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White cabbage belongs to the vegetable crops, best acclimatized to the conditions of the middle zone. That is why Russian gardeners and summer residents successfully cultivate it on their plots. Moreover, cabbage is one of the main ingredients of traditional Slavic dishes. There is nothing difficult in growing this crop, but only those who followed the feeding regime will be able to collect large elastic heads of cabbage from the beds - not a single garden crop will ripen without fertilizers.
How to feed cabbage seedlings, what fertilizers should be used at different stages of crop growth, and also which is preferable: a folk remedy or purchased dietary supplements? The answers to all these questions can be found in this article.
How many times per season do you need to fertilize cabbage
Fertilizing cabbage seedlings, as well as the amount and composition of fertilizers, depend on several factors. Among them:
- Vegetable variety. Cabbage with an early growing season ripens faster than late-ripening varieties of culture, therefore, you will have to feed the early cabbage fewer times. There are ultra-early ripening hybrid varieties with very short growing periods - such cabbage will have to be fertilized only a couple of times per season.
- A variety of cabbage. After all, there is not only a white-headed variety, but also kohlrabi, Savoy, Peking and several other varieties of this vegetable found in domestic gardens. All varieties have their own characteristics, for normal development they need different complexes of fertilizers.
- Soil composition on the site also plays an important role - the poorer the land in the beds, the more organic matter or mineral components you need to add to it.
- The composition of fertilizers may differ depending on weather conditions: precipitation, air temperature.
How to feed the beds in the fall
As practice shows, fertilizing cabbage before winter is more effective than spring feeding seedlings. The thing is that in the case of autumn procedures, the fertilizer components have more time for complete decomposition in the soil.
To a greater extent, this applies to phosphorus and potassium, which is so necessary for cabbage to form a head of cabbage or a fork. Cabbage cannot assimilate these substances in an unchanged form, in order for the plant to be saturated with potassium and phosphorus, they must change their structure.
It is necessary to carry out autumn dressing by digging or plowing the soil on the site. The depth of digging should be, somewhere, 40-45 cm - this is approximately equal to the length of the shovel bayonet.
In the fall, gardeners usually use organic fertilizers. Their number per square meter is:
- If feeding is carried out with cow manure, 7 kg of fertilizer is enough (both fresh and rotted manure are suitable).
- When poultry manure is used as fertilizer, no more than 300 grams is needed.
The use of organic fertilizers lies not only in the saturation of the soil with microelements, but also in the formation of humus with their help, which is especially necessary for loams and sandy loam soils.
If the land on the site is fertile, it is better to fertilize it with an NPK complex, which includes nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
It is important to understand that an excess of mineral components in the soil is just as dangerous for cabbage as a lack of fertilizers, therefore it is necessary to strictly follow the recommendations and proportions for preparing mixtures.
The optimal combination of mineral components for the autumn feeding of the land for cabbage is as follows:
- 40 grams of double superphosphate;
- 40 grams of potassium sulfate;
- 40 grams of urea (animal protein.
This amount, dissolved in water, should be enough for a square meter of the site.
How to fertilize seedling soil
Due to an incorrectly composed proportion of fertilizer, cabbage can get sick with one of the most dangerous ailments for this culture - a black leg. The disease manifests itself in the appearance of a fungus - a black encircling spot around the lower part of the seedling stem. As a result of the disease, the stem of the plant rots, and the seedlings simply die - it is impossible to save the already infected cabbage.
To prevent this and other possible troubles, you must follow the instructions on the preparations for feeding cabbage seedlings.
It is better to compose a substrate for seedlings from the following parts:
- river sand;
- humus;
- turf land.
It is recommended to bake the components combined together in the oven to disinfect the soil and destroy all bacteria. After this stage, they move on to mineral supplements - ten liters of substrate will need:
- A glass of wood ash, which should prevent fungus from infesting the seedlings and normalize the acidity of the soil.
- 50 grams of potassium sulfate will be needed dry.
- It is recommended to add 70 grams of superphosphate not in the form of a powder, but first dissolve the mineral in water and pour it over the substrate (this will make phosphorus more "assimilable" for young cabbage).
Such soil preparation for sowing seeds is suitable for white cabbage of all varieties and different ripening periods.
Fertilizers for cabbage seedlings
Today, cabbage seedlings are usually grown in two ways: with dive and without it. As known, picking stops the development of plants, because they have to re-acclimatize, take root - this takes a certain amount of time and is not suitable for those gardeners who want to harvest as soon as possible.
Many summer residents now use the method of growing cabbage seedlings in cassettes or in peat tablets. So you can germinate seeds with high quality and get seedlings with cotyledon leaves in a short time. These methods require the obligatory diving of cabbage, because the space in tablets and cassettes is very limited, although it is as nutritious as possible for seedlings.
After picking, cabbage seedlings must be fed in order to stimulate root growth and speed up the process of plant adaptation. Because of this, the total amount of dressings increases, in contrast to the method of growing seedlings without diving.
After picking, cabbage most of all needs nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus - these are the ingredients that are introduced into the soil with seedlings... For these purposes, it is convenient to use ready-made fertilizer complexes, but it is quite possible to prepare the composition yourself.
So, if the seedlings are grown without a dive stage, she needs:
- During the formation of the second true leaf on the cabbage. Any complex fertilizers are used for this. It is best to use the seedling spraying method rather than irrigated top dressing.The solution is prepared in a proportion of 5 grams per liter of water. The method of irrigating seedlings improves the absorption of fertilizers, and also reduces the risk of infection of cabbage with fungal diseases.
