Growing Radishes In Greenhouses And Open Field

This is a valuable radish root. Part 1

Radish (Raphanus sativus L., var. Sativus, family Brassicaceae) is most often called radish in everyday life. However, it is more correct to call it a radish. The name of the plant comes from the Latin "radix", which means "root". He has been known to people for a long time. In ancient Greece, radishes were sacrificed to Apollo on a golden platter. In our country, this vegetable has spread relatively recently - only at the beginning of the twentieth century. Now it is one of the most revered vegetable crops.

Radish is one of the first fresh vegetables that appear on our table after a long winter, when the body requires a lot of vitamins. He broadly gives us everything that is necessary for health. The most valuable and tastiest thing in radishes is root crops - a kind of piggy bank where the plant stores nutrients. Young growing radishes are juicy and strong. This vegetable is early ripening and fruitful. During the season, 3-4 harvests of valuable root crops can be harvested from the same beds.

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Biological features of radish

A brief description of. Radish is an annual plant. During spring sowing in the Non-Black Earth Zone of the European part of Russia, seeds ripen. The lower true leaves are lyre-shaped, the upper ones are dissected, with a large upper lobe and smaller lateral ones. The rosette of leaves is small, semi-spread. In many varieties of radish, immediately after the formation of cotyledons, which are distinguished by their large sizes, the formation of a root crop begins. In the literature, you can often find the expression "molting phase" - this is the time when the thickening of the root crop begins, when the skin in the lower part of the hypocotal knee breaks.

Radish roots of various shapes - from flat-round to long conical and fusiform. The color of the root crop is white, purple, red with various shades, pink-red, carmine, scarlet or red with a white tip. In radish, unlike other root crops, there is no stop in the growth of leaf mass and the associated increased growth of the root crop.

The economic suitability of root crops in early varieties occurs in 20-30 days, and in late-ripening ones - in 40-45 days after germination. After passing through the rosette phase, flowering branched stems are formed. In the period preceding the formation of the flower arrow, there is a sharp change in the structure of the root crop. From dense, glassy, it becomes loose, as if consisting of cotton wool. The amount of fiber in the root crop increases. From a sweet, juicy vegetable with a sharp, pleasant sensation of pungency, it becomes dry and tasteless.

The seed plant, depending on the variety, has a height of 40-180 cm. The flowers are large (up to 1.5 cm in diameter), white or pink. The fruit is a pod that does not open. Seeds are angularly rounded, pinkish-brown. The mass of 1000 seeds is 8-12 g. They remain viable for 4-5 years.

Requirements for growing conditions

Attitude towards warmth. Being a cold-resistant plant, radish grows well at a temperature of + 10 … + 12 ° С, but for the formation of root crops the best temperature is + 16 … + 20 ° С. In open ground, radish shoots tolerate frosts down to -4 ° C, and adult plants - up to -6 ° C. High temperatures with a lack of moisture lead to premature shooting of plants, just like prolonged exposure to low temperatures. When grown in greenhouses, it should be borne in mind that radishes grow better at a temperature of + 20 ° C, then, before the first true leaf appears, the temperature must be reduced to + 6 … + 8 ° C to prevent stretching of the plants, after which it is raised again to the optimum …

Attitude towards light. Radish is a light-loving plant. In conditions of insufficient lighting with poor ventilation in protected ground, a discrepancy is obtained between the weight of the leaves and the root crop (the weight of the tops is higher). In shaded areas and with strong thickening in crops, the plants stretch out. And in this case, the yield of root crops decreases or they are not formed at all. Most novice gardeners do not succeed in good harvests due to thickened sowing or untimely thinning.

Radish produces a good root crop in a short 10-12 hour day. This is due to the fact that with a short day, plants cannot move to the next phase of their development, as a result of which the products of assimilation are sent to the root crop, deposited in it, due to this, its continuous growth occurs. It should be borne in mind that the radish sown in early July forms large root crops with a diameter of up to 10-15 cm, which sometimes weigh 20 times more than the root crop of the same variety grown during spring sowing, without forming peduncles, since the plant uses the products of photosynthesis for accumulation of reserve nutrients.

In the case of a long daylight hours in radishes, the aerial part of plants continuously increases, and the growth of root crops decreases, since the plant directs the products of assimilation to the formation of reproductive organs. This is why radishes are often shot at very late spring and early summer sowing times when the long days are coming.

Relation to moisture. Radish has a weak root system and therefore is picky about soil moisture. With a lack of moisture in the soil, it forms coarse, small, poorly edible roots. The quality of the hardened radish root crop cannot be corrected by watering. Radish reacts very much to changes in air humidity. It does not tolerate dry and hot weather, it becomes woody, tasteless, and flabby quickly. Even a slight drought affects not only the quality, but also the premature shooting of plants.

