Eggplant. Care, Reproduction, Planting, Seedlings. Diseases And Pests. Varieties. A Photo

Among the vegetables are eggplants in a conspicuous place. The plant is from the nightshade family, found in the wild in the tropical countries of Southeast Asia. In our country, eggplants are grown mainly in the southern regions.

Interestingly, about 300 years ago, Europeans were afraid to eat the fruits of eggplants, considering them poisonous. However, later they were convinced that this is a valuable food and medicinal product: it counteracts atherosclerosis, helps to reduce blood cholesterol. Fruits contain calcium and iron salts, a lot of potassium, which normalizes water metabolism, and also improves the functioning of the heart muscle. Eggplant is also a storehouse of vitamins C, group B, PP, carotene (provitamin A).

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According to rough estimates, the annual human need for eggplant can be satisfied with a crop of 4-5 m ² (40-50 plants).

Eggplant is used to prepare caviar, stuffed, marinades and pickles. In terms of calorie content, the fruits are close to white cabbage. Tinned eggplant is a great decoration for the table. They are salted in the same way as tomatoes.

Biological appearance

The stem of eggplants is round, powerful, green, sometimes purple in the upper part. There are varieties with a completely purple stem. The height of the bush ranges from 25 to 150 cm. The leaves are large, arranged alternately on the stem, whole-edge or notched.

The flowers are large, drooping, they are single or collected in a brush. The color of the corolla is most often blue-violet. The fruit is an oval, pear-shaped or cylindrical berry. The color can be white, green or purple with varying tone intensities. The length of the fruit is 5-15 cm. At the time of biological ripeness, the fruits brighten, acquire a color from brown-yellow to gray-green. The mass ranges from 50 to 1400 g. If you cut the fruit, the pulp will be white or creamy with a green tint around the edges. It can be both dense and loose.

Seeds are light yellow, lenticular, their shell is smooth. The root system of eggplants is powerful, highly branching, located mainly in the arable horizon of the soil at a depth of 30-40 cm, and sometimes deeper.

The plant is heat-demanding and moisture-loving. Seeds germinate at a temperature not lower than 15 °. If the temperature is above 25-30 °, then seedlings appear already on the 8-9th day. The best temperature for growth and development is 22-30 °. If the temperature is too high and the humidity of the air and soil is insufficient, the plants shed flowers. If the air temperature drops to 12 °, then the eggplants stop developing. In general, they develop more slowly than tomatoes.

Water them abundantly. The lack of soil moisture reduces the yield, increases the bitterness and ugliness of the fruit. But waterlogging is also bad; in prolonged bad weather, for example, eggplants can suffer from diseases.

The best soils for this vegetable plant will be light, structured, and well fertilized. It was noticed: with a lack of nitrogen in the soil, the growth of tops slows down, and this promises a decrease in yield (few fruits will be tied). Phosphorus fertilizers have a beneficial effect on the growth of roots, the formation of buds, ovaries, and accelerate the ripening of fruits. Potassium promotes the active accumulation of carbohydrates. With a lack of potassium in the soil, the growth of eggplants stops, and brown spots appear on the edges of the leaves and fruits. For the plant to be healthy, microelements are also needed: salts of manganese, boron, iron, which are required to be applied per 10 m ² 0.05-0.25 g each.

Varieties

The soil and climatic conditions of the Crimea are very favorable for the eggplant culture.

Three remarkable varieties are zoned here: Donetsk yielding, Simferopol 105, Universal 6.

Variety Simferopolsky 105 was bred at the Simferopol vegetable and melon experimental station. The bush is erect, the height of the plant is on average 31 - 71 cm. The color of the stems and nodes is green, and the top is pale purple. Leaves are gray-green, slightly gloomy. A flower with a pink-purple corolla. The fruit is oval in shape, 14-16 cm long, 6-8 cm in diameter, fruit weight from 300 to 1400 g. The color of ripe eggplant is dark purple, with a noticeable shine. The pulp is creamy, with a slight greenish tinge, tender, without bitterness. The variety is mid-season. From germination to the first harvest of fruits, 120-125 days pass, until the seeds ripen - 172 days. Resistant to wilting. The variety is not cold-resistant.

