How to grow cauliflower outdoors

Cauliflower is a vegetable very rich in vitamins and minerals. It has a beneficial effect on our digestive tract, completely hypoallergenic, which gives it the right to occupy a leading place in the nutrition of children up to the first year of life. Another unique property is the ability to retain all the nutritional and beneficial properties when frozen in freezers.

Cauliflower and growing secrets

The technique for growing cauliflower is not very complicated. It can be grown both in the open field, in other words, directly on the ridge, and in the greenhouse. When grown in a greenhouse, harvesting will be almost all year round. But with landing on the ridge, things are a little more complicated. Growing is possible only by observing certain rules.

This culture is rightfully considered very finicky, which is why any violation of planting rules, temperature regime or watering volume can lead to a violation of flowering and leave us without a crop. To do this, you need to study all possible problems in advance and try to solve them.
There are two ways to grow cauliflower - this is directly by the seedling method or by directly planting seeds in the ground.

Sowing for seedlings means planting seeds in special cups or boxes with further planting of a young plant in the ground or greenhouse. This is the most popular method among summer residents, because thanks to it, the first fruits of cauliflower are formed already in July. The seeds can be planted many times so that the crop can be harvested before winter begins.

Another option is to plant seeds directly into the soil. Since the plant loves warmth and sunlight quite strongly, there is no need to wait for the harvest early. Another disadvantage is poor tolerance to low temperatures. Therefore, you can start planting no earlier than May. You can plant seeds not only in open ground, but also in greenhouses. To do this, it is necessary to prepare the ground, make the necessary holes at a distance of 5 cm, then be sure to moisten the ground.

Cauliflower seedlings

You can plant cabbage for growing seedlings in the soil four times:

1. In early March, start the first sowing. Choose breeding and early varieties.
2. The procedure can be repeated for the second time on the 15th of April.
3. Varieties that are mid-season can be planted for seedlings in early May.
4. If you still have late varieties of cauliflower in stock, it is best to sow them at the end of May - and before June 10th.

Cauliflower is very sensitive to transplantation, therefore, peat cups are best for us, which not only serve as a convenient reservoir, but also serve as additional feeding.
It is better to prepare the soil for planting in advance, taking care of the optimal pH value.

As fertilizer, you can use it as a ready-made version for cauliflower, you can find them on the shelf in the store, or add ash to the soil. Ash perfectly neutralizes the acidic pH of the environment.

If you want to speed up the sprouting time of your seedlings a little, then you can use these tricks:

• You can take a few cabbage seeds and try to germinate them on a damp cloth. The main thing is to maintain the correct temperature of the environment.
• Temper the seeds. To do this, you must first put our seeds in hot water, after 25 minutes, change the water to cold.
• Or, before sowing, you can soak the seeds in fertilizer with water. After 24 hours, the seeds are taken out, dried and transferred to a cool place.

When the seeds are sown, cover the soil with polycarbonate and wait for germination in a warm place.

Cauliflower: rules for caring for seedlings, thermal regime

For a good harvest, it is very important to observe the correct heat regimen. It is worth remembering that cauliflower is very fond of warmth. But, another feature of it is that if the seedlings are not hardened, they will stop blooming.

Cauliflower loves this temperature regime:

1. Before the first shoots appear, the optimum temperature is around 20 degrees.
2. After the first leaves appear, the temperature of the content is up to 8 degrees.
3. After the seedlings get a little stronger, it should be kept at temperatures up to 18 degrees during the day and at least 10 degrees at night.

The optimal amount of watering is up to 3 times a week. The most obvious sign of watering is dry soil. It is important not to upset the balance. Indeed, with excessive moisture, the plant may die, and with a deficiency, it will stop blooming.

Seedlings do not need to be watered before the first leaves appear.

After our seedlings have a second strengthened leaflet, it is worth thinking about fertilizing. The most optimal is boric acid. It gives the young plant the trace elements it needs to grow. The approximate concentration of the solution is 2 g of boric acid per 1 liter of water.

Boric acid is a source of boron, a trace element involved in photosynthesis. It is he who increases the productivity of plants and gives them the strength to withstand aggressive environmental factors.

When the plant grows up a little, and 4 leaves already appear on it, this means that the time has come for the second feeding. This time, ammonium molybdenum will help us in a concentration of 5 g per bucket of water.
It contains molybdenum, a trace element that affects the concentration of vitamins and nutrients in fruits. The main thing is the correct observance of the permissible concentrations.

7 days before planting in the ground, fertilize the seedlings is stopped. But 2 days before planting, the plant is watered with phosphate fertilizers and potassium-based fertilizers. This will help our seedlings cope with low temperatures.

Cauliflower is planted in the soil that has been prepared in advance. It is important that the ground is warm enough.

How to properly prepare seedlings for planting

It will be correct to start preparing the soil in the fall, season it with fertilizers. You can combine organic and inorganic fertilizers. After that, in the spring it will be necessary to carefully dig up the ground, make rows and dig holes. It is worth leaving a distance of half a meter between the rows, and 25 cm between the plants themselves.

We add water to the dimples, then we proceed to planting our seedlings. After planting, it will be optimal to create shade for young plants. It is a very picky plant that does not like the open sun. A cloudy day is perfect for planting.

If you decide to use peat cups, then you do not need to worry about whether the root system is damaged. This is the safest and most favorable type of container for seedlings.

Colored empty in open ground: rules for watering and fertilizing

The main thing in watering cauliflower is not to overmoisten the seedlings. Watering will be optimal once every 7 days. If the summer is hot, the number of waterings can be increased to 2. The plant is favorably influenced by mulching the soil around the plant itself. Sawdust, peat, or humus do their job perfectly.

In order not to damage the roots with loosening the earth, you should be careful. As soon as your plant has the first flowers, they are covered with their own leaves. You can tie them using fishing line or wire. Then your fruits will be perfectly white.

You can root the cauliflower 3 times a season.

one.Two weeks after planting, you can start the first feeding. It is usually made with chicken droppings and water.
2. After another 15 days, feeding on the basis of a cow mullein is used.
3. And for the third step you will need mineral fertilizers. And again, only after two weeks.

How to defeat pests

The most dangerous enemies of cauliflower are fungal infections and bacteria, aphids and caterpillar infestations. In order not to damage our fruits with strong chemicals, it is recommended to resort to biologics:

• A drug such as "phytosporin" helps against fungal infections
• From various kinds of bacterial infections - "enterobacterin"

The most effective folk remedies are considered to be an infusion of mustard and red hot pepper.

Harvesting rules

There is no clear time for harvesting. Inflorescences need to be removed as they mature.

Most often, the approximate time for harvesting is the month of August, and more specifically on the 20th. To collect the inflorescences, we need a sharp knife. They carefully cut off the cabbage, leaving the lower leaves. If you have planted late varieties, and the cold time comes and your cabbage does not have time to ripen, then you need to dig up the whole plant and send it to the greenhouse. There it will grow and mature.