Eggplant Preferences, Some Farming Techniques

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

Read the previous part: Growing eggplant seedlings

Traditionally, eggplant is considered to be a very demanding and capricious culture. In fact, he does not have any special whims, at least in more southern latitudes. But the heat-loving eggplant, of course, is excessive, and it absorbs fertilizers - just come on. Therefore, we can only adapt to his wishes or refuse to grow it.

At the same time, do not despair too much: modern early ripening hybrids allow you to get a normal eggplant harvest even with our unkind summer.

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However, back to the eggplant preferences, and there are many of them

1. For this culture, very fertile with a high humus content (up to 8%), light air-permeable soils with a slightly acidic or neutral reaction of the environment are needed. Heavy clay soils with a close groundwater table are not at all suitable for eggplant.

2. Eggplant is an extremely light-loving plant. No harvest with insufficient lighting can not be expected from it.

3. This culture is extremely thermophilic, and in this eggplant "with interest" surpasses both tomatoes and peppers. The optimum temperature for plant growth and development is + 20 ° C … + 26 ° C.

4. Eggplants react extremely negatively to sudden temperature fluctuations.

5. Eggplants are very moisture-loving plants. Lack of moisture in the soil greatly reduces their yield, and the fruits can become bitter. At the same time, waterlogging can lead to the general development of diseases.

6. The root system of eggplant is powerful, but most of the roots are located in the upper layer of the soil, so a kind of paradox turns out. On the one hand, with the slightest lack of air in the soil, the plants cease to develop normally and form small ugly fruits, therefore, regular loosening is necessary. On the other hand, when loosening, you can easily damage the roots, to which the eggplants react extremely painfully. Therefore, it turns out that you need to loosen, but not.

Obviously, the ideal solution in this position would be to mulch the soil around the plants with foliage or stale sawdust. The layer of mulching material should be decent so that when watering, there is no exposure of the soil or, which is completely undesirable, of the roots.

How to improve the "mood" of your pets?

The main technique that significantly improves the condition of plants is spraying them with special stimulants. There are a lot of stimulants today. They have a different spectrum of action, but, one way or another, lead to an increase in the mood of plants, and as a result, to their faster development and intense fruiting.

What drugs to choose?

1. During the entire growing season of plants, it is very good to carry out foliar dressing. As the best for this purpose, from my point of view (I take into account its price and effectiveness), it is necessary to note the drug "New Ideal" (1 cap per 1 liter of water).

2. In order to stimulate the development of plants about 1 time in 2-3 weeks, it is worth spraying them with growth stimulants: "Epin" or "Silk" (I usually use these preparations alternately).

3. At the beginning of fruiting, and then at the time of the main harvest, additional foliar dressing should be given with the drug "Two Harvests" (diluted measuring bucket into a bucket of water).

Subtleties of agricultural technology

Watering

Of course, I probably mention this unnecessarily, but, like all thermophilic crops, eggplant watering should be done only with very warm water (33 ° C … 35 ° C), otherwise the stress for plants will be inevitable. And stress, as you know from your own experience, does not lead to good.

Top dressing

Eggplants, in general, accumulate a very large vegetative mass, therefore, when cultivating them, a significant dose of fertilizers is required. This is especially true for intensive type hybrids. This means that they require a fractional application of increased doses of fertilizers and at the same time please us with a considerable harvest. Fractional fertilization is carried out through a series of continuous fertilizing.

The first three weeks after planting are usually sufficient for the plants to be fertilized in advance. But only then you should start regular feeding, and at the same time not be lazy. A delay with just one of them can lead to a decrease in yield.

I recommend feeding once a week. At the same time, it is impossible to give a certain standard scheme, since eggplants react extremely sharply to a lack of any element, and soils, as you know, are different for everyone. Therefore, I will give an example of feeding, but each time you must carefully observe your plants and act in accordance with the results of observations. The only thing that I want to note is that eggplants have an increased need for potash fertilizers. Therefore, potash dressings have to be carried out more often than, for example, with tomatoes.

So, pay attention to the approximate feeding scheme

1 time - feed with nitrophos or any other complex fertilizer, simply scattering it in handfuls between the bushes; then you should water the soil with slurry;

2 times - sprinkle superphosphate and ash;

3 times - water the soil with slurry and sprinkle the soil with ash again;

4 times - feed with "Magbor" fertilizer (pre-dilute 1 tbsp. A spoonful of fertilizer in 1 bucket of water) in a mixture with a pre-infused complex fertilizer.

Then every week you should alternately fertilize with ash or potassium sulfate (pre-diluting 2 tablespoons of fertilizer for 1 bucket of water) mixed with infused complex fertilizer "Universal". And once every two weeks add "Magbor" fertilizer to this mixture (after diluting 1 tbsp. A spoonful of fertilizer for 1 bucket of water).

