How to properly grow Chinese cabbage in a greenhouse. The nuances of growing Chinese cabbage in a greenhouse: what rules must be followed? Growing and caring for Chinese cabbage

Domestic gardeners are increasingly interested in growing Chinese cabbage and are gradually planting their gardens and greenhouses with this crop. “Beijing” has won the sympathy of gardeners with its high yield and rapid ripening, allowing for 2 or even 3 harvests per season. In addition, its heads are very tasty and healthy; they diversify the daily menu and add an interesting note even to familiar cabbage dishes.

Owners of heated greenhouses are especially fond of “Peking”, because by creating optimal conditions for this crop, you can get the earliest harvest and enjoy fresh herbs when other vegetables are still on the way. Thus, growing Chinese cabbage in greenhouses very promising.

Features of growing Chinese cabbage in a greenhouse

You can start planting “Peking” in heated greenhouses from the beginning of March or even a little earlier, and in unheated greenhouses - at the end of March and beginning of April. Cabbage is usually sown in rows, using 1-2 grams of seeds per 1 square meter of plot. In this case, the seeds are planted in the soil to a depth of 1-1.5 cm, sprinkled with earth and watered well. After sowing, it is necessary to set the temperature in the greenhouse to +20 degrees until the seedlings appear, and when the seedlings sprout, the temperature should be gradually increased to +10 degrees and maintained for 5-6 days. Next, you can set a stable temperature - no higher than +22 degrees during the day, and no lower than +16 degrees at night.

You can also grow Chinese cabbage in a greenhouse through seedlings. In this case, the seeds are germinated in individual containers or specially prepared beds covered with film. At the age of 20 days, the seedlings are transplanted into the soil in a greenhouse at a distance of 30-40 cm between plants and 50 cm between rows.

Care and feeding

In addition to maintaining optimal temperature conditions, Chinese cabbage requires regular watering. This crop loves moisture, but waterlogging of the soil is detrimental to it, so it needs to be watered as the top layer of soil dries out, using warm water.

In addition, the “Peking” does not tolerate too dense plantings, since in such conditions it develops poorly and gets sick. Many gardeners intentionally plant cabbage quite densely, and as the plants grow, they simply thin them out several times. This allows you to leave the strongest shoots in the beds and gradually increase the feeding area of the “Beijing” to the required parameters. It is also important to regularly remove weeds, which not only thicken plantings and deplete the soil, but are also often breeding grounds for diseases and pests.

As for fertilizing, Chinese cabbage responds well to organic, nitrogen and potassium fertilizers. During the growing season, 1-2 feedings are carried out, alternating organic matter and minerals. However, it is worth considering that Pekin, like other leafy vegetables, is prone to the accumulation of nitrates, so it is better not to get carried away with artificial fertilizers and chemicals for pest control.

Growing Chinese cabbage in a greenhouse is a task that even beginners in gardening can handle. By following the rules for caring for this crop, you can get an excellent harvest without much effort.

In the greenhouse, too much more convenient for the same reason. During a certain period of growth, it needs different temperature conditions, which is very difficult to provide at home. And high-quality seedlings are the key to a good harvest. Let's look at how cabbage is grown further.

Find out about those that can be grown in a greenhouse on our website.

Cabbage varieties

By all accounts, in the greenhouse It is better to grow early varieties cabbage They can be used not only in salads and cooking, but also fermented. The earliest ripening white cabbage is “Ditmar Early”. It produces its first harvest 50-70 days after the seedlings are planted.

A round, slightly flattened head of cabbage can weigh up to 1.5 kg. You can remove up to 40 kg from 10 sq. m. The most common variety in gardeners' greenhouses.

The variety “Golden Hectare 1432” does not crack and is very tasty. Ripens within 105-130 days after the first shoots appear. Kochany are white and grow up to 3 kg. Suitable for salads, hot cooking and pickling.

The variety “Number One K-206” produces a good harvest; it is ready for harvest 100-120 days after the appearance of the first shoots. Productivity up to 40 kg/10 sq. m, heads weighing up to 2 kg. You can also choose early hybrid varieties of cabbage, bred by foreign breeders - Dutch, French, Polish, etc.

Planting and care

Grow cabbage in a greenhouse even a beginner can do it vegetable grower. The technology for growing early cabbage in a greenhouse is not complicated. It is enough to follow the rules and know some of the subtleties of caring for it. When to plant cabbage seedlings in a greenhouse?

The seeds are sown in February, in a greenhouse seedlings are planted in mid-April. Some, the most daring specialists, sow seeds in December, illuminating the seedlings with phytolamps, and receive a harvest in early June.

Seeds

Even in a greenhouse cabbage is grown only from seedlings. How to grow early cabbage seedlings in a greenhouse? To get strong seedlings, you need to choose and plant the seeds correctly. You should choose the largest and darkest ones.

Before planting, they must be treated - first 20 minutes in hot water (up to 50°C), then dipped in cold water for several minutes and dried. As a preventive measure for fungal diseases, they can be treat with nitrophoska solution.

Planting seeds

It is best to sow seeds for seedlings in steam beds or greenhouses. When growing cabbage seedlings in a greenhouse, biofuel is most often used. To prepare a steam bed, you need in the ground dig a trench up to 30 cm deep and 100-120 cm wide. Biofuel is placed at the bottom and covered with earth on top. For seedlings, the most suitable substrate is made of equal parts of turf soil, peat and sand.

Seedling care

How to grow cabbage seedlings in an unheated greenhouse or under film? Seeds are planted in soil heated to 20°C to a depth of 1 cm. A frame with a film at least 30 cm high is installed on top. The first shoots hatch within 4 days, this means that you can open the greenhouse during the daytime to harden the seedlings. Watering the seedlings is not yet recommended. After the first leaf appears, the temperature should be raised by 2-3°C until it reaches 10-12°C.

