Eggplant is not only tasty, but also healthy. They contain many useful trace elements, such as phosphorus, iron, calcium, as well as proteins. These vegetables boast the ability to remove excess cholesterol from the human body, more than drugs. The regular use of eggplant dishes will help prevent many diseases caused by high cholesterol, such as gallstone disease, atherosclerosis, coronary heart disease and others.
Eggplant: Description
This is a culture that loves warmly. Eggplant vegetation period lasts a long time. From the appearance of the first seedlings to the first harvest, from 100 to 140 days pass. That is why eggplant cultivation begins with seedlings. The right choice of varieties and proper care of plants will provide a rich harvest.
For a culture such as eggplant, seedlings for seedlings can be chosen for every taste. The variety of varieties offered can confuse any person, even a fairly experienced gardener, what can we say about beginners. What grade should I prefer in order to get a guaranteed harvest?
Today we’ll talk about one of the hybrids. This is the King of the North eggplant. The feedback from experienced gardeners indicates that the crop exceeds all expectations and is suitable for experienced gardeners as well as for those who are just starting.
About grade
The producer declares the variety as the earliest of all hybrids, and also claims that the “King of the North” is more resistant to cold than other varieties. This hybrid is characterized by remarkable fruit setting and huge productivity. Each bush is densely covered with fruits, the length of which reaches 30 centimeters. The shape is elongated, the surface is black and purple, glossy has this variety. Eggplant "King of the North" is characterized by white flesh, wonderful taste, lack of bitterness.
Sowing seeds
The best time to start growing seedlings is the days from March 20 to 30. All eggplants are very difficult to tolerate any transplant due to the sensitivity of the roots, so you should plant each seed in a separate container or peat tablets or pots that are popular today. Experienced gardeners recommend taking seedlings for seedlings, consisting of sod land and humus in equal amounts. And also add fertilizer to the soil per one bucket of land:
- 1 table. a spoonful of fertilizers containing potassium, for example, potassium sulfate ;
- 1 table. a spoonful of fertilizers with nitrogen, such as urea;
- 1-2 table. spoons of phosphate fertilizers, for example, superphosphate.
“King of the North” is recommended to be sown to a depth of 1.5–2 cm. Watering the sown seeds should be done at room temperature. Before seedlings, the container with crops must be closed with glass or film. Subject to the optimum temperature, which is from 22 to 26 degrees, the seeds will germinate on the 8-10th day.
Seedling care
Eggplants are very demanding on moisture, they should be watered every 3 days and make sure that the soil is moist, but not too flooded to avoid the development of diseases in plants.
Two and a half weeks after the emergence of seedlings, experienced gardeners recommend the first top dressing using fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium. After another two weeks, a second top dressing is carried out using fertilizers containing potassium and nitrogen.
Picke (transplant)
As mentioned earlier, eggplant is very difficult to tolerate trauma to the root system and takes a long time to recover. It is better to initially allocate a separate container for each plant, but if this is not possible, then the transplant is carried out in the phase of the second true leaflet. Already grown seedlings better tolerate picking, and they are easier to transplant. 2-3 hours before this, seedlings are watered for better preservation of the roots. It is recommended to choose containers with dimensions of 10 x 10 or 8 x 8 cm. The same soil is laid in them as before sowing, then they are shed with nutrient compounds. In the middle of each container in the ground, a recess is made and a seedling is transplanted so that it is in the soil to the cotyledon leaves.
Disembarkation
It is recommended to transplant eggplants into the greenhouse from May 15 to May 25, and in open ground in late May or early June. This must be done, making sure that there are no more frosts. It should be borne in mind that the King of the North eggplant is quite whimsical. Gardeners' reviews are full of recommendations to protect them, for example, using covering material or shelter in the form of arcs with a film. In addition, it helps to maintain the warmth that eggplants love so much in cold weather.
How to grow eggplant in a greenhouse?
Planning planting in the greenhouse is necessary since the fall. It is cleaned of dry stems and weeds and spills the soil well with water. It is recommended that the spill be carried out twice so that the surplus of the remaining fertilizer goes into the ground. Further, the soil must be decontaminated to destroy the pathogens that are in it. This can be done by making compost, as well as using various fungicides. After this, the prepared soil needs to be dug up so that in the spring it can be limited to its thorough cultivation.
The recommended scheme for planting seedlings is as follows: 60 cm between rows and 40 cm between bushes. Although it is possible to grow the King of the North eggplant (gardeners' feedback is confirmation of this), reducing the distance between the bushes to 30 cm, and this will not affect growth.
Before planting the wells for seedlings, it is recommended to spill with water diluted with manganese, about two liters per well. When planting eggplants in beds, they should not be deepened much, the soil should exceed the level of the original pot by only one centimeter. After planting, it is advisable to water the seedlings again with a small amount of warm water.
Care, watering, shaping
It does not matter how to grow eggplant - in a greenhouse or in the ground, in any case, they are treated equally. During plant growth, they are fed several times. Watering the grown bushes is done once a week. In dry weather, depending on the condition of the soil, it is possible more often.
To form an eggplant "King of the North" reviews of experienced gardeners suggest this:
- When the plants reach 25 cm, they need to be pinched, removing the upper part from the main trunk.
- Active growth of lateral shoots will begin, leave five pieces, the rest should also be pinched.
- During growth, it is also necessary to remove shoots without fruits, yellowed leaves and fruits with deformation.
Reviews
Eggplant "King of the North" receives only positive reviews. Gardeners characterize the variety as extremely productive. The first fruits are longer, the later are shorter. Plants bear fruit until late autumn, until the frost. In general, gardeners are very pleased with this sort of eggplant.