How spacing affects cabbage head size and yield
Farmer's Weekly|Farmer's Weekly 2 June 2023
Intra-row spacing in conjunction with variety will influence the health of the cabbage, its head size, and the overall yield
Bill Kerr
How spacing affects cabbage head size and yield

Although different cabbage varieties will produce different-sized heads, spacing can also affect head size.

When I started farming, I conducted trials to see for myself the effects of different spacing. I found that, although the overall yield was affected in certain cases, it was the head size that differed most markedly at various spacings.

Even if you have a market for large heads, there is a threshold size beyond which overall yield will be reduced.

In one trial, I kept the inter-row spacing at 60cm. Within the row, I had spacings of 20cm, 25cm and 30cm respectively. I harvested twice in each land. In the first cutting, the 20cm intra-row spacing, I harvested 52%, in the 25cm spacing I got 65%, and the 30cm spacing, I got 76%. This shows that the wider spacing advanced maturity.

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