Until quite recently, only the inhabitants of the southern regions could have grown blue. By the efforts of breeders, eggplants have appeared, seeding seeds for seedlings allows them to collect an enviable crop in any climatic conditions. Guarantees the success of strict adherence to all the rules for growing a moody vegetable.
Eggplant seedlings - cultivation and care
Eggplant is a culture of a long vegetation period. From sowing seeds to obtaining ready-to-eat fetus, no less than 120-150 days pass. Therefore, for many, the only way to try your own aubergines is growing seedlings. Among the summer residents this culture is not in vain has a glory very capricious. To get a viable and able to give a further crop seedling will have to tinker: prepare a nutritious and loose soil with a neutral reaction, provide a suitable temperature (+23 ... +25 ° C) and light (minimum 10 hours a day) regime.
When to plant eggplants on seedlings?
The planting terms for eggplants for seedlings are determined by the climatic conditions of each particular region from the calculation that it is recommended to move seedlings to the garden at the age of 55 days. Eggplants, sowing seeds for seedlings that have been made in violation of this rule are hard and long acclimatized, with a delay begin to bloom and bear fruit. On average, the time for sowing works falls on the last 5 days of February and the first 5 days of March.
Processing of eggplant seeds before planting on seedlings
In order to ensure that the efforts to grow seedlings are not in vain, it is necessary to process the seeds before planting on eggplant seedlings:
- Sorting. It is necessary to separate the full (live) seeds from the empty ones. To do it, prepare a salt solution (50 grams per half a bucket of water) and immerse the seed in it for 5-7 minutes. All seeds that are raised on the surface are discarded, and those settling on the bottom are washed and dried for further use.
- Disinfection. Protects against pathogens of bacterial and viral diseases. 1% manganese solution, 3% hydrogen peroxide solution or a specialized preparation "FitosporinM" is suitable for carrying out. After a half-hour bathing in a disinfectant solution, the seeds are washed with cold water and dried.
How to plant eggplants in seedlings correctly?
Planting aubergine seeds into seedlings is somewhat different from sowing other vegetable plants - it is not enough to sow them in seedlings filled with a more or less suitable soil mixture. Required:
- Capacity. The root system of this culture is very tender and does not tolerate unnecessary anxiety. The safest way to protect it will be a non-diving method of cultivation, in which sowing of eggplant seeds for seedlings is carried out in peat pills , cassettes or cups.
- Soil mixture. Ground aubergines need both loose and filled with nutrients. In this case, the soil reaction should approach the neutral one. You can use this recipe: garden land (2 parts), peat, sand, humus (1 part) and a little ash (to reduce acidity).
- Temperature regime. The seeding process starts at a temperature of at least + 23 ° C. But for its stimulation, a short-term (up to 5 days) hardening of the future seedling in the cool (not above + 17 ° C) is recommended.
- Watering. Eggplants, sowing seeds for seedlings which were produced in a well-moistened soil, do not need the first 3-5 days in watering. As the drying surface of the earth should be carefully moistened with a spray, trying not to wash the crops.
Eggplants in snails - planting seedlings
Experienced dacha owners should like the way in which germination of seeds occurs in a coiled stripe ( cochlea ) of a strip of film. Seedlings in the cochlea are grown as follows:
- Several layers of toilet paper are laid over the film.
- With a step of 2-3 cm, seeds are laid out and covered with one more layer of paper on top. The distance from the top and bottom edge of the tape should be 1 and 5 cm.
- Crops are moistened with warm water from the spray gun.
- The tape is folded by a snail and installed in a pallet, while its lower edge is wrapped to make an improvised glass.
- After the emergence of the shoots, the ribbon unfolds, soil spreads over the shoots, and then the structure returns to its original state.
- In the phase of two leaves the seedlings are dived on individual tanks.
Planting aubergine on seedlings in peat pills
Protect the root system from damage during transplantation by growing eggplant seedlings in peat tablets measuring 4 cm. One or several granules are pressed into the hole in the center of each of them, and then all the tablets are placed in a deep transparent container (necessarily with drainage holes on the bottom) on some distance from each other to prevent root entanglement. Thoroughly and abundantly watered. The capacity is placed in a homemade mini-greenhouse (under glass or film) and sent to a warm place for germination.
How to care for eggplant seedlings?
After appearance in the seedling capacity of the first growths, the care of the summer resident increases manyfold. Care of seedlings of eggplant after germination includes:
- Watering. The need for life-giving moisture in aubergines is several times higher than that of other representatives of the Solanaceae family. This is due to larger leaves and a greater intensity of evaporation processes. Moreover, the excess water for this crop is no less disastrous than its lack. The golden mean - watering 1-2 times a week with standing water (+ 25-30 ° C).
- Feeding. To understand that seedlings need additional nutrition, its appearance will help: pale leaves, stunted growth, stunted stems. Before lignification of the trunk, eggplants can be fed twice.
- Prevention of diseases. One of the most terrible misfortunes, capable of destroying landings in a very short time - a black leg . To protect from it, crops are periodically watered with a weak solution of potassium permanganate and air.
- Additional lighting. The process of growing seedlings begins in a short daylight. Eggplants for the full development need lighting for 10-12 hours a day. Replenish the lack of light can be with fluorescent lamps located at an altitude of about 20 cm above the seedlings.
- Hardening. 15-20 days before the proposed landing on the bed, the seedlings begin to harden. First, it is taken to fresh air for a couple of hours a day, every day, gradually increasing the time they are there, and then left overnight.
Why does eggplant seedlings fall?
Even eggplant seeding on seedlings occurred in strict accordance with the rules, it may unpleasantly surprise the gardener. Why does the eggplant fall off, what should I do to avoid this trouble? In most cases, the reason lies in the violation of the rules of care:
- cold watering;
- lack of lighting;
- thickened plantings;
- high humidity;
- low temperature;
- disease.
Extra nutrition for eggplant seedlings at home
The feeding of eggplant seedlings with a mixture of superphosphate and potassium sulfate diluted with warm water shows itself well. Raise the nutritional characteristics of the soil helps and wood ash, scattered on its surface. To support the vitality of eggplant can be at the expense of home remedies: tea brewing, eggshell tortured into dust. You can make fertilizing twice a season: a week before landing on the bed and immediately after the formation of two leaves.
Pickling an eggplant on a seedling
The tender eggplant root system reacts poorly to any movement and micro-injury. On the restoration after the picking, the seedling will need 5-7 days, which must be taken into account when choosing the time for sowing seeds. Pickling of eggplant seedlings at home is performed in the phase of 1-2 leaves. Well-watered the day before the seedlings are carefully removed from the seedling box with a bundle of earth and transferred to separate pots. The soil around is compacted, deepening the seedling to the cotyledons, well watered and mulched with peat.