The content of the article:
Eggplant is a culture that requires a little more attention from the gardener. Unlike peppers and tomatoes, which develop an order of magnitude faster, the aubergines have a longer period of vegetation, and therefore the timing of sowing of these crops is slightly different. In addition, blue is demanding on heat: so that the bushes are not affected by recurrent frosts, it is necessary not only to wait for them to pass, but also on the street a stable warm temperature should be established at a level of 20 degrees Celsius - just enough to ensure that seedlings continue to actively develop and form ovary.
At lower temperature values, plants start to slow down in growth, and may even die.
To accelerate the onset of fruiting allows a seedling method of planting, so the culture is most often grown this way.
The time when eggplants can be planted depends on three factors, namely:
- local climate;
- places of cultivation;
- maturity of the harvest (varietal characteristics).
Planting time depending on the growing region
Since eggplants need warmth for growth and fruiting, climatic conditions play a decisive role in determining the timing of planting, because spring does not come everywhere at the same time. So, if in the south the seeds can be planted at the end of February, then in the middle band this is the 20th of March. In the northern regions, it will not be superfluous to wait until the beginning of April, because before June it is still impossible to transplant seedlings.
When to plant aubergines for greenhouse cultivation and for open ground?
It is also necessary to take into account the moment where eggplants will be grown. In the middle zone, this heat-loving culture is planted in greenhouses, which increases the chances of obtaining a crop. The soil in such specially equipped premises warms up well somewhere in the second half of May - then the finished seedlings are moved to a greenhouse. That seedlings had time to grow and grow stronger by this time, it is already in the second half of February to sow the seeds.
In the southern regions, truck farmers who decided to plant eggplants immediately on the garden patch should know that transplants can not be transplanted until June, and therefore, it is not necessary to hurry with sowing. Planting seeds for seedlings in this case is needed at the end of March.
Effect of the variety on the planting period
Even at the stage of seed purchase, attention should be paid to the fact that the ripening of the fruit depends on which variety they belong to, namely:
- Early-ripening species are ready to eat only 3 months after planting;
- varieties with medium maturity will require another three weeks to achieve technical ripeness;
- but late eggplants do not need up to 150 days at all to make the harvest ripe.
On a permanent place seedlings the aubergine is planted when it reaches the age of about 45 days. For another 10 days, the bush will need to adapt after the transplant, and up to 5 days, seeds are needed for emergence. Total is about 2 months - the ideal age of seedlings for picking on a bed.
Proceeding from this and the eggplant belonging to a particular variety, it is not difficult to calculate the time of sowing: for example, in order to grow early eggplants in the greenhouse by the end of May, it is necessary to sow seeds in the winter, in February.
