Gardeners know how important it is to pinch and shape tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. But is it necessary to pinch eggplant? "Violet" - quite a whimsical plant, which, without paying due attention to them, will not please a good harvest. However, it is difficult for experienced gardeners and gardeners in a heap of various kinds of tips from experienced to find out whether eggplant needs a pinching procedure. Let's get it together.
Eggplant Features
As we have already noted, eggplant is a rather capricious gardener. Strong drafts, both drought and high humidity, are destructive for him; he is quite picky about the temperature regime and lighting conditions. In addition, eggplant (by the way, there is an opinion that the purple fruit is not a vegetable, but a berry) many garden pests enjoy eating.
Seedlings should be planted in open ground only after the soil temperature warms up to +15 degrees, otherwise it will simply die. But it is impossible at the same time to delay planting - this can result in a decrease in yield up to 60%. Keep in mind the following:
- The eggplant section should be open, sunny, but at the same time protected from strong winds.
- Soil - light sandy loam or loamy. For a different type of substrate, peat or humus must be fertilized.
- Heavy soil will improve river sand, cutting straw or sawdust.
- To protect the plants from the invasion of pests, when planting it will not be superfluous to treat the substrate with wood ash or a mixture of phytosporin and manganese.
What is this stepchildren?
Before you decide whether to eggplant eggplant or not, let's deal with this term. Stitching is the removal of lateral leaves or shoots of a plant. People call these parts "stepsons", which is why the procedure got such a little strange name. These manipulations are carried out to form the necessary type of bush, its general strengthening, which ultimately leads to a richer crop.
It is for the development of unnecessary "stepsons" that plants determine an impressive share of their energy and resources, taking this away from the forming fruits. Therefore, lateral leaves and shoots should be periodically removed - otherwise you will expect a more meager crop. On unshaped bushes, the eggplants are smaller, sometimes deformed, with reduced taste. And sometimes part of the ovaries fall on them, not even having time to somehow ripen.
So do eggplant stepchild? Yes, this is a prerequisite for obtaining a good "purple" crop. But not for all cases.
When is stepsoning not necessary?
We list the cases in which the herding procedure will be superfluous:
- Undersized varieties . Such varieties of eggplant by their nature have an average leaf mass and are able to independently form a bush.
- Open ground . Some gardeners are interested in how to pinch eggplant in the open ground. We do not advise you to turn to this procedure - additional leaves do not interfere with the development of plants in the beds, on the contrary, they protect the top layer of the soil from quick drying. Yes, it should be noted that moment that in plants planted in open ground, leaf mass is formed not very intensively.
Stepsoning is necessary
But the question of whether the eggplant in the greenhouse stepsons, we will answer in the affirmative. In the greenhouse microcosm, an increased level of humidity and air temperature is most often observed. Such an environment, just the same, is estimated by the plant as the breadth most favorable for growth — the formation of additional leaves and lateral shoots. Therefore, greenhouse eggplant without pinching is definitely not enough.
However, the procedure must be started on time - before the buds form on the plant.
How to pinch eggplant?
Proper pinching is a combination of two factors:
- Correct determination of the date of the first procedure.
- The optimal pattern for the formation of a bush of each of the plants.
It is best to start combating unwanted additional shoots in the third week after you arrange seedlings in a permanent place. At this moment, the eggplants had already managed to take root, but had not yet directed their forces towards intensive growth. After the first stepsoning, do not forget to stably repeat this procedure once every two weeks.
Observe a few simple and important rules:
- Before pinching, be sure to tie up the bushes - from a large number of ovaries, the landing can simply break. To do this, a wire is stretched over the rows of plants, to which each eggplant is tied with twine or rope. A garter is needed under each branch of the bush.
- Do not perform the procedure in too dry or too wet weather. Such conditions can provoke the development of infectious processes in the damaged area of the stem.
- The most suitable time for stepsoning is morning. During the day, the eggplant bush will have time to "heal" its wound.
Step-by-Step Patterns
How to pinch eggplant in a greenhouse? Choose one of three schemes:
- In one stalk . This formation is used for weak landings, as well as for the tallest. First, the growth point is pinched - it is better to do this after the plant is at least 30 cm long. Leave only the topmost shoot - the rest must be removed. Processing will require ovaries - only the largest ones will have to be left.
- In two stems . The tip is pinched. Then you observe the development of the plant - you leave only the two strongest shoots, you remove all other stepsons.
- In a few stems . This scheme, respectively, is applicable for the most healthy and powerful landings. It is better to use it when there is a lot of space in the greenhouse, but there are few seedlings. Here, too, you should pinch the top, but leave not one, but several shoots - 3-5. The number of ovaries can also be large. Usually, gardeners initially leave only two shoots, and then, observing the development of the bush, leave another or a couple of the most powerful stepsons.
We will tell you how to pinch eggplant in a slightly different way:
- At the first stage (from 14-20 days after planting in the ground), you pinch (pinch) the plant only in its lower part - remove additional stems, leaves, weak ovaries.
- The top of the leaf is pinched only after the end of the growing season. This will be an impetus for the plant not to spend energy on growth in length, but to direct it to the development of fruits.
Work with skeletal branches
Those shoots that you left - one, two or more - are called skeletal branches. They also can not be ignored. How to pinch eggplant further?
In addition to removing branches and leaves that reappear in the lower part of the bush, you need to identify only one most actively developing fruit at each branch. All the others pinch after the second sheet over the ovary. This must be done with each branch. This work will help the formation of 5-12 large full-fledged fruits on each bush.
Stepsoning procedure
Pasynkovka is not the most difficult procedure in gardening. But in order to achieve good results, you need to know the following about how to pinch eggplant:
- Do not use pruning shears, act only with your own hands. If you still use garden tools, then be sure to disinfect it before pinching, otherwise there is a risk of introducing the infection into the wound on the stalk.
- The consequence of the previous paragraph will be the mandatory disinfection procedure for both hands and tools after working with each of the bushes. This happens so that if one plant is affected by the disease, do not bring this infection to others.
- Did you notice that the plant is sick or suddenly limp? Then go around him with the herding procedure - it will even weaken from it. Proceed to the formation of a bush only when the bush is fully restored.
- If the greenhouse has a sufficiently dry microclimate, then do not remove the lower leaves - they help to retain moisture in the substrate.
- Deformed leaves and ovaries should be removed without regret - this may be a sign of the development of the disease in the plant.
- If you are a supporter of organic fertilizers, then in the case of eggplant, try not to overdo it - the bush reacts to such top dressing by the rapid growth of additional stems and leaves, and only then - the development of the ovaries.
- If you notice. Because they overdid it with pinching of the lower leaves, the soil around the plant should be mulched, so that now the mulch protected it from drying out.
Open ground plant formation
Many gardeners are involved in herding eggplant and in the open ground. But they do it according to the changed scheme:
- Removing excess shoots.
- On strong shoots, the tip is pinched with ovary.
- Systematic removal of stepsons that interfere with the development of the main shoots.
The planting of eggplant in open ground should be very selective. Your main goal here is to prevent the bushes from interfering with each other's development, as well as to ensure free air circulation between them.
On this, our story about how to pinch eggplant open ground and greenhouse varieties came to an end. The formation of the bush is an important and, in some cases, necessary procedure, however, its success determines the correct time and correctly selected scheme for each plant.