Growing cabbage
Brassica oleracea var. capitata · also called Band gobhi
East coast: coastal Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, coastal Andhra, coastal Odisha
At a glance
Cabbage in the East coast
Across India
When to sow it
Twelve growing regions, January to December. Your region comes first.
Sow now
The window here is August to November.
- Nursery
- Transplant
- Harvest
- Under cover
- Today
Compare all 12 regionsShow fewer regions
See the dates as a table
| Region | Sow | Nursery | Transplant | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East coast | August to November | |||
| Temperate Himalaya | February to MarchAugust to SeptemberApril to MayMay to June | |||
| Cold desert | Under cover: April, under polythene | Early May | July to September | |
| Sub-tropical foothills | August to SeptemberJuly to August | |||
| North-west plains | September to October | |||
| Gangetic plains | July to November (early cabbage, plains) | October to January | ||
| North-east hills and valleys | Early September to late November | |||
| Arid west | July to November (early cabbage, plains) | |||
| Central plateau | July to November (early cabbage, plains) | |||
| Deccan plateau | July to November (early cabbage, plains) | |||
| South interior | August to NovemberJanuary to FebruaryJuly to AugustSeptember to October | |||
| West coast | August to November |
From seed to harvest
One season, day by day
Days from sowing
Before sowing
Nursery
Farmyard manure
300 kg per 100 m² of nursery bed (raises seedlings for one hectare)
Mix into the raised nursery beds.
Field preparation (plains)
Farmyard manure with Azospirillum
20 t per hectare FYM and 2 kg per hectare Azospirillum
Apply as a basal dose.
Day 0
Sow
Day 60 to 110
First picking
Cut heads as each one firms up, over two or three weeks.
No published guide covers this for the East coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Before sowing
Farmyard manure
300 kg per 100 m² of nursery bed (raises seedlings for one hectare) · Mix into the raised nursery beds. · Nursery
Farmyard manure with Azospirillum6
20 t per hectare FYM and 2 kg per hectare Azospirillum · Apply as a basal dose. · Field preparation (plains)
Day 0
Sow
Day 5 to 8
Seeds come up4,8Part of this comes from the sources cited. The rest is an AI suggestion.
Day 30 to 40
Day 60 to 110
First pickingNo published guide covers this for the East coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Cut heads as each one firms up, over two or three weeks.
Day 120
Last picking6
Keep a steady supply of moisture. On drip, use raised beds 120 cm wide with drippers 50 to 60 cm apart.6
What it needs
Soil, sun and warmth
Soil pH1,5,6
5.5 to 6.5
Grows on sandy to heavy soils rich in organic matter. Light, sandy loam soils suit an early crop; clay loam and silty soils, which hold moisture, suit a late crop and give firmer heads that keep longer.
SunlightNo published guide covers this for the East coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
At least 6 hours a day
Full sun in an open spot. Heads form poorly in shade.
Temperature5,1,2,3
Grows best at 15 to 21 °C
Takes hard frost.
Monthly temperatures for the East coast aren't in the library yet.
Water and feeding
Watering6
Keep a steady supply of moisture. On drip, use raised beds 120 cm wide with drippers 50 to 60 cm apart.
Weeding6
Hoe only lightly: cabbage roots feed near the surface. In the plains, earth up a month after planting along with the top dressing.
| When | What | How much | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nursery | Farmyard manure | 300 kg per 100 m² of nursery bed (raises seedlings for one hectare) | Mix into the raised nursery beds. |
| Field preparation (plains) | Farmyard manure with Azospirillum | 20 t per hectare FYM and 2 kg per hectare Azospirillum | Apply as a basal dose. |
Varieties and yield
25 to 35 tonnes a hectare
Yields vary with the plot, the seed and the season.
Golden Acre
Plains
Pests and diseases6
Organic and cultural controls only.
Aphids
Signs
Colonies of small sap sucking insects under the leaves.
What to do
- Put up 12 yellow sticky traps a hectare to watch for winged adults.
- Spray neem oil 3%.
Diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella)
Signs
Small green caterpillars eat holes in the leaves and spoil the heads.
What to do
- Put up 12 pheromone traps a hectare.
- Spray Bacillus thuringiensis, 2 g a litre, when there are 2 caterpillars a plant.
- Spray neem seed kernel extract 5% after head formation starts.
- Release the parasitoid Diadegma semiclausum, 50,000 a hectare, 60 days after planting.
Prevention
- Grow mustard as an intercrop, one row for every 20 rows of cabbage, to draw the moths to lay eggs there.
Club root
Signs
Plants wilt and stunt; roots swell into galls.
What to do
- Treat seed with Pseudomonas fluorescens, 10 g per kg of seed.
- Dip seedlings in Pseudomonas fluorescens, 5 g a litre.
- Apply Pseudomonas fluorescens, 2.5 kg a hectare mixed with 50 kg of FYM, before planting.
Prevention
- Do not raise the nursery on land with club root.
- Rotate crops and keep crucifers off the land for three years.
Seed and the season's end
Saving seed1
Seed forms only where winters are cold: the plants need 0 to 4 °C for 8 to 10 weeks after the head forms. Pull out off-types while the plants grow, when heads form and at flowering. Keep seed fields 1,600 m from other cabbage, cauliflower, knol-khol, Brussels sprouts and kale.
When the seed is ready
Cut the seed branches as the pods ripen.
Where winters are mild, heads can stay in the field over winter, or be stored in trenches about 2 x 1 x 1 m with the outer leaves removed, laid in one layer and covered with air holes on both sides. Replant them in March and April before the heads burst. Stack the cut branches to dry for 4 to 5 days.
After the last pickingNo published guide covers this for the East coast, so this is an AI suggestion. Check it with local advice before you rely on it.
Clear stumps and roots after the last head is cut. Compost healthy leaves and destroy diseased ones. Follow with a crop outside the cabbage family, such as a legume or a cereal.
Destroy diseased plant remains after harvest.
Rotation
Where club root has appeared, keep cabbage and other crucifers off the land for three years. SKUAST-Jammu advises rotating cole crops with paddy against stalk rot.
Growing under cover6
Hybrid seedlings can be raised in a shade net nursery (50% shade, insect-proof net on the sides) in 98-cell pro-trays filled with cocopeat mixed with neem cake and biofertilisers; one seed per cell, covered with polythene until they come up. Seedlings are ready in about 25 days.
Sources
Where this comes from
Our team has checked this guide against the sources at the end of the page.Reviewed by our team on 13 November 2026.
These published guides are the sources. Where none of them covers a detail for this region, the page shows an AI suggestion and labels it.
- Package of Practices for Vegetable Crops 2020 (Cabbage; insect-pest and disease management in cole crops; protected cultivation)Directorate of Extension, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu (SKUAST-Jammu)Read the source
- Production Technology of Vegetables and Flowers (VSF-231), Part I: Vegetable production (Cole crops: cabbage)CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur (Department of Vegetable Science and Floriculture)Read the source
- Cabbage: propagation (nursery, season of planting, raising of seedlings)National Horticulture Board, Government of IndiaRead the source
- Cabbage: soil and climateNational Horticulture Board, Government of IndiaRead the source
- Cabbage (Horticulture: vegetables), TNAU Agritech PortalTamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityRead the source
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