What fertilizers cabbage loves
This cruciferous vegetable is rather demanding when it comes to soil composition. It quickly absorbs nutrients and may stop growing and developing if there aren’t enough «goodies» for it in the ground. That is why, in order to get a good harvest, it is important to fertilize the soil regularly. This will help the cabbage grow a large number of big leaves and, at a certain stage, fold them up to form a head.
First and foremost, cabbage needs:
Nitrogen – promotes growth and the buildup of green mass. This element is needed in the first half of summer. However, you should not overfeed the vegetable with it, otherwise the heads grow loose and the plant may start to get sick.
Phosphorus – needed to strengthen the roots, especially in the early stages of development and as the crop ripens.
Potassium – during head formation it increases their density, improves flavor through the accumulation of sugars, and extends the shelf life of the produce.
Boron – one of cabbage’s most favorite micronutrients. It is especially useful during the period when the heads are filling out, as it increases their density.
Calcium – strengthens the plant’s immunity and promotes a bountiful harvest.
Magnesium – required for head formation. A deficiency causes the leaves to turn yellow and stop curling up.
You can provide cabbage with all the necessary nutrients using store-bought mineral fertilizers. Organic matter also has a very good effect on the vegetable: manure, chicken droppings, compost, herbal infusion.
Cabbage feeding schedule
First
It is carried out 2–3 weeks after the seedlings are planted in the ground, once the plant has settled in well in its new spot. For active initial growth and the buildup of green mass, the vegetable primarily needs nitrogen fertilizers. You can use a mullein solution (diluted in water in a 1:10 ratio) or bird droppings (1:15). Pour 0.5 l of the mixture under each plant.
As for mineral feeding, a cocktail of 20 g of superphosphate, 10 g of urea, and 10 g of potassium chloride will have a good effect. The ingredients are dissolved in 10 l of water and then applied at half a liter per root. The least labor-intensive way to feed the vegetable at this stage is to use ready-made complex preparations. It is best to buy fertilizers specially designed for cabbage.
Second
It should include all the basic elements the vegetable needs. It is carried out about two weeks after the first feeding. The cabbage is once again offered an infusion of manure or bird droppings in the same proportions as before; you can also fertilize the soil with a nitrophoska solution (2 tablespoons per 10 l of water). Each plant takes 0.5–1 l of the mixture. Wood ash works well during this period: 1 glass is dissolved in 10 l of mullein solution, and 1 l of the mixture is applied under each root.
Third
Applied 10–14 days after the second feeding, for mid-season and late varieties. Nitrogen should be removed at this time, otherwise all the vegetable’s growth will go into the leaves. Potassium and phosphorus, on the other hand, will be very welcome. One mixture option: 2 tablespoons of superphosphate are dissolved in 10 l of water, and 15 g of any complex fertilizer with micronutrients is added. Pour 1–1.5 l of the resulting solution under each bush. You can use organic matter: for example, mullein (0.5 l per 10 l of water) at half a liter under each plant.
In July and August, the cabbage leaves are also sprayed with boric acid (if there was no boron feeding earlier); this has a positive effect on the size of the produce. To prepare the mixture, dissolve 1 teaspoon of the powder in 1 l of hot water, then top up to 10 l.
Fourth
Carried out 3 weeks before harvest, and only for the latest varieties, when there is a clear slowdown in the development and ripening of the heads. In this case the cabbage needs potassium fertilizers. The vegetable is watered, for example, with a potassium sulfate solution (40 g per 10 l of water), one liter under each plant.
Basic rules for feeding
- Root and foliar feeding should be done early in the morning, in the evening, or in cloudy weather.
- You must not use cold water from the tap or a borehole to prepare the solution; ideally it should be left to stand and warmed in the sun.
- Feeding is done on previously moistened soil, otherwise there is a risk of burning the plant’s root system.
- To avoid harming the cabbage, it is important to observe fertilizer application rates: an excess of macro- and micronutrients in the soil is just as harmful to the vegetable as a shortage of them.
