White cabbage is one of the favorite vegetables of the Russian people. Many national dishes cannot do without it, so it is difficult to imagine any vegetable garden without this tasty and healthy vegetable. People call her a garden lady. She not only has excellent taste, but also has medicinal properties. Unfortunately, due to the specific conditions of the middle lane, cabbage is not immediately planted in open ground. To harvest in the summer, you need to grow seedlings. Almost all varieties of cabbage are grown through seedlings.
Early cabbage varieties cannot boast of a rich harvest. Heads of cabbage, as a rule, have a light weight of about 1.5 kg. Mid-season cabbage is used for making salads and borscht in summer. It is also suitable for pickling. Late varieties of this culture are used for harvesting for the winter.
Seeds for seedlings of mid-ripening and late-ripening cabbage are planted in April or May, immediately in a greenhouse or greenhouse. Early cabbage is a little more complicated. Seedlings for this variety of cabbage are grown on the windowsill, preparing their own soil mixture, diving and hardening the seeds. Sowing is carried out in March.
To get a good harvest of cabbage, you need to know the rules for growing seedlings, so as not to correct the mistakes made later. The time of sowing seeds depends on the region of cultivation of this crop.
Soil preparation for seedlings
The correct selection of an earthen substrate for growing seedlings is one of the main conditions for obtaining a good harvest. Cabbage is susceptible to various fungal diseases. Very often it is affected by the "black leg", so preventive measures should be taken in time so that the infected plant does not have to be treated. It is best to start preparing the potting mix in the fall.
There are several options for preparing an earthen substrate for cabbage seedlings. Most of all, a soil of equal parts of sod land and humus is suitable for her. All potting ingredients must be fresh. The old land can be contaminated.
A universal nutritious soil is suitable for cabbage. The main thing is that it is loose and fertile. For its preparation, take two parts of coconut fiber and one part of vermicompost (humus is also suitable). Garden land for growing cabbage seedlings is not suitable. To prevent cabbage seedlings from getting sick, it is necessary to carry out several procedures. It is advisable to freeze the earth substrate. A solution of potassium permanganate will also help disinfect the soil. Ash will be a good antiseptic and a source of macro- and microelements. 1 spoon of ash should be added to 1 kg of ready-made soil substrate. Ash will not allow a black leg to appear on cabbage seedlings.
How to properly prepare seeds for sowing
As a rule, ready-made seeds that were purchased in the store have already been pre-prepared. You can verify this by looking at the labels on the packaging. You do not need to do anything with seeds that are painted in bright colors.If the seeds look natural, and the packaging says that they have undergone special training, they will need to be warmed up by dipping them in hot water. Keep them in this water for 20 minutes. After that, it is placed in cold water for 5 minutes and dried. If you chose seeds that you collected yourself for growing cabbage seedlings, heating alone will not be enough for them. They must be etched by keeping them in Fitosporin-M solution for 8-18 hours. And the last procedure before sowing is keeping the seeds in a nutrient solution 2 days before planting.
Sowing cabbage seeds for seedlings
For growing cabbage seedlings, as a rule, boxes are used. If you plan on diving seeds, small cups will do. You can also take larger containers, which have a depth of 7-8 cm. Any container where cabbage seedlings will be grown must have drainage holes. If they are not in the purchased cups, you have to make them yourself. The prepared container is 3/4 filled with soil, then spilled, because cabbage germinates well in a humid environment. It is best to place two seeds in one container. After germination, the strongest is chosen from them.
When growing seedlings in a box, it is necessary to make grooves 1 cm deep. There should be a distance of 3 cm between the furrows. Seeds are sown every 1.5 cm, and then sprinkled with a small amount of earth. The optimum temperature for germinating seeds is 18-20 degrees. It is not necessary to water the seedlings additionally if the soil was well moistened before sowing. In most cases, the first shoots can be seen after 5 days. After that, the container with seedlings can be placed on a cool windowsill, maintaining the temperature within 7-9 degrees. If the temperature is not higher, the seedlings will stretch out strongly. The temperature is gradually increased to 18 degrees.
