Cauliflower

Cauliflower is more thermophilic than it is beech. For its successful growth and development requires moderately warm weather, about 18 degrees.

variety selection Early varieties( from 75 to 85 days from sprouting to ready): F1 Express, Diplomat F1, Bora F1, Brilliant, Alrani F1, Malimba F1, Megan F, Goodman, Starayate F1, Cassius F1, Arfak F1,Four seasons, Françoise, Princess, Snowstorm.

Varieties of the average maturation period( 90-100 days): Movir, Snowflake, Snowball, Domestic, Latemann, Fargo F1, Regent F1, Summer cottage, Goat-gray, wagon with a green head, as well as hybrids such as Romanesco: Veronica F1, AmphoraF1, Shannon F1 and the brand Burma.

Late varieties and hybrids( about 150 days): Autumn giant, Sierra, Sala Cron F1, Athos, Primus, Erfurt dwarf.

Podzimnaya cauliflower in our market is represented by the hybrids Kafano F1, Dalton F1, which are sown in June in greenhouses( the maturation period is about 200 days).

Timing of sowing

It is best to grow cauliflower through seedlings. Direct seeding in the soil is undesirable. Early varieties can be planted on seedlings 45-55 days before planting in the ground. Early ripening varieties are ready 100 days after germination. If you want to eat cauliflower in July, then it should be planted in early March. As already mentioned above, cabbage seedlings are difficult to grow because of too dry air, poor illumination and high temperature. Therefore, early planting of seedlings can only be done in heated greenhouses, in heated loggias or on insulated balconies. It is possible to plant early varieties of cabbage in film greenhouses for biofuel already in mid-April, but then crops must be covered with double lutrasil( in addition to the film on greenhouses).Medium-ripening varieties grow about 120 days, and they should be sown at the end of April or early May, preferably in a greenhouse. But the medium-ripening varieties can be sown at home in early April.

Peculiarities of sowing

The cabbage seedlings are best suited in "diapers" from the film. To do this, a piece of film measuring approximately 20 x 12 cm is placed closer to one edge of the moist soil( 1 -2 tablespoons).Then the film is slightly bent lower edge and folded into a tube. To prevent the film from spinning, put a rubber band on the tube and sow the cabbage seed directly into this soil. The tubes form tightly to each other in shallow containers and placed in the brightest place( on the windowsill).At 2-3 present sheets cabbage is planted under cover in the ground. You can sow the cabbage seeds in shallow bowls, and as soon as the cotyledons are well opened, the seedlings are sprinkled on the soil that lies on the film, and the "diapers" are curtailed, as mentioned above. The main thing in this way of growing is not to pour excessively cabbage with water: the root system( due to the black leg) may die.

It takes about 150 days to grow and develop late varieties. Cabbage of any maturity period should not be sown all at once, it is better to sow it in 10-15 days so that it is of different ages, then you will have fresh heads constantly throughout the summer. It is possible to create a continuous cauliflower conveyor by simultaneous sowing of varieties of different maturation periods, and it is possible to create such a conveyor by constantly sowing seeds on seedlings at intervals of 10 days.

You can grow a part of cabbage through seedlings, seeds for which are sown in a greenhouse in late April or early May, and some seeds are sown right into the ground around the middle-end of May. But there is a great danger that cabbage sprouts will be eaten by a cruciferous flea. In addition, with late seeding of seeds directly into the open ground, the spring fly can attack the shoots and completely knock them out. From a fly seedlings will help to save lutrasil. Similarly, when planted in the soil, shoots can be eaten by the root slugs or snails. There is one more pest that inhabits the soil, a fool. She willingly eats seeds right in the soil, as soon as the seed coat bursts. So sowing directly into the ground costs yourself more. It is safer, though more troublesome, to grow cabbage through seedlings.

Seeds of cauliflower should be decontaminated before sowing, as they are usually caused by pathogens. To do this, just before sowing, warm the seeds for 15-20 minutes in hot( 52-53 degrees) water. The easiest way to maintain this temperature in a thermos bottle.

Growing sprouts

Sometimes the seedlings are very stretched - this is bad. Sometimes it has a twisted stem - it does not matter. Sometimes it has a thin lower part of the stem, even dried up - this is unacceptable. Such seedlings must be discarded, since this is a sign of the beginning disease of the black leg( the lower part of the stem is thin and black).Disease black leg is promoted by too thickened crops and excess moisture in the soil. The thickened crops are strongly stretched, the lower part of the stem begins to dry up. To avoid this, it is enough to at least bite the seed with such a seed, if there is no time to plant it.

Sometimes on the roots are formed small bulges - this is a keel, seedlings will have to be thrown away.

Transplanting seedlings

Young shoots do not tolerate freezing. For them, the harmful temperature is even - 1 degree, so it is better to plant the seedlings in the open ground after the frost is over, or the seeded seedlings must be immediately covered with double lutrasil and do not remove it until the frosts pass. Seedlings at the time of disembarkation should have approximately 4-6 present sheets and a height of about 12-15 cm.

