Timing and technology for planting cauliflower to obtain seedlings from A to Z

Cauliflower contains many vitamins and beneficial minerals. It has recently become a staple for those seeking a healthy diet. To get cauliflower as early as possible, it must be grown from seedlings. This method complicates the process slightly, but it allows for a month-earlier harvest.

Sowing methods

There are two ways to obtain decent seedlings:

• in the usual way in boxes;
• pot method.

In the first case, seeds are sown in boxes or a greenhouse. For the second option, pots made of different materials are used.

Young plants have very delicate and weak roots. These vegetable seedlings will thrive only in loose, well-drained soil. Therefore, potting is more suitable. This will reduce damage to the plant's roots.

When to plant

Some vegetable growers use the lunar sowing calendar when choosing the sowing time. It's also wise to read the recommendations printed on the seed packaging, which indicate the best time to sow the seeds for each variety.

Seedlings grow for an average of 45 days. During this period, viable seedlings can be grown without deviating from the technology.

Early varieties are recommended to be sown from March 5th to 10th. Late varieties can be sown from March 10th to 20th, or without seedlings—directly into the garden bed in early April, but under cover with plastic film. For seed germination, soil temperatures between 2 and 5 degrees Celsius (33 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit) are sufficient.

Important!

Sowing dates for the earliest harvest should be adjusted depending on the growing region. In the southern regions of the country, sowing occurs earlier than, for example, in the Urals and Siberia.

For residents of any region, there's a calculation that makes it easy to determine the timing of sowing early cauliflower. This calculation takes into account only two factors:

• growing period - 45 days;
• approximate date when the soil warms up to +5 degrees.

Subtracting 45 days from the planting date yields the approximate sowing date. To harvest in August, you should purchase seeds of early varieties:

• Movir 74;
• "Gribovskaya 1355"
• "Patriotic".

Late-ripening varieties are typically sown in a greenhouse at the end of April. When sown at this time, the harvest should not be expected before September.

Once the seedlings emerge, pay close attention to the temperature. If the thermometer reads above 20 degrees Celsius, there's a risk the cabbage will develop a dwarf head.

The same head can be formed if the seedlings experience a lack of moisture and light.

In general, the deadlines for the regions are as follows:

• South - early March;
• Central (including Moscow region) and the Volga region - 2-3 decades of March;
• North-West (including Leningrad region) - end of March and beginning of April;
• Ural - mid-April;
• Siberia - end of April;
• Far East - early May.

As for the lunar calendar in 2024, the favorable days are as follows:

• February: 12, 19-21;
• March: 17-19;
• April: 13-16;
• May: 11-13, 21.

On the contrary, unfavorable ones:

• February: 9-11, 23-25;
• March: 9-11, 24-26;
• April: 7-9, 23-25;
• May: 7-9, 22-24.

All the rest are neutral.

Preparing the soil and containers

This vegetable crop requires high fertility, and any soil mixture won't do. The soil must be thoroughly prepared, otherwise the plants will suffer from a lack of nutrients, and the seedlings will grow weak and unviable.

To prepare the soil, the following substances are taken in equal quantities:

• turf soil;
• high-moor peat;
• rotted manure.

All these ingredients are thoroughly mixed, and the mixture is placed in boxes. The soil is then fertilized with double superphosphate at a rate of 20 g per m², and then the soil mixture is disinfected by watering it with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate.

Seed preparation

Store-bought seeds shouldn't be sown directly. Before sowing, you need to do the following:

• calibrate;
• warm up;
• disinfect.

After removing the seeds from the bag, pour them out onto the table and inspect them. Only large, full-bodied seeds are selected for sowing. Their embryos have greater growth vigor, and the seedlings produced from them are more viable, ultimately resulting in a 30 percent increase in yield.

The next step in seed preparation is warming. To do this, place the calibrated seeds in a bag and place the bag in water heated to 50 degrees Celsius. After 20 minutes, remove the bag and cool it for 2 minutes in cold water. Then, dry the planting material.

At the final stage of preparation, the seeds are treated with a formalin solution. To prepare the disinfectant solution, use 1 part formalin to 300 parts water. The process is performed by immersing the seeds in the solution for 60 minutes.

Sowing seeds

Once you have the prepared seeds and have waited for the optimal time, you can begin sowing. Before sowing, the soil should be lightly moistened and leveled. On the leveled surface, mark the locations of the plant rows and make shallow furrows along these lines.

