How to Grow Napa Cabbage? A Detailed Guide to Napa Cabbage Planting Techniques and Methods

Growing napa cabbage may seem simple, but it is not simple at all. Like other types of farming, it requires many steps and a certain level of growing skill. Chinese people have accumulated a great deal of experience in growing napa cabbage, and here I will list only a very small part of it.

How to Grow Napa Cabbage

1. Digging the holes: Use a trowel to make a few cuts in the soil where you want to dig the hole. The last cut must be made perpendicular to the ground, about 7cm deep, then lift the soil toward you so that the opening of the hole reaches 2-3cm.

2. Planting the seedling: Hold the seedling in your left hand with the roots pointing downward, and along the trowel from the upper right of the hole, insert the roots of the seedling diagonally into the hole. Be careful not to insert it too deeply.

3. Firming the soil: Hold the seedling upright with your left hand, take out the trowel with your right hand and push the soil toward the roots, then press the soil around the roots firmly with your left thumb so that the seedling is fixed in the soil of the hole.

4. Planting: Continue planting the other napa cabbage seedlings at a reasonable planting density (usually a row spacing of about 20cm and a plant spacing of about 15cm).

Napa Cabbage Growing Techniques

1. Cultivation season: Early-maturing varieties are generally sown in early to mid-August, and some are sown as early as late July. Mid-maturing varieties can be sown from late August to early September. Late-maturing varieties are best sown in late August.

2. Site selection and land preparation: Chinese cabbage is prone to disease when grown continuously on the same land, so crop rotation should be carried out, with rotation between grain crops and vegetables or between paddy and dryland crops being especially recommended. When growing on land that has been used for vegetables year after year, avoid continuous cropping with cruciferous vegetables; you may choose land whose previous crop was early beans, early peppers, early cucumbers or early tomatoes. The land for growing Chinese cabbage should be deep-plowed 20-27cm and left to rest for 10-15 days, then the soil should be broken up and leveled, and made into beds 1.3-1.7m wide, or narrow beds or raised beds 0.8m wide. When making the beds, deep field ditches, waist ditches and surrounding ditches of more than 27cm should be opened so that all ditches connect with one another.

3. Apply heavy base fertilizer, mainly organic fertilizer: In mid to late July, after the previous crop is harvested, deep-plow the soil and let it rest. When preparing the land, spread 100-150 kg of lime per mu. In plots where clubroot has occurred, an appropriate amount of lime must also be applied in the sowing furrows. Heavy base fertilizer is required, with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium well matched. In early July, mix 40 loads of pig manure, 40-50 loads of garbage, about 75 kg of rapeseed cake and 40-50 kg of calcium magnesium phosphate per mu, add 30-40 loads of human urine and manure, moisten with an appropriate amount of water, pile it up to ferment, cover the outside with a layer of plastic film, and let it fully decompose. Apply it in furrows when making the beds. At the same time, apply 10-15 kg of 45% compound fertilizer per mu.

4. Sowing: Chinese cabbage is generally sown directly, but it can also be raised as seedlings and transplanted. Direct sowing is mainly in drills, with spot sowing as a supplement. When the previous crop land cannot be freed up for the time being, seedling raising and transplanting can also be used so as not to affect the cultivation season. No matter which method is used, the soil must be finely broken up and leveled. For direct sowing, use about 200 grams of seed per mu. For seedling raising and transplanting, about 5-6 li of seedling bed is needed for each mu of field, mostly by broadcasting, with a seeding rate of 75-100 grams. After direct sowing, apply 40-50 loads of decomposed human urine and manure per mu, and combine this with covering the ground. After that, water once in the morning and once in the evening every day to keep the soil moist, and seedlings will emerge in 3-4 days. The row and plant spacing of Chinese cabbage should be determined according to the variety. Generally, early-maturing varieties are 33-50×33cm, with 2100-2300 plants per mu, and late-maturing varieties are 67*50cm, with fewer than 2000 plants per mu. For seedling raising and transplanting, it is best to choose a cloudy day or the evening of a sunny day. To improve the survival rate, it is best to transplant small seedlings with soil, and water with settling water after planting.

Fertilizer and Water Management for Napa Cabbage

1. Seedling stage: During the seedling stage of Chinese cabbage, the root system is weak and shallow. In dry weather, water in time to keep the ground moist, so as to help the seedlings absorb water and prevent the surface temperature from being too high and scorching the roots. At the same time, in order to ensure that the seedlings get enough nutrients, apply 3-5 kg of high-nitrogen compound fertilizer per mu.

2. Rosette stage: Chinese cabbage needs more water during the rosette stage. Keep the ground alternating between dry and wet, both promoting and controlling the growth of the rosette leaves. In order to meet the nutritional needs of the rapid growth of Chinese cabbage during the rosette stage, generally apply 10-15 kg of high-nitrogen compound fertilizer per mu together with watering.

3. Heading stage: Chinese cabbage needs the most water during the heading stage, so it should be watered in good time. In the late heading stage, watering should be controlled to facilitate storage. To promote large and firm heads, a heavy fertilizer application can be made once in a shallow furrow in the middle of the bed in the early heading stage, generally applying 20-30 kg of high-nitrogen, high-potassium compound fertilizer per mu.

Distribution of Chinese Cabbage Producing Areas

Chinese cabbage is widely cultivated throughout our country, with North China and the area south of the Yangtze River as the main producing areas, and the planting area accounts for 40%-60% of the sown area of autumn, winter and spring vegetables.

Napa cabbage is a fairly widely distributed vegetable, and there are also many types of napa cabbage; the types grown may differ somewhat from place to place. Therefore, when growing napa cabbage, we need to choose according to the specific variety and the growing region, so as to maximize the growing benefits.