Peking cabbage is a crop that not everyone knows about the benefits of growing. This vegetable comes from China. It is rich in vitamins, has a high yield and good cold resistance. Very short growing season. Among all the pluses, there is one small minus. During cultivation, you may encounter the fact that Chinese cabbage has bloomed.
Causes of flowering Chinese cabbage
Plant characteristic
To understand why Peking cabbage blooms, consider the characteristics of the culture.
This vegetable has several names: Peking, salad or Petsai. It is a close relative of common Chinese cabbage (mustard or Pakcha).
The culture is ancient. Simple growing technology. Seedling and seedling methods are suitable. Not whimsical to the climate. It can be grown even in the harsh northern regions. There is a large selection of varieties.
It has sessile, tender, whole leaves, the plate is wrinkled and slightly swollen. Height 15-35 cm. The type of head depends on the variety: a rosette or a head of cabbage of various density, formed from leaves.
Flowering reasons
If Chinese cabbage blooms en masse, then you can not count on a good harvest. It is important to know why this is happening. There may be several reasons:
- the landing site was not chosen correctly;
- untimely sowing dates;
- the variety was chosen without taking into account climatic features;
- the root system is injured;
- there is not enough phosphorus and potassium in the soil;
- lack of moisture.
How to prevent flowering Chinese cabbage
To understand why Chinese cabbage bloomed, you need to study some factors.
Lighting
Young Peking cabbage often blooms because it does not like the abundance of the sun. Enough 12 hours of non-bright lighting. Sowing seeds in early spring or August can avoid the long daylight season. Can be planted closer to a building or fence to provide shade for normal plant development. If this is not possible, you need to cover the beds with a special covering material.
Temperature regime
Temperature changes after planting contribute to the formation of flower buds. Therefore, it should be planted when there is no frost or constant overheating of the soil. The most optimal temperature is 12 ° C to 20 ° C. When the harvest is late, the vegetables go into the flower arrows.
Transfer
In order not to damage the root system of plants, plant it in the soil very carefully. This applies to the seedling growing method. Care should also be taken when loosening row spacings. If some of the roots are lost, it forms flowers and fruits at an accelerated rate, completing its life cycle.
Watering
Maintaining soil moisture is important
To avoid flowering Chinese cabbage, it is important to monitor soil moisture throughout the season. If the moisture is gone due to weather conditions, watering and fertilization should be carried out. Lack of moisture has a detrimental effect on the quality of cabbage.
Fertilizer
Flowering also occurs when there is a lack of the necessary minerals in the soil. The development of the head of cabbage will be slow. The soil, previously prepared in autumn, prevents shooters. To do this, in the fall, you need to add organic fertilizers (humus or compost), mineral impurities. And in the spring, just level the soil. Plants will not starve and shoot.
Variety selection
The wrong cultivar choice has a special place in such flowering reasons. Therefore, you should select it carefully.
The variety should be selected taking into account the climate of the region. The best will be cabbage seeds that are resistant to flowering. Dutch varieties are recommended. They are more resistant to flowering and are well adapted to our climate. The most popular ones are:
- Russian size - resistant to unfavorable weather conditions, matures in 80 days with proper care, weighing up to 4 kg;
- Cha-Cha is a mid-season variety, the first harvest can be obtained in 50 days, a head of cabbage of average weight up to 2.9 kg;
- The orange tangerine is an early ripening variety that is planted all summer. Harvest in 40 days. Resistant to frost. Head of cabbage weight about 1 kg;
- Vorozheya is a half-cabbage variety, goes like a salad;
- Nika is a hybrid of early ripening, yellow in section, wrinkled and with a waxy coating;
- Vesnyanka - refers to early ripening varieties, the harvest ripens after 35 days, sweet salad culture;
- The glass is a mid-season variety, the harvest is obtained after 75 days, is characterized by dense leaves, yellowish-green hue;
- unpretentious, resistant to flowering varieties Manoko, Taranko, Bilko.
Only the original hybrids have cold resistance and flowering properties. It is impossible to get a high-quality harvest with self-collection and harvesting of seeds.
It is important to buy seed only from proven specialized stores. In order not to get a fake, the product must be certified.
Peking cabbage has gone into bloom - what to do?
CHINESE CABBAGE. TWO MAJOR MISTAKES WHEN GROWING.
HOORAY !!! Peking cabbage WASN'T GONE in color !!! North.
Flowering actions
Unfortunately, if Beijing is blooming, then the situation can no longer be corrected. However, there are options for its use:
- pull out and dispose of in a compost heap. (It has a delicate structure and will soon turn into fertile compost);
- dispose of, making room for other crops;
- use as pet food;
- use for food.
There are not so many vitamins in flowering heads of cabbage than in ordinary ones. But if you wish, you can benefit from them. Leaf veins accumulate milky juice and become bitter. Therefore, fresh are not suitable for use. To prepare culinary dishes, you must first soak them in salted water. All the bitterness will come out. And after that, you can cook stuffed cabbage rolls, summer soups and other culinary delights.
If Chinese cabbage has bloomed, then there are not many options for using the crop. Therefore, you should exclude all causes of flowering, approach the issues of care and cultivation of this vegetable with all responsibility.
Conclusion
To prevent flowering, strict adherence to preparatory technology and growing technology is necessary. It is impossible to correct the situation in the future without this knowledge. It is necessary to take care of the plantings in accordance with the needs of the variety, otherwise, instead of a garden with vegetables, you will get a blooming flower bed.