Planting depth

Cabbage seeds are small, so planting them too deeply is not recommended. If planted too deeply, the seedlings may not have enough strength to germinate. The recommended planting furrow depth, as well as the seed placement depth, is 5-7 mm.

Sowing scheme

Cauliflower seeds are spaced 3 cm by 1 cm. This means that the rows of plants in the box will be spaced every 3 cm, and the seeds in the seed furrow should be spaced 1 cm apart.

Then, the seeds are covered with the prepared soil mixture and compacted. To ensure uniform germination, the boxes should be covered with plastic film. Remove the film when individual seedlings appear on the soil surface.

Seedling growing technology

Numerous methods have been developed for growing cabbage seedlings. It's impossible to cover them all in one article. We'll cover in detail the method of growing cabbage seedlings by picking and the method without picking. Both options are simple in nature and suitable for home use.

Picking

The purpose of this procedure is to provide the growing seedlings with a larger feeding surface than they had before. There's not enough space for seedlings, so at first, the seedlings are placed quite densely in the box. While they're small, they have enough nutrients and light.

This is the moment to transplant, and this process should not be delayed. Delaying transplantation can lead to two negative consequences:

• seedlings shading each other, in search of light, can stretch out;
• The roots of growing seedlings become increasingly fragile and suffer greatly during transplantation.

As a result, seedlings transplanted late take root poorly and their development is inhibited.

It's best to transplant cabbage seedlings into peat pots. This way, you'll avoid re-damaging the roots, as they'll be planted in the garden bed along with their pots. These seedlings take root and adapt to changing conditions much more quickly. Peat pots can be purchased or made at home.

When transplanting, plant the seedlings deep down to the cotyledon leaves. Once transplanting is complete, mulch the plants with ash or dry sand.

Without picking

Growing doesn't necessarily have to involve picking. The no-prick method is gaining popularity. Using it, you can also eventually grow perfectly suitable seedlings.

With this method, seeds are sown directly into peat pots, and the entire growing process occurs within them. This method is especially suitable for growing late-season varieties of this vegetable, when the cabbage plants are transplanted into the garden in early summer. This method causes minimal root damage and preserves the root ball, which promotes rapid seedling establishment.

Late cabbage seedlings are also grown directly in the garden bed. To ensure adequate nutrition and light during growth, the seeds are sown in a 55 x 10 cm pattern. Caring for seedlings in the garden bed is no different from caring for seedlings grown in boxes or pots.

To protect the seedlings from night frosts and cold winds, arches are placed over the bed and covered with plastic film. Young cabbage seedlings receive both warmth and light to develop normally and meet all the requirements for good seedlings.

Care

Caring for growing seedlings consists of the following important tasks:

• top dressing;
• watering;
• maintaining temperature conditions;
• hardening.

Fertilizer

The roots of this cabbage, compared to white cabbage, are less developed and extend less deeply. During the growing process, the seedlings need to be fertilized with mineral fertilizers at least twice.

The first foliar feeding is performed at the 2-true leaf stage. The working solution is prepared as follows:

• take 1 liter of warm water;
• in this volume of liquid dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of complex fertilizers;
• After mixing, the solution is ready for use.

The prepared solution is used to treat the seedlings.

The second foliar feeding begins approximately 12 days after the first. To do this, first prepare a working solution:

• dissolve 1 tablespoon of urea in a bucket of water at room temperature;
• add 1 tbsp of potassium sulfate to the mixture;
• stir the mixture until the ingredients are completely dissolved.

The prepared solution is used to treat the seedlings on the leaves.

Hardening

Hardening off is a process designed to produce strong, cold-resistant seedlings. It begins 13 days before planting the cabbage in the garden beds.

Hardening off involves taking seedlings growing in boxes or pots out onto a balcony or unheated greenhouse on warm spring days, where the temperature is maintained at 5 degrees Celsius. During the cold nights, they are brought back into the warm room.

Six days before planting, the cabbage is left in the greenhouse overnight. If the weather warms up during the day, you can open all the doors and windows in the greenhouse to maximize the cabbage's growing conditions as close to those of the garden as possible.

After two weeks of hardening, it is planted in open-air vegetable beds.

Watering

Watering is an important and crucial part of seedling care. Watering should be done sparingly, as overwatering can cause diseases. Underwatering can also cause dwarf cabbage heads.