Donetsk fruitful bred at the Donetsk vegetable and melon experimental station. This variety is early maturing, 110-115 days pass from germination to fruit picking. Fruiting is extended up to two months. In the first half of fruiting, the return is friendly. Up to 15 fruits are formed on the plant. The average fruit weight is 140-160 g. Fruits are cylindrical, touch the soil or lie on it. Fruit length 15 cm, diameter 4 cm, dark purple color. The pulp is white.

Station wagon 6 was brought out at the Volgograd experimental station. The variety is mid-season. The bush is low. Fruits are oval and cylindrical, at the time of removal of a dark purple color, 12-17 cm long, 5-7 cm in diameter, their weight is 120 g. The pulp is white, with a greenish tint. The fruits are formed amicably.

Agrotechnics

We place eggplants after the best predecessors, they are melons, cabbage, onions, root crops. We return the eggplants to their original place not earlier than in 2-3 years. If you keep them in the same place permanently, the plants suffer from fungal and viral diseases. We plant in an open, well-lit place.

After harvesting the previous crop, we immediately cleanse the soil of plant residues, fill it with humus at the rate of 80-100 kg, superphosphate - 400-450 g, potassium salt - 100-150 g per 10 m ².

We dig the site to a depth of 25-28 cm in the fall. In early spring, as soon as the soil dries up, we carry out harrowing. Already in April, we apply nitrogen fertilizer (urea) at a dose of 300 g per 10 m ² with embedding to a depth of 6-8 cm.

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Practice shows that sowing with large sorted seeds increases productivity. How do you sort the seeds? To do this, pour 5 liters of water into a bucket, put 50 g of table salt there. When the salt dissolves, fill in the seeds, then stir them for 1-2 minutes, after which we stand for 3 - 5 minutes. Then we drain the floating seeds with the solution, wash the remaining ones with clean water five to six times. After washing, lay out large, full-weight seeds on a canvas and dry.

Before sowing, it is advisable to determine the germination of seeds. For this purpose, on a shallow plate covered with a filter

paper, lay out 50 or 100 pieces of seeds, slightly moisten the paper and put it on a windowsill in a heated room. When the seeds hatch (after 5-7 days), we calculate the germination rate as a percentage. This helps to avoid sparse seedlings.

Crimean amateur gardeners grow eggplants mainly through seedlings. It is obtained in greenhouses with a layer of manure of 50-60 cm. Sowing seeds in greenhouses is carried out in early March, that is, 55-60 days before planting seedlings in a permanent place. Before sowing, the wooden parts of the greenhouse are treated with a 10% solution of bleach or a thick solution of freshly slaked lime. Soil composition: turf soil mixed with humus in a 2: 1 ratio. Greenhouse soil is poured over the manure with a layer of 15-16 cm. Before sowing, the soil is flavored with superphosphate at the rate of 250 g per greenhouse frame (1.5 m ²). 8-10 g of seeds are sown under the frame with embedding to a depth of 1-2 cm. For a plot of 10 m ²it is enough to grow 100 seedlings. The temperature regime during the period of seed germination is maintained within the range of 25-30 °. With the emergence of seedlings, the temperature during the first 6 days is reduced to 14-16 °. Then the temperature is regulated: during the day they maintain 16-26 °, at night 10-14 °.

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Gardeners know that the eggplant root system is difficult to recover and, torn apart during transplantation, lags behind in growth. Therefore, it is better to grow seedlings in peat pots. For the pots, a nutrient mixture is prepared from 8 parts of humus, 2 parts of sod land, 1 part of mullein with the addition of about 10 g of urea, 40-50 g of superphosphate and 4-5 g of potassium salt per bucket. The size of the pots is 6x6 cm. 3-4 days before sowing, the pots are tightly placed in a warm greenhouse with a soil thickness of 5-6 cm. If the pots are dry, they are moistened and 3-4 seeds are placed in each. From above, the seeds are sprinkled with earth with a layer of 1 - 2 cm.

Watering seedlings in greenhouses as needed, usually done in the morning and at the same time airing the greenhouse. In cloudy cold weather, watering is prohibited.

