When is the best time to plant mustard greens
The editor answers for everyone when it is best to plant mustard greens and the planting methods and timing of green plant flower cultivation, which is very good experience and knowledge, it is recommended to collect it! Mustard greens are annual herbaceous plants of the cruciferous vegetable family, widely cultivated across the country, with different varieties in each region. Mustard greens are divided into leaf, stem, and root types. Leafy mustard greens are called green vegetables in Guizhou and bitter vegetables in Yunnan. The leafy mustard green varieties we plant here include cockscomb green vegetables and ordinary green vegetables. Cockscomb green vegetables are a unique vegetable variety in the county, with elliptical leaves, thick leaf flesh, wrinkled leaf surface, and leaf stalks that are thin and green. They have fewer stems, low mustard flavor, and are the best vegetables for making continuous slag fishing in the spring and summer transition for the people of Dafang. Cockscomb green vegetables grow slowly, with a single leaf weight of 0.5-1 kg. This type of mustard green has few farmers planting it, a high market price, generally more than double that of ordinary green vegetables. Ordinary green vegetables have tall plants, wide leaves, flat or nearly round leaf stalks, long elliptical leaves, thick leaf flesh, wavy or bluntly toothed leaf edges, few splits, and a wrinkled leaf surface. The leaves are green. The stems are tender, have a light spicy taste, good quality, and are adaptable, with a harvesting period of March to April, and high yield. They are good materials for making pickled vegetables and salted vegetables. Mustard greens are mainly used to make pickled vegetables, which are a major local specialty. The ingredients mainly consist of mustard greens, washed and boiled in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then filtered and dried before being placed in jars, adding boiling surface broth and a little sour seeds, sealed for seven or eight hours. When eaten, add it to the bean soup and season with chili peppers, litsea flowers, and garlic leaves for a delicious taste that can relieve thirst and improve appetite. Pickled vegetables are the most common dish for Dafang people, and as the saying goes, "If Dafang people don't eat sour for three days, they will stumble when walking."
Mustard greens are divided into leaf, stem, and root types. Leafy mustard greens include varieties such as cockscomb green vegetables, large-leaf green vegetables, flowering bitter vegetables, and baggy green vegetables. Stem mustard greens include types like pickled vegetables and child vegetables, and root mustard greens are mainly headed vegetables.
I. Sowing Time: The sowing time varies from place to place, generally in October to November. Southern regions can sow all year round, mainly in autumn, while northern regions sow in spring. For example, the suitable time for planting mustard greens in Guizhou Province is: leafy mustard greens are direct-sown or transplanted from July to October, stem mustard greens are sown and seedlings are raised from September to October, and root mustard greens are direct-sown or transplanted from August to October.
II. Planting Methods
1. Seedling raising: Mustard greens can be direct-sown or transplanted. Most regions use seedling transplantation because it is easier to manage during the seedling stage, with a high survival rate after transplantation, tall plants, good vegetable quality, and high mustard green yield. Seedbed preparation and sowing: Choose a fertile, moist, and well-ventilated plot for the seedbed, apply 1500 kg of human manure per mu, deeply plow 16-20 cm,晒垄 after ridging, then break the soil clumps finely and level the ground, form seedbeds about 130 cm wide and 16 cm high for sowing. After sowing, cover the seeds with fine soil and ash from burned soil, then cover with straw, water thoroughly, and the seedlings will emerge in about 3 days, remove the straw. Thin the seedlings once in about 10 days, then thin again every 10 days, maintaining a seedling spacing of 5-7 cm, and apply thin manure water. For leafy mustard greens, use 50-100 grams of seeds per mu, for stem mustard greens, use 40-50 grams (pickled vegetables) or 70-100 grams (child vegetables), and for root mustard greens, use 50-100 grams of seeds per mu.
2. Transplanting
Prepare the land, keeping it away from vegetables like radishes, cabbage, and lettuce. After harvesting the previous crop, deeply plow 23-37 cm, fully晒垄, apply sufficient base fertilizer, rake and level the ground, form beds 160-200 cm wide with 30 cm wide ditches. Transplant when the seedlings have 5-6 leaves. For early-maturing leafy mustard green varieties, the row spacing is 33-35 cm, plant spacing 25-33 cm, for late-maturing varieties, row spacing is 38-45 cm, plant spacing 25-33 cm. For pickled vegetables, the row spacing is 30-33 cm, plant spacing 30-33 cm. For child vegetables, the row spacing is 60 cm, plant spacing 50-57 cm. For root mustard greens, the row spacing is 45 cm, plant spacing 33-40 cm. It is better to transplant in the afternoon on a sunny day, water the roots while transplanting, and plant one plant per hole.
3. Field Management
10-15 days after transplanting, apply about 2000 kg of human and animal manure per mu, mixed with 4-5 kg of urea and a moderate amount of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers. In the early stage of root and stem expansion, apply 12-15 kg of urea and 20 kg of superphosphate per mu. In the peak stage of root and stem expansion, apply 2000 kg of human and animal manure, urine, and 7.5-10 kg of urea per mu. For seedlings overwintering, apply less fertilizer before the New Year and more after the spring. Keep the soil moist, till the soil, remove weeds, and prevent and control diseases and pests.
4. Harvesting and Seed Saving
Leafy mustard greens can be peeled or harvested all at once when the leaves are fully grown and mature. Pickled vegetables and child vegetables can be harvested when the heads are fully expanded. Headed vegetables are generally harvested when the basal leaves have turned yellow and the root head has turned from green to yellow.
For seed saving, select plants with good head shape for stem mustard greens and root mustard greens, large leaves with the characteristics of the original variety, strong growth, no diseases and pests, and consistent bolting for seed plants, strengthen management, and harvest when the seed pods turn yellow, dry and collect seeds.
The above is all about when it is best to plant mustard greens and the planting methods and timing, which green plant enthusiasts can refer to.