Cabbage is considered the queen of vegetable gardens. This is true, because you can't do without it. It contains a lot of proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals. It is healing and nutritious in any form - fermented, stewed, cheese. Each housewife always has cabbage in the refrigerator.
How to properly grow good cabbage seedlings at home to have an excellent harvest. Cabbage varieties are different: early, mid-season and late. Let's talk about early varieties of cabbage.
Cabbage is a plant that loves light, moisture and is not afraid of small frosts. For any cabbage variety, it is important to determine the time of sowing seeds.
You can grow cabbage in seedling and non-seedling ways.
Seed preparation for sowing
The largest seeds should be chosen for planting. So that cabbage seedlings grow healthy and without infectious diseases - the seeds must be prepared before planting. For this:
they are wrapped in a gauze bag;- dipped in a three-liter jar of water for 20 minutes.
The water should be warm (about 50 degrees C). After soaking, put it on a plate, cover it and put it on the lower shelf in the refrigerator for 12 hours. This is necessary for the rapid germination of seeds.
Before sowing it is advisable to soak them in any nutrient solution (sodium humate, liquid fertilizer "Ideal" - 1 tsp per 1 liter of water) - for the same time. One of the types of biological preparation is used for seed disinfection:
- bactophyte;
- phytosporin;
- planriz and others.
After processing, you need to rinse the grains with clean water, dry them and start planting.
Seedling containers
At home, early cabbage is grown in small containers that are filled with soil. You can plant in plastic or wooden boxes or pallets. Then the seedlings dive in separate cups or peat pots.
At home, housewives use any available material available at home for growing cabbage (plastic or cardboard bags, boxes, paper or plastic cups). In these cases drain holes should be madeso that there is no stagnation of water in the container. Otherwise, it can lead to plant disease when growing cabbage seedlings.
How to prepare the soil for planting cabbage for seedlings?
How to grow cabbage seedlings? To do this, you need to choose the right soil. It is not necessary to use the land from the garden for this, as it can be a carrier of dangerous diseases. There are many pests and earthworms in the garden soil. It's better use specially prepared earthen mixtures... The components for such a mixture must be prepared in the fall. If the gardeners did not have time to do this, then you can use the soil purchased in a specialized store.
But it is best to use homemade soil. There are several compositions:
- The proportion 1: 1: 1 consists of - turf land, peat, humus.
- The proportion 1: 3: 1/4 consists of peat, turf, coarse sand.
- Proportion 1: 1/4: 1/4 consists of wood ash, lime, coarse sand.
The most fundamental soil qualities for growing seedlings are: water and air permeability, fertility. The compositions given above can provide all of these to the soil.Such formulations can be prepared in late autumn and stored in a cool place.
Before sowing seeds, the prepared soil should be warmed up or steamed with water steam to get less infection. The prepared soil is applied to the prepared container for growing seeds.
Sowing seeds
When everything is ready for planting (the seeds are processed, the container is filled with soil), then you can start sowing seeds to grow high-quality seedlings. Seeds are sown in rows in boxes (distance between rows - 3 cm) or two seeds in a glass. Planting depth should be up to 10 mm. If planted deeper, they may not germinate.
After planting the seeds, the container should be covered with a film, since for good seedlings the temperature should be at least 25 degrees C. After three to four days the first seedlings will appear from the seeds, the film must be removed. When the first two true leaves appear on the cabbage, then it is necessary to adhere to the temperature - during the day up to 20 degrees, at night - up to 12 degrees.
Cabbage seedlings love good light, in the shade they begin to stretch out strongly. If, nevertheless, there is not enough light, fluorescent lamps should be installed for better illumination. After the appearance of the third true leaf, the cabbage dive in separate pots. Further, caring for early cabbage consists in regular watering and observing the light regime. If necessary, seedlings can be fed. Before planting cabbage in open ground, it must be hardened for 10 days - taken out into the street at any temperature for several hours.
Top dressing of seedlings
During the period of growing seedlings, two dressings must be carried out:
foliar (by leaves) is carried out when two true leaves are formed by spraying with formulations, which must necessarily contain trace elements.
the second feeding should be carried out during the hardening of seedlings, it consists in watering with a composition - for 10 liters of water: 1 tablespoon of urea and the same amount of potassium sulfate (1 glass - for 1 plant).
Growing strong seedlings
In order not to grow cabbage at home, many gardeners buy seedlings from the market. And this is understandable, since usually all the windowsills are occupied with seedlings of peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. It takes a lot of effort to grow them.... There is no room for boxes with cabbage seedlings. Moreover, its cultivation requires a low temperature regime. Also, an additional hassle is the hardening of seedlings before planting in the ground.
Seedlings of early cabbage can be grown directly in the garden. In this case seedlings grow without additional hassle - no need for any drawers that clutter up all the window sills in the apartment. Plants are hardened and very strong.
When all the snow melts in the garden and the earth can be dug up, then it is worth starting to sow the seeds directly into the ground (late March - early April). The sowing area will be small, about one and a half square meters.
After digging, make small holes in the soil about a centimeter deep and carefully sow the seeds. We must try to sow them as little as possible. Sprinkle the sown seeds with earth and cover with foilpressing the sides with a load of boards. Then you just have to wait for shoots to appear.
When the seeds germinate, the film should be placed over small arcs so that the seedlings develop and grow.
By the end of May, the cabbage will grow up, you can plant it in open ground, choosing the best roots. If the seedlings are small, that's okay. She will catch up with any purchased, since it will be planted immediately from the ground and into the ground. And therefore, she will not get sick, but will immediately take root in a new place.
When using this method of growing early cabbage, any gardener will always have a rich harvest.
