Growing broccoli seedlings is one of the main ways of planting it.
It is especially relevant in the middle climatic zone, where the weather makes it necessary to grow cabbage for seedlings at home or in greenhouses, so that when planting in open ground they can reach marketable maturity.
To grow healthy and strong broccoli seedlings, you should consider the rules below.
Preparing broccoli seeds before planting
To obtain strong seedlings of cabbage, seeds should be previously prepared before planting:
1. calibration (for this purpose it is convenient to use a sieve, in the openings of which only large seeds of cabbage will pass);
2. warming up: selected seeds are left in warm water (50 ° C) for 20 minutes, then in cold 2-3 minutes (popped up seeds are discarded - they are not suitable for sowing);
3. etching in a disinfectant solution (1 g of potassium permanganate and 0.5 g of boric acid are diluted in 1 liter of water at room temperature). Duration of soaking seeds - 8 hours. After that, they are placed in an ash solution (1 tablespoon of wood ash is infused in 1 liter of water for 2 days) for 5 hours;
4. daily cold hardening (seeds are laid between layers of gauze and put in the refrigerator on the lower shelf, designed to store fresh vegetables);
5. The next day, the seeds are taken out, laid out on a cloth or dry gauze to dry to flow.
This treatment reduces the risk of fungal diseases, the causative agents of which can be on the surface of the seeds. Now the seeds are ready to plant.
If you use purchased seeds from well-known manufacturers, this kind of seed treatment is not required: they were already disinfected before packaging and often covered with special “nutritious azure”.
Preparation of soil mix for growing broccoli seedlings
Cabbage loves breathable and nutritious soil. For this, turf soil and rotted manure (or compost) are mixed in equal parts. As a source of micro and macro elements add wood ash (1 tablespoon per 1 kg of the mixture). Instead of turf land, you can take peat and add river sand. Land sold in garden shops is also suitable. To reduce the risk of infection of future broccoli seedlings, it is not recommended to use the land from the garden where crops from the cruciferous family were previously grown (radish, cabbage, turnip, rapeseed, radish). In such soil, pathogens characteristic of diseases of these plants (keel, gray rot, phomosis, blackleg, peronosporosis, fusarium, etc.) are probably present.
2 weeks before sowing the seeds, the prepared soil must be decontaminated: steam in the oven 15 minutes at a temperature of 200 ° C, microwave (5 minutes at full power). After the earth cools down, it is shed with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate, Gamair (2 tablets per bucket of water), Alirina-B, Fundazole (diluted according to the instructions for the drug).
Temperature mode
One of the conditions for growing strong and healthy broccoli seedlings is the correct temperature regime. After sowing seeds, planting containers are kept in a bright and warm place at a temperature of + 18-20 ° C. When shoots appear, the temperature is reduced to + 15-17 ° C during the day and + 10-12 ° C at night. This mode will not allow seedlings to stretch much.
Lighting
Broccoli, like other types of cabbage, is a photophilous culture. Given that the sowing of seeds begins in March, when daylight hours are still short, it is important to provide additional lighting when growing seedlings. The light regime for young cabbage is 15 hours a day. For this, LED lamps or special phytolamps are installed at a height of 20-25 cm above the seedlings. Conventional incandescent lamps are not suitable for this purpose, since they have a different light spectrum, and they heat the air.
Watering
The cabbage is hygrophilous. For her, a lack of moisture is fatal. However, its overabundance can provoke the development of fungal diseases, dangerous for seedlings, like the black leg and keel. Therefore, watering should be moderate as the soil dries. After watering, the room where the boxes with seedlings are standing is aired.
Important! Water the seedlings of cabbage only with standing water at room temperature
Feeding seedlings
For the full development of seedlings of cabbage, she also needs nutrition. The first top dressing (2 g of potassium salt and ammonium nitrate and 4 g of superphosphate are dissolved in 1 liter of water) is carried out 20 days after seed germination, and if the plants were dived, then 7-10 days after transplantation.
Important! To avoid root burns, all plant dressing is carried out only after mandatory watering
The second feeding is planned 10-14 days after the first. The amount of fertilizer is taken twice as much.
2-3 days before planting seedlings on the beds it is fertilized again. To accelerate the survival of plants after transplantation, the dose of potassium is increased to 8 mg / l, superphosphate to 5 mg / l, ammonium nitrate to 3 mg / l.
Hardening seedlings before planting
About 1.5-2 weeks before the planting of seedlings of broccoli in open ground, it begins to harden.
In the room where there is cabbage seedlings, the first 2 days open the window leaves for 3-4 hours.
In the following days, boxes of plants are taken out onto the balcony or loggia for a couple of hours.
After a week, the cabbage is finally left on the balcony before being transplanted to the beds.
By the time of "moving" to the garden, the seedlings should have 6-8 strong leaves.
When to plant broccoli seedlings
Broccoli seedlings begin to grow 35-40 days before planting it in open ground. For central Russia, this is mid-March to early April. After the dive, the March seedlings can then be grown in the greenhouse, and the April seedlings can be grown immediately into open ground.
