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Who is able to grow a cauliflower without the hassle? Admit to your unearthly essence! How else to explain that such capriciousness is growing and even gives you a decent harvest? Or is it the great mystery of the ancients, jealously guarded by many generations?
Of course this is a joke. In fact, the question - how to grow cauliflower in the open field, has the answer. True, few people know him. And let's see together why, instead of dense and white heads, you often get scary green brooms.
General recommendations
Open the first available article about growing cauliflower. What do we see? Endless directions with numbers. Increase the temperature by 3 degrees, lower by half a degree ... add so many grams of fertilizer on a particular day ... And many more letters that make you crazy.Well, who in his right mind and sober memory will run with a thermometer over the beds or measure fertilizer with pharmaceutical scales? Cover these scientific facts, do not break your brain.
Only two digits should be stored in your head. Not below +10 and not above + 25 ° С. Everything! In other temperature ranges, cauliflower does not work. Down below - covered with a film or non-woven material. I went higher - they made a cool shower, they put it on with a cloth.
We delete the long list of fertilizers in FIG! Why the cauliflower you, in which nitrates more than vitamins? Stomp in the farm shop. Ask sellers fertilizer with a high content of molybdenum, boron and phosphorus. If you can read, it's even easier. Choose yourself. And use as recommended by the manufacturer. All the same, do not overdo it with the frequency of fertilizing. Do not have time.
Why do not you have time? Because, after sowing seeds for seedlings in the first decade of March, in the beginning-middle of June, you will harvest the first crop. There are in view ultrafast varieties. They have from germination to technical ripeness takes about 100 days. And more is not necessary. Because the July heat spoil all your labors.
But you can get the second wave of the harvest in October, if at the end of July to sow new seeds. At this time, the heat begins to subside and the cauliflower feels great. If in your region there is no hot summer, then calmly plant any varieties of cauliflower at a time convenient for you. Coolness will only benefit.
Seed preparation
Now take a piece of aloe leaf, thoroughly mash it in a small amount of warm water. Filter out. Do not use a metal sieve! Only hair or rare fabric. For example, a piece of bandage or gauze. Next, soak the seeds in the resulting liquid. 12 hours is more than enough.
All seeds are ready for planting. It is not necessary to germinate them.
Sowing
In warm regions, you can sow directly into the ground. Approximately beginning to mid-April.But we are not looking for easy ways! Give us a full seedling!
Therefore, we take a cardboard cell from under the eggs. Very handy thing, by the way. In each recess put 2 tsp. ground. Top prepared seed and then another teaspoon of soil.
Now the whole thing is slightly pressed palm. Do not push, tea is not a press! And sprinkle a little warm water from a spray bottle. You can splash a few drops of any growth biostimulator into it.
We remove our landings in the dark and warm. The top of the cabinet in the kitchen fits perfectly. If everything is done correctly, then shoots will appear within 5 days. Did not appear? Understand with the seller of seeds. Quality always sprout quickly.
Seedling
As soon as the first cotyledon leaves appear, we immediately transfer the cell to a cool place. On the cabinet is clearly above + 25 ° C. But we remember that this is a terrible figure. Therefore, on a cool window sill, where + 16-18 ° C.
The power of lighting plays a role, but not very important. But the length of the day is significant. The shorter the day, the tighter the heads will be. But it will take a lot of time. A long day allows you to quickly throw away the flowers, but they quickly fall into the so-hated green loose brooms. Consider it.
Water the cauliflower seedlings very carefully. Do not overwet! Black leg does not sleep and just waiting for your careless actions. And the cool conditions of the content of cauliflower - in general a paradise for her! How to avoid damage to the sore? It is necessary to take appropriate preventive measures:
- Be sure to disinfect the cell. Spray a strong solution of potassium permanganate, then dry near the heating devices.
- The soil for seedlings must also be clean. Freezing and subsequent heating in the oven - perfect.
- For reliability, the prepared soil is generously shed with phytosporin solution.
- Periodically thoroughly ventilate the seedlings, but without a draft.
- Strictly control watering.
All these measures reduce infection with a black leg to almost zero. But for greater reliability, the cauliflower sprouts need to be shed by phytosporin one more time before planting in the ground. At the same time it will help to avoid rot. After all, the root system of this plant is too small and weak, compared with the usual cabbage.
When planting cauliflower in the ground
In the middle lane is about the second decade of April.The air temperature should rise above + 12 ° С. And it is very important not to let the cauliflower outgrow. Such a seedling does not take root well, it is sick for a long time and gives a poor harvest. If at all gives.
The best way to plant a cauliflower, when the sprouts start to appear only 5 real leaf. When it unfolds completely, everything is overgrown.
If you land earlier than this point, the germs will adapt for a long time. After all, they are still so weak.
How to plant cauliflower
The bed is desirable to prepare in the fall. To do this, along with digging under the winter make a good leaf humus or already mature manure. It is forbidden to add fresh! He will burn the roots completely.
