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Vegetable Gardening

Why aren't my cabbages growing?

14 years ago

It's a bit embarrassing that I'm just now figuring out that the problems with some of my seedlings must lie in something other than the lousy New England weather so far this summer. I've been focused on the tomatoes, and thinking it was the weather that prevented them from growing. As you can see in the pics below, two of six plants are going to make it: New Girl and Cherokee. The others have hardly changed since I put them in the ground May 25 - not growing, not dying. Sun Gold, Opalka, Paul Robeson, Aunt Ginny's Purple.

But what about those cabbage seedlings? In the pic below they are the ones on the far end of the bed, planted May 25 (brussels sprouts seedlings planted 6/27). There is also a pic of the exact same cabbage variety last year on July 20.

I started all the seedlings myself, and they were all on the small side when I planted but they usually grow. I used cowpots for some of them this year, but that's the only difference (although I may have used a different seed starting mix). I amended the beds with 2-4 inches of good quality purchased compost. I was wondering if there was too much compost for the roots to establish? What's weird is that they aren't dying, they just aren't growing.

I'm planning to send in a soil sample, but thought I'd check here to see if anyone has any ideas on what the problem might be. I've been growing vegetables for 4-5 years and haven't seen anything like this before. The peas and lettuce and spinach have all done well this year. Cucumbers and squash have been slow but are starting to take off with the sun and warmth.

Thanks for any ideas you have.

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Tomato Beds

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Planted May 25, photo taken July 19

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Cabbage bed this year

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Cabbage 7/20/08

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Comments (8)

mmqchdygg
14 years ago
Your cabbage looks WONDERFUL! Mine is getting chomped by something.

Tomatoes: I started mine also from seed, and planted them out um...This first pic is June 12, but they were planted out about 2 weeks before that. They sat there for about 2 weeks, so I gave them a small shot of Miracle grow for Tomatoes, and they took off. Haven't had to do anything to them since. First pic is June 12...that's them on the right with the posts. See how small they are? Then with the MG on June 30...WOW!

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vickima
Original Author
14 years ago
Just to clarify . . . that wonderful cabbage was *last* years. This years cabbage is barely perceptible in the previous photo.

Re: fertilizer. I've been reluctant to do that since there's so much compost in the beds (fear of too much nitrogen etc), but I guess I've got nothing to lose now!!
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farmerdilla
14 years ago
Cabbage love nitrogen, after all leaves are what you want. Many times compost unless it contains poultry manure is weak in nitrogen.
vickima
Original Author
14 years ago
Well I didn't know that about compost. I thought all of it had good amounts of nitrogen. I'll try fertilizer tonight.
glib
14 years ago
Agree with FD. Cabbage are the heaviest feeders of all veggies. Surely they exhausted N in one year in a few inches of compost. I tend to place them at the foot of pole beans. Not so good for the beans, but great for them. You still need to fertilize them, but with the beans there, "normal" fertilization (similar to what you would do for tomatoes, squash or peppers) will do.
vickima
Original Author
14 years ago
I put some cottonseed meal around some of the plants in the rain last night. I'll follow up with fish emulsion in a week or so if I see a difference. It makes sense now that you mention it. Peas fix their own nitrogen don't they? and they did fine.

Was it my imagination or did two of the tomato plants I fertilized grow 2 inches overnight? Hmm. Too late for fruit on them this year, but if this does the trick I will have learned an important lesson for future years. Thanks for the help.
sfallen2002
14 years ago
Purchased compost is not as beneficial as you might think, and certainly home-grown compost is the best.

There's more than N in fert. Or compost though.
jean001
14 years ago
It was said "you still need to fertilize them, but with the beans there, "normal" fertilization (similar to what you would do for tomatoes, squash or peppers) will do."

Unfortunately, even though it's widely believed that beans provide nitrogen for nearby plants, that's not so.

The facts are these:

The bean plants use the nitrogen captured in the root nodules to produce their beans. In other words, the nitrogen doesn't leak out of the nodules during the growing season.

But it will "leak " into the soil if the plants are either cut to the ground prior to flowering, or turned into the soil prior to flowering.

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