Best Fertilizer for Cabbage: Verified NPK Doses and the Three-Split Nitrogen Plan
Cabbage wants all its phosphorus and potash up front and its nitrogen in three splits timed to head formation: 120–140 kg N, 60–75 kg P₂O₅ and 60–75 kg K₂O per hectare in northern India; 110–135 / 60–75 / 60–75 in Punjab (Pakistan). Verified doses for six regions inside.
Cabbage builds a heavy head in a short season, and its verified fertilizer programmes share one shape: all the phosphorus and potash worked in at final ploughing, and the nitrogen split into three — at transplanting, in the rosette stage, and just before the head forms. The best fertilizer for cabbage is that dose-and-schedule combination for your region.
The verified doses (kg N–P₂O₅–K₂O per hectare)
India (ICAR-IARI New Delhi / PAU): 120–140 kg N, 60–75 kg P₂O₅ and 60–75 kg K₂O per hectare; PAU's package point dose is 123.6-61.8-61.8. Pakistan (Vegetable Research Institute, AARI Faisalabad, for Punjab): 110–135 kg N, 60–75 kg P₂O₅ and 60–75 kg K₂O. Bangladesh: a Fertilizer Recommendation Guide range of 110–130 / 55–70 / 60–75, and a BJAR-published point dose of 140-40-125 with 20 kg sulphur and 1 kg boron per hectare.
United States (Midwest Vegetable Production Guide): 140–190 kg N, 80–120 kg P₂O₅ and 110–170 kg K₂O per hectare; California (UC): 160–200 / 60–90 / 110–150. Japan (Aichi Prefecture fertilization standards): 290-150-290 — by far the heaviest programme we hold, written for intensive Japanese production. Tamil Nadu's TNAU fertigation programme applies 135-135-135 through drip. The spread is a warning against copying doses across regions: soil and production system move the numbers more than the crop does.
The schedule: nitrogen in thirds, timed to the head
In the Indian and Pakistani programmes the nitrogen is split into three equal parts: at transplanting, at 25–30 days after transplanting, and at 45–50 days, at head formation. The stated purpose in the sources is compact head formation and preventing head splitting — a late nitrogen surge pushes loose, cracked heads. The US Midwest guide uses the same skeleton with different weights: full phosphorus and potash plus 50 kg N/ha pre-plant, then the remaining nitrogen in two splits, the second at cupping / early head formation. The dated plan for your country is in the Schedule Builder at /fertilizer-schedule.
Products and conversion
Basal phosphorus (DAP or SSP) and potash (MOP) go in at final ploughing or bed preparation; the nitrogen splits are urea, side-dressed or fertigated. Boron appears in the Bangladeshi and US programmes as part of the basal — cole crops are boron-sensitive, and the guides include it deliberately. Convert any dose above into product bags for your area with the fertilizer calculator at /calculator; for a few heads in a home garden, scale down through the cabbage page under /vegetables instead.
Bottom line: the best fertilizer for cabbage is your region's verified dose — 120–140 / 60–75 / 60–75 kg per hectare in northern India — with phosphorus and potash all basal and nitrogen in three splits that end at head formation. Dose and timing together make the head.