When the first 1-2 leaves appear, seedlings needs to be thinned out and begin active watering and fertilizing of seedlings. During her growth feed 3 times.

The first time they are fed with a mixture of phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen fertilizers, the second time - only nitrogen, and the third time - before planting the seedlings in the greenhouse - they are again fed with a nitrogen-potassium-phosphorus mixture. Watering is carried out daily in the morning.

Transplanting seedlings into a greenhouse

The most important thing is that you have already grown the seedlings. There is very little left, the main troubles are behind us. Before planting seedlings in the greenhouse, the soil is prepared. In addition, the greenhouse must be equipped with lamps for additional illumination.

Growing cabbage seedlings, proven method to create optimal conditions, which is increasingly gaining popularity among gardeners and summer residents.

The soil

Cabbage is a plant that loves a lot of water, so the soil for it should be dense and retain moisture well. It’s better to start preparing it in the fall - dig it up properly, no less than a spade’s length, and at the same time apply fertilizer. This can be compost humus or manure and mineral fertilizers. Cabbage does not like acidic soils, therefore, if necessary, liming should be carried out in the fall.

You cannot plant cabbage on the same land year after year. Crop rotation must be observed, otherwise you won’t get a good harvest.

The best predecessors for it are cucumbers, potatoes, onions or legumes; after them, many useful substances remain in the ground.

Transplanting

Transplantation into the greenhouse is done when the sprouts have formed 4 leaves, it looks strong and has green-purple color. If the sprouts are light green, this indicates their weakness and unreadiness for transplantation.

A few days before landing the seedlings need to be hardened off a little. To do this, the daytime temperature in the greenhouse is reduced to 16-18°C, and the night temperature to 12°C. It is also regularly ventilated. It is better to survive seedlings by transshipment, without shaking off the earthen lump from the roots, so as not to damage them. A hole is made in the ground, watered with water and fertilizer.

A seedling is lowered into the hole, the earth around it is compacted tightly, which ensures maximum contact of roots with soil. There should be a distance of at least 30 cm between seedlings. Watering cabbage should begin a week after planting, when the seedlings have taken root well.

Care

Caring for cabbage in a greenhouse consists of regular watering, loosening the soil, fertilizing and maintaining temperature and light conditions. Cabbage is very light-loving, daylight hours for her should be 14-17 hours. If necessary, it needs to be illuminated.

The temperature for normal growth and maturation is maintained at 16-20°C. Cabbage once every 2 weeks fed with manure dissolved in water. The required humidity is 70-80%, watering should be regular and plentiful.

Types of cabbage

Although white cabbage holds the lead, it is still not the only one. Now in vegetable gardens you can often see beds with broccoli, Chinese cabbage and cauliflower. Them too can be successfully grown in a greenhouse.

Beijing

Wonderful slaw - Beijing- precocious, her can be collected in 40-80 days after emergence. The conditions for growing Chinese cabbage in a greenhouse are temperature 16-18°C, loose fertile soil.

Shoots appear at a temperature of 20°C, then it is reduced to 10°C. Seedlings grow for 20 days at a daytime temperature of 22°C and a nighttime temperature of 16°C. 20-day-old seedlings are transplanted into a greenhouse.

Chinese cabbage needs frequent watering, optimal humidity is 70-80%. Planting is carried out according to the 20x20 pattern. Fertilize with superphosphates, humus, ammonia fertilizers and potassium chloride three times from planting seedlings to harvesting.

It is often planted in a greenhouse along with cucumbers and tomatoes as a “sealant”. A head of cabbage of medium density weighing 300 g is considered ripe. With proper care you can collect up to 8 kg from 1 sq. m.

Broccoli

Recently, nutritionists strongly advise including broccoli in your diet. Some they call it a “rejuvenating” vegetable for the content of methionine and choline in it, which prevent the accumulation of “bad” cholesterol in the body. The richest set of microelements and vitamins makes it an invaluable product on our table.

The process of growing broccoli in a greenhouse is no more difficult than growing regular cabbage. It can be sown as seeds in a greenhouse as early as March (it is quite frost-resistant). Seeds germinate fairly quickly, and after 10-12 days the seedlings already have 3-4 leaves.

Temperature range: 18°C during the day and 12°C at night. The soil is prepared in the fall - it is dug up and fertilized with superphosphate, organic matter, ammonium nitrate and potassium salts, and limed if necessary.

Further care consists of loosening, weeding and deep watering (at least 40 cm). Before the flowers bloom it is necessary to cut off the central heads, which grew to 10-12 cm in diameter, while taking 10 cm of the stem.

The heads and stem are quite edible, but if they grow further, they will become loose and tasteless. Pruning will give the children the opportunity to grow - small offspring up to 6 cm.

Colored

This the most demanding species cabbage But it is easier to grow it in a greenhouse than in open ground, because you can create optimal temperature and humidity conditions. The soil and air temperature should not exceed 16-18°C, and humidity should be high. If these conditions are not met, its head of cabbage will lose density and begin to crumble. The greenhouse must be ventilated regularly.

Eat features in feeding cauliflower. Cauliflower in a greenhouse does not tolerate nitrogen and potassium fertilizers well. A good composition would be mullein infusion with the addition of superphosphate, potassium sulfate and urea. For the second feeding this composition is required add ammonium molybdate and boric acid.

Molybdenum is necessary cauliflower, otherwise its head will be rougher and change color to yellow-green or even yellow-blue. A ripe healthy head of cabbage weighs about 400-500 g.

Some may think that too much trouble and effort needs to be put in to grow a good harvest of cabbage in a greenhouse. But you must agree that growing costs early cabbage in the greenhouse worth it so that already in the first months of summer your plate will have fresh, full of vitamins, delicious cabbage. Good luck to everyone and bon appetit!

