key growing information

Growing Cabbage From Seed

How to grow cabbage from seed: feeding and soil, spring, fall and winter schedules, spacing, preventing split heads, pest and disease control, harvest and storage.

By Hensley’s Seed Co. September 3, 2026

Cabbage - Key Growing Information

The tightly layered leaves of storage cabbages help keep the heads fresh, crisp, and moist in storage.

SCIENTIFIC NAME:

Brassica oleracea

CULTURE:

Cabbage and its relatives, including cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli, are hungry crops. Give them fertile soil with a pH of 6.5–7.5 and water steadily from planting to harvest.

DAYS TO MATURITY:

Counted from transplanting in cool spring weather. For transplants set out in late spring or early summer warmth, take off 10–14 days; for direct sowing, add about 14 days.

TRANSPLANTING:

Spring crop: Choose early and midseason varieties. Sow 1/4" deep, 2 seeds per cell in 50- or 72-cell plug flats, 3–4 seeds per inch in 20-row flats, or in an outdoor seedbed. Transplants are usually ready in 4–6 weeks. If you can, keep the soil above 75°F (24°C) until seedlings emerge, then drop the air temperature to around 60°F (16°C). Set plants 12–18" apart in rows 18–36" apart, 4–6 weeks after sowing. Cabbage grows best between 55 and 75°F (13–24°C), ideally 60–70°F (16–21°C), though it can still produce well in summer warmth. Fall crop: grow midseason and storage varieties, starting seedlings the same way in May and planting them out in June or July. Where hard freezes come early in fall, sow early enough for heads to mature. Winter crop: in mild-winter areas where temperatures seldom drop below 32°F/0°C, cabbage can be grown through winter, with transplants set out from September through February.

DIRECT SEEDING:

Plant 1/2" deep in groups of 3–4 seeds every 12", rows 24–36" apart, and thin each group to the strongest seedling.

AVG. DIRECT SEEDING RATE:

At 2 seeds per foot in rows 36" apart: 100 seeds sow about 50', 500 seeds about 250', 1,000 seeds about 500'; plan on roughly 29,000 seeds per acre.

CROP MAINTENANCE (SPLITTING):

Heads of early varieties can crack open when mature, or when a dry spell is followed by heavy rain or irrigation that triggers a growth spurt. Slowing growth helps reduce splitting: cultivate close to the plants to cut some of the roots, or give each plant a slight twist.

INSECT PESTS:

Covering young plants with floating row covers right after planting keeps flea beetles and root maggots away. If flea beetle pressure gets heavy, use insecticides such as pyrethrin or azadirachtin. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) controls cabbage worms and loopers. To head off cutworms, till the soil 2–4 weeks before planting to incorporate cover crops and kill weeds.

DISEASE:

Prevention is the best approach: (1) rotate with non-brassica crops for several years, (2) use clean seed-starting mix and seedbeds, and (3) keep tools and fields clean. Select cabbage seed lots that tested negative for black rot (Xanthomonas campestris pv. campestris) and black leg (Phoma lingam).

HARVEST AND STORAGE:

Heads that are fairly young, still green and growing, keep best. Store only healthy heads at 32°F (0°C) and 95–98% relative humidity with good air movement.

SIZED SEEDS:

Sized seed has been graded to a uniform size, which gives more precise spacing in mechanical seeders and a more even stand. Our cabbage seed is sized unless the product description says otherwise.

SEEDS/LB.:

67,500–164,300 (average 108,600).

PACKET:

100 seeds per packet unless noted.