Cabbage Growing Tips, Tricks, Ideas, and Secrets

Cabbage (Brassica oleraceae) is one of the most common vegetable on the African table. It’s an all season vegetable always in the market all year round. There’s always a high demand for cabbages on the African market.

Farmers have for a long time, grown cabbages on their small farms. Growing cabbages has seen a tremendous increase. Cabbage cultivation has become a business venture where farmers are investing hugely. The only discouraging factor in growing cabbages is the varying prices on the market.

Cultivation of cabbage is both done on small-scale and large-scale for business purposes. Many of the small-scale farmers do it targeting the local market in their villages. The large-scale cabbage farmer targets the national market where they transport their yields to the big towns.

Cabbage is grown under rain fed and irrigated conditions. Drip irrigation is a highly recommended irrigation technique for the growing of cabbages.

A) Tips for Growing Cabbages

If you want to grow cabbages, here are some cabbage growing tips for you.

1.    Provide optimum temperature of 16°C to 20°C. Higher temperatures of above 25°C reduces head formation.

2.    Cabbages have a high requirement of water throughout. When irrigating, you should ensure intervals of 7 to 10 days of watering. You should also avoid overhead irrigation as it damages and hampers leaf development of cabbage.

3.    Soils should be well drained, with high organic content, high water holding capacity and an optimum pH of 6 to 6.5. To ensure that your soil has a high organic matter you should ensure that you apply large amount of completely decomposed farm yard manure. Farm yard manure increases soil fertility, increases water holding capacity and also increases microbial activities within the soil.

4.    To augment and increase yield production, you should also apply the appropriate amount of inorganic fertilizers.

5.    Another important tip is to ensure enough space when planting the seedling to facilitate the development of bigger heads. Also ensure that the field is free of weeds to avoid competition.

B) Spacing

A 60cm by 60cm spacing is recommended. The further apart you plant the cabbage, the larger the head will develop.

C) Fertilizer Application

To arrive at the exact amount of nutrients that should be applied to meet the crop’s requirements a number of factors need to be considered:

1.    The nutrient level in the soil and rocks.

2.    Nutrients that can be derived from previous crop residues.

3.    Timing of nutrient application, for crops to make best use of the fertilizers.

4.    Soil type; this affects fertilizer use efficiency. There’s 70% efficiency in light sand soils, 60% in medium, clay, silty, organic and peaty soils and 55% efficiency in shallow soils over chalk and limestone.

5.    Estimation of nutrients gained from use of organic manures.

6.    Nutrients that must be replaced in order to maintain the soil.

7.    The sources and cost involved in deciding the particular fertilizer one needs to produce required nutrients.

The following is a guide for fertilizer application:

a.    Nitrogen (NO₃, NH₄) – 250 - 340 kg/ha.

b.    Phosphate (P₂O₅) – 100 - 200kg/ha.

c.    Potash (K₂O) – 200 - 300kg/ha.

d.    Magnesium (MgO) – 100 - 150kg/ha.

In cold weather season avoid wetting your crops as they become more prone to diseases and pests. Acquisition of all the agrochemicals that will be used while growing your cabbages should be done at the initial planting stage; the seedlings. This helps to avoid late spraying and applying of the chemicals.

The cabbage variety cultivated depends on the market requirements and most consumer preference, as well as its sweetness.

In the market, classification is also done according to the following;

      i.        Urban markets - require medium to small heads e.g. Copenhagen, Gloria F1 hybrid, sugar loaf and golden acre.

    ii.        Rural areas - normally go for medium to large heads.

   iii.        Processing - large heads, firm white varieties like drumheads.

   iv.        Kitchen gardens - grow varieties with long harvest period e.g. sugar loaf and Copenhagen market.

Note: 1 to 4 months after transplanting, your cabbages should be mature and are ready for harvesting when the heads become firm. During harvesting avoid bruising the head as they encourage rotting.

These simple cabbage farming tips if followed will offer you a good start to your cabbage farming venture. Growing cabbage is a business venture that can offer employment opportunities. It can be done for wealth creation and a great source of income to farmers.

Try it today!!