Celery is a representative of the herbaceous genus. The most common is odorous celery. Its homeland is considered to be the Mediterranean. Even now there are still wild species of this plant. For decades, this product has been actively used for cooking various dishes. Although the ancient peoples gave it different meanings. In Europe, it gained popularity in the eighteenth century. The most interesting thing is that at first the Europeans grew it in the gardens, as an ornamental plant, and only a few years later they began to eat it.
Description
Celery is a two-year-old herbaceous plant that grows up to one meter in height and has a fairly strong and thick root system. The first year in celery goes to the formation of root crops and rhizomes, and already in the second year, the formation of the stem occurs and in the second month of summer, the flowering process begins. Flowers are umbrella inflorescences that have a greenish-white hue.
Celery loves water and is not at all afraid of the cold. Its seeds can grow even at a temperature of three degrees Celsius, but this is not the limit, since seedlings are not afraid of a temperature indicator that drops to minus five. The fruit of the plant is rounded, has threadlike ribs on each half. Today celery has gained such popularity that in importance it can safely compete with parsley and dill.
Celery seedlings
Celery root growing from seeds, when to plant and how. The answers to these questions should be known to every farmer who wants to get a good harvest.
The vegetative period of this plant can drag on up to 170 days, and in connection with this you have to use different types of reproduction. Growing celery root seedlings is one of the most common methods. Seed planting should be planned 75 days before the intended planting of seedlings in the ground. This is approximately the end of February. There is one problem - seedlings may not appear for a long time due to poor seed swelling. Therefore, their preparation must begin in advance. This problem arises due to the high concentration of essential oil in them.
There is a whole system for preparing seeds: first, for a day they are placed in water that was saturated with oxygen, and then they are kept in a one percent solution of potassium permanganate for another forty-five minutes and then washed in clean water. After carrying out all the preparatory work, the seeds are laid out on wet tissue and monitored when they swell. During this time, you can prepare the boxes for planting and, of course, the soil. This includes one part of the turf land, three parts of lowland peat and one part of humus, and some coarse sand needs to be added. For each bucket of such a substrate you will need a glass of wood ash and a teaspoon of urea.
It is also necessary to prepare grooves that cannot be closer than three centimeters from each other. Seeds that began to swell are mixed with sand and planted in prepared wells. The substrate must be wet. Top seeds are covered with sand sifted through a sieve. The box with crops should be covered with glass and put in a warm place.
Care for young plants
Growing root celery through seedlings also provides for its care. Make sure that the soil does not dry out. If necessary, moisturize. To do this, use warm water and a spray. Until shoots appear, the temperature in the room should be kept at an indicator of twenty-five degrees. However, when the seedlings appear, they remove the glass from the boxes, transfer them as close to the light as possible and reduce the air temperature to sixteen.
Seedlings develop rather slowly, especially the first one and a half months. As soon as two or three true leaflets appear on them, you need to do a dive. For this you need peat-humus pots. And do not forget that at this time it is necessary to shorten the central root. Picked seedlings need to be protected for several days from direct sunlight. To this end, they are covered with a damp cloth. And at night, the temperature is reduced to twelve degrees.
Disembarkation
Growing root celery in the open ground is only possible if the seedlings are completely ready for this. When four or five true leaflets appear on the seedlings and by this time 60 days have already passed since the sowing of the seeds, they will be fully prepared to be transplanted into the open ground.
A few hours before transplanting to the beds, seedlings need to be watered. Try not to overexpose seedlings in boxes. It is best to drop her off from the fifth to the fifteenth of May. If overexposed, then the availability of quality root crops later is called into question. Abundant watering is needed in order to make it easier to pull out seedlings along with a lump of land.
Priming
Cultivation of celery in open ground provides for timely preparation of the soil. Celery should grow in light, loose and fertile soil so that it has a neutral or slightly alkaline reaction. The beds should not be in the shade, the place should be well lit by sunlight. Celery does not tolerate such predecessors as parsley, carrots, dill and parsnips, but it feels quite comfortable where tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers and various types of legumes grew earlier.
Landing
The beds are prepared in advance. Seedlings need to be arranged so that the distance between them and between the rows is at least fifty centimeters. Among gardeners, there is also such a practice when celery is planted between rows of potatoes, garlic or onions. In each hole, you need to add one handful of ash and one handful of humus. All this needs to be mixed well. Each seedling, when planting, is deepened to the cotyledonary knee, well compacts the soil around and is sure to water. After that, you need to slightly shade them from direct sunlight.
