Cabbage is a cruciferous vegetable. Refers to cold-resistant types of vegetable crops. It is divided into three types of ripeness varieties:
Lovers of homemade vegetables use all three varieties when growing. It is planted to a greater extent by the seedling method in late April or early May. Many gardeners are faced with such an unpleasant phenomenon when cracks appear on some forks at the end of the ripening season. Why is cabbage cracking, we will try to understand the article.
Do you care properly
As mentioned above, cabbage is a cold-resistant type of vegetable crop. When planting in open ground, its seedlings are able to withstand spring frosts up to (–5 ). And already mature forks of late grades can stand until autumn frosts (-8 ) and below.
In order to collect a generous crop, you need the right care for this plant. Why is cabbage cracking? From improper watering and sharp temperature fluctuations. The optimum temperature at which this culture feels quite comfortable is +22 ° C. When this indicator increases to +28 ° C, its growth slows down. And if at the same time the vegetable still lacks watering, then the growth process stops altogether.
How to plant cabbage
The soil in which you are going to plant this vegetable plays an important role. If there is such an opportunity, then do it in areas located closer to the river or reservoirs. There cabbage productivity is increased due to increased humidity. We have already said that this vegetable loves water. If there is no possibility of frequent watering, then in hot and dry weather, try to obscure the cabbage. Make a simple canopy of burlap - under it, it wilts less in the sun and not so loses moisture.
Seedlings grow well in places where before there were potatoes, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers. You can not plant seedlings of cabbage where it grew last year or where there were cruciferous types of vegetables (radish, rutabaga or turnip), so as not to infect the new keel plant.
Care
Why does cabbage crack and how do you care for it? The vegetable has no special requirements. Caring for this plant is no different from other vegetable crops:
- proper watering;
- hilling;
- top dressing.
Loosening should be started a week after transplanting, when the seedlings get stronger. Then do this at least 1 time in 2 weeks. An important process in caring for a vegetable is hilling. Thanks to him, the plant becomes more stable, and the root system of cabbage forms new roots for effective growth. Early and medium ripening varieties need to be earthed up at least twice, and late varieties - at least three times per season. It is better to do it after heavy rain or watering. In other words, the ground must be very wet so that it sticks to the stalk of the cabbage bush.
Watering
Cracked cabbage - what to do? Water it constantly, but in moderation. Very often (especially for summer residents) cabbage is not watered for a long time. Then, upon arrival at the site, they try to catch up with what was lost and pour it heavily. This is not worth doing. If you have not been in a country house or garden for a long time, try shading the vegetable so that the soil does not dry out very much. And before leaving, it would be nice to water the cabbage. But this should not be done in the ground under the root (you still can’t get it), but by sprinkling. That is, from a hose with a spray, so that all the earth under the plant is moistened at the same time.
The cabbage is cracking. Why is this happening
Middle and early varieties of vegetables ripen by the end of summer. Often their forks begin to crack. The crown of the head from a round and beautiful turns into a "ruff". Slugs or caterpillars easily crawl into these cracks, which are impossible to get from there. Such cabbage heads are not stored for a long time. Even in the refrigerator, they deteriorate very quickly. Why is cabbage cracking? The main reason is a sharp increase in watering or heavy torrential rains (if there was arid weather before this time).
As already mentioned in this article, at temperatures above 25 degrees, the growth of the plug slows down, and when there is a lack of moisture it stops altogether. But with heavy rainfall, the amount of water in the root system increases, and the growth of the fork resumes at an accelerated pace. The inner small leaves begin enhanced growth, and the old upper leaves do not keep pace with them. As a result, they do not withstand the onslaught from the inside and are torn. That is why cabbages crack.
How to protect cabbage
If the cabbage is cracking on the plot, what should the gardener do? When, after dry, sultry weather, it is time for heavy rains, the very first thing to do is to cut the root system (on one side of a cabbage bush with a shovel). Then the moisture access to the root will be less and the head growth will not be so rapid. Remove ripened forks as they mature, without waiting for the heavy rainy season. That is why the cabbage in the garden is cracking - this is a consequence of abundant moisture. Therefore, large and ripe heads of cabbage need to be cut immediately after rain, otherwise they will burst. Keeping them will not make sense, because a cracked head of cabbage is not stored for long.