specialsfar from everyone. Not only that of the entire family of Solanaceous eggplants are considered to be thermophilic themselves, their cultivation has some subtleties. However, even having experienced the bitterness of failure, do not despair. Thanks to the emergence of early unpretentious varieties and knowledge of the characteristics and passions of culture, growing eggplants is not difficult even in regions where gardeners could not think of such a plant in the garden before.
What is the key to success in growing eggplant?
Eggplant farming has a lot in common with the methods of growing tomatoes and peppers, but at the same time eggplants are extremely demanding for heat, sufficiency of watering and light. To get a good harvest, you can’t do without early selection of a solar site:
- If the plant is deficient in lighting, this will certainly affect not only the yield, but also the well-being and growth rate of the bushes and fruits.
- A similar result is worth the wait with a lack of moisture.
- When the temperature drops, many varieties generally refuse to form an ovary, and even shed their fruits and buds.
For a comfortable fruiting, eggplants need a temperature of about 25–28 ° C, while in hotter weather, with plenty of moisture, this crop feels better than related species.
Asking why eggplants turn yellow, gardeners should pay attention to the quality and fertility of the soil, the culture is particularly sensitive to the production of potassium and phosphorus.
When growing eggplants, it is extremely important to remember the rules of crop rotation and preventing planting of this crop after potatoes, tomatoes or peppers. In order to avoid the development of diseases of eggplants caused by common pathogens and pests, it is not necessary to arrange eggplant beds next to the plantings of related crops.
Preparing for planting
Since the growing season for eggplants is 85 to 140 days, and climatic conditions in most regions cannot please gardeners for such a long and warm summer, it is advisable to grow this type of nightshade through seedlings.
A loose, moisture-retaining soil is prepared for sowing from sowing:
- 2 parts of humus;
- 1 part of lowland peat;
- 1/2 pieces of seasoned sawdust or sand.
It is from this stage that the prevention of diseases of eggplants begins, and the harvest is laid.
Categorically it is impossible to use under the seedlings of this culture:
- fresh organic matter that can damage the young root system;
- fresh sawdust, which increases the level of acidity and resinous substances that make up the soil, must be aged by darkening or spilled with boiling water several times;
- garden soil untreated with potassium permanganate and humus, in which pathogens and larvae of pests can persist.
For nutrient enrichment of soil intended for growing eggplants, 10 kg of prepared soil mixture or prepared soil for solanaceous crops make 100-150 grams of wood ash, dolomite flour, normalizing acidity, as well as complex mineral fertilizers.
The choice of inoculum has the most direct influence on the future harvest.
Therefore, sorted seeds of 30 minutes are disinfected in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate, which helps to save future plants from diseases, infections and insects affecting eggplant.
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Then the seeds are soaked for 4–5 hours using a solution of boric acid, ready-made growth regulators, manure infusion or wood ash. This technique will accelerate germination and give additional strength to sprouts.
Sowing eggplants and growing seedlings
. If dry seeds sown to a depth of 1.5–2 cm, germinate only through 8–10 grids, the previously soaked seed is peeking already for 4–5 days. This result can be obtained by placing the seeds in a moist environment at 25 ° C for 4–5 days. Sowing is carried out in a moist soil, and then future seedlings, until the first sprouts of eggplant appear, should remain under the film at a temperature of 20–25 ° C.
In order to sprout growth of the root system, the cultivation of eggplants for the next 5–6 days is carried out in a cool place. The optimum temperature in this case is 18 ° C.
With a temperature background below 13 ° C, eggplants turn yellow, languish, and the risk of developing black legs increases. Drafts create the same effect.
For seedlings that form at a rather dark time of the year, they are sure to equip the backlight, which provides daylight hours of 12–14 hours. This will accelerate the growth of seedlings, will not allow it to stretch out and lay the foundation for the early onset of flowering. When real leaves appear on plants, it is time for their picks. Eggplants are surely rolled over with an earthen ball to protect the tender root system of sprouts.
For the first time, seedlings are watered a couple of days after sowing, using settled water heated to 25–30 ° C.In the future, the plants also need comfortable warm water, which sprouts receive every 2-3 days, and then, as they grow, after five days.
It is important for both seedlings and adult plants of eggplants that they do not wet the leaves when watering. Overly wet soil threatens with the emergence of diseases of eggplants and even the loss of plantings.
In addition to moisture and light, seedlings should receive regular feeding. The first one, with the use of mineral fertilizers, is carried out in 8–15 days, depending on the condition of the plants. In the future, eggplants can be fertilized regularly for two weeks, supporting the seedlings with potash and phosphorus mixtures.
7–10 days before transplanting eggplants to a permanent place in the greenhouse or in the open ground, the seedlings are hardened to accustom the plants to temperature fluctuations, natural light, and air movement.
Features of agrotechnics when growing eggplants
When observing the rules of cultivation, eggplants have a height of about 20 cm before planting into the ground and have a strong root system, a strong stem and up to 8 true leaves.
To prevent the plants from seriously experiencing discomfort after transplantation, for them, in the fall, they prepare a loose nutrient soil, which is useful to disinfect after previous crops.
For disinfection use 1–2 tablespoons of copper sulfate per bucket of water. Next, dig up the soil.
- In the spring, heavy soils once again dig and sand or sawdust, while light sandy soils only loosen.
