What are the best conditions for growing cabbage is probably one of the most asked questions by newcomers to growing cabbage. This is a fair question to ask. It is probably a common question because for one reason or another there seem to be an impression that growing cabbage is a complicated affair.
The truth of the matter, however, is that for the home grower, growing most cabbage types is straightforward. There are three essential things to never lose sight of when attempting to grow cabbage. These are sunlight, fertilizer and watering. I shall be pointing you to the best cabbage growing conditions by answering a set of questions that you may already have come across floating around. I will try as much as I can to provide detailed insight to better answer this main question.
By following the answers provided herein, I am confident you will do so well in your cabbage growing endeavours.
Let’s begin…
1. What are the best conditions for growing cabbage in terms of season?
Cabbage does well in cool weather. It is thus considered a cool weather crop. The ideal temperatures for growing cabbage are between 7 degrees Celsius and 25 degrees Celsius (45-77 degrees). As the temperatures increase higher than these ideal parameters you run a risk of a poor crop or total failure.
Should temperatures drop to too cold or even frost occur, cabbage could tolerate such conditions but only for brief periods. Because of these conditions, the ideal time to start your cabbage growing adventure would be sometime in spring aiming to reach point of harvest before it’s too hot in summer.
Alternatively, you can start on it in later summer aiming to get it to maturity in early winter when the weather is cool but not too cold.
2. Should I grow cabbages in pots or in the ground?
The ideal place to grow cabbages for best results is in the ground. However, for a variety of reasons growing your cabbage in a pot or containers may be the only option for space reasons, for example.
In that case you may grow cabbage in pots or containers. Keep in mind, however, that pot grown cabbage tends to form a much smaller head than that grown in the ground. The reasons for this include the aggressive nature of cabbage roots which require more room than available in an average container size.
The pot or container size that could give you near optimal results that I recommend should be a size of 24 cm in length, 24 cm in width and 40 cm in height. You could use real pots or fabric planting pots. The fact, however, remains that for best results cabbage are grown in the ground.
3. Should I grow my cabbage from seeds or seedlings?
You can grow cabbages from seeds or seedlings. Growing from seed means buying the seed and going through the process of planting them and then transplanting them as seedlings into the ground or pots. On the other hand, the seedlings route means you are buying ready grown cabbage seedlings and planting them in the ground or pots.
Also learn how to grow other vegetables from scraps such as Chinese cabbage, potatoes, regular onions and green onions a.k.a. spring onions.
Both routes work, that’s for sure, save that using seeds takes much longer. You will need to factor in the 3 or so weeks needed for the seeds to germinate and become mature enough to plant in the ground. If you are out of time or simply would like to avoid the extra care and involving process of producing your own seedlings you may as well just buy ready-made cabbage seedlings.
Keep in mind, however, that buying seedlings generally means reduced freedom when it comes to cabbage variety. You will be tied to whatever variety the seller of the seedlings has on offer. In other words, you lose variety control.
4. What are the best conditions for growing cabbage in terms of soil?
Like many plants, cabbage is sensitive to the type of growing media used. For a good outcome, you will need loose soil which is well draining. The growing media must not hold a lot of water but should be able to retain just enough water to make the cabbage plant comfortable.
You will need nutrient-rich soil a your growing medium. Poor soils make the cabbage susceptible to diseases such as Club Root which causes yellowing of leaves among other problems and eventual failure of the crop. Regular soil is not recommended as it tends to become compact once exposed to summer type of heat. What I recommend is aged organic compost.
Alternatively, you may also work with this formula in preparing your growing medium – 40% garden soil mixed with 30% sand (for drainage) and 30% very mature compost.
If you can afford it or want to, you may go ahead and perform soil analysis with the help of experts such as agronomists. This may even be a necessary step if the plan is to go big and commercial with your cabbage farming. However, for the most part, for low cost home growers like myself, these soil management tips will suffice.
If composting is not available or adequate you may consider commercial options of planting mix. Cabbage thrives in soil which has a pH of between 6.5 and 6.8, keep this in mind. In the event of the Club Root disease, you can raise pH to as much as 7.2 to discourage the disease and stop it from spreading (but the affected plants cannot be recovered).
