A Complete Guide to the Key Points of Summer Cabbage Planting and Management
Cabbage is one of the most common vegetables in our daily lives. Right now is the planting time for summer cabbage, and the high-temperature, high-humidity environment of summer makes pests and diseases of cabbage more severe, which can seriously affect the growth of cabbage. So if you want a high yield of summer cabbage, how should you manage it? Let's take a look.
1. Seedling raising and transplanting
Summer has a lot of rain, which easily leads to water accumulation in the field, so you should choose a plot with higher terrain and convenient drainage and irrigation as the seedling bed. If you use the broadcast sowing method for raising seedlings, it will lead to uneven emergence and cause waste. Therefore, it is recommended to use nutrient soil or nutrient pots for raising seedlings. If you use the dibbling method, it is not only easy to manage, but also produces neat and uniform seedlings. In summer's high temperatures, you can cover the seedling bed with a shade net to lower the temperature of the seedling bed and reduce the washing of rainwater on the leaves. Uncovering it on cloudy days or at night will also make the seedlings the main issue; uncover the shade net one week before planting out, so as to avoid the sudden change after planting out causing poor seedlings, which will prolong the seedling recovery period and further affect the yield.
2. Strengthen management during severe weather
Summer has a lot of rainstorm weather. Some farmers ignore the seedlings after a rainstorm, causing the cabbage seedlings to grow thin and weak, which easily leads to pest and disease infection. You can use greenhouse cultivation, and you can cover with plastic film before the rainstorm comes to avoid rainwater washing, drain water promptly after the rain, and irrigate with cool water to lower the temperature, which is beneficial to seedling growth. For seedlings washed out of the soil, promptly cover them with soil, straighten them, and rinse the leaves stained with mud, so that the seedlings can resume growth as soon as possible.
3. Strengthen field management
When planting Chinese cabbage in summer, because the temperature is lower, the heading speed is slow. Some varieties, or some individual plants, do not easily form heads or have a delayed heading period. Some growers mistakenly think this is due to the variety. In fact, whether heads form is closely related to the sowing period and fertilizer and water management. If sown too early and kept for a long time at temperatures below 10 degrees, Chinese cabbage will pass through vernalization and bolt, which will also cause no heading; or if the temperature remains above 35 degrees for a long time, it will also seriously affect heading. Therefore, during the heading period, pay attention to fertilizer and water management, increase the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and organic fertilizers, control the application amount of nitrogen fertilizer, and inhibit excessive plant growth. During the heading period, supply water scientifically. The water supply should be uniform and sufficient, and avoid alternating too much and too little, or alternating dry and wet, to prevent the leaves of Chinese cabbage from curling and wilting.
4. Pay attention to pests and diseases
Summer is the peak period for cabbage pests and diseases. Common diseases include downy mildew, viral disease, soft rot, powdery mildew, aphids, cabbage caterpillars, and so on. If not controlled properly, they will cause poor growth of cabbage and also cause cabbage not to form heads. Therefore, when cabbage is heading, pay attention to inspecting the leaves and control pests and diseases in time.
The above is an introduction to the key points of summer cabbage planting and management. I hope it can help you. To learn more related knowledge, please follow us.