When caring for vegetables, various problems arise, one of which is how to water cabbage to set heads. Before solving it, you need to know about the reasons for the lack of ovaries in garden crops.
In the fall, gardeners proudly show off their strong, tight heads of cabbage. If they don’t tie well right away, then it is necessary to determine why this is happening and what to do. After all, otherwise you can be left without a harvest and deprive yourself of the opportunity to receive vitamins all winter in the spring.
Reasons for stopping the growing season of a vegetable
Cabbage heads are formed quickly and efficiently if suitable conditions for development and growth are created for the plant and the rules of agricultural technology are followed. There are several main reasons for the lack of ovaries:
- To grow vegetables, choose open sunny areas without shading. The soil must be neutral in acidity, nutritious, loose, so that it allows water and air to pass through well.
- The best predecessor of the plant will be legumes, which fertilize the soil well.
- In order for cabbage heads to grow, you do not need to plant seedlings often. The timing of its disembarkation also plays a big role.
- The formation of the head stops if the air temperature is too high, more than 25 degrees Celsius. But waterlogging of the soil during rainy summers also leads to rotting of the middle of the head of cabbage.
- The lack of important microelements in cabbage will not allow it to develop.
- Diseases and vegetable pests will destroy the forks, preventing them from growing.
- During the period of formation, the ovary for cabbage requires loosening the soil and weeding the beds. Otherwise, poor nutrition will lead to the fact that the heads of cabbage will not set.
It is also important to purchase and plant high-quality seeds. Old seeds will not sprout well and will not produce a good harvest.
What to do to get juicy heads of cabbage
To develop a head of cabbage, you need to correct the conditions in which the vegetable grows and properly care for it.
Preparing seeds and site for planting
In the same place, cabbage can actively and efficiently bear fruit for no more than three years. Therefore, they regularly change the planting location. The selected area should not be in the shade. Sun during the day will help the cabbage set.
If it is found that the acidity of the soil is high, then neutralize it by adding lime.Calcium nitrate scattered over the beds before planting vegetables will allow the forks to quickly tie.
Plant seeds must be treated before planting with a solution of potassium permanganate to prevent the occurrence of diseases.
Landing dates and rules
Cabbage must be planted on time in order for it to set fruit. Early varieties of white vegetables are sown no later than March, then in June they feast on crispy forks. For mid-season varieties, the sowing time is the end of April, and for late varieties - the beginning of the month.
It is best to grow through seedlings, which will eliminate the moment when the middle of the cabbage does not set into a head of cabbage.
Early varieties are planted in open ground until mid-May, the rest - until the tenth day of June. It is necessary to maintain the distance between the bushes. For early varieties of white and cauliflower it does not exceed fifty centimeters, for later ones - seventy. To allow the leaves to set, humus (500 grams), ammonium nitrate (three grams), superphosphate (seven grams), and potassium salt (three grams) are added to the planting hole. Adding river sand to the beds will help you get good harvests. The depth of planting seedlings is up to the cotyledons. In the first week, dead shoots are replaced with new ones.
It is clear why cabbage does not grow in open ground if the terms and rules for planting seedlings are not followed.
Good plant care – strong heads of cabbage
In order for the leaves to curl, you need to water the cabbage generously, soaking the soil to a depth of fifty centimeters. During dry periods, pour two to three liters of water into the hole as the top layer of soil dries. A month before harvesting, watering is stopped.
Along with moistening the plant, it is good to feed the cabbage, adding organic fertilizer ten days after planting. If you fertilize with mullein, then it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:7, in subsequent feedings - 1:5. Bird droppings are ready for use when diluted 1:15. One liter of solution is poured onto each well.
Gardeners know how to feed cabbage with mineral substances. Especially distinguished among useful fertilizers are ammonium nitrate in the amount of forty grams, potassium salt - fifteen. Superphosphate used as a top dressing - twenty grams - helps the vegetable to set well. Subsequently, the amount of minerals is doubled. We must not forget that mineral fertilizers are taken per bucket of water.
Cabbage is fertilized twice during the summer, and for late varieties – three times. If you know what to feed your garden crops with, then there will be no problems with what to do if the cabbage does not set into a head.
One of the effective methods in a situation where vegetable bushes do not set is the use of foliar feeding. To do this, spray the sheets with boric acid dissolved in water. It is prepared like this: a teaspoon of acid is dipped in a liter of hot water, mixed thoroughly, and then the finished liquid is poured into a bucket of cold water.
Such a healing shower is good for the vegetable.
The heads curl well if you treat the plantings with a fermented yeast solution. Take one hundred grams of yeast in a bucket of warm water, adding a handful of sugar. Before watering, you need to dilute 250 grams of the intoxicating drink in nine liters of water.
Remedies against diseases and vegetable pests
The cabbage fly is one of the main pests of the plant.To get rid of it, spray the seedlings with insecticides. To repel the pest, piles of tobacco dust mixed with ash or sawdust are laid out on the beds.
If the plants are sprayed in time with preparations such as Actellik, then the cutworm will not damage the middle of the cabbage. For a developed plant, when the heads of cabbage have already curled, voracious caterpillars are not scary.
This is how you get rid of cabbage moths. Insects and their larvae will not cause harm to cabbage treated in time.
The following diseases will destroy the cabbage ovary:
- blackleg;
- Phomasis;
- powdery mildew;
- bacteriosis
The presence of fungal diseases is determined by spots on the leaves, blackening of the stem, and rotting of the middle of the vegetable. Drugs like Fitosporin will save you from infections. If the symptoms of the disease remain, the treatment procedure is repeated three times with a break of ten days.
A bacterial infection is more difficult to cure. Diseased specimens of the vegetable are destroyed, and the soil is treated with antibacterial agents. They must be used in accordance with the instructions at the initial stages of infection.
You need to know what to do to get the cabbage to set. Measures to prevent a decrease in the number of heads of cabbage in the garden include compliance with the rules of vegetable agricultural technology. They are simple, familiar to every gardener. If the heads of cabbage do not set, you need to remember about the technology of growing the plant.