Before planting seedlings in the holes, it is necessary to add a dessert spoon of calcium nitrate, pour a full hole of water, plant the seedlings so that the cotyledon leaves are in the soil,and the first two real ones fell to the ground. These leaves should be sprinkled half by the soil, which should be removed from the leaves in a couple of days. This will help to keep all the leaves, while without this seedling, usually a couple of leaves lose during transplantation.

If by the time of transplanting the seedling has outgrown, then tear off a couple of the lowest leaves. Do the rest, as already mentioned above about cabbage. Seedlings planted in the evening, well watered and pritenyayut for 2-3 days with caps from the newspaper.

Watering and top dressing

Cabbage is well and regularly watered and fed. Agronorm( N + R + K) in cauliflower 51 and balance( N: R: K) 37: 14: 49, that is, most of all she loves potassium. Iodine cabbage must be well seasoned with organic. But under it you can not bring fresh manure, including horse. Do not overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers.

As soon as the newly planted seedlings have a new leaf - it has taken root, and immediately begin to make top dressing.

Weekly( and in dry and hot weather 2-3 times a week), plenty of water in the evening with water. Every 2 weeks immediately after watering, make fertilizing, alternating organic and mineral one at a time.

Organic top dressing can be done with infusion of weeds or fresh manure, chicken manure or humate. Especially responsive cabbage for feeding with Ufa organic fertilizers "Gummi", "Gumi-Omi" and Bui "Omi".This organomineralic fertilizers, therefore, when using them, you can exclude mineral fertilizing. If you do not use them, but in the old manner do fertilizing with manure and infusion of weeds, you will have to introduce mineral nutritional supplements into the diet of cauliflower. To do this, you can use any mineral mixture containing nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, but it is necessary to add 1 spoonful of any potassium fertilizer to 10 liters of water and pour 0,5 liters of solution under the root of each plant to 2 spoons of mixed fertilizer.

At the time of tying the head( with 5-7 large covering leaves) cauliflower needs trace elements, especially boron and molybdenum. Add boron( 2 g per liter of fertilizer solution) and ammonium molybdate in the same dose. But it is even better to use the unique fertilizer "Uniflor-micro" or "Uniflor-bud", adding 2 teaspoons of each of them to each bucket of feeding. These fertilizers contain almost a full set of necessary trace elements. In addition, these elements are in chelate form, that is, they are enclosed in an organic shell, and such assemblies are assimilated by plants very quickly."Uniflora" is a real "first aid" for plants! There is also the same type of fertilizer "Aquadon-micro" and "Florist".

You can make it easier for yourself if you add AVA( 1/2 part of a dusty fraction) or "Apion" - 1 packet to the depth of the palm between each 4 plants at once when planting seedlings. The shell of the bags works on the principle of the membrane, so the contents of the sachet can not seep into the soil. Plant roots that have a special flair( trophomorphism) that allows them to grow in the direction where food and water are, easily find sachets with top dressing and literally braid them on all sides, getting the food in the right amount and at the right time. The contents of the bags are the well-known buoy fertilizer "Rastorin".

In addition, the soil for cauliflower, as well as for any other, must be constantly maintained slightly alkaline( pH 6.5-7.5).For this, once in 2 to 3 weeks, 0.5 liters of a solution of calcium nitrate( 3 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) or a solution of dolomite or lime( a glass of lime or dolomite per 10 liters of water) is poured at the root of each plant.

Read the note

But acidic soils can not escape the keel. Roots, infected with a whale, can not be placed in compost, they must be burned. At the place where the keel was, cabbage crops should not be planted for at least 4 years. Disputes of this fungal disease can persist in the soil and in compost up to 7 years. Kila lives only in acid soils, with a lack of copper in them. The beds infected with a whale should be well watered in autumn with a solution of copper sulfate or "Homa"( 1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water - 3% solution) after harvesting or a couple of weeks before planting. In addition, just in case when growing cabbage, it should be regularly watered with a solution of "Fitosporin".

Features of cultivation

Cauliflower - a large capricious. If at an early age it falls under low temperatures( 4-5 degrees Celsius) for a long( about 2 weeks) period, then the head will quickly fall into further it. If there is a high temperature( about 20 degrees) for 10-15 days at night, then the same will happen.

If in the growing of seedlings and in early growth terms there will be drying of the soil with insufficient watering, cabbage gives small non-commodity heads, from which no further fertilizing and watering will help.

Autumn cauliflower is more resistant to small frosts than at an early age, and is able to tolerate up to -3. ..- 4 degrees without damage to frost, but just in case it is better to cover it with lutrasil. If cabbage has grown a good leaf machine, but did not tie the head by the end of September, there is a threat that it can be ruined by frost. But it can be grown to the frosts in the greenhouse and even in the basement, in the dark. To do this, it is digged with a clod of earth, put in boxes tightly to each other and left in a greenhouse or basement.

Cabbage will tie or grow newly-knotted heads to normal size due to the nutrients it has accumulated in the covering leaves. So do not rush to rip out the plants with large leaves that have not yet tied their heads by the end of September.