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The relatively recently appeared Chinese cabbage (not to be confused with Chinese cabbage and leaf cabbage) immediately fell in love with housewives. The foreign guest is gradually winning a place for herself in the garden beds of summer cottages. Growing Chinese cabbage is a profitable business if you carefully follow the agricultural technology of the crop. The high rate of mass growth and good yield of tasty Pekinka also contribute to its spread in vegetable gardens.

Growing seedlings

Self-growing Chinese cabbage from seeds is available to beginning gardeners. Petsai is grown in seedlings and without seedlings. With the correct choice of variety, proper cultivation of seedlings and good care, getting two harvests per season is quite possible.

When to sow seeds

Peking seeds are sown for seedlings a month before planting in open ground. Approximately the sowing schedule looks like this:

South - late March - early April and from the second ten days of August to mid-September for autumn-winter consumption.
In the Moscow region and the central zone - from April 15 to 20 and August 20-25.
In the Urals and Siberia, sowing for greenhouse cultivation takes place in early March, and in early May for open ground; for winter consumption, seeds are sown in the second or third decade of July.

Seed preparation

Pre-sowing treatment at home is necessary for Chinese cabbage seeds collected independently. Seeds produced by agricultural companies and purchased through the distribution network have already gone through all stages of preparation, as the manufacturer indicates on the packaging.

Stages of preparing Chinese cabbage seeds: Hardening. The seeds are kept in hot water (50°C) for 2-3 minutes, then in very cold water, and then dried. Disinfection. Use a solution of “Fitosporin-M”, “Maxim-Dachnik”, the preparation and exposure time are indicated in the instructions. You can pickle the seeds with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour. Soaking in a growth stimulator. For these purposes, prepare solutions of “Zircon”, “Epin” or home remedies - honey, aloe.

Selection of capacity

When selecting a container for germinating seeds and growing seedlings, take into account the characteristics of Chinese cabbage seedlings:

fragile roots and delicate, easily damaged leaves;
picking stops growth slightly, forming a thick stem;
Picked seedlings take root more easily after planting in a permanent place, but the risk of bolting increases.

Experienced summer residents recommend sowing seeds in separate cups or peat tablets to avoid picking.

You can use any containers for growing seedlings: disposable plastic containers, cups, special pallets, seedling boxes for germinating a large number of seeds. All of them have common requirements:

presence of drainage holes;
disinfection before use.

Priming

To grow seedlings, the soil requires light, nutritious and well-ventilated soil. If you take a purchased universal one for seedlings, add sand or another loosening component and fertilizer to it according to the scheme below. The soil mixture is also prepared independently, choosing the appropriate option:

leaf (turf) soil, humus or vermicompost, river sand (perlite or sawdust) 1:2:1;
garden soil, ash, lime, sand 20:5:1:1;
coconut substrate, turf soil, peat in equal parts.

The components are thoroughly mixed, disinfected and fertilizers are added per 10 kg:

urea or ammonium nitrate - 15-20 g;
superphosphate in granules - 20-25 g;
potassium sulfate - 10 g;
lime (if not included in the soil mixture) - 25 g.

It is allowed to add 35 g of nitroammophoska instead of compound fertilizer. When the substrate dries after disinfection, treatment is carried out with fungicides - phytosporin or other preparations prepared according to the manufacturer's instructions. Then the wet mixture is sprinkled with powdered EM preparations.

Seed planting scheme

For seedling boxes, the optimal sowing pattern is row, with a distance between grooves of 3-5 cm.
The interval between seeds is maintained at 1.5-2 cm.
2-3 seeds are sown in pots, cups or peat tablets in order to subsequently remove weaker shoots.
Seed placement depth - 1 cm.

Seedling care

Containers with sown seeds are immediately covered with glass or covered with transparent film to maintain greenhouse conditions. The most important part of seedling care is maintaining the temperature regime, since different stages of its development require different air and soil temperatures:

before emergence, soil temperature is 18-20°C, air temperature is 7-10°C;
For seedlings up to 15 days of age, the soil temperature is maintained at about 15-17°C during the day, 10-12°C at night, the air temperature does not change.

Seedlings need long daylight hours - up to 15 hours a day. If it is cloudy outside, illuminate the seedlings throughout the day. Water the seedlings moderately, making sure that the substrate does not dry out completely. A dry surface is a signal to water.

4 days before transplanting the seedlings into a greenhouse or open ground, watering is stopped.

Beijing seedlings do not need feeding, since all the necessary nutrients were added when preparing the substrate. Hardening off of seedlings begins 10-14 days before the planned transplanting to the beds.

Picking

When growing seedlings in seedling boxes, picking cannot be avoided. The sooner a procedure that is unpleasant for the crop is carried out, the less chance there is of harming the delicate shoots. Seedlings dive at the stage of 2 true leaves. Process algorithm:

The soil is well moistened.
Prepare cups for picked seedlings.
Using a spatula or teaspoon, the seedlings are removed from the seedling box, keeping the earthen ball.
Place the plants in cups or pots and cover them with soil to the base of the cotyledon leaves.
For the first 2-3 days, seedlings are shaded from direct sunlight.

The correct choice of timing for sowing seeds will allow you to avoid picking, when bushes are planted directly from a common box or bed into a permanent place.

Planting seedlings in open ground

To successfully grow Chinese cabbage in open ground, it is not enough to have strong, healthy planting material. The agricultural technology for planting seedlings is not complicated, but following it guarantees that the heads of cabbage will turn out tasty, juicy, and the cabbage will not go into arrows - it will not start to bloom, it will not get sick.

