Cabbage Cultivation (Complete Guide)

Introduction

in this article, I’m going to tell you about Cabbage Cultivation.

• Botanical name: Brassica oleracea
• Family: Brassicaceae

Cultivation

Soil and climatic requirements

• Optimum climatic conditions are
• Temperature: 15-20°C
• Elevation – above 800m
• Cooler climatic conditions preferred but can be cultivated in dry

Soil

• Well drain organic matter rich soils are suitable
• Acidic soils are not suitable for cabbage
• It may cause for clubroot disease
• To correct soil pH level lime or dolomite can be used
• pH 6-6.5

Field Establishment and Cultural Practices

Nursery Management

• Seed requirement: 200-250 g/ha
• 250 seedlings from 1g
• 3.4-4.5g 1000 seeds
• Direct seeding is not practised due to the size of the seeds
• Select suitable area – opened from sunshine, soil should not be an acidic
• Nursery period 3-4 weeks
• 3×1m size nursery beds use for cabbage height of the bed should be (12-15) cm
• Seed should be planted in beds 10cm apart (spacing between two rows is 10cm) at the depth of 1cm and cover with a thin layer of soil
• For germination of seeds, it will take 4-5 days
• Water twice per day
• Harding of seedling should be needed 10 days prior to transplanting

Land Preparation

• Select suitable land soil should not be acidic
• Plough the land to a depth of 30-40cm
• Prepare levelled raised beds to a height of 15-20cm
• Spacing (50×40)cm between rows and 400cm with rows
• 40-30cm for medium size heads
• Size of the hole (30×30×30)cm
• If soil is acidic add lime (2t/ha) 14 days before planting or add poultry manure (10 ton/ha) one week before planting
• Incorporate well-decomposed organic matter at the rate of 3-4 kg/m2
• Add best fertilizer mixture 2-3 days before planting

Field establishment

• Before uproot seedlings from the nursery bed thoroughly
• One plant per hole
• Planting in the afternoon to avoid desiccation to seedling
• Seedling must be shaded with plant material
• Other cultural practices

Irrigation

• Irrigation twice per day until the plant is fully established and then apply one time per day
• Adequate irrigation is needed when crop duration is about 1 ½ months and thereafter (to form an enlarging of heads)
• Maintaining proper soil moisture lever during head forming and enlarging stages is necessary
• Poor water management may effect for checking of head.

Weed Management

• Early-stage of the crop wedding should be done with 2-3 days interval
• Weeding is essential before applying a top dressing of chemical fertilizer

Fertilizer Application

Fertilizer Recommendation (Kg/ha)

	UREA	TSP	MOP
BD		275	75
TD1	110
TD2	110		75
TD3	110

Earthen up and Mulching

During head formation period, Earthen up and mulching is important to obtain better heads

Problems of Cabbage Cultivation

Cracking of Cabbage Heads

• Excess water taken up by plant causes head to burst
• Over maturity
• Control
• Harvest heads as soon as mature
• Sufficient irrigation
• Plant recommended variety

Poor Heading

• Overcrowding
• Dry soil
• High temperatures
• Poor fertility
• Control
• Plant at recommended spacing
• Supply water
• Earthen up
• Maintain soil moisture
• Temperature  control

Pests and Diseases

Cabbage pests

Cutworm

• Damage young plants are seen fed upon and cut at base
• The leaves and developing cabbage heads appear with holes
• The caterpillars hide during day time and come out to feed at night

Control

• Ploughing the soil flooding the soil, handpicking
• Chemical control – trichlorfon 50% profenophos (selicorn) 50%, prothifos 50%

Diamond Black Moth

• Damage and symptoms
• Green colour caterpillars
• Larvae feed parts of the lower epidermis
• Leaves show feeding holes among the ribs and wilting appearance
• Adults are small and ash in colour
• Once they flood the wing, three diamond shape marks can be shaped

Control

• Use parasitoid of pupate
• Chemical control by using
• Profenophos 50%
• Azadirachtin (Neem seed extract)

Cabbage Semilptoms

• Damage and symptoms
• Caterpillar start scraping and feeding the leaves initially and later defoliate entire leaving midribs and main veins

Control

• Remove affected plant parts
• Hands picks and destroys caterpillars
• Use a light trap to attract and kill adults
• Chemical control by using profenophos 50% and chlorfluazuron 50%

 Cabbage Diseases

Black rot (Xanthomonas campestris)

Symptoms

• Bleaching of veins along leaf margins
• Extracting towards petioles and the main stem
• Yellowing wilting and drying of leaves, defoliation
• Causal organism – Bacteria

Control

• Destroy infected crop residues
• Use crop rotations with non-susceptible crops
• Cultivate resistant varieties
• Apply mulch

Clubroot

Symptoms

• Swelling or malformations on the main laterals roots
• Malformed root growth
• Failure to form heads
• Stunted plants
• Causal organism – Fungi

Control

• Apply 2-4 t/ha of lime to raise soil pH
• Avoid continuous cultivation 0f Brasssicasi crops
• Crop cultivation
• Cultivate resistance varieties

Soft rot

Symptoms

• Rotting of the internal tissues of the head with creating bad odder
• During warm and rainy seasons this disease can be spread rapidly
• Causal organism – Bacteria

Control

• Improve drainage conditions of the soil
• Remove infected plant parts

Damping-off

Symptoms

• When the seedling emerges and grows to a height of an inch or two then wilts and dies by showing fall off the stem near the soil surface

Control

• Seed treatment
• Captan, Thiram, chlorothalonil apply

Harvesting

• Harvesting can begin 80-105 days after and it depends on variety as well conditions
• Over maturity will leads cracking of the heads

Method

• Harvest head with two-three outer leaves
• Cut by using a sharp knife
• should be practised in the morning and avoid heavy sun rays
• Potential yield 40 t/ha

Post-Harvest Handling

• Cleaning, grading and sorting of harvested heads
• Packing in well ventilated creates

check out my other article: How to Grow Pumpkins at Home