How to Grow Red Cabbage Sprouts (Red Choy Sum)? A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods and Key Techniques

Red cabbage sprouts, also known as red rape sprouts, red rape, and rape cabbage, are a distinctive vegetable with a glutinous texture and delicious flavor, greatly favored by consumers. So what are the planting methods and key techniques for red cabbage sprouts?

1. Planting Methods for Red Cabbage Sprouts

1. Sowing and Planting

Red cabbage sprouts are an annual herbaceous plant, mainly cultivated in the Yangtze River basin, especially in Hubei, Sichuan and Nanjing and other provinces and cities. In recent years, various regions have also begun introducing and trial-planting them.

Red cabbage sprouts are generally grown by sowing. When sowing, the timing must be strictly controlled. As is well known, red cabbage sprouts are a cold-tolerant vegetable, and sowing too early often results in a bitter taste. Therefore, the best sowing period for early-maturing cultivation in our city is early to mid-September, with a seeding rate of 50-60g per mu, a seedling age of about 25 days, and seedbed management similar to that of green vegetable seedlings. The seedbed soil can be disinfected with 75% chlorothalonil.

2. Variety Selection

The best choices are high-yield, disease-resistant F1 hybrids such as Shiyuehong No. 1, Shiyuehong No. 2 or Xianghong No. 1. For mature cultivation, varieties such as Dingxiu Hongting and the Ziting series can be selected; for late-maturing varieties, choose highly cold-resistant ones such as Daguzi, Ziting No. 6, Jiali Hongting and Zigui.

3. Land Preparation, Bed Making and Base Fertilizer Application

The plot for planting red cabbage sprouts should be prepared at least 10 days before transplanting, so that it can be sun-dried for longer. Generally, plow and harrow twice: plow once, sun-dry for a few days, then plow and harrow again. Open furrows and make beds at 1-1.2m (including ditches), with two rows per bed; beds for early-maturing varieties can be narrower. Apply sufficient base fertilizer before transplanting: 2500 kg of high-quality farmyard manure or 100 jin of 45% sulfur-containing compound fertilizer per mu.

2. Key Field Management Techniques for Red Cabbage Sprouts

1. Timely Transplanting

Transplanting is usually carried out when the seedlings are 20-25 days old. Water the seedbed thoroughly the day before transplanting so the seedlings can be moved with soil. Seedlings should not be planted too deep.

2. Fertilizer and Water Management

Keep the soil moist throughout the growing period. Apply topdressing 4-5 times during the entire growth period, each time using 5-10 kg of urea or 10 kg of NPK compound fertilizer per mu. During the harvest period, generally apply a urea solution at 7.5 kg/mu every 10-15 days, and at the same time spray with a 1000-fold dilution of Plant Power 2003 nutrient solution or 2‰ potassium dihydrogen phosphate + 500-fold Lufenwei. However, it is worth noting that topdressing for red cabbage sprouts must combine N, P and K to achieve high yield, with a specific ratio of 15:10:20.

3. Pest and Disease Control

Like cabbage-type vegetables, red cabbage sprouts commonly suffer from three major diseases and various pests, and crop rotation is an important measure for disease prevention.

For downy mildew, spray with 25% metalaxyl at 500-fold dilution or 58% Gold Ridomil at 600-fold dilution; for soft rot, in the early stage of disease, spray with 200mg/L agricultural streptomycin or 77% Kocide at 500-fold dilution; for viral disease, spray with 25% Virus A at 250-fold dilution.

Warm tip: Red cabbage sprouts can be harvested when the sprouts are 25-35cm long, and generally reach the market at the end of October or the beginning of November.