Landing dates

Seedlings are planted in open ground at the age of one month from emergence. By this time, 5-6 true leaves have been formed. Approximate dates:

Southern regions: late April - early May and mid-September - early October;
Moscow region and the Middle zone: the second ten days of May and the third - September;
Siberia and the Urals: the first days of April - in greenhouses, the beginning of June and mid-August - in unprotected beds.

Selecting a location

The best place for growing Chinese cabbage is well-lit beds where potatoes, legumes, onions or garlic, carrots, and cucumbers previously grew. It is important that the moisture of natural precipitation does not stagnate on them, and that the groundwater lies deep.

Ideally, if dill, tomatoes or horseradish grow in the neighborhood - such neighbors repel insects that harm cabbage.

Soil preparation

With proper care, Petsai produces an excellent harvest in any type of soil with a neutral pH. But experienced summer residents recommend light, fertile soils with good moisture permeability - loams.

The beds are prepared in advance, in the fall for spring planting and in the spring for summer planting. The soil is carefully dug up, removing roots and dry plant remains of predecessors. Before winter, add humus or compost.

The beds for Chinese cabbage are made narrow - two or three rows long, with deep grooves dug on the sides to drain excess moisture.

Immediately before planting the seedlings, prepare holes corresponding to the size of the cups where the seedlings grow; superphosphate, urea and wood ash - 1 tbsp each - are placed on the bottom. spoon.

Landing technology

The optimal planting scheme for Chinese cabbage depends on the cabbage variety:

salad varieties are planted according to the pattern 25-30 × 25-30 cm;
cabbage - according to the pattern 50×50 cm.

Immediately before planting, the holes are slightly moistened. The seedlings, along with a lump of earth, are carefully removed from the cup, lowered into the hole and covered. Water moderately under the root with warm water, pouring it out in a thin stream.

Caring for Chinese cabbage

Petsaya seedlings planted according to the rules develop in the beds without creating problems for summer residents.

The optimal growth temperature is 13-25°C. During spring planting, the cabbage beds are covered with lutrasil at night for the first two weeks. The fabric will not only protect against return frosts, but will also create an obstacle to the penetration of the cruciferous flea beetle.

Black agrofibre also helps regulate the length of daylight, which is important in the north of the middle zone and in some areas of Siberia and the Urals.

After 12-15 days, the beds are mulched. The procedure is important not only to protect the soil from drying out, but also provides aeration of the root system and makes it difficult for weeds to grow.

Watering

Newly planted seedlings are watered moderately, daily, but depending on the weather: waterlogging of the soil provokes many diseases. After a week, they switch to watering once a week, pouring water only on dry soil. Water for irrigation is taken from rain heated by the sun. The optimal time for watering is early morning or at sunset.

Feeding

Only organic fertilizers are applied, one liter per plant:

bird droppings 1:20;
mullein 1:10;
herbal infusions 1:9.

Mineral fertilizers are not applied, since Chinese cabbage perfectly accumulates them in the leaves. To ensure that the heads of cabbage are formed strong, spray:

boric acid - 2 g;
hot water - 1 l;
cold water - 9 l.

Growing without seedlings

The high growth and ripening rates of Chinese cabbage make it possible to plant it without seedlings in almost any region. Optimal timing for sowing seeds in open beds: late April - early May in the south; end of June – first half of July - other regions. The soil is prepared in the same way as for planting seedlings. The holes are made shallow - the seeding depth is no more than 2 cm. Half a liter of humus or compost is placed in each hole, and 2 tablespoons are added. ash and spilled with water. Plant 2-3 seeds. The layout of planting points is similar to that for seedlings. 2-3 days after the emergence of seedlings, they are thinned out, leaving the strongest shoots, and after three weeks the seedlings are hilled up and mulched. Further cultivation of Chinese cabbage and caring for it are completely the same as described above.

Features of growing in a greenhouse

When grown in greenhouses, seeds are usually sown directly into the ground. The technology corresponds to that for seedling boxes, but the distance between the grooves is increased up to 2-3 times. Late varieties are sown according to the seedless cultivation scheme.

Optimal timing for sowing seeds:

heated greenhouses - end of March;
film shelters - end of April;
for winter storage - late July or early August.

Pests and diseases

The most annoying things to plant are pet slugs and cruciferous flea beetles. The former are combated using various traps, or by mulching the soil with eggshells, dry mustard or hot pepper. It is much more difficult to fight flea beetles, which is why summer residents strictly adhere to planting dates: before and after the mass appearance of the pest. To prevent flea beetle attacks, plants are powdered with wood ash and tobacco dust, covered with spunbond, and mixed plantings are used - aromatic herbs and insecticidal flowers are sown in the rows and along the edges of the beds. It is possible to use bio-insecticides “Fitoverm” or “Bitoxibacillin”. As a last resort, it is permissible to use “Aktara” or “Inta-Vira”, but no later than a month before harvest.

Common diseases:

"Blackleg". It usually affects seedlings when temperature and humidity conditions are not observed or when plantings are dense. Disinfection of soil and seeds serves to prevent the disease.

Kila. A bacterial disease manifested by thickenings on the roots that deform blood vessels. Nutrients do not reach the leaves, the cabbage turns yellow and dries. The reasons for the appearance are waterlogging or acidification of the soil, sowing of infected seeds.

Gray mold. It affects heads of cabbage at the ripening stage or during storage. The main symptom is brown spots on the leaves, which over time become covered with a gray coating. To treat cabbage plantings, they are sprayed with bio-fungicides.

Possible problems during cultivation

In addition to pests and diseases, when growing Chinese cabbage, a summer resident is faced with the problem of flowering - the ejection of a peduncle instead of the formation of a head of cabbage. To avoid trouble, you should strictly adhere to the timing of planting petsaya: it is the hot weather of July and the first half of August that leads to the plant blooming and not forming the desired head of cabbage.

