When to harvest cabbage from the garden

Cabbage belongs to cruciferous cultures. It has several varieties. For storage in the winter time cabbage of late and late varieties is used. It is a cold-resistant plant, it is less susceptible to diseases and lesions by pests.

A bit of history

Cultivated cabbage started long ago, during the Stone Age. This is evidenced by archaeological excavations. The emergence of culture is due to leaf forms. She first appeared in Rome. The cabbage was brought to our country by merchants. Already in the 16th century, she was present in the list of dishes of Russians.

Cleaning cabbage

For winter storage, medium late and late cabbage varieties are suitable . Their cleaning is in the middle of October, when the air temperature during the day will not be more than 5 degrees, and at night it will drop to zero. When to clean cabbage for storage? For this, a dry, fine October day is best. Do not wait for a steady frost, when the thermometer falls four degrees below zero. Cabbage can freeze and winter storage can not be carried.

But do not hurry. When storing cabbage for storage will be before the due date, do not lower it immediately to the cellar. First you need to cool it or air it well in a draft. For information: cabbage, which ripens at a late date, is valued for its high sugar content.

Storage of cabbage in winter

Usually, for winter storage, cabbage is dropped into a cellar, a cellar or a cool pantry. Before laying vegetables, the room is well ventilated and disinfected. For this, walls, drawers, shelves and ceiling are whitewashed with lime and fumigated with sulfur.

At what temperature should cabbage be stored? Optimum is considered from -1 ^o C to +1 ^о С at relative humidity of 90-98%. Compliance with the temperature regime is a prerequisite for the storage of any vegetables, including cabbage. For the winter laid strong, elastic, medium-sized kochany.

Do not store large cabbage, it cracks. Small, too, does not fit - it dries quickly. At the cabbage leaves are left and 4-5 covered leaves. When cabbage is harvested for the winter, one should not mix its varieties to prevent the formation of a rot center. Periodically looking through the vegetables, remove the unhealthy heads. The places where they were placed for the winter are treated with lime.

Methods of storage

• Large polyethylene bags are suitable for storage. Loaded with cabbage, they are put on the floor of the cellar. You do not need to tie them.
• Many housewives store cabbage, wrapping every head of the newspaper. Periodically, the cabbage is looked through, the dry upper leaves and the old newspaper are removed. The heads are stacked on shelves, without touching each other.
• The simplest way: cabbage is stacked in a cellar on straw, bricks or boards in one row and upwards with a stump.
• When you harvest cabbage for storage, you can dig it with the root. An eyelet is fastened to it, for which the head is hung up to the ceiling of the cellar.
• If you lower the stump in the sand, the vegetable will not spoil.
• The cabbage will be well preserved if it is placed in the earthen grooves with the cobs upwards and with lime. So it will not get damaged by rot. The bookmark in the grooves is made before the onset of frost. With their arrival, you should hide the vegetables with foliage and straw.
• You can roll cabbage in paraffin or liquid clay. After drying, these mixtures form a film, and the head is not damaged by rot.
• When you remove the late cabbage for storage, you can wrap the heads of food film, release air, bandage and hang it to the ceiling. With this method, vegetables do not absorb moisture and will not get injured.

Cleaning cabbage from the garden

When to clean cabbage from the garden? If you are determined on what day you will clean cabbage, in the early morning, water it with plenty of water. For a day, it will well moisten the soil, and by evening you can remove the heads from the bed, digging up with the root. You can cut cabbage with a sharp knife, leaving a small stump.

Heads should be strong, the leaves are light with glitter. When to harvest cabbage from the garden for further Long-term storage will, please note that it should not have cracks, stains and decaying leaves. During the harvest, 4-5 leaf leaves are left on the head, which will protect the vegetable from disease, damage and drying.

Pests and their control

Before thinking about when to harvest cabbage for storage, you need to grow healthy, strong heads. To achieve a good harvest, care must be taken to protect it from pests. Some of them need to get acquainted.

• Blocks - small with black stripes bugs. Favorite favorite for them are the leaves of cabbage, on which they gnaw holes. To fight this pest, lime, ash or tobacco dust are used. They sprinkle leaves. You can fumigate plants with smoke. To do this, it is enough to burn garden garbage. If nothing helps, you should use chemical means: "Hexachloran" or sodium silicofluoride solution.
• Cabbage whitetail and cabbage shovel damage the underside of the leaf. Pests lay eggs, which in a week turn into caterpillars. They completely eat up all the leaves and bite into the head. With these pests you need to fight relentlessly, otherwise you can not wait for the cabbage harvest. Caterpillars should be collected and burned, and eggs crushed on leaves. After that, chemicals are used, they are sprayed with plants. But you can do this only before the appearance of heads.
• Cabbage fly is the most dangerous pest of this crop. Eggs lay on the ground, next to the plant. For a week of them, a huge number of larvae appear, which feed on the roots, damaging them. The fight against this pest begins with the destruction of egg laying. For this, the earth around the cabbage is sprayed with the drug "Hexachloran" with a periodicity of 6-8 days. Can be used for powdering naphthalene or tobacco dust. To prevent the larvae from appearing on the roots, it is necessary to fertilize and fertilize the plant. So the upper tier of roots is formed faster.

Beneficial features

The benefits of cabbage and its nutritional value are undeniable. It contains a large number of vitamins, minerals and proteins, which are well absorbed and have high quality. Cabbage is rich in vitamin C. It is several times larger than in lemons and oranges, beets and carrots, garlic and onions.

The content of tartaric acid allows the use of vegetables in various weight loss diets. Fiber of cabbage reduces cholesterol and blood sugar. In use comes raw, fried, braised, pickled, canned, pickled and dried cabbage. This vegetable is indispensable in the kitchen of every mistress.