Do I need to pick off the lower leaves of the cabbage? When is it better to do it? ::

Disputes between vegetable growers about trimming the leaves of cabbage do not subside. Some argue that people do not eat leaves, so they need to get rid of them. Others argue the opposite point of view by the fact that the leaves are necessary for the plant itself. We propose further to figure out whether it is necessary to pick off the leaves from the cabbage so that this issue is not raised anymore.

Role of the leaf in the formation of a head of cabbage

All development of cabbage is directed towards the formation of a head of cabbage. The leaves are not meant to beautify the plant. They have their own function. In the process of photosynthesis, they form substances that are the building blocks of cabbage. Nature has arranged so that in the covering leaves (large lower ones) a supply of nutrients necessary for its establishment is accumulated. When they are cut off, the plant begins to look for this reserve, and begins to grow them again. Is it possible to pick off the lower leaves of a cabbage when their role is so great? The head of cabbage begins to form when there are at least seven covering leaves. The yield depends on how many of them the cabbage rosette contains. And the weight of the plant should not decrease during the growth process. In addition, these leaves are covered with a waxy coating that protects the head of cabbage from diseases and pests. In summer, they regulate the temperature and prevent overheating and hypothermia of the interior.

The lower leaves contain twice as much vitamin C as the inside of the head of cabbage. During the ripening process, the vitamin turns into delicate white parts. Do I need to pick off the lower leaves of the cabbage? If they are eaten by pets, then at least they will benefit from it. But the head of cabbage will already contain less vitamin C.

Growing features

For the first few weeks, you need to carefully look after the young seedlings. Young seedlings are not yet accustomed to the sun's rays, so during the day they need to be covered with newspapers or a cloth. Further care for cabbage is as follows:

Watering. It is recommended to water the plant on cloudy days or in the evening, so as not to harm the bushes. It is enough to do this once a week. In summer, the number of waterings can be increased several times so that the cabbage has enough moisture. To keep water in the soil longer, it is recommended to create a peat mulch layer.
Top dressing. The first feeding is carried out 10-15 days after planting the seedlings in the soil. During this period, a mixture made from saltpeter, potassium, superphosphate and water is added to the ground. Fertilizers must be applied only to moistened soil, so as not to accidentally damage the plant. The second is applied after a few weeks and consists of the same fertilizers as the previous one.
Treatment. To protect the bushes from diseases and insects, it is recommended to deal with their processing. First, the cabbage is treated with ash, which can protect young seedlings from fleas and slugs. Then you can use an infusion of tomato tops or onion peels. There are also special preparations with which you can protect cabbage from most diseases.

Do I need to pick off the lower leaves of the cabbage

The lower leaves are usually broken off. Gardeners explain this by the fact that the head of cabbage becomes clean without them, the leaves do not rot.Useful substances are not used for the growth of these leaves, but for the formation of a head of cabbage. When can you pick the bottom leaves of a cabbage?

In a young plant, each detached leaf delays the maturation of the head of cabbage by one day. Juice flows through the cut site, removing useful substances from the plant. This means that it is impossible to pick off the leaves of young plants, even the lower ones.

But is it possible to pick off the lower leaves of cabbage at maturity, or should it not be done under any circumstances?

In books and manuals on agricultural techniques, there are no recommendations for removing leaves. This procedure can damage the stem and open access through the resulting wounds to various pathogens.

But in practice, deletion often occurs. Now on many sites there are recommendations for why and when you can pick off the lower leaves of cabbage.

Some gardeners believe that breaking off the leaves encourages the passage of air between the plants. And this, in turn, reduces the risk of decay and other diseases.

But in fact, aphids and cabbage belan flock to the smell of current juice.

Proponents of this method explain the breaking off of leaves by the fact that cabbage growing on poor soils has loose heads of cabbage. And after removing part of the foliage, the head of cabbage becomes denser. But this is not done in the summer, but in the fall, when it is already formed, and it only remains to grow it.

If you do this during the formation of a head of cabbage, then the death of the roots may begin, which will negatively affect its size and quality.

