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Growing Eggplant Seedlings
Growing Eggplant Seedlings

Video: Growing Eggplant Seedlings

Video: Growing Eggplant Seedlings
Video: How to Grow Flavorful Eggplant 2024, March
Anonim

Read the previous part: Eggplant colors: a choice of varieties

And it all starts with seedlings

eggplant
eggplant

Eggplant is a plant with a very long growing season. From germination to the beginning of the technical ripeness of fruits in the earliest varieties, at least 100-115 days pass. Therefore, of course, you cannot do without seedlings.

This crop is characterized by extremely slow growth in the first half of the growing season, therefore, even in the southern regions, where it is grown in open ground on large areas, eggplants are most often planted through seedlings. And we begin to sow eggplants from mid-February. Obviously, the seedlings should be grown only on their own, since no one except you will provide it with maximum amenities, on which the subsequently obtained harvest will depend.

As for the treatment of seeds before sowing, the seeds sold at the moment have already passed the necessary pre-planting preparation, and therefore it is completely unnecessary to subject them to all the previously practiced procedures, and in some cases even harmful: the seeds may lose germination. It is enough to put them in a mixture of Rhizoplan (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water) and black yeast (2 tablespoons per 1 liter of water) for 4-6 hours. I plant the seeds in low flat containers filled with a mixture of stale sawdust and vermicompost (2 parts of sawdust and 1 part of biohumus).

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During the period of seed germination, it is desirable to maintain a temperature of about 25-30 ° C (I have about the same temperature on the battery, where I put containers with seedlings in a plastic bag). At optimum temperatures, seedlings may appear in 8-14 days. With the emergence of seedlings, the temperature is reduced: in the daytime to 18-26 ° С, and at night - to 14-16 ° С.

In my apartment, such conditions can be simulated by finding seedlings during the day under fluorescent lamps (at a distance of about 20 cm from the lamps) in a closed room. Since the doors of the room are closed and several lamps are on for 12 hours, the temperature naturally rises, and at night when the lamps are off and the door of the room is open, the temperature naturally decreases. True, of course, there is no need to talk about the "convenience" of such a regime for people living in such conditions, as you yourself understand. But what sacrifices will you not make for the sake of these very plants?

The condition of the soil in containers should be carefully monitored and, on the one hand, it should not be allowed to dry out and, on the other hand, it should not be overmoistened. Until the first true leaf appears, plants may well grow in containers. Then I thoroughly moisten the soil in the containers and carefully transplant the seedlings into separate yogurt pots. The whole difficulty at the time of transplanting is only to carefully separate the roots of the plants. If you are extremely careful, then there will be no damage, and your pets will not even feel that they have moved from one container to another (and this despite the fact that eggplants, when normally planted in the ground, react extremely painfully to transplants).

Naturally, the transplant soil must be prepared in advance. Usually I take the following composition: 2 parts of vermicompost, 1 part of sapropel, 3 parts of the sold peat mixture "Violet", 2 parts of stale sawdust, 2 parts of agrovermiculite and add about 3 glasses of AgrovitKor to a bucket of a similar mixture (you can add 1 / 4 package "Giant" or put the package "Breadwinner").

Until 2-3 true leaves appear, my eggplant seedlings develop in yogurt pots, and then I carefully, without damaging the root system, transplant them into standard seedling pots (which are now widely sold in stores). It is in them that the plants will spend time before planting in the ground.

Especially about diseases

At the seedling stage, eggplant seedlings are highly susceptible to the dangerous black leg disease. It is necessary in no case to prevent this, because having appeared, it begins to "mow" the seedlings with terrible force. Therefore, you need to carefully monitor the level of soil moisture and carry out obligatory weekly watering of seedlings with biological products.

In addition, the disease begins to rage when the temperature drops. In this regard, compliance with the temperature regime is also mandatory from this point of view.

In order for the seedlings to develop actively, you will have to not forget about additional activities, namely:

about feeding (after the start of intensive growth, say, after the appearance of the first true leaf, start feeding your pets once a week, alternating the preparations of Plant and Kemir);

· About weekly spraying with Epin growth stimulant.

It's time to plant eggplant seedlings

eggplant
eggplant

The planting of eggplant seedlings in the ground in our conditions has to be carried out approximately in the second half of May. Naturally, frosts are still possible at this time, therefore, appropriate safety measures are an indispensable condition for obtaining a full harvest.

Firstly, eggplants can be grown in the Urals and other more northern regions only on warmed soil, which must be warmed up in time. Secondly, only greenhouses are suitable as closed ground, but not greenhouses. The reason for this is very serious. Eggplants are very susceptible to all kinds of rot, which attack them with high humidity and condensation on the plants. Considering that we have hot summers "once every 100 years", and there are more than enough rains and cold weather, we have to stop at the greenhouse option, although it would seem that in terms of the height of the eggplant bushes, the greenhouse is too big for them. But there are several serious "buts":

· The greenhouse can be ventilated even in drizzling rain, but the greenhouse cannot be opened in such conditions;

· The amount of condensation on plants in the greenhouse is much less than in the greenhouse;

In a greenhouse, it is also easier to carry out work in cold rainy weather to reduce humidity (scattering of ash and crushed charcoal), in a greenhouse such work is possible only in the absence of rain;

· In the greenhouse, again, there is more air space, and therefore it is easier to distribute the plants in terms of their best ventilation.

As for the landing process itself, there are no particular difficulties here. Everything is as usual. The seedlings are pre-watered abundantly, and then carefully removed from the pot and planted, without deepening, into the prepared holes. After planting, they are watered with a solution of biological products.

As for the thermal regime, then, given the possibility of frosts, and just low temperatures, it is necessary to install arcs in the greenhouse and pull the covering material over them. In warm sunny weather during the day, the covering material should be folded back, and covered again at night.

Read the next part: Eggplant preferences, a little agricultural technology →

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