The length of daylight also matters, so experienced gardeners recommend covering spring plantings with black agrofibre. The longer the daylight hours, the more chances the cabbage has to produce a peduncle.

Harvest and storage

Pekinka is harvested as the heads of cabbage reach their characteristic density and in accordance with the varietal ripening periods. Summer heads of cabbage should not be kept in the beds. There is no need to rush into the autumn harvest: petsai can withstand frosts down to -4°C, although this has a negative effect on keeping quality. Heads of cabbage are harvested in dry weather, after waiting for the dew to dry completely - droplets of moisture can cause damage to the vegetable.

The harvest harvested in the fall is stored. With a properly organized process, Pekinka is stored for 2 months without losing its nutritional and beneficial properties. Summer residents have two common storage methods:

Intact dry heads of cabbage along with roots are buried in damp sand and stored in a dry, cold basement or cellar;
The heads of cabbage are wrapped in cling film and kept in cool, dry rooms: pantries, basements.

Experienced summer residents do not store heads of Chinese cabbage next to apples, since such proximity does not benefit either one or the other.

Growing Chinese cabbage requires a lot of attention. However, the nutritional value of the vegetable, its beneficial properties and dietary qualities outweigh the difficulties, and Pekinka is increasingly grown in vegetable gardens, cottages and personal plots.

You rarely see Chinese cabbage in our gardens. However, it has plenty of advantages: it ripens early, is stored for a long time, and tastes good. To treat yourself to fresh Chinese cabbage leaves, you need to take care of the seedlings. Caring for her is easy. It grows well both in a greenhouse and in open beds. I’ll tell you about everything in detail so that the harvest will definitely please you.

What is good about Chinese cabbage?

In appearance, Chinese cabbage is more like a salad: its leaf blades are arranged in a rosette, which is often called a head of cabbage.

A head of Chinese cabbage grows from 10 cm to half a meter.
The leaf blades from which the head of cabbage is formed can vary in color from yellowish-white to light green.
Each leaf has succulent veins and a petiole at the base.

You can eat Chinese cabbage either fresh or processed - stewed, fermented, salted, pickled, added to a variety of dishes.

Chinese cabbage is not only quite tasty, but also healthy. Fresh leaves preserve and cleanse blood vessels from cholesterol, enrich the body with microelements and vitamins.

Thanks to the special consistency of the leaves, Chinese cabbage can be stored for quite a long period of time.
Heads of cabbage are easy to transport over long distances - that’s why the bulk of Chinese cabbage on our shelves comes from abroad.

39-42 days – for early cultivars,
58-62 – for medium ones,
72-75 – for the later ones.

Growing Chinese cabbage through seedlings

Regardless of where you are going to grow Chinese cabbage - in a greenhouse or open ground - you need to take care of the seedlings.

Sowing time for seedlings

Sowing seeds for seedlings should be done in March or April .
You can sow seeds in July-August to plant cabbage on the plot closer to autumn in the second batch.

In the Moscow region and central Russia, seeds are usually sown in the second part of April or in the first part of August.
In the Urals and Siberia - at the end of March, when planting in open ground in May and in a greenhouse - at the end of April.
You can re-sow the seeds for seedlings at the end of July.
In the south, seedlings can be sown at the end of February and again at the end of August.

Varieties of Chinese cabbage for open ground:

Beijing Express - producing light green heads of cabbage, elongated in shape, juicy and reaching a weight of 2 kn. The variety can be grown both in the Moscow region and in Siberia.
Marfa - characterized by early ripening, the harvest can be harvested 42-44 days after emergence. Tolerates lack of light and unfavorable seasonal conditions. Produces heads weighing about 1 kg.

Soil for Chinese cabbage seedlings

To sow seeds and grow seedlings, you need to select the most loose soil possible.

Sowing and germination of seeds

I sow the seeds in the soil to a depth of 1 cm to 1.5 cm.
I plant 3 seeds in each container, and then I select one of them, the most well-developed plant.
Before emergence, it should be placed in a dark and warm place (in an apartment this is a pantry).
It is important to monitor soil moisture, keeping it slightly moist by spraying with a spray bottle.

Seedling care

As soon as the seedlings appear, the containers with the sown seeds should be moved to the southern windowsill.
The temperature in the room where the seedlings grow should be maintained at +22 °C, not lower than +14 °C.
Water only with a spray bottle with water at room temperature as the soil dries.

Planting Chinese cabbage in open ground

Planting is carried out in holes, trying to plant cabbage the same way it previously grew in containers.

Before planting, Chinese cabbage seedlings must be hardened off for a week.
Transplantation of seedlings into the ground is carried out when 2 pairs of true leaves appear on the seedlings.
The seedlings should be about a month old at that time.
It is advisable to plant around mid-May (average dates for all zones).

Preparing soil for Chinese cabbage

The soil in the garden bed for Chinese cabbage must be prepared in advance:

dig with a full bayonet of a shovel,
loosen,
level,
add 1 tsp. nitroammophoska per 1 m² of soil.

How to quickly improve soil fertility in garden beds?

The fertility of the soil on the site is largely influenced by its qualitative properties: moisture capacity, acidity, air permeability, density. To change the composition and properties of the soil without hard work and serious costs, pay attention to the ready-made vegetable soil .

Ready-made specialized plant soils contain peat and sand in the required proportions and can be saturated with mineral fertilizers. Due to the balanced composition and physical properties of plant soils, they significantly improve soil fertility in any area.

Caring for Chinese cabbage in open ground

Further care is standard - watering, loosening the soil, weed control, fertilizing.

You can water it once every 6-7 days, pouring water at room temperature under the root.
After watering, it is advisable to loosen the soil to prevent the formation of a soil crust.