- Before the cabbage seedlings begin to harden, they need to be re-fed. At this stage, plants need nitrogen and potassium, so a mixture of urea and potassium sulfate can be used as fertilizer - 15 grams of each substance is dissolved in a bucket of water. This top dressing is introduced by watering the land under the seedlings.
When cabbage seedlings are grown with a pick, she will need the following top dressing:
- A week after picking, cabbage seedlings are fed for the first time. To do this, use complex fertilizers dissolved in water in a proportion of 15 grams per liter, or independently prepare a mixture of one-component compounds (potassium sulfate, ammonium nitrate and simple superphosphate).
- A second course is carried out 10-14 days after the first fertilization. At this stage, you can use a solution of 5 grams of potassium sulfate, 5 grams of nitrate and 10 grams of superphosphate.
- A few days before the intended transplant of cabbage into the ground, the last feeding of the seedlings is carried out. Now the most important thing is to strengthen the immunity of plants so that they have enough strength and "health" for acclimatization in new conditions. For this reason, potassium should be the main fertilizer component in the third stage. This composition is very effective: 8 grams of potassium sulfate + 5 grams of granular superphosphate + 3 grams of ammonium nitrate.
The seedlings transplanted to the garden bed are awaiting a difficult stage of adaptation, therefore, feeding after cabbage is planted in the ground does not stop. Their frequency and composition depend on the variety and rate of maturation of the cabbage.
How feeding depends on the timing of ripening
Fertilizer for early or late cabbage seedlings is no different, but this is the case only while the plants are in the house. Once the seedlings have been transplanted into the ground, the gardener must separate early ripening varieties from species with long growing seasons, since they need different fertilizers.
So, cabbage of early varieties needs 2-3 dressings for the entire season, while late-ripening varieties of vegetables will have to be fertilized at least 4 times.
Fertilizers for this can be used complex, combining organic matter and mineral components.
Early maturing varieties are characterized by rapid growth and rapid growth of green mass. In order for the plants to have enough nutrients at the growth stage, they need to be introduced into the soil in time.
How and what to feed the transplanted cabbage seedlings, first of all, depends on the degree of soil preparation on the site. If organic matter or a mineral complex was introduced to all the beds in the spring, then it is enough to strengthen the seedlings only with nitrogen-containing compounds, for example, ammonium nitrate or urea. If manure or bird droppings have been dug up with the soil in the beds since the fall, then after planting the cabbage, complex compositions of mineral fertilizers are used.
Fertilizing early varieties
Fertilizers for early cabbage are applied in three stages:
- The first time the plants in the garden are fertilized 15-20 days after transplanting... This should be done in the evening, when it becomes cool outside. The land is thoroughly watered before this. These safety measures are aimed at protecting the fragile roots of young cabbage from burns. As mentioned above, nitrogen or a mineral complex is used for the first time (depending on the preparation of the soil).
- 15-20 days after the first stage, it is necessary to carry out the second feeding... For these purposes, it is best to use slurry or a pre-prepared mullein solution. Do it 2-3 days before applying to the beds. To do this, dissolve half a kilogram of cow dung in a bucket of water, and let the solution settle.
- The third fertilization cycle should be foliar... A solution of boric acid should be sprayed with the green mass of the bushes.Prepare a remedy from 5 grams of boron dissolved in 250 ml of boiling water. The cooled mixture is poured into a bucket of cold water and the cabbage is processed. This should be done when there is no sun: in the early morning, in the evening or on a cloudy day. Boron is able to prevent cracking of the forks, and if they are already deformed, 5 grams of molybdenum ammonium is added to the composition.
For cabbage, which does not grow in the garden, but in the greenhouse, one more additional feeding is needed. It is performed as follows: 40 grams of potassium sulfate and a half-liter jar of wood ash are diluted in a bucket of water. Fertilization with such a composition is necessary a few days before harvesting. The active substances of the last dressing help to improve the keeping quality of cabbage heads.
Fertilizing late cabbage
Late-ripening varieties need two more additional dressings:
- Using mineral components.
- With the addition of cow dung or baker's yeast.
You need to prepare the compositions in the same way as for early ripening cabbage. However, it must be borne in mind that the root system of late cabbage is slightly weaker than early maturing species, the roots must be strengthened with a higher dose of phosphorus and potassium. The proportions of these components must be increased.
A big problem for autumn cabbage varieties is pests and fungal infections. To combat these ailments, it is customary to use wood ash, with which gardeners "dust" the leaves. If it is important to preserve the presentation of the heads of cabbage, the ash can be replaced with salt baths - between dressings, the bushes are watered with salt water from a watering can (150 g of salt is taken for 10 liters).
In order not to saturate the heads of cabbage with nitrates and insecticides, farmers often use folk remedies. To combat insects, you can use herbal infusions of celandine, burdock and wormwood. In addition, celandine is able to additionally protect cabbage from late blight.
Results and conclusions
Growing cabbage seedlings at home undoubtedly increases yields and improves product quality. But in order for the seedlings to be strong and viable, you need to be able to properly feed them, because both a lack of minerals and their excess are destructive for delicate plants.
After transplanting seedlings into the ground, feeding is not stopped, on the contrary, the gardener must strictly follow the fertilization schedule. This is the only way to grow large and tight heads of cabbage that can be stored for a long time and do not crack.