Cultivation
For celery root cultivation and care in the open ground provides the following procedure. In mid-summer, its upper part must be freed from the ground. To this end, the lateral roots break off, and the lower leaves are pressed to the ground. They can break, but it's not scary, even vice versa. In such conditions, the root crop forms much better. During the harvesting period, I completely remove the root celery.
Watering
As mentioned at the beginning of the article, celery loves moisture. Therefore, he needs frequent and plentiful watering. Better to do it once a week. Note that for one square meter you will need twenty-five liters of water. The soil must not be allowed to dry out. When the summers turned out to be especially arid, watering becomes daily. Do not pour water on the leaves, try to ensure that moisture falls exclusively under the root.
Top dressing
Cultivation and care of root celery requires a procedure such as top dressing. They are carried out four times a year. When sowing seeds, you added urea and wood ash to the substrate. After planting celery in open ground, after a week you should fertilize it with herbal infusion, and then another two weeks later there will be a need for watering with solutions of chicken droppings or mullein. And the last feeding is carried out by the end of July. Now for one square meter you will need thirty grams of superphosphate.
Diseases
You need to know the cultivation and its main features for celery root "Diamond", but also be able to fight various pests and diseases that can destroy even the strongest plant.
Celery is often affected by rust. She most often appears at the very beginning of summer. Defining this disease is quite simple. On the leaves, stems and petioles red-brown pads appear. If the disease begins to develop, then the affected parts of the plant turn yellow, and then begin to dry out. Their taste is completely lost. "Fitosporin" enters the fight against rust.
Another disease is septoria. It occurs mainly in late summer. The leaves are affected by small yellow spots, and on the petioles you can observe oblong spots of brown-brown hue. Why does this occur? Due to frequent rains and lower air temperatures. Fundazol will save you from this disease. Calculate the time so that the last treatment takes place no later than three weeks before harvesting.
Cercosporosis is another disease that manifests itself only in cold and rainy weather, when there are sharp jumps in air temperature. On the leaves, you can replace fairly large light spots with a brown stroke. Stains may also appear on the petioles, but here they have an oblong shape and acquire a purple hue with increasing humidity. If the disease develops, then the affected parts begin to dry. The same methods of control are considered effective as in the treatment of a previous disease.
Downy mildew. Here, the ground part of the plant, which is covered with a whitish bloom, which with the development of the disease can turn into a film on which black dots appear, is hit. This problem arises all for the same reason: sudden changes in humidity and air temperature, as well as the appearance of cold dew. Fight better folk methods: for five liters of water you will need 300 grams of field sow thistle. Insist for eight hours.
Cucumber mosaic - refers to viral diseases. There are several strains of this virus and manifestations vary depending on them. Basically, large rings appear on the top of celery, which greatly slow down the growth of the plant. It is impossible to cure a viral disease, so the affected plants must be removed immediately. A war is declared by insects that can carry diseases: ticks, aphids.
In order not to have to deal with various diseases, it is better to carry out prophylaxis in time. Make sure that after harvesting nothing remains on the beds, plant plants at a great distance from each other so that when viral diseases appear they do not move from one plant to another.
Pests
There are only three pests that most often attack celery.
Celery fly - at the end of May it flies from the cow parsnip to lay eggs on the inside of celery leaves. As a result of this, tubercles form on it. Larvae eat out leaf tissue and create large passages. This leads to the fact that celery loses its taste, and the overall yield is greatly reduced. You can make sure that this insect does not appear in the garden. To do this, you need to remove weeds from the beds on time. And the best prevention is planting onions between the rows. They are most afraid of this vegetable.
Carrot fly. This is another insect that appears in the spring to lay eggs under the plant. The larvae that appear damage not only the roots, but also the stems and leaves. The most dangerous thing is that in one season they have as many as two generations. You can get rid of it. To do this, prepare a mixture of sand, tobacco dust and dry mustard.
Legume is one of the largest representatives of this genus of insects. This aphid feeds on celery juice, which it sucks from the stems. She has many generations that develop in just two weeks. In addition to all this, aphids are considered dangerous due to the fact that it can carry very dangerous diseases. That is why, at the first signs of its appearance, an active and merciless struggle must begin. You can prepare an infusion or broth from the leaves of tomatoes, potatoes or dandelion field. The resulting infusion just needs to spray the plant.
Prevention measures remain the same as in the case of diseases.