Dive cabbage seedlings
Not all gardeners have free time to dive cabbage seedlings. If there is no opportunity and free time for the procedure, you need to adhere to the following tips:
- The plant must have a certain nutritional area. To do this, the container for growing seedlings is first filled with an earthen substrate by 2/3. As the seedlings grow, loose soil is poured into the container. This promotes lateral root growth.
- Don't forget about good drainage.
- Seedlings need constant feeding, as they lack nutrients that come from the ground.
Recommendations for those who will dive seedlings:
- The picking should be started 2 weeks after the shoots have appeared.
- When transplanting seedlings, they are buried to a certain depth so that the cotyledonous leaves touch the soil.
- Having transplanted seedlings, they should be sprinkled with a thin layer of sand to avoid infection with a black leg.
- The optimum temperature after a dive is 17-18 degrees. After 2 days, it is lowered. At night it is necessary to maintain the temperature - 10-12 degrees, during the day - 13-14 degrees.
- It should be borne in mind that after the pick, the cabbage seedlings grow rather slowly for the first two weeks.
Caring for cabbage seedlings: watering, feeding, hardening
Watering
Cabbage is a moisture-loving plant. Despite the fact that it requires a lot of water, you should not overdo it with watering. Cabbage seedlings are watered after the topsoil dries out. Once every 7-10 days will be enough. Excessive watering leads to infection with fungal diseases, which will destroy all seedlings. Watering the seedlings, do not forget to ventilate the room.
From an excessive amount of moisture, the plant will not only stretch out, but also get sick with a black leg. In case of infection, the stalk becomes thin, discolored and falls off. When black fallen stems appear among the seedlings, they are immediately pulled out and discarded. Healthy seedlings are transplanted into new soil.
Top dressing
If the soil is prepared correctly, no fertilization is necessary. If outwardly the seedlings look unattractive, you should think about feeding.The seedlings are fed 3 times, each time applying different fertilizers.
During the first feeding, 4 grams of superphosphate and 2 grams of ammonium nitrate and potassium sulfate are diluted in one liter of water. It is carried out when 7-10 days have passed after the pick.
During the second feeding, the dose of the above ingredients is doubled. It is started in 2 weeks.
The last feeding is carried out 2-3 days before planting seedlings in open ground. This should include ammonium nitrate, potassium sulfate, superphosphate (5, 8 and 3 grams).
Those who prefer to grow natural products, without chemicals, should feed the seedlings organic fertilizers.
Hardening of seedlings
Thanks to hardening, the seedlings will have a powerful root system, the seedlings will take root more easily when planted in the ground. Therefore, before planting seedlings in open ground, they begin to harden it. First, in the room where the seedlings are located, they open the window for several hours. Then the containers with seedlings are taken out to the balcony for 2 hours. And before landing in the ground, it is left on the balcony for 3-4 days.
Lighting
Cabbage seedlings need a constant source of light. If it is cloudy outside, it is supplemented with fluorescent lamps. If all recommendations are followed, the seedlings will be strong. Healthy seedlings have a dark green color, developed roots and 4-7 formed leaves. If the rules for caring for seedlings are violated, she can get sick. The disease itself will not be able to pass, therefore it is necessary to save the seedlings.
If cabbage seedlings are overpowered by a black leg, the soil in a container for growing seeds is dried and loosened, and the seedlings are sprinkled with ash. With root rot, seedlings are treated with rhizoplan or trichodermin. Do not worry that these drugs will harm the cabbage. These drugs are environmentally friendly. They can easily cope with pathogens. Rizoplan helps seedlings to assimilate iron, so they will have a strong immunity to the black leg disease. If a cruciferous flea is introduced into the seedlings, it is treated with Intavir.