Broccoli seeds are sown for seedlings in 3-4 doses with an interval of 1-2 weeks, depending on the timing of ripening of the varieties:
• early (Vyarus, Tonus, Linda, Fiesta, Emperor) - March 15-April 15;
• mid-season (Arcadia, Fortuna, Gnome, Arcadia) - April 15-June 15;
• Late (Maraton F1, Lucky F1) - June 15-July 1.
This technique allows you to constantly harvest.
How to properly grow broccoli seedlings at home
Not all summer residents can boast of having a greenhouse, this is especially true for urban residents. Therefore, they have to grow broccoli seedlings at home. How to do it right?
Growing broccoli seedlings
The advantage of picking is saving space on the windowsill (seeds are planted in one box). The disadvantage of this procedure is trauma to the roots and fragile leaves. For sowing seeds, take boxes of 50x30x25 cm in size, fill them with prepared soil. Before sowing, water is abundantly watered (for germination, cabbage seeds need a lot of moisture). Rows are made in steps of 3 cm and a depth of 1 cm. A distance of 1.5 cm is left between the seeds in the groove. Then they are sprinkled with earth, the boxes are placed on the windowsill and kept at room temperature 18-20 ° C until emergence.
2 weeks after the emergence of the sprouts (the seedlings are growing the first pair of real leaves by this time) young plants dive into separate containers (for example, peat pots, cassettes, cups, etc.), deepening the stems to the cotyledons.
Pickled cabbage seedlings
So that after transplanting the seedlings quickly "take root", it is kept at a temperature of + 20-21 ° C. After the final restoration, the plants are transferred to a room with a temperature of + 17 ° C during the day and + 10-12 ° C at night.
Growing broccoli seedlings in peat tablets
If you do not want to pick seedlings, you can sow seeds immediately in pressed peat tablets. They come in different diameters (4 cm will be enough for cabbage). Preliminarily, the tablets are placed in a container, poured with warm water and can withstand some additional swelling (they will increase several times). Excess water is drained. Deepenings are made in each tablet, seeds are laid out in 2 pieces and sprinkled with peat.
Sowing seeds in peat tablets
A container with seedlings is placed in a bright and warm place (+ 18-20 ° C) until seedlings appear. Of the two seedlings, one strongest is left in each tablet. Weak sprouts are not pulled out, but cut off at soil level so as not to damage the root system of the second seedling.
Growing broccoli seedlings in cassettes and pots
For growing broccoli seedlings, it is also convenient to use special cassettes (at least 7-8 cm high and 6x6 cm mesh size), pots, peat cups. The advantage of this method is the absence of the need for picking and, as a consequence, there is no trauma to the roots of seedlings. Minus - more space is required for the placement of landing containers.
Growing broccoli cabbage seedlings in cassettes
Planting broccoli cabbage on seedlings in a greenhouse
Growing seedlings in a greenhouse has several advantages over home sowing. Firstly, there is more sunlight coverage. Secondly, moisture from the soil does not evaporate as intensively as in an apartment during the heating season. Thirdly, a special microclimate is created in the greenhouse, optimal for seedlings.
Before sowing seeds in the garden, the ground should be shed with fungicidal solution for the prevention of fungal diseases. Furrows on the garden bed are made at a distance of 15-20 cm from each other and 1-1.5 cm deep. If seeds are scattered in them without observing the distance, then later thinning will have to be done, cutting weak sprouts under the root.
When 2 true leaves appear, the seedlings are treated with an insecticide against cruciferous fleas, one of the common pests of plants of the cruciferous family, which includes all kinds of cabbage.
So that the stalk of the cabbage seedlings is strong and even, at the stage of 4 leaves, you need to add a layer of soil 3-4 cm thick under the plants.
When and how to plant broccoli seedlings in open ground?
The timing of planting broccoli seedlings on beds depends on the climatic conditions of the region. Young plants withstand nighttime cold to -7 C.
In the southern regions, early varieties are planted in the garden in the last decade of April. In the middle lane, this period moves to the beginning of May. Mid-season varieties move to a permanent place in the second half of May, and late ones from the third week of May until the beginning of June.
Landing is carried out on a cloudy day on a pre-prepared site. You need to carefully remove the seedlings from the container, being careful not to damage the earthen lump. Broccoli cabbage is planted according to the scheme 30-45x50 cm, deepening the stem to the first pair of leaves.
The scheme of planting cabbage seedlings in the garden
Problems When Growing Broccoli Cabbage Seedlings
Yellowing cabbage seedlings can be caused by several reasons:
• an excess or lack of any nutrients (for example, a lack of potassium causes yellowing of the ends of the leaves, with a deficiency of iron in the leaves the base of platinum turns yellow);
• infection in the soil that has not been cultivated before planting.
Rotting seedlings of cabbage is most often caused by fungal diseases, the most common of which is the black leg. At the seedling, the lower part of the stem turns brown and rot, then a constriction forms at this place. As a result, the plant dies.
Broccoli cabbage seedlings are drawn when there is a lack of light, high planting density and improper temperature conditions.