Naturally, remove all the weeds and their roots. Young seedlings are too weak to resist their pressure.
With spring digging they make mineral fertilizers. Preferably complex. But organics will not have time to ripen, to give all the nutrients cauliflower. Therefore, it is better to abstain from it in the spring.
The wells for planting have a pattern of 40 by 40 cm. No longer worth it. After all, how much space you give cabbage, so much she will spread her mugs. Do you need it?
Immediately on the day of planting, pour a teaspoon of ash into each well, no more! Thoroughly mixed with the ground, pour a decent amount of water. And already in the resulting slush, they carefully lower the earthen ball with the roots. It is recommended not to destroy it. So the plant is less injured.
By the way, seedlings are removed from the cell very easily. It is only necessary to take it with two fingers from the ground and gently pull up. You will have a sprout in your hand, which is tightly woven over the roots.
The cauliflower is buried along the seedbed leaves. But carefully look to not fall asleep growth point.
Council After planting for three days, apply seedlings with any cloth. Then it can be removed.
Cauliflower care
This plant loves water, but does not tolerate stagnant fluid at the roots. It is better to water it once in 6 days, but plentifully soaking the earth. And so that the soil does not dry out in between waterings - use mulch. A thick layer will protect your landing.
Fertilizers. As we said above, any suitable with a high content of certain trace elements. No need to increase the dosage.It will not benefit. Feeding is done on the following day after watering. It will be enough 6 pieces for the entire vegetative season. Bring them strictly under the root, because the cauliflower root system is small, it cannot reach for food.
How to get white heads
As soon as you notice that the visible inflorescences begin to form, cover them from the sun. Some sources recommend to break the cabbage itself and put it on top. What a useless barbarism! The slightest breeze and blow this burdock is not known where. And in the sun buds quickly turn into a broom.
Keep a quick offer:
- We go to the store of children's creativity
- We buy a package of rubber bands for weaving a bracelet.
- We return to the garden.
- We collect in a bunch 3-4 upper sheet.
- Put on top of the gum.
Everything. Quickly, without a headache and completely free of cost. Issue price - about 50 rubles for a package of 300 pieces. By the way, they can still be useful in other beds. And they are sold not only in specialized stores, but practically on every corner.
By the way, with this method, you can safely water the cauliflower on top, without fear of water on the heads.And under the burdock the liquid flows freely, which causes rotting of the petioles and spoils the whole crop.
Pests
Cauliflower is wonderfully occupied by pests. Everyone loves her: aphid, slugs, medvedki, cabbage flies, butterflies, flea beetles, scoops. So, for the harvest will have to fight. Any systemic insecticide can be used. But it must be used with caution so as not to fall on the inflorescences.
Bioinsecticides have proven themselves well. They do not harm people, do not accumulate in the heads and leaves. But perfectly cope with pests by infecting them with spores of fungi. Penetrating through the chitinous shell, these spores expand and kill insects.
Popular wisdom suggests periodically dusting planting fine ash of deciduous trees. Also a good option. And it can be carried out after closing the heads with leaves. Nothing gets inside.
In principle, you can use any deterrent infusions from improvised plants. It can be wormwood, garlic, tansy, onions.
When to pick cauliflower
Categorically it is impossible to delay the harvest.When overgrown, flower stalks quickly fall into separate branches. Then they begin to grow in different directions and stick out like a panicle. Cut the heads when they reach a characteristic size for the variety. Or a little earlier. Anyone who has ever seen a cauliflower will definitely not be late. At the first signs of overgrowth, an urgent need to harvest.
By the way, if the stalk is powerful, the shoots are juicy and bright without signs of disease or damage, then do not pull out the plant. Well pour it, thoroughly feed and spud higher. If you continue to care for him as before, after some time new young inflorescences will appear from the lateral sinuses. Of course, the second harvest will not give large heads. But you get 4-5 pieces of medium size, which is equivalent to one big one.
For their own needs - a good help.
Useful tips
- Autumn harvest can not be cut. Cauliflower is dug together with the roots and dipped into the cellar. There it is hung upside down, or roots are dropped in it. In this form, the heads are perfectly preserved for up to 3 months.
- Seal cauliflower plantings with marigolds.It is aesthetically beautiful and scares many lovers to feast on snow-white heads.
- Freshly planted seedlings immediately spray a solution of vinegar: 10 liters of pure water 1 tbsp. l This will kill the smell of the leaves and confuse the pests.
- Observe crop rotation. Do not plant the plant after crucifers. They have the same pests and diseases. It is better to add cauliflower after melons or cereals.
How to grow cauliflower in the open field? As you can see, this is no secret behind all seven seals. Knowing that the plant loves coolness, you can grow two harvests per season without the hassle and hassle. Plus a huge storehouse of vitamins, minerals and nutrients on your table, from June until December.
Video: the secrets of a good cauliflower harvest
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