When deciding whether to pick off the lower leaves of the cabbage, they look at their condition. If they are green and strong, then you should not do this. Often the lower leaves of cabbage turn yellow not in autumn, but in summer, during a drought. The rains are finally passing, but these leaves will no longer turn green. Therefore, they can be removed carefully.

Correct removal procedure

If, nevertheless, it is decided to prune the cabbage, care should be taken to minimize stress for the plant and prevent possible negative consequences of the procedure.

Rules for removing the lower leaves:

Choose a dry day for pruning.
Leaves should not be torn off, but carefully cut off.
Sections must be sprinkled with wood ash to prevent viruses and bacteria from entering the plant tissue.
It is allowed to cut one leaf from the plant in one week. Before removing the next one, the old slice should be tightened.

The number and health of leaves on the stalk of cabbage affects the volume and quality of the crop, so they should only be removed when absolutely necessary. Observing the recommendations for pruning, you can clean the lower part of the cabbage bush with a minimum of losses, but it is impossible not to cause any damage to the crop. The only situation when pruning is definitely worth it is decay, since we are talking about preserving the entire plant.

Why do they do it

Some, explaining whether it is necessary to pick off the lower leaves of cabbage, refer to the fact that various pests often settle on them. They can be slugs. They appear on plants in the fall. By this time, the head of cabbage is already well developed. Then maybe it makes sense to cut off the leaves. Although what will prevent the slugs from getting through the stump?

In summer, cabbage suffers from cabbage bean caterpillars, flea beetles. But here you will not achieve anything by breaking off the leaves. Plants are sprayed with chemicals or sprinkled with ash and tobacco dust. The number of pests is reduced if the area where the cabbage grows is free from weeds.

Cabbage is well protected by marigolds or calendula, celery, dill and other aromatic plants planted in aisles.

Do not confuse flowers and buds

By picking flowers, you save the plant from the need to spend energy on developing, in fact, unnecessary parts.

Plucking the buds, on the contrary, aggravates the situation, as the culture begins to spend even more energy on growing new buds instead of plucked ones.

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Fight against vascular bacteriosis

Cabbage can be affected by vascular bacteriosis. If the edges of the leaves turn yellow, lifeless, black veins have appeared on them, then this is a sign of the disease. Sometimes the lower leaves are cut off so that the plants do not get sick. Do I need to pick off the lower leaves of the cabbage in this case? This operation will not save the infected plant. It must be completely removed. This must be done carefully so that neighboring plants do not become infected.

To prevent disease, when preparing seeds for germination, you need to harden them by immersing them alternately in hot and cold water. It is better not to plant sick and weak seedlings.

How to extend the life of early varieties of cabbage

Do early cabbages pick off the lower leaves? Sometimes this is done in order to delay the process of cracking the heads of early varieties as long as possible, if they cannot be processed in time.

But experts do not advise doing this. Instead, you can pull the head lightly, or twist it around the trunk to pull the roots a little. Moisture will cease to pass to the head of cabbage, and it can remain in the ground for a sufficiently long time without cracking or fading.

To cut off or not is the question

Many summer residents wonder if it is possible to pick flowers from potatoes. And does it somehow affect the future harvest. As they say, how many people, so many opinions. Some people believe that the flowers of the potato prevent the tubers from growing and developing. Others argue that there is no relationship between flowering and fruit. Scientists also disagree. The only way to find out the truth is to experiment.

You can read a large number of articles about potato flowers, find out the opinions of people, read reviews of experienced vegetable growers. However, it is only by trial and error that you can find out what is best for the root crop. All advice should be checked, as they say, in real conditions. If you are still waiting for an answer to the question of whether it is worth picking off flowers from a crop, we will answer that flowering does not affect the yield of a vegetable in any way. The harvest is shaped by other factors. All that can spoil the harvest is the inexperience and laziness of the grower.

