Sewela Koko – African Farming

CABBAGE
Sewela Koko, Bochum, Limpopo

At the end of July we will start harvesting the cabbage that is destined for the informal market. We planted on 8 April from seedlings we bought from Marlo Nursery in Polokwane.

The area is frost-free and we are able to plant cabbage all year round without any hassles. We buy the seedlings when they are about six weeks old. To ensure that we have the seedlings at the right time, we must make our order six weeks prior to collection.

We used the megaton hybrid variety, which is widely adapted and has large, heavy heads. The market in this area wants large heads because most of them are resellers with several of them running food businesses.

We’re now just maintaining the crop using GuanoBoost, which is an organic fertiliser. This liquid fertiliser is only used on the leaves and not poured onto the soil. We use a knapsack to apply it to the cabbage and it has worked remarkably well.