It is often possible to read the recommendations that after cutting heads ready for use in July, it is necessary to leave plants with thick foliage on beds - to obtain additional small heads grown in leaf axils. For the North-West this recommendation does not, as a rule, justify itself.

Typical failures

Cauliflower does not bind the head of .Lack of nutrition and moisture during growth, planting overgrown seedlings, dry soil, especially at an early age, too hot weather or, conversely, a prolonged cooling during growth. Sometimes gardeners remove leaves to speed maturation, and the result is directly opposite( the same as with cabbage).

The same effect occurs when lighting is poor. Cabbage can not be raised in the penumbra or on a site illuminated by the sun only half a day. It grows well only on a site illuminated by the sun all day.

Ka is empty and tie a very small head. This happens again in case of insufficient nutrition and insufficient moisture of soil and air, on poor soils, on dense, clay soils, on acidic soils, with sickness, with a lack of trace elements, especially boron and molybdenum.

The head is crumbling .Either overgrew, or you brought to the soil an excess of nitrogen, especially with a lack of potassium, or seedlings grew with a lack of moisture.

The reasons for the appearance of a hairy, loose, bad head: a very extended, overgrown sprouts, lack of moisture, a prolonged cooling, a strong( above 25 degrees) heat.

If the head of the cabbage has turned dark or slightly yellow due to the fact that you did not close it in time from the sun, do not be upset. It is enough to put a head for some minutes in water with a citric acid( 1 ч. The spoon on 1л waters), and it will brighten.

The root system decays in cabbage when applied to the soil when fresh manure is planted, that is, with large amounts of nitrogen in the soil, with soil moisture above 90%.

Cauliflower has the same diseases as the cabbage, and the same pests attack it.

Use of

Cauliflower is very useful as a food product for people with atherosclerosis, diabetes, liver diseases and other diseases.

Cauliflower heads are the most real treasures of nutritious and curative substances. They contain much more here than in cabbage cabbages. Vegetable fiber in the color cutlass, on the contrary, is much smaller, and it is better absorbed by the human body, so nutritionists recommend it for gastrointestinal diseases and in children's nutrition.
This unique vegetable experts recommend to use for diseases of the intestines, liver, gall bladder, it will be useful for obesity. This kind of cabbage strengthens blood vessels and helps to remove excess bad cholesterol from the body, which is an excellent prevention of such serious diseases as heart attack, stroke and heart attack.

It is worth noting that cauliflower is an indispensable vegetable for the children's diet, in particular with any problems associated with the functioning of the large intestine. Cauliflower, among other things, has a high level of useful vegetable protein, which is the most important building material for a rapidly growing body.

Nutritionists believe that cauliflower is particularly useful in cardiovascular diseases, and the salts and minerals contained in cauliflower help our body regulate the level of sugar and cholesterol. This vegetable product is not recommended only for patients with gout, because it contains a significant amount of purine compounds that exacerbate this disease.
A lot of carotene, ascorbic and nicotinic acid, B vitamins, easily digestible proteins. And also potassium and magnesium, calcium and manganese, iron and copper, zinc and fluorine. Cauliflower is quickly digested, and therefore it is recommended for treatment and dietary nutrition for children suffering from constipation, and adults who are diagnosed with atherosclerosis, diabetes, liver disease, cholelithiasis, gout, the same digestive disorders.

In folk medicine cauliflower is used as a preventative against cancer diseases. And this is understandable. The fact is that the enzymes contained in cauliflower contribute to the elimination of toxic and, especially, carcinogenic substances from the body. It has long been known that if these substances begin to accumulate, they eventually cause cell damage, which often, after years, leads to the development of benign or malignant tumors.

Cauliflower has another remarkable property: it is a low-calorie product, so nutritionists strongly recommend it for those who want to lose weight. You can eat cauliflower in any quantity, without fear of getting better.

Recipes of traditional medicine

- Kvasshenuyu cauliflower, and especially pickle from sour is recommended to eat on an empty stomach with constipation, a feeling of heaviness in the liver, lack of appetite.

- If you regularly drink fresh juice( without salt!), Cauliflower, rich in vitamin U, this without any additional medicine contributes to cicatrices of stomach and duodenal ulcers. Fresh juice is taken in a warm form 1/2 cup three times a day one hour before a meal. The course of treatment is a month. If necessary, repeat the course.

- Fresh juice of cauliflower is useful in gastritis with low acidity, some diseases of the liver, spleen and for weight loss with excess weight. But do not cook the juice for more than 1-2 days, as it loses its usefulness.

- With hemorrhoids it is useful to drink warm brine pickled cauliflower half a cup twice a day for an hour before meals.

- Cauliflower will help with burns or poorly healing wounds. To do this, you need to mix the slurry of cabbage leaves with one raw egg white, lay it on multi-layer gauze or bandage, attach to the burn or wound site and fix it.

- If your gums are inflamed, try to dilute fresh cauliflower juice with warm boiled water in a 1: 1 ratio and rinse the mouth cavity.