How to Grow Early Spring Cabbage? A Detailed Guide to Cultivation Techniques
Cabbage is one of the vegetables eaten relatively often in daily life. Its market price is relatively low, but its nutritional value is very rich. As a vegetable that is easy to grow and manage, cabbage is planted by a great many farmers. Today let us learn about early spring cabbage cultivation techniques.
I. A Detailed Guide to Early Spring Cabbage Cultivation Techniques
1. Choose a suitable cultivation model
From a production standpoint, early spring Chinese cabbage cultivation models are diverse, including greenhouse cultivation, small and medium arched shed cultivation, plastic film mulching cultivation and open-field cultivation, among other methods. Different cultivation models require correspondingly selected varieties, and different marketing periods lead to relatively large price differences. When specifically choosing which cultivation model to use, comprehensive factors such as local climatic conditions, soil fertility, irrigation, market channels and location and transportation must be considered together to ensure high-quality and efficient production, increased yield and income, and well-targeted production.
2. Variety selection
For early spring Chinese cabbage, farmers should first choose cold-tolerant varieties that tolerate low temperatures and resist bolting. Choose varieties that mature 50 to 55 days after transplanting, or yellow-core Chinese cabbage varieties that mature in about 65 days. For early spring Chinese cabbage seeds, farmers generally choose Korea Chun Dawang, Chunxiao, Xin Qiangshi, Japan Liangqing, domestic Qiangshi, disease-resistant yellow-core and others.
3. Suitable growing temperature
The suitable temperature during the growing period is in the range of 10 to 22°C. When it is higher than 25°C, growth will be poor. Early spring Chinese cabbage is easily affected by low temperatures in the early and middle stages of cultivation, which promotes flower bud differentiation, and in the later stage of growth it is easily affected by high temperatures, making it difficult to form a good head. Early spring varieties require strong cold tolerance, resistance to bolting and flowering, a short growth period, fast head formation, good quality, high yield and early marketing.
4. Raising early spring Chinese cabbage seedlings
The seedling raising time for early spring Chinese cabbage is generally at the “Lichun” solar term, with 10 grams of seed used per mu. Before sowing, the seedbed preparation work must be done well. Choose about 5 sq m per mu, use small sheds or greenhouses for seedling raising, and about 5000 seedlings must be raised per mu. Use seedling bowls or paper bags, plant about 3000 plants per mu, sow 1-2 seeds per hole, cover with 0.5 cm of soil after sowing, cover with plastic film, and add straw mats at night for insulation. During the seedling raising period, the seedbed temperature should not be lower than 13°C at night and should be kept at 25 to 28°C during the day. When it exceeds 30°C, ventilation should be carried out in a timely manner. After the seedlings emerge uniformly, the plastic film should be removed. The seedling age period is generally about 30 days.
5. Transplanting
The transplanting time for early spring Chinese cabbage is generally at the “Jingzhe” solar term. At transplanting, the seedling age should be 25 to 30 days, with 4 to 5 true leaves; the temperature should preferably be stable at 10 to 13°C. Plant 2 rows per bed, with a plant spacing of 40 cm, and transplant 2500 to 3000 plants per mu.
6. Field management
After transplanting, during the seedling recovery period, the focus should be on promoting root growth. After that, apply both fertilizer and water. Depending on weather conditions, water once every 8 to 10 days, and with the water apply 10 to 15 kg of urea per mu or 20 kg of nitrogen-potassium fertilizer. Never use large-volume flooding irrigation; watering should be based on being able to moisten the ridge back. During the rosette stage, carry out foliar fertilization, and spray 0.2% monopotassium phosphate and 0.2% urea, etc. At the same time, 0.7% calcium chloride can also be sprayed to promote heart formation and leaf growth and prevent tipburn. Also pay attention to ventilation to prevent soft rot from breeding and spreading due to high temperature and high humidity.
7. Disease and pest control
Early spring Chinese cabbage basically requires no disease and pest control throughout the entire growth period. Generally, no diseases or pests occur. If spraying is needed, some foliar fertilizer can be added for mixed spraying of pesticide and fertilizer to improve the control effect.
II. Staged Fertilization Techniques for Early Spring Cabbage
1. Fertilization at the cabbage seedling stage: combined with thinning seedlings, lightly apply seedling-promoting fertilizer during intertillage, applying 500-750 kg of human manure and urine and 5-10 kg of urea per mu to promote robust seedling growth.
2. Fertilization at the cabbage rosette stage: when spring cabbage enters this period, growth noticeably speeds up, and the fertilizer requirement increases accordingly. The plant-developing fertilizer should be applied in a timely manner, applying 1500 kg of high-quality farmyard manure, 10-15 kg of urea and an appropriate amount of 5-10 kg of phosphorus and potassium fertilizer per mu.
3. Fertilization at the cabbage heading stage: in the early heading stage, 7-10 days before heart formation, apply 2000-2500 kg of high-quality farmyard manure, 20 kg of urea, and 15-20 kg of plant ash or potassium sulfate per mu; in the middle and late heading stages, depending on growth conditions, apply 1000-1500 kg of human manure and urine per mu.