The Latest Guide to Efficient Winter Celery Cultivation Techniques

Celery is a modern health vegetable that is well loved for its good taste and high nutritional value. Its cultivation methods mainly include open-field cultivation in spring, summer and autumn, and protected cultivation in autumn and winter. To achieve high quality, high yield and high efficiency in autumn-winter celery cultivation, first you must select excellent varieties and raise strong seedlings of the right age; second, you must adopt cultivation models and management measures that match the excellent varieties; third, you must harvest in a timely manner according to the market.

Variety Selection

For western celery, it is advisable to choose varieties with larger plants, thick leaf stalks, strong growth vigor, good stress resistance, few fibers and excellent quality, such as Ventura, Italian Winter Celery, FS Western Celery No. 3, Victory Western Celery, etc. Chinese celery is a cultivation type in our country; the plants are somewhat smaller and the leaf stalks are slender, but the aroma is rich, so it is advisable to choose Jinnan Solid Celery, Baimiao Celery, Weifang Green Seedling Celery, etc.

Raising Seedlings

Each region should arrange the seedling-raising time according to the celery supply time and the arrangement of the next crop. Generally, western celery is sown and raised from early to mid-June to early July, and Chinese celery from late June to late July. Planting is done from late August to late September; the seedling age for western celery is 65-75 days, and for Chinese celery 55-65 days. The seedling-raising period for autumn-winter celery coincides with the high-temperature and rainy season, which is unfavorable for seed germination and seedling growth. If management measures are improper, problems such as difficulty in emergence, low emergence rate, a long seedling period and poor seedling quality will occur. The key to seedling-stage management is to create cool and humid environmental conditions and prevent drought, flooding, excessive growth and seedling death. The specific practices are as follows.

① Low-temperature treatment to break seed dormancy. Celery likes cool conditions. If the temperature is above 25°C, the seeds are difficult to germinate; they can germinate smoothly only at 15-20°C. Therefore, sowing in summer must involve low-temperature treatment of the seeds. After soaking the seeds for 12 h, they can be placed in a 10°C refrigerator for low-temperature treatment for 7-8 days to break dormancy before sowing.

② Shade the seedbed surface before sowing. Choose sandy loam soil with higher terrain and good drainage and irrigation conditions as the seedbed. The seedbed is about 10 m long and 1.2-1.5 m wide. Sieve decomposed organic fertilizer, spread it evenly on the seedbed surface, turn it into the soil so that manure and soil are mixed evenly, then level the bed surface, water thoroughly, mix the treated seeds with fine sand evenly, sow evenly on the bed surface, then cover with 2-3 mm of sieved fine soil. To plant 667 sq m of celery, 50-80 g of high-quality seeds and 30-50 sq m of seedbed are needed. After sowing, build a frame on the seedbed with bamboo poles or similar materials, and place some branches or shade netting on the frame to provide shade, preventing strong sunlight and heavy rain from striking it, so as to favor emergence and prevent excessive seedling growth.

③ Water the seedbed well. After sowing, the surface soil of the seedbed must always remain moist. When the seeds push through the soil after 7-8 days, sprinkle water lightly once to help the seedlings emerge smoothly; full emergence is reached in 8-10 days. When the seedlings have 2-3 leaves, water lightly once more. Do not apply too much water during the seedling stage, to prevent excessive seedling growth and damping-off disease.

④ Apply strong-seedling fertilizer well and remove weeds in time. When the seedlings have 3-4 leaves, apply a quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer once with irrigation, and fertilize afterward as needed. In summer high temperatures, pay attention to spraying calcium fertilizer on the leaves to prevent heart rot. Celery emerges slowly and grows slowly, and its competitive ability with weeds is very weak, so it is easily “eaten” by weeds. Weeds must be pulled out immediately or herbicides used reasonably.

⑤ Thin the seedlings in stages. Because celery is extremely prone to seedling death in summer, after full emergence first thin out clustered seedlings and overly dense seedlings. At the 2-leaf stage, thin a second time, with a seedling spacing of about 1-1.5 cm; at the 4-leaf stage, thin a third time, keeping a seedling spacing of 3-5 cm. After each thinning, water lightly once to settle the roots.

⑥ Plant at the right time. From late August to late September, when the seedlings are 10-15 cm tall and have 5-6 leaves, plant them in time.

Planting

After the previous crop is harvested, apply about 5,000 kg/667 sq m of decomposed organic fertilizer, deep plow 25-30 cm, fully sun the soil clods, then fine-plow and level, and make flat beds 1-1.5 m wide. Choose cloudy or partly cloudy days for planting. When lifting seedlings, leave roots 4-6 cm long, and grade large and small seedlings for planting. The planting depth should be such that the roots are not exposed below and the heart is not buried above. If planted too deep or too shallow, celery is prone to slow seedling recovery, low survival rate and slow growth after survival. After planting in dry soil, water thoroughly once, but the water flow should be gentle to prevent washing out the seedlings. The wet-planting method promoted on a trial basis in recent years is simpler. The wet-planting method means that after the bed is prepared, water thoroughly first, use a self-made rake according to row spacing to draw lines along the bed, and plant celery seedlings at the plant spacing into the wet mud along the drawn lines. The wet-planting method allows fast planting, fast seedling recovery and good root development, and is superior to traditional dry-soil planting. The plant spacing and row spacing are determined by variety. Generally, Chinese celery is 12 cm × 15 cm, planting 28,000-33,000 plants per 667 sq m, appropriately dense; western celery large seedlings are 20 cm × 30 cm, medium seedlings 20 cm × 25 cm, small seedlings 20 cm × 20 cm, planting 10,000-15,000 plants per 667 sq m, ensuring sparse planting with large stalks, so as to achieve the goal of high quality and high efficiency.

Management After Planting

After planting, to promote seedling recovery, the soil must be kept moist, watering 2 times in 7 days. After seedling recovery, cultivate in time to promote the growth of new roots and new leaves. The first cultivation should be careful, removing weeds as much as possible and breaking up the surface soil, but not injuring the seedlings. After two cultivations, when new leaves begin to grow vigorously, apply a seedling-promoting fertilizer once, applying 10 kg of urea per 667 sq m. After celery starts growing vigorously in mid-October, as the weather gradually becomes cooler, attack with both fertilizer and water; every 15-20 days apply 15-20 kg of urea per 667 sq m, and in between apply 1-2 times of dilute manure water. Entering late October, greenhouse cultivation should be covered in time for insulation. In mid-to-late December, add a small arch shed inside the greenhouse, cover the outside of the greenhouse with straw mats, and do a good job of insulation and freeze prevention.

Pest and Disease Control

Autumn celery is prone to Septoria leaf spot. For this disease, choose 75% chlorothalonil 600-fold solution, or 70% mancozeb 500-fold solution, or 50% carbendazim 500-fold solution, spraying once every 7-10 days in the early stage of the disease, for 2-3 treatments. After planting and before covering the shed, pay attention to using abamectin to control leafminer damage; generally spray once immediately after planting. Western celery varieties are prone to heart rot at the seedling stage, so spray calcium fertilizer on the leaves 2-3 times.

Harvest

Harvest in time; do not harvest too late, otherwise nutrients are easily transported to the roots, causing yield and quality to decline. For greenhouse planting, all should be harvested before the Spring Festival or 10 days before planting the next crop. Generally, the yield per 667 sq m is 7,500-10,000 kg.