All About The Radish. Part 2: Growing Radish

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

• Site selection and soil preparation
• Fertilizers
• Seed preparation and sowing of radish
• Radish care
• Protection of radishes from pests and diseases
• Harvesting and storage of radish

Site selection and soil preparation

All vegetable crops can be the predecessors of radish, but cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin, tomatoes, potatoes, peas are considered the best of them. It should not be placed after plants of the Cabbage (Cruciferous) family: cabbage, swede, turnip, radish, watercress, especially after the radish.

The soil is cultivated for radish in the same way as for other root crops. It begins in the fall with non-moldboard loosening or shallow digging to a depth of 5-6 cm. This creates the best conditions for the germination of weeds, which are then destroyed by digging to the full depth of the cultivated layer. In case of heavy weediness and early harvesting of the predecessor, two-fold loosening is possible. If the site is littered with perennial rhizome and root-sprouting weeds (wheatgrass, sow thistle, bodyag, coltsfoot, field mint), you should try to select all the roots of these plants when digging. After the potatoes, the soil does not need to be dug up. With late harvesting, the predecessor is limited to one digging. After potatoes harvested at a later date, the soil is not cultivated in the fall.

The spring pre-sowing soil cultivation is started as soon as the soil stops smearing and begins to disintegrate into small lumps. Spring harrowing of the site is carried out, in which the top layer of the soil is loosened, thereby reducing moisture loss and leveling the surface. In the future, if the soil is very compacted, it must be dug up to 2/3 - 3/4 of the depth of autumn processing and burrowed. Radish is grown on ridges or ridges.

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Fertilizers

One of the main conditions for obtaining high yields of radish is the creation of the correct diet of plants. Organic fertilizers are applied under the radish on low-fertile soils, and only humus or matured compost is used in the amount of 4-6 kg per 1 m² in autumn or for spring digging of the soil. Mineral fertilizers are applied in the amount of: ammonium nitrate 15-20 g, superphosphate 20-30 g and potassium chloride 15-20 g per 1 m². In the event that the radish is sown on the site with a re-culture after harvesting early green crops - lettuce, spinach, dill, or if organic fertilizers were not applied when filling the soil, since a good filling of the soil for the previous crop was made, the doses of mineral fertilizers are increased by 1, 5-2 times. Mineral fertilizers applied in the correct ratio increase the yield and improve the quality of root crops. When applying combined fertilizers: Azofoski, Ekofoski, Nitrofoski, Kemira for deep spring loosening of the soil, the doses of these fertilizers are 40-60 g per square meter, in addition, you need to add potash and phosphorus simple fertilizers in the amount of 5-10 g per 1 m².

Seed preparation and sowing of radish

For sowing, you need to take only healthy, pure-grade seeds. Of great importance in preparing seeds for sowing is their separation by size and weight. Large seeds have a high absolute weight, higher field germination, give amicable, strong, leveled shoots capable of providing a high yield. Calibration of seeds can be done on sieves with holes of 2-2.5 cm or in sodium chloride solution (50 g per 1 liter of water). However, it should be remembered that after separating the seeds in a salty solution, they should be rinsed, otherwise germination will decrease. Increases the yield of radish by soaking seeds in solutions of methylene blue (0.3 g per 1 l of water) or potassium permanganate (0.2 g per 1 l of water). Duration of soaking 16-24 hours - before pecking.

Sowing time should be linked to the early maturity of the variety. Radish of early varieties of the type: Odessa 5, Mayskaya and others, intended for summer consumption, are sown in early spring, in late April - early May. Winter varieties are sown in a non-black earth zone in June, after harvesting lettuce, dill, spinach; Chinese and Japanese radish - at the end of July. At earlier sowing dates, winter radish, like oriental species, will shoot, especially in cold and dry years.

They are sown on the ridges in two rows with a distance of 20-50 cm between them or on the ridges 3-4 rows along with a distance between rows of 25 or 40 cm, as well as on a flat surface in a single-line method with a row spacing of 45 cm. Seeding rate 0.3-0, 4 g per 1 m². The seeding depth is 2-3.5 cm.

Radish care

During the period of plant maintenance, it is necessary to loosen the soil in the aisles and furrows (between ridges or ridges), thinning, feeding, watering. It is necessary to loosen the soil in the aisles to a depth of 4-6 cm. With deeper loosening, the root system of the radish is damaged, and weed seeds are turned out of the deep soil layers closer to the surface. Here, falling into favorable conditions, they germinate, clogging up the crop. Timely and high-quality loosening allows you to get rid of weeding between rows, in this case only weeds are removed in the rows.