People who make money selling potatoes do not bother to pick flowers from the root crop. They simply, by trial and error, figure out when it is best to water and fertilize, what the plant needs during the growing season, how to harvest and store it in the basement or cellar, and much more. This understanding of the growing process is achieved through many experiments. Of course, you can't do without mistakes. Even if you read a lot of scientific literature and are well-versed in matters of potato cultivation, this will not insure you against mistakes and will not make you an expert.

Will picking leaves save from scoops and cabbage flies

But cabbage has such pests that are difficult to get out without removing some of the leaves. This is a cabbage scoop and a cabbage fly. Should the lower leaves of cabbage be removed when these pests are infested?

The scoop, emerging from the ground, where pupae overwinter, from which it develops, places eggs at the bottom of the leaves. These are usually the lower leaves. Therefore, their removal in the event of the appearance of these pests can be justified. But you can treat the plants with "Agrophyte", and the scoops will disappear.

The cabbage fly, hiding under the lower leaves, lays its eggs in the ground. To find them, they remove the earth from the stem. The lower leaves can interfere with this. During processing, they will either come off by themselves or you will first break them off.

When to pick the bottom leaves of a cabbage

In autumn, the lower leaves, having given up useful substances for the formation of a head of cabbage, turn yellow and wither.They can no longer participate in the process of photosynthesis, therefore they are not needed.

If the lower leaves rot, wither or are severely affected, then they are removed. After all, they can infect other leaves and heads of cabbage.

But they will rot when the soil is too wet. In this case, you need to reduce watering or drain water.

There are specialists who see nothing wrong with removing the lower leaves. Although they point out that it depends on the properties of a particular variety. They believe that the lower leaves in the fall no longer give off nutrients, but only take them away from other parts of the plant. A lot of moisture evaporates through them. If the covering leaves shade the head too much, they can be removed. It is advised to do this in such a way as to break them off completely.

Influence of flowering on yield

If we disassemble the life cycle of a potato into stages, then the following can be distinguished:

the appearance of young tops 2-3 weeks after planting;
tying buds for the next 3 weeks;
the beginning of the flowering phase after another 26-28 days;
growing tubers for 1.5-2 months;
dying off of tops 3 months after planting.

The flowering period lasts differently depending on the cultivated variety and does not affect the yield in any way. The opinion that if you cut off the flowers, you can increase the number of tubers and their quality, for the most part is mistaken. Root crops begin to form even before the flowers appear on the tops, and these 2 phases do not depend on each other.

Find out what to do if the potatoes are not blooming.

Currently, breeders around the world are breeding potato varieties that simply do not have a flowering phase. Tubers in such varieties are formed very early, which makes it possible to dig out the potatoes 2-2.5 months after planting. In other varieties, flowering lasts so quickly that if you visit the summer cottage irregularly, you can skip this moment.

Attention! The flowering phase may not be due to the lack of proper crop care.

Prevention of decay

Tearing off the lower leaves of cabbage can be justified if the head of cabbage is very loose. This is done a month before harvesting. After this procedure, the head of cabbage often becomes tight.

But this usually happens when fertilizers are applied incorrectly. There is too much nitrogen, but there is a lack of phosphorus and potassium. Having established the right supply of these elements, you can get a dense head of cabbage, and the leaves will help it become larger and heavier.

In late summer and autumn, cabbage of late and mid-season varieties, under favorable conditions, gains up to one hundred grams of weight per day. All lower leaves can be removed immediately before harvesting. But if the heads of cabbage are cut with them, then the growth will continue until all the nutrients pass into the inner part. Sometimes the weight after such growth increases to 15 percent.

Recommendations of experienced gardeners

Given that a healthy leaf is of great benefit to the plant, there must be good reasons for removing it. It is allowed to remove a whole healthy leaf or cut off only a part of it if:

the plants are planted too close to each other;
it is necessary to artificially slow down the development of the plant;
30–40 days before harvesting, the heads of cabbage were found to be loose (true for late varieties).

After pruning, it is important to monitor the health of the plant. If it has withered, fertilizing with a fertilizer solution should be carried out and further haircut should be postponed.

Cut plant residues are removed from the garden so that they do not attract pests. Healthy vegetation is suitable for composting, diseased tops are burned.

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