We all have that moment when you have followed all the right steps on growing a certain crop but something crazy happens on the farm which makes you go nuts. One of these things is seeing cracked cabbage heads appearing on your farm. Cabbage farming is quite profitable, however, once the cabbage heads start cracking, the profitability turns to losses. Cracked cabbage heads have no solutions once it occurs. This problem can nevertheless be prevented.
Before we dive into the solutions to this problem, we need to understand the cause. What causes cabbage heads to crack in the first place?
- Cracking is caused by an uneven growth tempo brought by dry conditions. The dry conditions will cause the cabbage to start from a smaller, tight head then suddenly change due to heavy rainfall showing up close to the cabbages maturity. The internal water pressure inside the head causes the cabbage to burst open and bring you a world of headache.
- The growth process can also be affected by failing to give the cabbage sufficient fertiliser during its early stages. This holds back the maturity process and then speeds it up when you start giving it fertiliser. Your crop literally gets confused and boom…the joke is on you. Don’t play with your crops emotions.
- Cabbages can crack when they are fully mature but continue to grow in size. Cut back on the water when you are approaching the harvesting month
How to prevent your cabbage heads from cracking
- Water your cabbages evenly throughout the season to avoid an uneven growth tempo. If you are planning to grow during the dry season as the rainy season approaches, make sure you give the crop enough water to balance it out. If plants go dry, apply water slowly at first.
- Go easy on the fertiliser once your cabbages heads begin to get firm.
- You can also prune the roots to slow uptake of water and slow growth. You can prune roots by turning the head halfway to break off some of the roots.
- Avoid nitrogen-rich fertilisers.
- Harvest cabbages when they are mature. Do not leave them on the field to overgrow.
If this is your first time growing Cabbages try checking out some of our write ups.
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Empowering Ambitions, Cultivating Success: Graduate Farmer is dedicated to inspiring and equipping young men and women with practical solutions to kickstart and thrive in profitable agribusiness ventures across Kenya.
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Author
Empowering Ambitions, Cultivating Success: Graduate Farmer is dedicated to inspiring and equipping young men and women with practical solutions to kickstart and thrive in profitable agribusiness ventures across Kenya.
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Comments (2)
Great job for empowering young men and women to create jobs through farming as a business (The Agribusiness way) . I love to create more jobs in my 2.5 acre irrigated farm, install drip irrigation system for more value in farming. More so in getting right agriculture value chains and a business plan to farming as a business real. I look forward to hearing and getting more support from you.
Thanks
Is there any nessesary treatment of cabbage nursary , if yes which chemical is used?