Each gardener and vegetable grower has their own preferences in fertilizers. Someone trusts only mineral fertilizing, while others prefer organic matter. When growing white cabbage, you cannot do without top dressing. This vegetable crop requires nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus at certain stages. They contribute to the growth of leaf mass and the formation of a large and dense head of cabbage.
It is necessary to feed cabbage from the age of seedlings. Fertilizers are applied in various ways - in liquid form or in the form of dry nutrient mixtures directly into the hole before planting. Early-maturing cabbage varieties are fertilized only twice, and the rest of the varieties - up to four times throughout the entire growing period.
There are many fertilizer options for each growth stage and variety of cabbage. Each grower must make the choice independently.
Top dressing of white cabbage seedlings
White cabbage seedlings are fed three times before planting on open beds.
The first time the fertilizer is applied after picking (after about 10 days). The composition of such feeding includes water (1 liter), potassium chlorine (1 gram), ammonium nitrate (2.5 grams) and superphosphate (4 grams).
After about 2 weeks, a second dressing is applied. It consists of water (1 liter) and ammonium nitrate (3 grams).
For the third time, cabbage seedlings are fertilized a few days before planting on a permanent site. This fertilizer contains the same components as in the first top dressing, only the amount of superphosphate and potassium chloride is doubled.
Fertilizing the wells
You can prepare the soil in the cabbage beds in the fall. Mineral or organic fertilizers are added to it around September - October, and then in the spring the beds are ready for planting.
If such preparation has not been carried out, then the situation will be corrected by feeding directly into the hole immediately before planting the seedlings. The complex nutritional mixture contains compost (500 grams), superphosphate (1 teaspoon) and ash (2 tablespoons). This mixture must be mixed with regular garden soil and added to each hole.
For those who prefer organic fertilizers, you can prepare another version of the potting mix. It includes humus and wood ash in a ratio of about one to three. This top dressing is also introduced into the hole during the planting of cabbage seedlings.
Fertilizing cabbage after planting in the ground
It is recommended to carry out four additional dressings for the entire season of growing white cabbage. Each feeding has several options. The choice is yours.
First feeding
The first introduction of the nutrient mixture into the soil is carried out only if no fertilizer was added to the hole when planting seedlings in open ground.
Approximately three weeks after planting cabbage seedlings in the beds, the first feeding (with a high nitrogen content) is carried out. It will be organic or mineral fertilizer - you choose. The plant needs to grow green mass. Any fertilizer is applied directly under each plant in the amount of five hundred milliliters.
For ten liters of water, you must add one of the proposed options:
- 500 milliliters of mullein
- 30 grams of urea
- 20 grams of potassium humate
- 200 grams of wood ash and 50 grams of superphosphate
- 20 grams of superphosphate, 10 grams of urea and 10 grams of potassium chloride
- 20 grams of ammonium nitrate
- Ammonium nitrate (about 1 heaped tablespoon); use for spraying leaves
Second feeding
After 2 weeks, a second feeding is carried out. Now, one liter of liquid fertilizer must be applied under each plant.
For 10 liters of water, you must add one of the proposed options:
- 500 milliliters of chicken manure, 30 grams of azophoska, 15 grams of Kristalon (or Solution)
- 2 tablespoons nitrofask
- 500 grams of bird droppings, 1 liter of ash infusion (mix a liter of water and a glass of ash, leave for at least 3 days)
- 1 liter mullein
- Approximately 700 milliliters of chicken manure
For early varieties, these two dressings are sufficient.
Third feeding
After another week and a half, the next feeding is carried out. For each square meter of cabbage beds, you will need about 7 liters of liquid fertilizer.
For 10 liters of water, you must add one of the proposed options:
- 500 grams of bird droppings, 500 milliliters of liquid mullein, 30 grams of superphosphate
- 30 grams of superphosphate, 1 liter of mullein
Fourth feeding
Only late-ripening varieties need a fourth feeding. Fertilizer is applied approximately three weeks before harvest. This top dressing contributes to the long storage of cabbage heads.
- For 10 liters of water, it is necessary to add 500 milliliters of wood ash infusion or 40 grams of potassium sulfate.
The best time to apply any fertilizer is an overcast day or late evening.