By the time of molting, the plants should be provided with the most favorable microclimate conditions. This is achieved by timely and high-quality performance of all techniques. Excessive thickening of root crops during "molting" leads to stretching of roots (runoff) with subsequent deformation, coarsening and underdevelopment.

It should be borne in mind that thickened crops cause premature formation of flowering shoots in radish. The first thinning is carried out when the radish plants are in the phase of two true leaves, and the second is in the phase of four true leaves. At the first thinning, a distance of 8-10 cm is left between the plants, and at the second, the optimal distance between the plants is made in accordance with the variety.

For early radish in a row it should be 10-12 cm, for late varieties it is increased to 15-20 cm. In order to avoid thinning of seedlings, the distance between plants in a row is regulated by the seeding rate. Plants removed from the soil during the first thinning can be planted in places of lunges.

Watering

Water the radish as the soil dries up. The moisture content of the soil should not fluctuate much, as this causes the formation of voids in the roots. 2-3 buckets of water are consumed per 1 m². After watering, you need to close the moisture by loosening the soil after the water is absorbed. Simultaneously with watering, plants are fed with mineral fertilizers.

Top dressing

Radish responds well to top dressing. During the growing season, it is fed twice. The first feeding can be done with organic fertilizers, for which it is good to use "live manure" - fresh grass fermented with the addition of water, which is bred in a ratio of 1: 3. Solution consumption 1 bucket for 3-4 m². Mineral fertilizers are applied in dissolved or dry form from the following calculation: ammonium nitrate 10 g, superphosphate 10-15 g, potassium chloride 10 g per 3-4 m². You can apply complex fertilizer in the amount of 20-30 g for the same area.

Protection of radishes from pests and diseases

Pests

Among vegetable crops, plants of the Cabbage family, including radishes, are most damaged by insects. There is a specialized group that damages only these plants. It includes cabbage and turnip whites, cabbage scoop, cabbage moth, rape sawfly, cruciferous fleas, cabbage leaf beetle, rape leaf beetle, mustard leaf beetles, cabbage aphid and cruciferous bugs that damage leaves; cabbage stalk lurker and barids, gnawing passages in stems and leaf stalks; cabbage flies damaging the roots and root collar of plants. Among the polyphagous pests: gamma scoop, meadow moth, locust, grasshopper, naked slugs - eating leaves; bears, gnawing scoops, wireworms, false wireworms - damaging the underground parts of plants. These pests damage the radish throughout the growing season - from germination to harvest. The most dangerous pests of radish are cruciferous fleas and cabbage fly.

Cruciferous fleas are small jumping beetles of blue and black color, one-color dark or with yellow stripes along the body.

Appearing in early spring after wintering, the beetles first feed on wild plants of the Cruciferous family, and then fly to the seedlings of cultivated plants. Beetles eat small sores on the leaves. Severely ulcerated leaves dry out. Young shoots can be eaten completely, leaving only a small part of the hypocotal knee - a stump. Cruciferous fleas are especially harmful during the germination period. Chinese and Japanese radish are more affected.

The spring cabbage fly is ash-gray, the summer fly is yellow-gray with yellow wings, 0.5-0.7 cm long. The larvae are white, worm-like. Pupae overwinter in barrel-shaped false cocoons, yellow or reddish-brown in color. In spring, at a soil temperature of + 8 ° C, spring flies appear and lay one or several eggs on the ground near the plants. The summer fly appears from the third decade of June, when the soil warms up to + 18 ° C, and lays eggs in packs of 30-50 pieces. The hatched larvae feed on the underground parts of plants, eating them from the outside or from the inside. If the pest eats up the internal passages in the central root or root collar, the plant may die. The leaves become bluish-purple in color, and if severely damaged, the plant dries out.

Diseases

The most common diseases are black leg, keela, phomosis, downy mildew, vascular bacteriosis, and black mold. All these diseases develop at high air humidity, so they are more common in the northwestern and northern regions.

Keela affects the root system, on which growths of various sizes are formed, and sometimes subtle swellings. Diseased roots cannot provide plants with moisture and nutrients from the soil, the affected plant is strongly oppressed, stunted in growth, and its lower leaves wither in the heat. The growths quickly rot and break down. The development of the parasite is facilitated by slightly acidic soil. After decay of plant residues, pathogens are transferred to the soil.

