted plants are freed from the remnants of old leaf blades and petioles to avoid decay. When peduncles develop, a garter is made to the supports. Non-flowering and diseased shoots are removed.
Excess peduncles are also cut off. Flowering lasts about a month.
Seeds in pod fruits ripen a month and a half after the end of flowering. Seeds are harvested without waiting for the fruit to fully ripen, otherwise the very first ones will be lost, spilling out of the pods. Up to 50 g of seed can be harvested from one plant. The seeds extracted from the pods are dried and stored.
It is not so difficult to grow a good harvest of white cabbage and get high-quality seed material next year, you just need to follow all the points of agricultural technology of this garden crop. Our tips to help you.