There's no difference between watering cauliflower and cabbage. Water with room-temperature water after the soil has dried. To maintain optimal soil moisture, watering once every three days is sufficient.

Watering is stopped 8 days before planting. To minimize root damage, the soil beneath the seedlings is thoroughly watered before removal.

Temperature for successful growing

And, of course, to obtain good, healthy seedlings, you'll need to strictly adhere to temperature requirements. Temperatures won't be uniform during cultivation, as different stages of seedling development require different temperatures.

1. To ensure the seeds germinate evenly, maintain a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius until germination. If the seeds are sown in a greenhouse, to maintain the required temperature at night, place straw mats or old blankets over the plastic or glass frames in the evening.
2. If seedlings are exposed to elevated temperatures after germination, they will stretch and become thinner. This will prevent the production of good seedlings. Therefore, after germination, the temperature in the nursery is sharply reduced to 8°C during the day and 2°C lower at night. This temperature regime is maintained for 7 days to ensure seedlings with thick, strong stems.
3. Then the temperature is increased to 12 degrees and maintained at this temperature until picking.
4. After the picking procedure, the temperature can be increased by another 6 degrees, maintaining 18 degrees during the day and 16 degrees at night.

Planting seedlings in a garden bed

To properly plant this vegetable seedling in a garden bed, the soil is prepared in the fall. After harvesting the previous crop, the bed is dug to a depth of 25 cm, simultaneously clearing out the rhizomes of perennial weeds and plant debris.

When digging in the fall, add humus at a rate of 8 kg per square meter. In winter, it's a good idea to pile snow on top of the bed so that when it melts in the spring, it will saturate the bed with moisture.

In the spring, shortly before planting, fertilizers are distributed per m2 of beds in the following volumes:

• ammonium nitrate - 30 g;
• potassium chloride - 20 g;
• superphosphate - 50 g.

After spreading the fertilizer, on the same day, the beds should be dug up, thoroughly breaking up the clods of earth.

For seedlings, dig holes slightly deeper than the pots themselves. The planting pattern depends on the variety's early maturity:

• early cabbage is planted according to the scheme 70 by 25 cm;
• varieties belonging to the mid-season group are planted according to the 70 x 30 cm pattern;
• Late varieties are planted according to a 70 x 40 cm pattern.

When planting seedlings, add 10 grams of ash to the hole, mixing it with the soil first. Then add 1 liter of water and plant the seedlings. Seedlings, potted or unpotted, are planted deep into the soil up to the first true leaf. At the final stage, the planted seedlings should be thoroughly watered. For better establishment, it is recommended to shade the seedlings from the scorching sun for three days.

After 6 days, inspect the plantings, and replace any fallen plants with new ones. Further planting will need to be done in a timely manner:

• water;
• feed;
• weed;
• spud.

Adviсe

Beginner gardeners may find the advice and recommendations of experienced vegetable growers on caring for seedlings grown indoors useful. Check them out:

• Moisten the soil before germination. For the first 5 days after sowing, use drip irrigation or a spray bottle. During this time, keep the seedling tray in a room with a constant temperature of 19 degrees Celsius.
• When the first shoots emerge, move the box to another room where the temperature is maintained at 8 degrees Celsius. If you continue to keep it at the same high temperature, the seedlings will stretch excessively and may fall over.
• Timely transplantation. If your seedlings are planted too close together and you delay transplanting, you can't hope for good seedlings. Insufficient light and nutrition can also cause them to stretch and thin out.
• First feeding. Apply a complex mineral fertilizer to cabbage seedlings when they have two true leaves. Dissolve 10 g of fertilizer in 1 liter of water. Apply by spraying. This ensures that the nutrients in the fertilizer are absorbed by both the roots and leaves.
• Second spraying. The next feeding is done 12 days later. The fertilizer composition can vary. For example, the following composition is suitable:

1. 0.2 g boric acid;
2. 0.15 g ammonium molybdate;
3. 0.15 g of copper sulfate.

All components are dissolved in 1 liter of warm water and sprayed.

• Third feeding. This is done foliarly when the cabbage head reaches the size of a walnut. This time, prepare the following solution, using 1 cup per plant:

1. water - 10 l;
2. potassium sulfate - 1 tbsp;
3. urea - 1 tbsp.

Growing seedlings indoors and then transplanting them outdoors is within everyone's reach. All you need to do is strictly follow the instructions. The key points are: observing the sowing and planting dates, preparing the right soil mixture, and watering only when needed.