It is advisable to feed 3 times per season:

The first feeding is given 2 weeks after planting the seedlings in open ground: you can add nitroammophoska diluted with 1 tsp. in a bucket of water per 1 m² of soil,
the second feeding is carried out 15 days after the first: preferably with wood ash (200 g per bucket of water, the norm per 1 m²),
the third feeding is carried out after another 15 days: with wood ash in the same volume.

Planting Chinese cabbage seedlings in a greenhouse

Planting in a greenhouse and caring for Chinese cabbage in a greenhouse is practically no different. Care is the same as in open ground, feeding is the same and in the same volume. Again, you need to monitor the plants; if they develop normally, then perhaps there is no need for fertilizing; the initial filling of the soil will be enough.

You can plant Chinese cabbage seedlings in a greenhouse earlier, as soon as the soil in it warms up to about +15 °C and the air to +20 °C:

in a heated greenhouse - in late March ,
in unheated - in the beginning of April .

Varieties of Chinese cabbage for the greenhouse:

Spring beauty - white heads of cabbage when cut, reaching a weight of two kilograms;
Spring jade - a disease-resistant hybrid with no flowering, producing large heads weighing up to three kilograms;
Stonefly - a leaf variety that produces a harvest after a record 35 days;
First vitamins - a hybrid that is resistant to temperature changes and flowering, producing an early harvest of round heads of cabbage;
September - a hybrid that produces truly delicious heads of cabbage, pale green in color, weighing about one and a half kilograms;
Autumn jade - a hybrid that forms elongated heads of cabbage, weighing about three kilograms;
Autumn beauty - a cold-resistant hybrid that produces heads weighing about 2.5 kilograms.

Control of diseases and pests of Chinese cabbage

In a greenhouse and in open ground, Chinese cabbage can be attacked by pests or diseases.

The most common pests are:

aphids - plants should be sprayed with onion infusion;
cabbage flies, summer and spring - dusting plants with tobacco dust;
cabbage moth - control with biological products;
cruciferous flea beetle - spraying plants with garlic infusion;
whitewash - treatment of plants with mustard infusion;
thrips - treating plants with red pepper powder.

Among the diseases that damage Chinese cabbage are:

bacterial rot – treatment with “Binoram”;
powdery mildew - treatment with infusion of wood ash.

Harvesting and storing Chinese cabbage

Heads of Chinese cabbage are collected as they ripen. The timing directly depends on the variety (early, middle or late) and the planting period - you need to be guided by this and independently choose the harvesting date.

Cabbage planted in the second half of the summer season usually begins to be harvested in September - the beginning, middle or end of the month.
Here you need to be careful and be sure to harvest the entire harvest before the onset of frost and prevent the heads of cabbage from freezing and over-ripening.

How to store

About 5 days before harvesting, the plants should not be watered - such heads of cabbage will last longer.

Chinese cabbage will be preserved for a long time if fresh heads are wrapped in cling film and placed in the refrigerator. Before doing this, it is advisable to cool for a couple of hours without the film, then condensation will not form under it, and the heads of cabbage will last longer.
Without packaging, the heads of cabbage will stay fresh for a couple of weeks, in film about twice as long.
If you want to preserve the heads of cabbage for as long as possible, then they should be dug out of the soil with roots and stored in a basement or box with soil.

Chinese cabbage, daikon planting in August. Daikon roots have antiseptic and bactericidal properties, which makes them an effective remedy for fighting colds and infectious diseases. Daikon can be used to combat atherosclerosis and rheumatism. Unlike its relatives - horseradish and radish - daikon contains extremely little mustard oils and glycosides, so it does not stimulate cardiac activity and can be consumed by everyone without exception.

Thanks to its high content of vitamins, daikon strengthens the immune system, and its phytoncides kill germs. Daikon removes excess fluid from the body, cleanses the liver and kidneys, stimulates the stomach and intestines, and is even able to dissolve gallstones. Some researchers claim that raw daikon neutralizes the effects of radioactive radiation. Daikon roots and greens are recommended for weight loss.

Early cabbage in the south of Russia Educational film

Film produced by VTRK "LUCH". Applications for shooting videos and videos, posting on the Internet should be sent to: [email protected]
The film is about how to grow a good harvest of early cabbage and get high profits. Seeds, agricultural technology, catalog of varieties.

(discussion of the peculiarities of growing vegetable crops)

Light	Cabbage is photophilous and loves open southern and southeastern slopes.
Ph soil acidity	6,7-7,4
Watering Chinese cabbage	Chinese cabbage loves frequent watering by sprinkling.
Preparing for landing	Chinese cabbage seeds are not soaked before sowing.
Fertilizers	The area for cabbage is prepared in the fall by adding liming agents. Fertilizers for cabbage are applied in the spring: organics- 1 bucket per 1 m² and in each hole 2 tablespoons of superphosphate, 2 cups of wood ash, 1 teaspoon of urea. In the phase of two true leaves, the first foliar feeding is done. seedlings cabbage To do this, half a tablet of microelements or half a teaspoon of complex fertilizers with microelements are diluted in 1 liter of water, and the seedlings are sprayed with this solution.
Good predecessors	Good precursors for cabbage can be green manure, carrots, potatoes, onions, legumes, grains, and cucumbers.
Bad Predecessors	Predecessors for cabbage cannot be cabbage, beets, tomatoes, turnips, radishes, radishes. You can return cabbage to the garden only after 4 years.
Cabbage planting time	Sow Chinese cabbage seeds in early spring in greenhouses or in beds under film.
Planting scheme	Chinese cabbage seeds are sown according to the pattern: 20x12 cm.
Planting depth	Cabbage seeds are planted in moist soil to a depth of 1.5 cm.
Problems	Diseases and pests of cabbage: blackleg, clubroot, mucous bacteriosis, downy mildew (peronospora), cruciferous flea beetles, cabbage fly, snails, slugs, aphids, cabbage cutworm and white moth. Many diseases and pests can be controlled folk remedies. Many plants in joint plantings are able to take care of their neighbors and protect their.
Care and cultivation	20 days after planting, the cabbage is earthed up. Repeat the hilling after another 10 days. Plants and soil in the garden bed can be dusted with wood ash(1 cup per 1 m²) from pests and as a top dressing.
Varieties of Chinese cabbage	Cabbage varieties: Glass, Nozaki, Champion, Khibinskaya (Povir)

Text: Elizaveta Yurieva

Early greenhouses can be used starting from the end of February, medium (semi-warm) - from mid-March; late (cold) - from late March to early April.