To keep your pets from getting sick

1. Eggplants are highly susceptible to all kinds of rot. Moreover, decaying areas can occur both on the trunk (as a result, a single shoot or even the whole plant perishes), and on the leaves or on the root collar. Therefore, in no case should water be allowed to enter the plants themselves: the soil should be watered at some distance from them.

Secondly, it is necessary to sprinkle crushed charcoal around the plants from time to time, especially in cold and humid weather (if there is a shortage, it can sometimes be replaced with ash).

2. To reduce the risk of diseases, as well as increase the immunity of plants, you should regularly carry out preventive spraying 1 time in 10-14 days with the drug "Immunocytofit" (1 tablet per 2 liters of water). This will greatly increase the defenses of plants. I usually start treating plants with this preparation from about mid-July at intervals of two weeks, and even earlier in cold rainy summers.

3. Do not forget about regular ventilation of the greenhouse.

About shaping and garter

If you have already grown eggplants, you should have paid attention to the fact that they branch very strongly. And if this process is not taken under control, then a shock amount of eggplant tops will be provided to you by autumn. Therefore, most of the stepchildren's shoots in our conditions, naturally, have to be removed. Usually 3-4 shoots are left; their number, in general, depends on the availability of light space and weather conditions.

The main condition is that all shoots must be in the light. As for the numerous flowers, some of them also have to be sacrificed, given that in a bad summer more than 5-7 fruits on one plant cannot be obtained. If the weather is favorable, then you can leave more ovaries. In other words, it all depends on the specific circumstances.

According to official figures, eggplant plants do not require a garter. However, I disagree with this statement. Plants without fruit do stand well and do just fine without a garter. But with the appearance of fruits, and also in order to improve the light conditions of individual shoots, I tie individual trunks to pegs. This greatly improves the light regime and prevents the shoots from leaning close to the ground (which means that it reduces the risk of moisture getting on the leaves, for example, when watering).

I would also like to say about the sanitary pruning of eggplant, which consists in removing yellow and diseased leaves.

In addition, when the first flowers appear on the plants, it is better to cut off all the shoots below the flowers, as well as all leaves that have begun to turn yellow or touch the ground. Otherwise, they will be the first contenders for food, and it will be the last to reach the flowers that appear.

Harvest

Harvesting takes place from about the end of July to the end of August, as the fruits form and acquire a characteristic color for the variety. Harvesting can usually begin about three to four weeks after flowering begins. Lightening of the fruits should not be allowed, since during this period their bitterness increases and, naturally, the taste deteriorates. When harvesting, the fruits are cut off with a piece of the stalk with scissors or shears, but in no case are they torn off, since this way you can break off the whole shoot. It happens that as a result of such breaking out, a sufficiently large wound is formed, and this is already a direct gateway for infection.

Fruit collection is completed before frost

The harvested crop is not subject to long-term storage, so it is better to process or eat the fruits immediately.

Flowers, as we all know well, prefer to fall for a variety of reasons.

1. Primarily, simply as a result of poor pollination. Eggplant is a self-pollinating plant, and its pollen is heavy, carried by the wind no more than 1 meter, and in a greenhouse there is usually no strong wind. And the reason for this is very serious: heat-loving plants do not like drafts. Therefore, pollination in protected ground conditions is largely difficult.

2. Secondly, because of the sterility of the pollen, which happens quite often at too high temperatures, insufficient humidity, cold weather (for example, at 18 ° C … 20 ° C, the fruits are no longer set) and strong temperature changes.

To protect yourself from crop loss as a result of falling flowers, you should take appropriate measures in a timely manner.

1. Flowering plants need to be regularly shaken a little so that pollen spills out of the anthers and falls on the stigma of the pistil. It is preferable to do this in the morning hours, which are most favorable for fertilization.

2. Better yet, from the very beginning of flowering, once a week, treat the plants with fruit-forming stimulants (preparations "Gibbersib" or "Ovary"). This will reliably help you solve the problem of ovary dropping.

Why are the fruits small?

Unfortunately, we have to observe this phenomenon quite often. To be honest, there are plenty of reasons for the appearance of only small fruits.

1. This is a small (less than 8%) percentage of humus in the soil, and as a result, poor plant nutrition. And in our Ural podzol of humus and 1% will not be typed. Therefore, it is your direct task to ensure a high humus content in the greenhouse. Without this, eggplants should not be planted.

2. Heavy texture of the soil, in which the roots of eggplant suffocate in the literal sense of the word.

3. Irregular watering, which allows drying of the surface layer and roots located too close to the surface.

4. Poor illumination of both plants in general and their inflorescences.

5. Poor pollination of flowers due to unfavorable weather conditions.

Read the next part: Eggplant Recipes →