Not everyone knows that various cabbage, radish, radish and turnip are inferior to kohlrabi in terms of the content of vitamins and microelements, and very much.
Kohlrabi has a rich history, it was cultivated in Ancient Rome, for which there is irrefutable evidence. Well, the name itself is quite banal - "cabbage turnip".
It seems - Rome and Russia? How can kohlrabi grow in our climate? It turns out that maybe it gives very good yields - just residents of cold regions need to stop at early ripening varieties, residents of a temperate region on mid-ripening varieties, and residents of the south - on late-ripening varieties.
Read about varieties in the article Kohlrabi cabbage varieties.
Growing any vegetable begins with sowing seeds, kohlrabi is no exception. We are lucky that this culture is not particularly afraid of the cold, is not capricious and does not require any special care.
Sowing kohlrabi cabbage seeds
Seeds can be sown as in advance, in separate cups, thus preparing seedlings, or directly into the ground, in which case the results are also good.
Preparing seeds for sowing. Before sowing, whether for seedlings, or before sowing in open ground, kohlrabi seeds must be properly prepared, and there is nothing complicated about this.
To begin with, place the seeds in water with a temperature of + 45 ° C for a quarter of an hour, then dip them in melted ice for just a minute. Then remove the seeds and soak overnight in a solution of any prescription growth stimulant — it could be Epin, Zircon, Larixin, Novosil, and similar safe but effective drugs.
The next morning, just rinse the seeds in running water, place them on the refrigerator door, wrap them in a damp cloth beforehand, and hold them for a day. Usually, after this time, the seeds will "pick up" a little, and this is what we need.
Important when growing seedlings. An important point when growing kohlrabi cabbage seedlings is always sow a separate seed in a separate container, because the culture is terribly afraid of picking. By the way, for this it is better to use peat-humus cups, they can immediately be planted in the ground together with the plant.
Sowing kohlrabi in the ground. Still, many do not want to tinker with seedlings and sow kohlrabi seeds directly into the ground, but then you will have to be patient, buy an early-ripening variety in advance and sow the seeds around mid-June, when both the air and the soil are already warm enough. By the beginning of the first autumn month, you will calmly get a full harvest of kohlrabi. In addition, such a crop can even be stored for several months.
If you are a real hurry and you can't wait to sow seeds in open ground, you can use agrofibre - sow the seeds and cover the crops. And if you are afraid that you will not notice the emergence of seedlings under the agrofibre, then cover it with transparent plastic wrap - then do not miss the moment of emergence of seedlings.
But before sowing seeds, you need to choose a place. Be sure to pick one where cruciferous plants have not grown in the past two seasons, but the best predecessors are tomatoes, potatoes, zucchini, carrots, herbs and pumpkin.
In addition, the site must be well lit, and the ground must be neutral.
Further - the standard preparation of the soil with digging, loosening and removing weeds. And, of course, it is worth fertilizing the soil, adding a couple of kilograms of humus per square meter, a glass of wood ash and a tablespoon of nitroammophoska for digging.
When the soil becomes flat and soft, like a duvet, make grooves and place the seeds in them, deepening by 1.5 cm, leaving between each 20 cm, and about 0.5 m between the rows - this will make it most convenient to take care of the plants in the future. ...
And now again about the seedlings. Not everyone propagates kohlrabi cabbage seedlings, but many, especially if the climate of the region is harsh and changeable.
In order for the seedlings to grow, you need to properly prepare the soil for it. Usually they do it on their own: they take low-lying peat, humus and sod soil in equal proportions, mix everything well until a homogeneous composition and sow the seeds in rows, deepening a couple of centimeters with a distance between seeds of 10 cm, between rows of 20 cm, if you want with a dive. But it's better to just sow them in peat-humus pots, as we mentioned above.
Place crops on a south-facing windowsill or where there is a lot of light and heat - about + 20 ° C. As soon as the first shoots appear, the pots should be transferred to a room with a temperature of about + 10 ° C and left there for a week, after which the plants should be returned to a warm, bright place.
