Comprehensive Pre-Sowing Pest and Disease Prevention Measures for Chinese Cabbage

    Before sowing Chinese cabbage, adopting comprehensive control measures can prevent the occurrence of many pests and diseases.

1. Clean up the field: Focus on controlling aphids, cabbage caterpillars and other pests on the previous crop, thoroughly remove weeds from the vegetable field, and collect and dispose of uprooted plants in a centralized manner to reduce sources of bacteria and insects and lower the base population of pests and diseases.

2. Crop rotation arrangement: The previous crop for Chinese cabbage is best as solanaceous fruits, cucurbits, or alliums; avoid continuous cropping or adjacent cropping with cruciferous vegetables.

3. Land preparation and fertilization: Apply more phosphorus and potassium fertilizer to improve plant disease resistance, ensure nutrition during the growth period of Chinese cabbage, and enhance disease resistance. High-ridge direct sowing is recommended to facilitate drainage, prevent waterlogging and reduce humidity, and lessen the occurrence of downy mildew and soft rot.

4. Soil disinfection: In plots with severe underground pest problems, when plowing, spray 25% carbaryl at 0.5-1 kg per mu, or mix 2.5% trichlorfon powder at 3.5-4 kg with soil, or broadcast phoxim poisoned soil (1100) at 10-15 kg, and immediately plow it into the soil.

5. Select good varieties: Choosing high-yield, high-quality, disease-resistant superior varieties is the foundation for a bountiful harvest of Chinese cabbage. The better-performing disease-resistant and tolerant varieties mainly include Beijing New No. 3, Fengkang 70, Fengkang 80, Jinyu 75, Jinyu 80, Taiyuan Erqing, etc.

6. Seed disinfection: The warm water soaking method can be used for seed disinfection. Before sowing, soak the seeds in 50°C warm water for 20-30 minutes, then immediately move them into cold water to cool down, dry them, and sow. This can prevent the occurrence of Chinese cabbage black spot, black rot, anthracnose and other diseases. You can also use 25% metalaxyl for seed dressing, using 40-60 g of the product per 5 kg of seed, or dress the seeds with thiram or chlorothalonil at 0.4% of seed weight to control downy mildew; dress the seeds with Antiviral Agent No. 1 110 to control viral diseases at the seedling stage.

7. Sow late at the appropriate time: If Chinese cabbage is sown too early, diseases such as downy mildew, viral diseases, and soft rot tend to be more severe; late sowing results in milder disease occurrence, but the heads do not form solidly, affecting yield. Generally, sowing 2-3 days after “Start of Autumn” results in milder disease occurrence.