Cabbage is grown on nearly every backyard plot. This crop does not require greenhouse conditions or special care and tolerates cold well. But to get strong, healthy heads or dense inflorescences, you need to provide cabbage with complete nutrition.
Cabbage is very responsive to feeding, especially in early summer when the plant is developing rapidly. It's best to fertilize this crop every 2–3 weeks using both organic and mineral fertilizers.
Herbal infusion (liquid compost)
Herbal infusion is often called green fertilizer or liquid compost. This is a very valuable feeding that contains a large number of growth-stimulating substances, macro- and micronutrients.
To prepare green fertilizer, fill a barrel three-quarters full with various herbs: dandelion, nettle, horsetail, burdock, couch grass, wormwood, clover, goutweed, and other weeds. You can put plants in the barrel with their roots, without shaking off the soil — this way you'll introduce more beneficial bacteria into the infusion.
Fill the green mass with water, leaving a little space at the top. Place the barrel in a sunny spot or greenhouse and stir it periodically. After 7–10 days of fermentation, the infusion is ready. It will have an unpleasant smell and the herbs will be semi-decomposed.
To prepare the working solution, dilute 1 L of the infusion in 10 L of water and pour under the cabbage root at a rate of 1–2 L per plant. To make green fertilizer as beneficial as possible for the plants and soil, you can add a biological preparation based on lactobacilli, Bacillus subtilis, or Trichoderma (Baikal EM1, Fitosporin-M, etc.) to the finished solution.
If you didn’t add superphosphate while preparing the cabbage beds, you can add it to the herbal infusion: dissolve the granules in hot water and pour the solution into the barrel. For 30 L of green compost, you can safely use 200 g of simple superphosphate.
Compost tea
Compost tea is an infusion of mature compost. It can be prepared with or without aeration. Useful bacteria actively multiply in the resulting liquid, which improves soil health and enhances plant nutrition.
To make the infusion, pour 10 L of settled water over 1 kg of compost or vermicompost, stir, and leave in a warm place for 8–10 hours. The result is a brown-colored tea that contains many nutrients and humic compounds. Compost tea can be used undiluted, applying about 1 L per plant.
To prepare aerated compost tea, add 1 kg of compost or vermicompost and 50 g of sugar (or 100 mL of jam) to 10 L of settled water, then stir well. Insert an air pump (for ponds or aquariums), turn it on, and leave for about 24 hours. In hot weather (around 30°C), 16–18 hours of aeration is enough. Use the finished tea immediately for watering.
Calcium nitrate
Calcium nitrate is a popular fertilizer containing about 15% nitrogen and 20–27% calcium. It dissolves well in water and has an alkaline reaction, which is very important for cabbage as it reduces the risk of clubroot disease.
If you didn’t add calcium nitrate when planting seedlings, apply it 10–14 days later. To do this, dissolve 15 g of granulated calcium nitrate in 10 L of settled water and apply 500–700 mL of solution per plant. The calcium and nitrogen in this fertilizer are quickly absorbed by the cabbage roots, giving a great start for proper development.
Complex mineral fertilizers
In the first half of the growing season, you can use complex fertilizers that contain approximately equal amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, as well as a full set of meso- and micronutrients: AgroMaster 18:18:18, Novofert Universal, etc.
Keep in mind that many water-soluble fertilizers with nutrients in chelated form are more effective when used as foliar sprays. Foliar feeding provides cabbage with all necessary nutrients quickly and is helpful during stress (drought, waterlogging, sudden temperature changes, damage from frost, hail, insects, etc.). Foliar feeding also allows you to apply fertilizers more economically and precisely, without contaminating the soil.
Studies have also shown that foliar feeding with complex fertilizers containing micronutrients reduces the risk of cabbage diseases and pests. You can combine foliar feeding with EM preparations, biofungicides, and amino acids.
How to properly feed cabbage
To ensure nutrients in the soil and fertilizers are effectively absorbed by cabbage roots, follow these rules:
First, water cabbage thoroughly with settled water the day before applying fertilizer. It’s better to do this in cloudy weather. If it’s sunny, water early in the morning or in the evening. Cabbage is moisture-loving, so try to wet the soil to a depth of 20–30 cm during watering.
Second, keep the root zone soil moderately moist throughout the season. Don’t let it dry out. Irregular watering often leads to poor calcium uptake and later to head cracking. To retain moisture, reduce weeding and watering, and mulch the beds with hay, straw, or rotted sawdust. Under mulch, the soil becomes loose and airy, encouraging beneficial microbes that boost soil fertility.
Third, alternate between organic and mineral fertilizers. Organic fertilizers (compost, vermicompost, humus) improve soil structure, increase microbial activity, and release nutrients more evenly over time. Essentially, we’re not just feeding the plants but enriching the soil so nutrients are fully absorbed by roots.
If your cabbage bed is not mulched, remember to loosen the soil after watering or fertilizing to prevent crust formation.
Don’t forget to consider the condition of the plants and soil type when feeding cabbage. For example, on sandy or sandy loam soils, nutrients wash out faster, so you need to feed more often. On clay or loam soils – less frequently. Avoid overusing mineral fertilizers, as this can cause soil salinization and harm the microbial ecosystem.
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