Seedling care is simple - plenty of light, moderate watering so that the soil does not dry out, and as soon as kohlrabi forms a couple of true leaves, the seedlings can be sprayed with a 0.4% superphosphate solution (this is 40 g per bucket of water). About 14 days before planting seedlings in the ground, you can also spray with a solution of potassium sulfate, dissolving a tablespoon of fertilizer in a bucket of water.
About a couple of weeks before planting seedlings in open ground, it must be hardened, for which it should be taken out on the first day for 5 minutes outside, then by 10 and so on up to half an hour.
Planting seedlings. The seedlings that have 5-6 true leaves are ready for planting. Calendar time is the beginning of June. The seedlings are about 35-38 days old in days.
The soil is prepared, as well as for sowing seeds, after which in the afternoon the seedlings are planted in advance, at least a couple of hours, prepared holes, where a couple of teaspoons of superphosphate, a teaspoon of urea and a tablespoon of wood ash should be placed. When planting, try to deepen each plant to the first true leaf, then compact the soil and water it well.
The main thing when planting seedlings is not to deepen the growth point, otherwise the plant will bloom in the same year.
Caring for kohlrabi cabbage
Watering. Watering is important, you need to water the seedlings every 4 days, and the seedlings every 3 days, pouring a bucket of water per square meter. As the plants grow, watering can be reduced and carried out only when the soil dries up. The minimum is watering once a week, a bucket of water per square meter.
The most frequent watering should be done in June, when the kohlrabi cabbage forms the root system, at this time the soil should always be wet to a depth of 3-4 cm, but the beds cannot be turned into a swamp either.
After watering, be sure to loosen the bed, pull out all the weeds and lightly sprinkle the soil with humus literally 2 cm to save moisture.
Humped up, loosened up - got the harvest. Indeed, for kohlrabi cabbage, both hilling and loosening are very essential agricultural techniques. Usually, after 20 days, the plants should be spud, and after 15 days, repeat this procedure again.
When sowing seeds in the ground, the first hilling should be done when the plants form about four true leaves, and the second after a couple of weeks.
Well, and loosening - more often and to a depth of 7 cm, combining with weeding. Usually kohlrabi cabbage is loosened and weeded every 2-3 weeks.
What is kohlrabi cabbage sick and who is amazed by
Keela of cabbage, vascular bacteriosis, slimy bacteriosis, rot, black leg, powdery mildew - that is, the standard "cabbage" set.
Pests - fleas, mosquitoes, wireworms, thrips, scoops, cabbage flies, white beetle, rape flower beetle, bedbug, bears and slugs, aphids.
The best defense is prevention:
- Observe the crop rotation. Nothing complicated, and such diseases may not manifest themselves at all.
- Be sure to monitor the cleanliness of the site - always take out all plant residues outside its territory and burn.
- Buy seeds only in trusted stores, because the seeds can also have a lot of infection.
- Fight weeds in time, they can be both carriers of infection and a home for pests.
If the disease or pest has manifested itself, you need to competently, in strict accordance with the instructions, putting on protective clothing and using approved chemicals at the optimal time for this, in the evening, in calm weather, process the plants. Usually from pests - these are insecticides, from ticks - acaricides, from rot - fungicides.
They do not fight against bacterial diseases - such plants simply need to be removed from the site and burned outside the territory. And the place where they grew is good to shed with a dark pink solution of ordinary potassium permanganate, and in the current season nothing should be planted on this land, except for green manure.
Kohlrabi cleaning and storage
Late varieties of kohlrabi are best harvested when the temperature drops to two degrees Celsius. Dig up the plants with a pitchfork together with the root system, then dry them on a sacking, and only after that cut off the tops and roots.
The weight of the fruit depends on the variety and varies greatly, but it has been observed that larger fruits are less tasty than smaller ones. It is believed that fruits weighing about 250 g have optimal weight and optimal taste.
Storage conditions... Kohlrabi is stored at a temperature of about + 5 ° C and a humidity of 90 to 95%. Usually it is placed in wooden boxes and sprinkled with river sand, making sure that the roots do not touch each other.
The keeping quality of kohlrabi depends on the variety and the ripening period: early cultivars will lie for 10 days, medium ones - a month, and later ones can last up to two months.