Furthermore, nitrogen is an important macronutrient when growing cabbage. Of the N.K.P macronutrients, a general guideline is that the N should be double the value of K and P. For example 2-1-1. Being a leafy crop, nitrogen will produce lush cabbages with rich green leaves. Organic manures and fertilizers can be used to add nitrogen to your soil before planting and during the life of your cabbage in the ground. We look more into this aspect below.
5. When and which fertilizer should I use on my cabbages?
The question of fertilizer is an important question when discussing best conditions for growing cabbages. This is because cabbages are heavy feeders. Most cabbage growers know this. Growing those big lush leaves and heads necessarily requires just the right amount of food. It follows that cabbages must be well fed.
Although you could fertilize your cabbage using store bought chemical fertilizers, many home growers of cabbages succeed using only organic fertilizer made from kitchen waste.
For one, I have been using organic fertilizer created using kitchen waste on a variety of crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce and more. This is basically kitchen compost made from banana peels, egg shells, cabbage scrap , onion scraps and whatnot.
Since on this blog I share my experiences as a home grower, I would recommend using homemade compost any day. Most home kitchens produce quite a good deal of waste to support a decent garden. If need be, you may then supplement your compost with commercial fertilizers.
Your compost should be applied at the point of planting the cabbage into the ground. In some cases this may be enough until the cabbage is harvested. However, fertilizer may also be applied at intervals of 3 to 4 weeks until the cabbage is ready to form heads. Whatever you decide to do, do not apply fertilizer once the cabbage heads begin to form. This will result in cracked heads as your cabbage heads attempt to grow too quickly from the ill timed feeding.
If you are going the seedlings route as explained at #3 above, you may use compost tea as fertilizer on your seedlings once true leaves start to appear. This provides the seedlings with nutrients early. Compost tea is the water that drains from composting kitchen waste or other forms of compost.
6. How much sunlight should I give the cabbages?
The best conditions for growing cabbages when it comes to sunlight is no less than 6 hours of full sunlight for best results. The more sun the better. This is the rule of thumb.
That said, some growers get away with less. I have even heard of farmers who claim to get away with only 3 to 4 hours of sunlight. The point supporting more sun is that cabbages are all leaves. Those big leaves are meant to use photosynthesis to generate food for themselves and the impending cabbage head. Once the head appears it must keep growing to its full size. Sunlight is a major ingredient in the science of it.
If you can’t quite get this amount of sunlight it would be a matter of experimentation. You will probably get the crop going at 3-4 hours but with certain expectation of suboptimal results such as growth stagnation, loose or small heads and even head formation failure leaving you with a harvest of leaves only.
7. How much watering is recommended when growing cabbages?
If you are growing the your cabbages from seeds, the initial watering on planting in the seedlings tray is theoretically okay until the seeds germinate. However, depending on your atmosphere, if the heat is high and you determine that the soil in the tray is drying out, by all means give the tray a spray.
I recommend spraying the soil with the seeds twice per day instead of regular watering to avoid disturbing the soil and exposing the seeds. What you should aim for, in this case, is keeping the soil in the tray moist but not soggy.
Once you transplant seedlings into the soil, maintain regular watering which does not result in soggy soils. This, cabbage won’t tolerate for long and would lead to other problems. Again, aim to keep the soil moist but not soggy. In many cases, sufficient watering comes down to once or twice per week.
Regular watering contributes to healthy leafy greens and correct size cabbage head. I realise I may have weighed much on over watering. However, on the other hand, if cabbages don’t get enough water, you may also discover that they fail to form the head.
8. When should I expect to harvest my cabbages?
All things being equal and assuming you have given your cabbages the best conditions to grow – nutrients, water and sunlight- you can expect to harvest full size, tight or firm headed cabbages at about 90 days. A good range is 80 to 180 days from the time you put the seedlings in the ground or in a container to grow into a full size cabbage. In other words, the projections I am giving here exclude the time you grow seedlings from seeds in a seed tray.
Before harvesting the cabbage, feel the head that it is tight and firm as it should be at maturity. As mentioned earlier, ground cultivated cabbages will have much bigger heads than pot cabbages. Container grown cabbages when they have done well will weigh between 1.3 kgs and 1.5 kgs (2.85 lbs – 3.30 lbs).
As I have hopefully shown through answering these questions, the best conditions for growing cabbage revolve around nutrients, watering and sunlight. Enjoy your cabbage growing journey, and in the process become a greens guru!