Attitude to soil nutrition. Radish is one of the fastest growing vegetable crops. The best for it are loose neutral or slightly acidic sandy loam or loamy soils. Heavy cold soils with little organic matter are not suitable for radishes. Rapid growth and the formation of a good harvest are ensured on highly fertile soils. Plants absorb large amounts of nutrients in a short time. With a small removal of them from a unit area, radishes are distinguished by a high intensity of absorption of nutrients per unit of time. Therefore, it responds well to the introduction of easily digestible fertilizers. Radish is also responsive to soil fertility, like leafy green crops, but for the formation of root crops, especially on light sandy loam soils, it more needs higher doses of potash fertilizers. Freshly watered areas should not be allocated for growing radishes. On acidic soils, radish is strongly affected by keel.

Growing radish in protected ground

For growing in spring in greenhouses, it is better to use early maturing varieties. The following radish varieties can be recommended for this purpose: Deca, Heat, Quarta, Mark, Early Red, Ruby, Saksa, Teplichny, Teplichny Gribovskiy, Holro.

To obtain an early harvest, it is advisable to grow radishes in hotbeds, greenhouses, under film shelters and in insulated soil. In film greenhouses, radishes are grown as a compactor or as an independent crop so that after it the area can be used for early cucumbers or tomatoes. In warm greenhouses and film greenhouses with guaranteed heating, seeds are sown in early to mid-March. In unheated greenhouses and under small-sized film shelters, seeds are sown on April 5-10; the harvest ripens on May 10-15 and is 4-5 kg / m².

Radish is one of the main crops in the autumn period of using greenhouses and greenhouses. For this, late-ripening varieties are sown on August 10-15, early-ripening ones - 10-15 days later. Before sowing, the seeds are calibrated. For beds in greenhouses, seeds with a diameter of at least 2.5 mm are used. Radishes are sown on leveled, well-moistened soil at the rate of 300-400 seeds (4-5 g) per 1 m². The distance between rows is 6-7 cm, between plants in a row should be 4-5 cm. The depth of seeding is 1.5-2 cm.

Care consists in observing the required microclimate parameters. When growing radishes, the air temperature is maintained depending on the growth phase. Before the emergence of shoots, it is + 15 … + 20 ° С, with the beginning of the emergence of shoots, it is very important to reduce the temperature in a timely manner to + 8 … + 10 ° С in order to prevent stretching of the hypocotyl knee. After 5-7 days, with the onset of "molting", it is increased and until the end of cultivation is maintained at the level of + 12 … + 14 ° С in cloudy weather and + 16 … + 18 ° С in sunny weather, and at night + 8 … + 10 ° C. Soil temperature should be + 12 … + 16 ° С. To remove excess heat, intensive ventilation of greenhouses and greenhouses is done. Air humidity should be 65-70%. Until the mass emergence of seedlings, planting is not watered.

When the top layer of the soil dries up, it is sprayed with water. The soil is maintained in a moist, loose state, and moderate irrigation is needed before "molting", then more frequent. Soil moisture should be around 70%. An excess of fertilizer and moisture leads to the proliferation of leaves to the detriment of the formation of root crops, therefore, weak feeding is done only if necessary.

Most often, radishes in protected ground are affected by black leg, keel and downy mildew. Sources of infection are contaminated soil, plant debris and seeds. Excessive humidity and insufficient ventilation, sudden changes in temperature, watering with cold water, increased acidity of the soil, and lack of light increase the development of diseases. The main means of preserving the harvest are preventive measures (adherence to cultivation technology) and the cultivation of relatively resistant varieties (Zarya, Teplichny, Early Red).

Chemical protection of radish is unacceptable for sanitary and hygienic reasons. To scare away insects, you can use a folk remedy - ash.

Growing radishes in the open field

Radish precursors can be any vegetable plants, under which large doses of organic fertilizers were applied, except for cabbage. I want to warn you that you cannot use the old greenhouse soil for radish after growing cabbage seedlings or a plot of cabbage, turnip, radish, turnip, because they are also struck by the keel.

Soil preparation. Unfavorable conditions in the period of emergence and formation of root crops lead to the formation of a large number of flowering plants. Thorough cutting of the soil is one of the conditions for high quality sowing work. It must be remembered that you cannot sow radishes in untreated, excessively moist soil. When preparing the soil, special attention should be paid to the destruction of weeds, the accumulation of moisture and the loosening of the arable layer. It is necessary to start processing in the fall with digging to the entire depth of the arable layer. In early spring, the site is harrowed, and if the soil is compacted, then they dig it up to 2/3 of the depth of the autumn digging, so as not to turn out weed seeds and plant residues to the surface.

With late spring sowing, the soil is loosened several times, preventing weeds from emerging. If the radish is grown by a second crop after the potato, then the soil is loosened and harrowed, and if after the green ones it is dug up, harrowed and immediately sown.

Fertilizers. On well-seasoned soils for the previous culture, radishes can be grown without fertilizers or only mineral fertilizers can be added at the rate of: 20-25 g of ammonium nitrate, 20-30 g of superphosphate, 15-20 g of potassium salt, or these fertilizers can be replaced with 30-40 g of nitrophoska or Kemir -universal for every square meter. Fertile soil without excess moisture and nitrogen fertilizers will provide good root crops.

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