When can you pick cabbage in the fall: before or after the cold weather? Many varieties are stable at low temperatures. But in order to enjoy the naturalness and juiciness of vegetables for a long time, abnormal temperatures should affect them while being on the site to a minimum.
Is cabbage afraid of low temperatures?
Collecting fruits from under snow blockages at -5 degrees will have a detrimental effect on all varieties in the same way as secondary cold snaps after thawing. When thawed, the outer leaves of the cabbage open the doors for the growth of microbes that cause the fruit to rot.
The cut off heads should not lie in the open air during frost, their storage for a long time after that will become unrealistic.
What frosts can cabbage withstand in autumn?
The first temperature fluctuations below 0 are usually tolerated by a vegetable. A slight chill even favorably affects the gastronomic properties of this vegetable, thereby delighting users with a sweet taste. The critical minus load that the culture can withstand is -6 degrees.
Late-ripening varieties: what low temperatures can they withstand?
Late ripening varieties are also stored for a long time. To keep them in their natural form for a long time, you cannot keep them at a temperature of – 6 degrees. And for cut off late-ripe heads, even -1 degree will become a great danger: the tissues of the forks will be exposed at the incisions and will freeze very quickly, which will further cause a rotten process. Pickled cabbage is usually prepared from heads that have been at temperatures down to -3 C during their formation.
Chinese cabbage is not afraid of cold weather, but after temperatures below -4 degrees, the rotten process begins. Do not expose the vegetable to temperatures below -2 degrees. The collection can be carried out in October, when there is still no stable cold weather.
Which cabbage is the best for the cold?
The varieties that are not afraid of frost, with the name F1:
- Katya.
- Russian Winter.
- Ulyana.
Also, Lika, Yaroslavna, Ukrainian autumn are not afraid of cold weather.
What if you could not collect it before the onset of cold weather?
The heads of cabbage must be thawed, they cannot be cut off. This takes 5 days, after which the fruits must be cut off and sent to the pantry.
Can cabbage be removed after frost?
Immediately after the cold weather, you cannot put the fruits in the cellar. If you wait a couple of days until they thaw right down to the root, they will deteriorate in the first 30 days after harvesting: dark inflorescences will appear.
Key rules for harvesting cabbage
Many summer residents ask themselves questions: when to put cabbage for storage and at what degrees, how to do it correctly? You need to pick the fruits when it is warm and the sun is shining. With the help of a shovel, the fruits must be carefully dug without cutting off the head, shake off the roots from the ground. All poorly ripened and formed heads are sorted out and removed. Inflorescences with deformations must also be removed.
Poorly ripe vegetables are usually used by the hostess to create food, pickles, marinades. In a fermented form, the vegetable is stored for a long time. Each head should have several native leaves. Before putting the cabbage for storage, it must be thoroughly dried.
This requires a canopy that will protect the fruits from wind and ultraviolet radiation. If the cabbage is left to lie outdoors on a clear day, it will waste a lot of water and dry out.
Further manipulations depend on the storage method used. If the land on which the cabbage was cultivated was oversaturated with substances in which nitrogen is present, then it makes no sense to store the fruits: they will quickly become useless.
After all, nitrogen loosens the inflorescences, reducing the percentage of dry components in them. Such heads of cabbage immediately begin to rot after harvest. Composts with potassium and phosphorus, on the contrary, allow the vegetable to be stored for a long time.
How to understand if cabbage is ripe or not?
To understand whether the cabbage is ripe or not, it is enough to touch it: if the head of cabbage is solid, then you can fold the fruits. In terms of weight, ripe heads of medium and late varieties weigh 900 grams.
If we are talking about an early variety, then the weight is 300 grams. In what weather is it better to harvest the fruits? Dry weather is an ideal choice. Thus, vegetables will not dry out.
After cutting in the sun, the wound dries up a little and does not spread further. It is only important not to overexpose the vegetable in the sun: it dries up and deteriorates. If the autumn turned out to be warm and clear, then before folding the heads for the winter, you need to dry them for a couple of hours, shaking them off the ground in advance.
The ideal temperature for harvesting fruits is from +3 to + 7 degrees. Mid-season varieties must be harvested when the temperature drops to +3 degrees during the day.
What tools to use?
What are the best tools to use to harvest the fruit? To dig up the roots of the fruit, you need to use a shovel or villas. Most resort to the help of villas, since they are convenient for picking up the heads and pulling them towards you. You can use garden shears or an ax to cut off the heads.
How to cut correctly? Not all gardeners cut off cabbage roots in accordance with the rules. Some keep the vegetables in the shed along with the roots. By the way, they stay this way longer. And if you cut off the fruits, then each head should have 4 cm left. The heads are cut off with a sharp knife.
Features
When can you harvest? If you plan to ferment cabbage, then you can collect the collection any day. If you are folding a late ripe variety, then it is better not to rush: cabbage grows even in autumn. Therefore, even in September, she needs to provide proper care: irrigate, feed and huddle.
Irrigation stops 14 days before harvesting. Large heads, feeding from the soil, can crack, so the roots are carefully dug out. Medium-ripe varieties in Russia are folded in September when the head mass reaches 2 kg.
To store your cabbage for six months, it is harvested with the upper tops firmly adjoining the heads. Such cabbage is the most resistant to frost. The early varieties are cut off when the heads have a mass of 600 grams. Late ripe – 2 kg.
Conclusion
Where to put cabbage inflorescences after harvesting? As soon as you have collected the entire crop, all the leaves and forks from the garden must be collected, and the earth must be dug. The collected inflorescences and legs are poisoned in the trash or given to livestock.
If you pick the fruits ahead of time, they will wither. If later, then many heads will burst or give an arrow. This is why it is very important to know when to pick this naughty vegetable in the fall.