Any gardener tries to think through the plantings in the greenhouse so that the land is not empty. Crops that are grown in greenhouses are divided into preceding, main, intermediate or compacting and winter crops.

The preceding ones include cold-resistant early-ripening vegetable and green crops: spinach, all kinds of salads and salad vegetables, including Chinese cabbage, mustard, dill, radish, early carrots.

The main ones are heat-loving and slow-ripening tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, eggplants. Seedlings of the main crop can be planted according to the previous crop. For example, tomatoes can be planted mustard. As the planted seedlings of the main crop grow, the previous one is removed.

Compact and fast-ripening species can be planted as compactors along the edges of greenhouse beds or between rows of the main crop: lettuce, watercress, mustard, radish, Chinese cabbage. You can also plant onions or rhubarb and root vegetables for the sake of forcing greens. All this is planted until the main crop has grown and completely occupied the required food area. Then, as the catch crop is harvested, the main crop remains in favorable conditions for growth and development.

Winter crops complete the season in the greenhouse: valerian, parsnip, chicory, sorrel.

Our gardeners fell in love with Chinese cabbage, but before they didn’t want to buy it, so they put it on sale under the guise of salad. But such a small deception only benefited her. People fell in love with Chinese cabbage - it turned out that it is a very tasty and very healthy vegetable, healthier than lettuce.

Chinese cabbage can be boiled and stewed, or eaten fresh, like lettuce. Or add to salads with mayonnaise. Chinese cabbage contains important vitamins and minerals, as well as amino acids that help the body function normally (potassium, calcium and iron salts, up to 3.5% protein, 50-60 mg/100 g of vitamin C). The most suitable conditions for its growth: low temperature - 16-20 degrees, short daylight hours. Therefore, the temperature regime of the Leningrad region is very suitable for growing this cabbage. There are no special problems with the sun either - in May-June there is usually enough of it, and in our latitudes it is not so bright as to depress plants. The only problem is that Chinese cabbage blooms quickly in our white nights.

I started working with Chinese cabbage about 15 years ago. At that time there were no modern varieties, which hardly shoot during our white nights, and we had to sow Chinese varieties, which bloomed when sowed in spring. This problem was gradually overcome by the following methods: sowing in early spring, while the nights are long enough. Or in the second half of summer, when the white nights ended. Spring sowing is good because you can get an early harvest of vitamin-rich greens, earlier than the lettuce harvest. You also need to take measures for the rapid growth of greenery during spring planting: when planting Chinese cabbage seedlings, try not to disturb the roots so that the plants do not waste time restoring them, and plant the plants in fertile soil so that the roots do not have to waste time searching for nutrients in the soil . And one more thing: you should not thicken the crops, because this also provokes flowering of the plants. And, of course, it is important to choose a variety that is resistant to flowering.

Modern varieties and hybrids of Chinese cabbage.

In recent years, Dutch hybrids of the F1 type Bilko and Manoko have appeared, which produce beautiful, tight, long heads of cabbage weighing up to 2 kg and almost do not bolt. Now these varieties are rarely on sale, so I switched to the domestic variety Vorozheya, bred here at VNIIR. N. I. Vavilova. It also has a long head of cabbage, at the top of the head of cabbage the leaves diverge a little, and shoots much less. It can be sown at any time - early spring and summer. The F1 Cha-Cha hybrid also appeared. Both varieties of Chinese cabbage are recommended as resistant to early flowering. True, in practice it turned out that their percentage of flowering plants is simply significantly lower than that of unstable varieties.

Of the new hybrids of Chinese cabbage created by the Breeding Station named after. N.N. Timofeev, the following clubroot-resistant F1 hybrids can be noted: Tenderness, Little Miracle - with a growing season of 45-55 days. Heads of cabbage weigh 300-800 g, not very dense, the leaves are juicy and fleshy. When the temperature drops below 15 degrees in early spring, they begin to bloom. Hybrid F1Hydra - resistant to clubroot and flowering, heads of cabbage with finely blistered leaves produce a head of medium density in 50-60 days. Later ripening hybrids F1 Knyazhna, Kudesnitsa, late ripening hybrid F1Nika - form dense heads of cabbage weighing more than 1.5 kg, are resistant to clubroot, the heads of cabbage are well stored.

I usually sow Chinese cabbage for the first time in early spring, in April, in a greenhouse. I sow several plants in open ground in May and June. Usually I try to give the May-June plants an artificially shortened day during the first two weeks of their life: I cover them from light in the evening and open them in the morning. During this time, they develop a program aimed at growing the head of cabbage, not the color.

I use the first Chinese cabbage plants at the stage of four to five true leaves as fresh salad. I simply thin out the crops, pulling out excess plants.

Chinese cabbage grows very intensively and interestingly: you pick one leaf from the plant, after which the next one, much larger than the previous one, quickly grows on it. The leaves are sweetish, tasty, with a subtle cabbage smell, but vegetable oil or mayonnaise, sour cream interrupt this smell.

It is better to sow Chinese cabbage for heads in the second half of July. Then any variety will not shoot, and a good dense head of cabbage will be ready by autumn.

