Growing Eggplants In The Open Field Near St. Petersburg

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

Eggplant under the northern sun

Many very informative articles have been written about eggplants, including those on the pages of the magazine. Everyone knows that eggplant is a thermophilic culture. But…

In one, if not historical, then quite serious book on vegetable growing I read the following. A certain vegetable grower "… Nikityuk in 1938 near Moscow on the Smychka collective farm sowed the Bulgarian eggplant variety. In the greenhouse he germinated with seeds on April 10, 9 days later he dived into clay-humus pots 6x6 cm in size, which he installed in greenhouses, 150 pieces under On June 11, the seedlings were planted in the field at a distance of 70x35 cm. In dry weather, 4 watering was given. The first harvest of fruits was on July 17, and then they were harvested every 3-4 days. The yield was 26.3 t / ha. the harvest, which was not influenced by small (-2 … -3 ° C) frosts, was in October ".

I had the idea to use a film greenhouse for the preparation of seedlings in our farm in the Pskov region, especially since the germination of seeds in eggplants under optimal conditions begins in 8-10 days, the further development of vegetative organs occurs at a temperature of at least 15-20 ° C, although its optimum is within 25-300C. The first leaf appears a week after germination. After 40 days (depending on the variety), the first bud is tied after that. The flower opens in a week and blooms for about 10 days.

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After fertilization, the fetus grows quickly, and after two weeks it can be eaten. The main thing is that the variety does not slow down its growth in cool weather. Until June 11, there is enough light and space in our greenhouse. I was not going to borrow hectares of arable land for eggplant, but you can try to grow 10-15 bushes in a garden bed.

Moreover, as far back as 1951 A. V. was engaged in the cultivation of eggplants in the northern regions. Alpatiev (everyone knows his standard tomato). This scientist advises to use the following agricultural techniques for successful eggplant cultivation. For sowing, use the most early ripening and cold-resistant varieties.

Add humus to the site in an amount of 40-50 t / ha, ammonium sulfate 3-4 c / ha, superphosphate 7-8 c / ha and potassium salt 4-5 c / ha (potassium salt is a mixture of potassium chloride with sylvinite, contains up to 35% sodium chloride, recently I have not seen it on sale, author's note) or ash 8-10 c / ha.

Fertilizers should be embedded in the soil to a depth of at least 15 cm. Seedlings prepared in greenhouses should be planted in a field with a clod of earth (preferably in pots). Plant on ridges with a row spacing of 60-65 cm and between plants in a row 35-40 cm."

We figured out the varieties, we must take those that originated from East Asian eggplants, they have early and abundant branching, it provides a large number of fruits and an early harvest. In addition, we had many advantages: at that time there were no parthenocarpic hybrids that did not have problems with fruit setting, there were no modern covering materials.

In those days there was, perhaps, very good humus, but there was a problem with complex fertilizers that did not contain chlorine. Therefore, we carried out a replacement in the fertilizer scheme proposed by Alpatiev - 85 g of nitrogen and 175 g of phosphorus and potassium per 10 m2, i.e. NPK ratio 1: 2: 2. We added the required amount in the form of azophoska, balancing the proportion with superphosphate and potassium sulfate.

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Eggplant soils prefer soft, humus-rich and moist soils. Modern agricultural techniques allow you to create a kind of illusion of black soil for the period of crop cultivation. To do this, in April, on the garden bed where we were going to plant eggplants, we sowed densely mustard seeds - 3 kg per 10 m2, in the soil, for sowing, we added 0.5 kg per 10 m of azophoska, sprayed mustard seedlings with a solution of Zircon - 3- 4 drops per bucket to initiate germination of both mustard and weeds in the soil.

Two weeks before planting the eggplants, when the bed was a kind of dense green "lawn", we treated it with one of the continuous herbicides (Tornado, Hurricane, Roundup) and covered it with plastic wrap. Two weeks later, the "black earth" was ready, it was possible to continue to follow the recommendations of A. V. Alpatiev. In general, such a technique as sowing green manure with subsequent treatment with herbicide has proven itself well in many crops: peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes. Eggplants tolerate slightly higher soil acidity than peppers.

According to A. V. Alpatiev, "… a 0.5 percent NPK solution for young plants and 1 percent for adults should be used with equal ratios of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium with the addition of 1-2 g of boron-magnesium fertilizers to a bucket of solution for periodic feeding ". For ~ 1% solution per 10 L of water, we used Azophosku 1: 1: 1 (80 g) + magnesium sulfate (20 g) + 0.3 g borax. Eggplants grow poorly on soils poor in magnesium.

It is known that eggplant plants take root for about 20 days and only then begin to grow normally. Seedlings take root especially for a long time in bright sun, when the soil quickly dries out. Today, there are special substances that temporarily close the stomata of leaves - antitranspirants, solutions that form a microfilm on the leaf surface to protect plants.

We used the Zircon preparation, sprayed the plants with it after planting (concentration 0.1 ml / l), adding the Ankara VDG insecticide against the Colorado potato beetle to this solution, a good preparation, we also use it on potatoes. Two hours after spraying, most of the preparation is protected from being washed off by rain or from loss by exposure to sunlight.

To accelerate the "survival" of seedlings in irrigation water to fill the planting holes was added "Zircon" 1 ml / 20 L + heteroauxin (200 mg) - 0.5 L of solution per plant. (If you have a problem with the Colorado potato beetle, you can add the Ankara VDG solution to the planting hole, including on potatoes against Colorado beetles and wireworms). The seedlings grew rapidly.

Early maturing Dutch eggplant hybrids do not require "hard" formation, they only remove the stepsons and pinch the top. Some gardeners pinch the top of the plant at a height of 30 cm, and tie the stem to a support. The main thing is to leave two strong shoots, remove the rest.

The tops can be pinched when 4 fruits are formed on them. When growing seedlings, it is better not to dive, plant the seed directly in the pot, sow to a depth of 1.5-2 cm.

We did not specifically cover the plantings with lutrasil for the purity of the experiment, because in 1938 it was not yet there. It remains to say what kind of harvest we got - no worse than that of the agronomist Sapozhnikov in 1949, who was engaged in the cultivation of eggplants in a number of collective and state farms in the Vsevolozhsky district of the Leningrad region. Yields reached 100 kg / ha.

The main condition for the success of these experiments was a high agricultural background and early sowing of seeds in greenhouses (March 5-10), in order to obtain strong seedlings. Everything new is well forgotten old. Nowadays, you can use modern covering materials, growth stimulants, new modern fertilizers, plant very early ripening self-pollinating hybrids; there are preparations for protection against pests and diseases.

True, humus in our northern soils has significantly decreased since 1938, but using green manure, it is possible to slightly improve the soil in our forest-tundra. We tested eggplant varieties and hybrids: Valentina F1, Solara F1, Mileda F1 (parthenocarpic), Epic F1, Black Beauty variety. It should be noted that if the agronomist Sapozhnikov had such hybrids, then his harvest would be drawn to the Stalin Prize, and so he was content only with conferring the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.