Growing Hydroponic Cabbage
| Hydroponic Cabage | ||||
| Germination | Light | EC Range | pH Range: | Time to Harvest |
| Intermediate | 12-14 hours | 2.5-3.0 | 6.5-7.0 | 3 months |
|
Nutrient and Health Info - 1 cup of chopped, raw cabbage contains 56% of your daily Vitamin K allowance, as well as 36% of your vitamin C and 10% of your Vitamin B9 allowance.
|
||||
|
Tips & Tricks - These are VERY big plants that will completely shade a large amount of area in your garden. Be prepared to sacrifice growth of other plants.
|
||||
Anybody that has grown cabbage before knows that it is a very big plant, that can take over an incredible amount of space in your garden. Many prefer not to grow cabbage in their indoor garden for this reason, while others decide they want to grow it exactly because it is such a magnificently large plant.
It generally requires about 3 months to grow a full-sized head of cabbage from seed. Like broccoli and cauliflower, which are closely related to cabbage, the leaves are edible as well. These giant leaves can be used in coleslaws, salads, stir-fries, soups, sautés, green juices, smoothies and much more. They can also be used to make cabbage chips in the same way you make kale chips.
1 cup of chopped, raw cabbage contains 56% of your daily Vitamin K allowance, as well as 36% of your vitamin C and 10% of your Vitamin B9 allowance.
Boiling may be the most popular way to cook cabbage, but you are doing yourself and your tastebuds a huge disservice if you don’t experiment with other cooking methods. Grilled or roasted cabbage wedges are an amazing and easy way to prepare cabbage. Sautéing cabbage just long enough to keep its crunchy texture while incorporating a variety of other flavors is another fantastic way to make a dish.
Germination:
You can expect your cabbage to sprout in 7-14 days. Because of the size of these plants, they will quickly grow over a large area of your iHarvest, so be prepared to sacrifice space around the cabbage plant.
Light:
Cabbage doesn’t require significant amounts of light. But, for fastest growth and compatibility with other plants, you can give your cabbage 12-14 hours of light per day. You will probably be ok giving your cabbage 16 hours of light, but it does become more prone to bolting and cracking with more light.
EC Range:
Cabbage is a heavy eater and prefers an EC between 2.5 – 3.0. It may deplete your reservoir of nutrients faster than a lot of other plants, so check your reservoirs EC/pH twice a week as your cabbage grows.
pH Range:
Cabbage will grow best with a pH between 6.5 – 7.0.
Nutrients:
IGWorks’ Green Machine nutrients are perfect for growing cabbage. You don’t want cabbage to flower, as it will ruin the taste.
Time to Harvest:
Cabbage will require about 3 months to harvest the cabbage head.
Pruning and Harvesting:
You can begin harvesting cabbage leaves in about a month. But if you want a healthy head of cabbage to form, don’t remove too many leaves, or only remove the ends of these giant leaves and use them in salads and much more. By keeping as many leaves as possible, you’ll be giving your cabbage head the best chance at growth.
Conclusion:
Cabbage is an enormous plant that takes up lots of room. It’s certainly a lot of fun to grow, and quite the conversation piece as well. But know that it will limit the number of other plants you can grow as it will block them from getting adequate amounts of light.
There are lots of ways to use and cook cabbage, including grilling and sautéing, that will provide a much more flavorful surprise than boiling. Boiling is fine, but you just won’t get as much of the fantastic flavor out of your homegrown cabbage.
Check Out Our Cabbage Recipes!
Let’s grow together!