To sow Chinese cabbage, you need to prepare a place with fertile soil, like for our ordinary cabbage. Add half to a full bucket of humus, depending on soil fertility, and a couple of tbsp. spoons of azofoska per sq. m area. Fresh manure is strictly contraindicated: you can burn the roots and the plants will be depressed. It is necessary to deoxidize the soil to pH = 5.5-7, because this cabbage, like all cruciferous vegetables, can get clubroot. To the delight of gardeners, many new varieties of Chinese cabbage are genetically resistant to clubroot.

Seeds are planted in the soil to a depth of 3-4 mm. Crops sprout very quickly - in 2-3 days, if the weather is warm - about 20 degrees. You can grow this cabbage through seedlings that are prepared in a greenhouse. Or at home on the windowsill, or in the loggia. To do this, you can sow around the middle to last ten days of April, and plant in the ground in mid-May. Since Chinese cabbage seedlings are not very happy about transplanting, it is better to grow each plant in its own container, and then do a careful transfer.

Gardeners have successful experience in growing Chinese cabbage seedlings in sawdust - in bulk, in one volume. Then the roots are almost not injured when transplanting seedlings, and the seedlings then take root easily. And they begin to sow seedlings in sawdust, sowing 2-3 seeds every 10 days.

A small nuance: Chinese cabbage seedlings planted in beds, and plants sown with seeds, grow very quickly, spreading large leaves to the sides, each of them quickly becomes a large plant, so the seeds should not be sown thickly. First, sow Chinese cabbage seeds every 10 cm, and after repeated thinning into salads, leave 35-40 cm between plants for early ripening varieties and 40-50 cm for later varieties - you will get just the thing. The second nuance: at a young age, Chinese cabbage grows very poorly if it lacks moisture. Because it has a shallow root system. Therefore, you must either plant it in a place where there is enough moisture, or water it, preventing the soil from drying out. If hot, dry weather sets in and there is no way to provide watering, it is better not to sow, wait until it gets colder or rains. Because in dry weather, cabbage will grow poorly, but the psyllid will have unbridled freedom. However, overwatering is also harmful, as the cabbage can get sick.

If the weather is sunny while Chinese cabbage is growing, the cabbage will produce wide leaves and dense heads. In the absence of sun, the leaves grow narrower, and the heads of cabbage turn out to be looser, but they still turn out.

Chinese cabbage requires good nutrition throughout the growing season, so it needs to be fed regularly. Every 2-3 weeks it is necessary to fertilize with nitrogen fertilizers. Mullein grows great, but if you don’t have it, you can get by with mineral fertilizers. For fertilizing, experts recommend not ammonium, but nitrate forms of nitrogen fertilizers, so that, as they say, metabolic processes are not disrupted. However, other experts advise, on the contrary, not to use nitrate fertilizers for fertilizing, because in this case nitrates accumulate in the cabbage. So do whatever you want, get out of it. Many gardeners do it simply, without thinking about nitrates: they feed them with fermented nettles. And many don’t feed them at all. If the soil is decently fertile, cabbage will grow just fine. If you overdo it with nitrogen fertilizing, damage such as edge burn may appear on the edges of the leaves.

And, of course, there is no way to do without pest control of Chinese cabbage. As soon as the first shoots appear from the ground, the psyllid immediately attacks them. She really loves the tender leaves of Chinese cabbage. Here you need an eye and an eye. In the morning, when there is dew, sprinkle the leaves with sifted ash, do this at least every other day, for a couple of weeks, until the leaves become stronger and coarser. The rest of our cabbage pests have not yet appreciated Chinese cabbage. Cabbage whites rarely visit her. But slugs don’t disdain. Therefore, in the evenings, pieces of burdock leaves should be laid out between the plants, green surface down. In the morning, collect these pieces along with the pests hiding under them and immediately bury them in the ground for fertilizer. In the last year, gardeners have noticed an invasion of cabbage by snails. In general, Chinese cabbage will not let you get bored.

The last harvest of Chinese cabbage is harvested in the fall, before the onset of severe frosts. Cut the heads of cabbage, spreading several outer leaves to the sides. You can cut it earlier, when the heads of cabbage become dense enough. The outer leaves eaten by pests must be removed, the heads of cabbage should be wrapped in newspaper, and on top of it - in thin polyethylene and placed in a cool place for storage. Periodically replace the moistened newspaper with dry one, then the cabbage will not rot. It can be stored in the refrigerator until the New Year. You need to eat this cabbage without cutting off a piece of the head, like our white cabbage, but gradually tearing off leaf by leaf. Then it will be stored until the last sheet without spoiling.

A fly in the ointment: according to scientific research, Chinese cabbage is a vegetable with a very high level of nitrates - 1500-4000 mg/kg - this is its genetic feature. (Let me remind you that the daily dose of nitrates for a person is 5 mg/kg of human weight, i.e., 350 mg is required for a person weighing 70 kg). The largest amount of nitrates is contained in the veins and petioles of leaves, and there are more nitrates in the outer leaves than in the inner ones. If cabbage is grown in low light conditions, in a greenhouse, more nitrates accumulate in it. At a moderate temperature (15-18 degrees) and good lighting, less nitrates are obtained. Therefore, it is recommended to harvest Chinese cabbage during the day, then the nitrate content is reduced by 30-40% compared to the morning hours. It is not recommended to feed cabbage before harvesting. You need to give it at least two weeks to “digest” the nitrates from the previous feeding. Of course, at home, hardly anyone estimates the amount of nitrates in their harvest. If you have doubts and fear, you can soak the petioles in water for 1-2 hours. At the same time, they lose up to 30% of nitrates. During cooking, up to 70% of nitrates are lost. Usually the petioles are boiled and fried, and the tender part of the leaves is used in salads.

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