Cabbage is a fairly common, but very demanding vegetable crop. In order to ensure the correct formation of large and dense heads, it is important to take a responsible approach to fertilizing and fertilizing the plant.
The basic rules of feeding cabbage
This crop loves moist and well-developed loose soil. To understand how to feed the cabbage for the formation of a head of cabbage, it is necessary to take into account the type of the soil and the particular variety
And if earlier organic was used mainly, now mineral fertilizers are very popular and effective, therefore for obtaining the maximum result it is recommended to combine these two types.
Did you know? Cabbage will relieve headaches. It is necessary for this to attach fresh leaves to the temples and lie for a while.
Types of fertilizers (nitrogen, potash, phosphate)
There are three main types of fertilizers:
- potash;
- phosphoric;
- nitrogen.
The latter species is well diluted with water and is used to fertilize the cabbage in the spring, when the green is just beginning to grow, because it contributes to the qualitative development of the root system of the vegetable crop.
And the first two are used when the head is already beginning to form. They help the cabbage to be more resistant to diseases and easier to tolerate adverse weather. Sulfur and iron are also included in the list of useful minerals for cabbage, because they contribute to the accumulation of proteins and prolong the life of the plant.
Basic rules for cabbage fertilizer
Start preparing the soil for planting white cabbage should be even in the fall. It is useful to make organic fertilizer for cabbage when planting in the ground. Cabbage reacts poorly to "acidic" soil, so ordinary coal ash or lime will serve as a good helper.
They need to be scattered on the ground during digging, it will help reduce acidity. If the preliminary training failed, you can fertilize the garden about a week before planting the vegetable. Used for this compost, which is scattered around the perimeter and sprinkled on top of the earth.
Did you know? Doctors often recommend that patients with a gastric ulcer use fresh cabbage juice, as it contains vitamin U, which helps restore the functionality of the gastrointestinal tract.
How to grow white cabbage, calendar feedings
Fertilizer for cabbage should be applied evenly throughout all stages of plant development, starting from the moment of planting and until the harvest period.
But here it is important not to overdo it, because it will negatively affect the appearance of the vegetable culture (cracks may form on the heads) and the high content of harmful nitrates. Top dressing is carried out after quality watering the beds in the evening, or on an overcast day.
Did you know? If you throw a piece of stale bread into the water where the cabbage is brewed, the unpleasant peculiar smell that irritates many lovers of boiled cabbage will disappear.
Top dressing of cabbage seedlings
In order not to wonder why cabbage seedlings grow poorly, you need to know what and when to feed it. White cabbage in the process of growth eats a large number of basic elements of the soil where it is planted, which means it makes the soil "bland". 
Therefore, it is necessary to regularly feed the cabbage, to fertilize not only during planting, to ensure its growth and productivity. Fertilizers for cabbage seedlings are applied when planted in the hole, but only if there was no pre-enrichment of the soil with organic matter in the fall.
- Literally 8-11 days after picking the cabbage seedlings, the first feeding is carried out with a liquid mineral solution. 3 g of potassium chloride, 7.5 g of ammonium nitrate and 12 g of superphosphate are dissolved in 3 l of water.
- Then, again in 8-11 days, repeated feeding is carried out. Take 2-3 g of ammonium nitrate in 1 liter of water.
- And the third feed is carried out 3-4 days before planting seedlings on the garden bed. The composition is the same as in the first feeding, 4 g of potassium chloride, 6 g of saltpeter and 16 g of superphosphate are taken for only 2 liters of water.
Top dressing cabbage after landing in the ground
After the seedlings are planted in a permanent place, the question arises, how to feed the cabbage after planting in the ground.
If fertilizers are not applied to the wells, the first feeding of white cabbage is carried out approximately 16 days after planting. As already known, you first need to saturate the soil under cabbage with nitrogen.
It will be in the form of organic fertilizers or in mineral form - not so important. In 20 liters of water, you can dilute 1 liter of liquid mullein and add 0.5 liters to each plant. At the same amount of water you can take 40 g of saltpeter, which also nourishes the soil well.
Still there is the option of foliar feed. In 20 liters of water, add 2 matchboxes of saltpeter and spray the leaves with vegetables.
The second dressing of cabbage in open ground is carried out at the end of June, or at the very beginning of July. Since it is recommended to alternate mineral and organic fertilizers when fertilizing plants, this time you can stay on organic matter.
Manure, chicken manure, ash infusion are used (2 cups of ash are taken for 2 l of water, after 4-5 days of infusion, strain and pour the cabbage).
Important! Ash helps protect vegetables from pests. Wet after watering or rain leaves sprinkled with ash so that it "stuck" to the green.
Brewer's yeast has also proven quite well. Before feeding the cabbage in open ground, prepare a liquid solution based on water. For maximum effect, it should be used only in warm weather, so that the soil is heated.
The following dressings are used for late varieties of white cabbage. Take 60 g of superphosphate and mullein infusion.
Two weeks before the heading begins, the fourth dressing should be carried out, which should contribute to the long-term storage of the crop. For 20 liters of water, either 1 liter of infused ash or 80 g of potassium sulfate is taken.
Important! After each feeding, the leaves of white cabbage are washed with water so that there is no fertilizer on the green.
Special types of dressings
If the soil was not fertilized during planting for any reason, a slow development of the plant may be observed. Therefore, you need to know how to feed the cabbage seedlings for healthy growth and heading.
Top dressing for active growth of white cabbage
After 2 - 2.5 weeks, you can use different options for feeding for the active growth of white cabbage. Often used chicken manure or manure (2 cups diluted in 20 liters of water), urea (15 g per 10 liters), ammonium nitrate.
By the way, saltpeter can be purchased at a fairly low price, and it brings huge benefits. The main thing is not to overdo it with nitrate fertilizer, since an excess of nitrogen, with which it is enriched, may in the future lead to poisoning with nitrates.
How to feed cabbage to form a head of cabbage
Early cabbage ripening requires feeding to promote the formation of a head of cabbage. Already 14 days after the initial feeding, you can apply nitrophoska (100 g per 20 l of water), wood ash (1 cup per 1 l of infusion), infusion of bird droppings or cow manure.
For fertilizing early cabbage in the greenhouse will be productive and phosphate fertilizer. After all, it will help vegetables to accumulate nutrients at the end of the growing season for forming a head of cabbage. The ideal option is superphosphate, in which about 16 - 18% of phosphorus is available.
True, in acidic soil, phosphorus will be poorly absorbed. But, as it is already known, cabbage is generally not recommended to be planted in “sour” soil.
Important! Growing white cabbage in a greenhouse, fertilizing should be carried out exclusively with minerals, not organic matter.
Knowing how to feed cabbage in the open field is not enough. In addition to regular watering, fertilizing, loosening the soil, in the area where the cabbage grows, there should be no weeds. They not only prevent the ingress of light and heat to the plants, but also consume water and nutrient minerals from the soil, which impairs the condition and quality of the vegetable crop.