Control measures

1. Correct cultivation technique. Crop rotation to promote soil health. Cruciferous plants should not return to their old place earlier than after 3-4 years.
2. Liming of acidic soils.
3. Deep tillage in autumn so that pests do not crawl to the surface. Systematic loosening of row spacings.
4. Early sowing of summer and sowing of winter radish after the summer of pests, top dressing and other measures that contribute to the better development of plants and, in this regard, reduce the harmfulness.
5. Systematic control of weeds, especially cruciferous plants, which feed pests.
6. Fight against harmful insects that contribute to the spread of diseases. Manual collection and destruction of eggs and young pests when they stick together after hatching.
7. Cleaning from the site and subsequent burning of plant residues, on which wintering pests, eggs or larvae, as well as pathogens, remain.

When applying poisons, it should be remembered that they should be applied under the plants with great care. Their use is not always possible, as pest control chemicals should be applied at least two months before harvest. To control various pests, you can use safe methods used by amateur gardeners.

• Infusion of potato tops or tomato stepchildren (in the amount of 1-2 kg) is crushed, poured with 10 liters of water and infused for 2-3 hours, filtered and sprayed with this solution of plants affected by aphids. It can also be used against leaf-eating pests, only you need to spray it in the evening. After processing the plants, the pest disappears after 2-4 hours. Spray this infusion carefully. An increase in the amount of leaves in the infusion can cause burns in plants.

• A decoction of tomato stepsons is used to kill aphids, ticks, caterpillars and other pests. To prepare the broth, use the waste obtained during pinching and old leaves. The green mass is finely chopped and poured with water at the rate of 400 g per 10 liters of water and boiled over low heat for 30 minutes. The broth is filtered and poured into a bottle, which is tightly closed. For spraying, take a glass of broth on a bucket of water and add 3-5 g of soap for sticking.

• Wormwood decoction is used against leaf-eating insects. Take 1 kg of grafted wormwood and boil for 10-15 minutes in a little water. After cooling and filtering, 10 liters of water are added to the resulting liquid. The effect of the broth is enhanced if an infusion of bird droppings is added to it. To do this, 1 kg of dry manure is infused for 1-2 days in a small amount of water, filtered and mixed with undiluted wormwood decoction, adding up to 10 liters of water to this mixture. Pests die on the 2-3rd day after treatment.

• Infusion of chamomile is used for spraying against larvae of leaf-eating pests. For 10 parts of water, take 1 part of dried and crushed leaves and flowers of a pharmacy chamomile or poplar and leave for 12 hours, stirring from time to time. After that, the infusion is filtered, diluted five times with water, soap is added at the rate of 50 g per 10 liters of infusion.

• Infusion of yarrow is used against sucking pests. The whole plant is harvested without roots. To prepare the infusion, take 800 g of dry crushed plants, pour 2 liters of boiling water and leave for 1 hour. Then they add 8 liters of warm water and leave for a day, after which they filter and spray the plants.

• Celandine (perennial) powder is used to pollinate plants against flea beetles. It is used in the same way as tobacco dust. Celandine herb is used to fumigate vegetable gardens against moths, cabbage and rapeseed whites, cruciferous fleas and other pests.

Harvesting and storage of radish

The radish is harvested at different times, depending on its size and purpose. Early varieties of radish are harvested selectively in summer, in several steps, as needed. Full marketable ripeness occurs in summer radish 70-90 days after germination, in winter radish - in 100-120 days. For winter consumption, the radish is harvested at the end of September. The diameter of the radish roots during harvesting should be at least 4 cm in early-ripening summer varieties, and at least 6 cm in winter varieties. The leaves are cut off at the head of the root crop, leaving petioles about 1 cm long. The radish root is not cut off. Root crops are cleaned of soil and stored in this form. The harvesting of winter radish must be completed before the onset of frost, since the roots are not stored when freezing. When cutting, sorting, transporting radish, it must be handled with care,since every damage can cause disease during storage.

The average yield of radish from 1 m² is 2-4 kg, with good agricultural technology and favorable conditions - up to 6 kg.

The radish is stored in basements, cellars and other rooms at temperatures from 0 to + 1 ° C and air humidity 85-90%. The room must be sufficiently dry, frost-free and sufficiently ventilated. It is best to keep the radish in boxes. Root crops are well stored in untied plastic bags.

All about radish

Part 1: What is a radish?

Part 2: Growing a Radish

Part 3: Using a Radish