- Up to 0.75 buckets of high-quality rotted organic matter, dolomite flour, up to 5 kg of lowland peat are brought in per square meter bed. The amount of additives may vary depending on the type of soil on the site. If necessary, you can use complex ready-mix fertilizers.
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Eggplants are planted in holes 10–15 cm deep when the soil warms to 15 ° C.Since adult plants are quite voluminous, it is better to leave an interval of up to 60 cm between the holes. And so that the soil does not lose moisture, after planting, the soil is mulched, and the plants are covered with non-woven material that will protect the shoots from temperature fluctuations and the scorching sun rays. If this is not done, eggplants turn yellow, poorly and for a long time acclimatize, becoming a target for pests and pathogens.
Eggplants like moist soil to a depth of 20 cm, but they have a negative attitude to irrigation with cold water, therefore seedlings and adult fruiting bushes need moisture with a temperature not lower than 20 ° C.Shallow moisture loosening, carried out after watering, will help to save moisture.
If the cultivation of eggplants is carried out in a greenhouse or greenhouse, excessive humidity of the air, leading to the development of rot, other eggplant diseases and the appearance of aphids should not be allowed. Moreover, in such conditions, pollen loses its properties, and you should not wait for a good harvest. Good ventilation will help to fix the situation. It will also save when the temperature rises above 35–45 ° C, when yellowing of eggplants, dropping of flowers and the resulting ovary is noted.
During the growing season, eggplants are fed 3 to 5 times, focusing on the needs and condition of the plants.
If prior to the beginning of fruiting it is worth paying more attention to complex mineral fertilizers and replenishing the reserves of microelements, then with the onset of eggplant formation, priority is given to phosphorus and nitrogen mixtures. Moreover, organic matter in excessive quantities can adversely affect the yield, as the plant grows, but the flowering activity decreases. In this case, potash fertilizers are applied, causing eggplants to form buds and ovaries.
During long, moist, cool periods, it is useful to conduct foliar nutrition with eggplant underpinned with microelements.
The success of growing eggplants depends not only on irrigation and fertilization, but also on the competent forming of bushes. Sometimes excessive plant density causes more damage to the crop than lack of moisture.
Removal of excess foliage and shoots without the ovary allows:
- to send food to the fruit;
- increase the coverage of the inside of the bush;
- avoid the development of diseases of eggplants and colonies of pests on plants.
Eggplant Diseases
By following the rules for growing eggplants, you can significantly reduce the risks of the appearance of diseases that are dangerous for culture. And yet, even with proper watering and fertilization, planting plants fails to achieve adequate yields.
Serious damage to eggplants is caused by diseases of a viral, fungal, and infectious nature, the peak of which is during rainy, cool periods.
Black spot has a bacterial nature and begins to infect plants at high humidity against the background of high daytime temperatures. The disease manifests itself in the form of dark spots located along the veins of the leaves, along their edges, on the stems and cuttings. As the disease evolves, eggplant fruits become covered with expanding dark glossy spots.
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In the southern regions of the country, gardeners may encounter a virus mosaic that manifests itself in a change in color and shape of foliage. As the disease progresses, alternating dark and light green areas appear on the leaf plates, more noticeable on the apical parts of the shoots. As a result, eggplant plants turn yellow, the leaves are noticeably deformed, flowering decreases and the number of ovaries.
With viral internal necrosis, which also develops at high humidity, patches of dead brown tissue appear on the fruits of eggplants, which sharply reduces the yield. The following methods are used as preventive measures and to prevent the development of diseases of eggplants:
- harvesting seeds only from healthy, ripened fruits;
- disinfection and selection of seed;
- disinfection of soil at the planting site and soil in sowing tanks;
- crop rotation;
- selection of healthy seedlings;
- destruction of plant residues in the beds;
- compliance with agricultural practices.
For the treatment of affected plants, observing the precautions, use chemical and biological control preparations, foliar feeding, increasing the resistance of eggplants, and also necessarily disinfect the used equipment.
Eggplant Diseases in
Nutrition Abnormalities Why do eggplants turn yellow, refuse to bear fruit, and seemingly die for no apparent reason? Sometimes plants are seriously affected by an imbalance in the mineral composition of the soil, an oversupply or lack of essential nutrients.
Nitrogen has a direct effect on the growth of the bush, and the lack of this element adversely affects the size and appearance of leaves and shoots. They become small, pale. Fruits are deformed, do not develop properly and fall off. Excessive amount of nitrogen provokes active growth of green mass and inhibition of fruit formation, in addition, the element can accumulate in the form of nitrates dangerous for humans.
Falling foliage and acquiring a violet hue is possible with a lack of phosphorus in the soil, one of the three main nutrients. But the lack of potassium especially acute eggplant react during the period of active fruiting. This is reflected in the fact that the eggplants turn yellow, the edges of the leaves dry up, and the fruits are covered with spots. Plants grown on acidic soils after liming, as well as during dry periods, have a particular need for an element.
A noticeable yellowing of the leaves and their fall can be seen with a deficiency of magnesium and manganese in the soil, and in the latter case, the picture resembles a mosaic of leaves, but eggplant quickly restores healthy appearance after the introduction of trace elements.
A lack of calcium and boron in the soil affects the development of plants. And in such cases, eggplants look depressed and require urgent action in the form of soil or foliar dressing.
Video: features of growing eggplant
