Agrotechnology For Growing Cauliflower

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

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Seedling age is desirable at 40-45 days. The term for planting in open ground in the North-West is from April 25 to May 5. The planting pattern is 70x25-30 cm. For summer planting, the age of the seedlings is desirable at 30-35 days. The landing date is June 15-20.

Two dressings are carried out: the first - 10-15 days after planting the seedlings - with nitrogen and potassium fertilizers; the second feeding - in the phase of the beginning of head formation - with complex fertilizer, and it is desirable that 1 part of nitrogen accounts for 2 parts of phosphorus and potassium.

Harvesting is carried out selectively when the head reaches a diameter of 12-14 cm, for early varieties - 10-12 cm. When summer planting, cauliflower can be stored when the head diameter reaches 5-7 cm. Plants are uprooted and placed in storage from calculation of 25-30 pieces of plants per 1 m2. During the storage period, due to the outflow of nutrients from the leaves and stump, the head grows. Accordingly, as you grow up, it should be used for food.

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An unconventional approach to growing cabbage

Like pumpkin crops, cabbage, especially medium and late cabbage, is very demanding on organic matter. Since it has been observed by experienced gardeners that some vegetables grow best on compost piles, it makes sense to plant such crops in organic soil. Therefore, modern adherents of organic farming, even in the beds, are trying to plant vegetable crops in a compost layer.

One of the most famous "organists" N. I. Kurdyumov, who is also an agronomist by profession, recommends raised beds-boxes. They represent "… stationary beds, fenced with boards, slate or other material. The bed height is 15-20 cm. This frame is filled with compost. The bottom layer can be manure or unripe compost, but on top you need to lay a layer of ready-made humus with a thickness of at least 6-7 cm. If the box is wide - 1-1.2 m, then it doesn't matter how it is located: rows of vegetables can stretch along or across the bed, but they should be located from north to south.

This will give the plants more sun. Watering baskets is much faster if you scoop water from a large reservoir into buckets and pour it gently onto the mulch. With a hose, with a moderate pressure, water the box for a long time - the area is large. It is not necessary to dig up the soil in the box: the soil is intensively loosened under it to a great depth: already in the first year - twenty centimeters. In the spring, I only dump 3-4 wheelbarrows of new compost onto the garden bed.

You can sow and plant directly into it. When the plants rise, all that remains is to put mulch from grass, husks, straw between them. Weeds - there are very few of them - are easy to pull out. This is the method of growing vegetables offered by an experienced farmer, agronomist N. I. Kurdyumov.

Since you will most likely need several such beds, you will need 2-3 compost heaps. To obtain a sufficient amount of compost, it is advisable to pile up kitchen waste, as well as weeds, leaves, sawdust, it also makes sense to mow the grass in the nearest meadow, on wastelands, forest roadsides, or occasionally buy manure.

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Growing with EM drugs

Since we are talking about organic farming, we can remind readers that one of its modern areas is EM technology. Like other crops, several varieties are possible on cabbage. Mulch up to 3 cm thick. After 10-15 days, it is advisable to water or sprinkle the beds with a solution of "Baikal EM-1" in a ratio of 1: 1000.

At the beginning of the formation of a head of cabbage, it is necessary to repeat the treatment with the EM solution in the same concentration; if you spray, then the bucket may be enough for a hundred square meters. In wet weather (after rains), the concentration of the solution for irrigation can be increased by 2-4 times with the same decrease in the amount of the poured solution. The fourth treatment should be done after the head of cabbage has reached a size exceeding two fists.

Now let's look at a more intense EM technology. On the site in the direction from north to south, you need to dig trenches. The distance between the center lines of the trenches should be 50 cm. Depth - on a shovel bayonet (25 cm). The removed soil is laid between the trenches along the aisles. Then we fill up the trenches 4/5 of the depth (by 20 cm) with rotted manure, straw, or other organic matter. Water with a solution of the preparation "Baikal EM-1" in a ratio of 1: 1000 (up to 40% humidity).

The soil removed from the trenches must be distributed over the site so that the soil level in the trench is 3-5 cm lower than the soil level between the trenches. This work must be done 3-4 weeks before transplanting. The technology was developed for warmer regions, therefore in our Kirov region it is suitable only for mid-season cabbage varieties. Further care using this technology consists in spraying the seedlings with an EM solution after germination and in covering the soil in the garden with mulch with a layer of up to 3 cm.

After mulching, watering (up to 3 l / m2) with warm water and processing with an EM solution 1: 1000 is necessary. If the aisles are not mulched, then watering should be done weekly.

At the beginning of the formation of a head of cabbage, it is recommended to spray the plantation with an EM-preparation with a concentration of 1: 100, the consumption of the solution is a bucket per hundred square meters, or pour a solution of 0.1% concentration (1 tbsp. L / 10 l, spending 2-3 l / sq. m). In two weeks, when the head of cabbage reaches the size of a hen's egg, carry out the third treatment with the EM-solution, and at the stage when the head of cabbage is larger than two fists in size - the fourth treatment with the solution of the preparation "Baikal EM-1" (1: 1000).

Intermediate method

A fairly high yield of cabbage can be obtained by growing it using the "intermediate" method between conventional and EM technology, which I tried on my site. Its essence is as follows. EM compost is added to the garden bed, mixed with the usual one in an amount of about a bucket per 1 m2 and ash. Then a shallow digging is done, the bed is leveled with a rake, and seedlings are planted on it. After 10-15 days, fertilizing is done with ammonium sulfate or urea in a half dose with the addition of the drug "Baikal EM-1" and jam or syrup, 1 tbsp. l. both for 9 liters of water.

In the phase of the beginning of curling the head of cabbage and after a few weeks, you need to water the plantings with infusion of manure with the addition of the same drug, followed by hilling on the same day. During this period, I also tested the option of combining mineral fertilizers with EM technology. It boiled down to the fact that the EM solution with carbohydrate nutrition was introduced after the introduction of a mixture of mineral fertilizers.

The cabbage yield was good, but the keeping quality of the cabbage was rather low. When feeding the plantings with manure infusion with the preparation "Baikal EM-1", the cabbage was stored much longer. I believe that this was obtained due to the improvement of the soil with beneficial microflora, especially since a smaller number of heads of cabbage were affected by mucous bacteriosis