Pak choi prefers cool weather and cannot tolerate heat; only by planting it skillfully in summer can you get a bumper harvest

    Pak choi prefers cool weather, and pak choi planted in summer spends its entire growth period in high temperatures, often suffering reduced yields or even total crop loss due to scorching sun, drought, and heavy rain. The cultivation technique of covering pak choi with shade netting ensures a bumper harvest of summer pak choi.

Planting pak choi in summer

    1. Floating surface covering with shade netting

    After broadcasting seeds in the field, covering with soil, and watering, lay shade netting flat over the surface of the bed; once seedlings emerge, remove the shade netting immediately. The removed shade netting can then be laid over another plot of pak choi that has just been sown, and used repeatedly in rotation. The advantages are uniform seedling emergence, saved labor and effort, and prevention of seedling death from "steamed sprouts" caused by heavy rain before emergence.

    2. Shade netting cultivation mainly uses small arched sheds or low flat sheds

    Besides covering the pak choi bed surface from sowing to seedling emergence, after emergence also build a low flat shed or small arched shed 0.8-1m high over the bed, and cover the shed with shade netting, so that pak choi seedlings can grow under lower soil and air temperatures, free from thunderstorm damage and strong light injury, making yield and quality more stable. By 3-5d before harvest, the shade netting must be removed so that the leaf color of the pak choi is closer to its natural state, improving quality.

    3. Shade netting covering cultivation in large sheds

    Use the longitudinal tie rods on both sides of the large shed frame in summer, run film-pressing wires, and then lay shade netting flat over the film-pressing wires. For growing pak choi, the shade netting can cover the top of the large shed; you can also fasten a layer of film on the shed top and then cover the film with netting. Growing pak choi in this "one film, one net" rainproof and sun-shading shed way gives better results.

    Note that in addition to covering with shade netting, you should also choose excellent pak choi varieties that are heat-tolerant and disease-resistant, such as Reyou No. 1, Aiza No. 1, Shanghai pak choi, Hangzhou pak choi, etc. In addition, according to summer climate conditions, sow directly in stages and batches, expand the sowing rate; generally use 1.5-2kg of seed per 667m2, and when thinning to a stand, use a row spacing and plant spacing of 4-6cm; dense sowing can shorten the harvest period. Also choose ventilated, shady loam with good water retention (night-tide soil or black sandy soil), close to a water source, with convenient irrigation and drainage, and master the watering principle of light watering and frequent watering; sprinkler irrigation is even better if available. Generally harvest 18-25d after sowing, and each mu can produce 1000-1500kg of pak choi.