Seedlings need feeding. To do this, take 50 g of superphosphate, 20 g of ammonium sulfate and 16 g of potassium salt on a bucket of water. From organic feeds, mullein, bird droppings or slurry are used. Bird droppings and mullein are pre-fermented in a tub (3-5 days). The fermented liquid is diluted with water: a solution of bird droppings 15 - 20 times (for young plants in the phase of the first true leaf) or 10-15 times (for seedlings with 4-5 leaves). The mullein solution is diluted with water by 3-5, and slurry by 2-3 times. Organic and mineral dressings alternate. The first feeding (with organic fertilizers) is carried out 10-15 days after germination, the second - 10 days after the first fertilizing with mineral fertilizers. After feeding, the seedlings are lightly watered with clean water to wash off the droplets of the solution from it.

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10-15 days before planting, the seedlings are hardened: watering is reduced, the frame is removed (first only for a day, and then

depending on the air temperature for the whole day). 5-10 days before planting in a permanent place, the plants are sprayed with a 0.5% solution of copper sulfate (50 g per 10 l of water) to protect plants from fungal

diseases.

Seedlings of eggplants by the time of planting in a permanent place should have 5-6 true leaves, a thick stem and a well-developed root system.

On the eve of disembarkation, seedlings in a greenhouse are watered abundantly with water. They start planting seedlings when the probability of frost disappears, that is, at the end of the first or at the beginning of the second decade of May (for Crimea). A delay in planting seedlings even by 7-10 days leads to a decrease in yield.

Seedlings grown without pots are chosen, keeping a clod of earth. They are planted to a depth of 7-8 cm, 1.5 cm deeper than the root collar. The row spacing is 60-70 cm, the intervals between plants in a row are 20-25 cm. If the lump of earth on the roots is fragile, then when selecting seedlings, the roots are immersed in a mullein with clay. Note again: potted seedlings take root faster, give a higher yield, and they are harvested 20-25 days earlier.

Planting care

We plant eggplant seedlings in wet soil in cloudy weather or in the afternoon. So the plants take root better. We squeeze the ground near the roots well and water it immediately. After 3-4 days, in place of the fallen seedlings, we plant a new one and carry out the second watering (200 liters, watering and fertilizing rates are given for 10 m ²).

The total number of waterings during the summer is 9-10, in 7-9 days. After each watering, we loosen the soil to a depth of 8-10 cm, at the same time we remove the weeds. The first feeding is carried out 15-20 days after planting the seedlings (urea 100-150 g). We give the second dressing three weeks after the first (superphosphate solution 150 g and urea 100 g). We close the fertilizers with a hoe to a depth of 8-10 cm and water immediately. At the beginning of fruiting, feeding with a fresh mullein (6-8 kg) together with irrigation water is effective. After 15-20 days, feeding with a fresh mullein can be repeated.

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Eggplant plants can be attacked by the Colorado potato beetle. Against this malicious pest, we use a solution of chlorophos of 0.3% concentration (30 g of the drug per 10 liters of water). The signal for use is the hatching of beetle larvae.

We fight the disease of wilting by watering the plants in a cool time of the day, after each watering we loosen the soil, cover the soil surface with straw, especially around the plants, to avoid overheating of the upper soil layer.

In the conditions of Crimea, a seedless method of growing eggplants is also possible. The decisive condition here is the preservation of moisture in the soil during the sowing period. And, of course, you need to carefully prepare the soil, level it and compact the top layer before and after sowing. Sowing is timed to the second decade of April, seeds are sown to a depth of 2-3 cm at the rate of 2-2.5 g of seeds per 10 m ². Leave the row spacing about 70 cm. In a row we place the plants every 20 cm. Further care for the sowing is the same as for seedlings. Seedless eggplants are more resistant to wilting than seedlings, but their yield occurs later.

We usually remove the first fruits 20-35 days after flowering. The collection is carried out regularly every 5-6 days. Cut the fruits with a knife or secateurs with a part of the stalk, so as not to damage the plants, put them in a bucket or basket and store in a cool room until use. It is impossible to tear off the fruits with your hands, as because of this the bushes die off early. We finish harvesting the fruit before frost, as the frozen fruits lose their taste.

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We select the best fruits from healthy plants for seeds, pluck them in biological ripeness, when the eggplants change their purple color to brown or yellow. We put the collected fruits in a pile, where they lie for a week until they soften, then we cut to separate the pulp. We ferment the extracted seeds in a glass jar for 3-5 days, then rinse, then spread them in a thin layer on a cloth and dry in the shade.

For food purposes, eggplants are harvested in the so-called technical ripeness, when the fruits are still firm.

Everything told here about growing eggplants in Crimea is also suitable for other southern regions of the country.