Eggplant Robin Hood: description and characteristics of the variety, reviews from summer residents with photos

Description and characteristics of eggplant Robin Hood

In order to correctly place the plant on the site and avoid mistakes when growing it, it is necessary to study the characteristic properties of the variety.

Bush:

height: 70-90 cm;
there are few side shoots;
there are a lot of ovaries;
ripens in 90 days.

Vegetable:

shape: pear-shaped;
color: purple;
weight: 300 g;
length 20 cm;
diameter: 9 cm;
pulp: without seeds, tender and without bitterness;
the skin is thin.

Thanks to these characteristics, the Robin Hood eggplant variety is gaining recognition among summer residents and gaining popularity.

Selection and botanical description of the culture

The originator of the Robin Hood eggplant variety is the breeding and seed farming company, which developed it in Russia 8 years ago.

The bushes of this variety are low-growing, reaching a height of only 0.4 m, compact, and do not produce excessive lateral shoots. The bushes grow up to 7 fruits, the average weight of which reaches 0.3 kg.

An eggplant bush of this variety is capable of producing up to 2.5 kg of berries, which is what eggplant fruits are in the botanical sense. They are pear-shaped, their shiny skin is purple.

The eggplant fruit can grow up to 0.2 m long and up to 0.1 m in diameter, has a soft consistency pulp with high taste, a complete absence of bitterness and a small amount of seeds.

The culinary uses of this eggplant range from frying and pickling to caviar preparation and drying. In addition, Robin Hood is characterized by very early ripening, which occurs 3 months after the appearance of the first shoots and continues until the end of summer.

What are the disadvantages of the variety?

The Robin Hood type of eggplant has many positive properties. The variety has practically no downsides. Bushes with a small number of branches bear a lot of fruit, so it is necessary to tie the bushes to supports. This is the only drawback of this type of eggplant. Preventative treatment against diseases and pests is also required.

Landing dates

It is impossible to give a specific date for sowing eggplant seeds. The timing depends not only on the variety chosen by the summer resident, but also on the climate of the growing region. Another criterion taken into account is the method of cultivation, in open or closed ground, by direct sowing in the ground or by seedlings.

When grown in a greenhouse by seedlings, the seeds are sown in the last ten days of February. Provided that the finished seedlings will be planted in the greenhouse in early May.

If the crop is grown in open ground, in seedlings, then the seeds are sown in mid-March, and planted in a permanent place in early June.

If the greenhouse is well heated, then sowing begins at the end of January in order to get an earlier harvest. It is impossible to name a specific date; it all depends on the choice of the summer resident.

Planting seeds

When planting eggplant seeds, you need to follow simple recommendations, and the plant will be pleased with the results.

Planting material for sowing is taken 2 years old, no less. And the germination of such seeds is excellent, and the yield is high.

Prepare fertile soil, water it and make furrows. Planting material is immersed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 30 minutes. Afterwards, it is washed with running water and allowed to dry, then sown. The seeds are planted to a depth of 2 cm. Then they are covered with polyethylene and placed in a warm, dark place until shoots appear. This takes from 10 to 14 days.

Soil preparation

In order for plants to develop and grow well, you need to make fertile soil for them. A suitable site is chosen, on the sunny side and sheltered from the wind.

There is no need to rush to plant in open ground; the crop is susceptible to night frosts. If there is a drop in temperature, it is better to play it safe and cover the sprouts with covering material.

The soil for the beds must be fertile and loose. If there is a lack of nutritional components, humus is added at the rate of 3-4 kg per 1 m2. If necessary, add complex mineral supplements.

To ensure the looseness of the bed, river sand, peat or humus are added to it. The soil is mixed and holes are prepared for planting.

Sprout care

After the seedlings begin to rise, they must be watered, avoiding drying out and waterlogging. Water moderately, several times a week.

Feed with complex fertilizers to support plants. The most necessary elements are:

nitrogen;
phosphorus;
minerals.

When yellow leaves appear, remove them.

Planting and growing

Robin Hood is quite easy to grow, so it is perfect for beginner gardeners. Seeds are planted from late February to mid-March. Pour soil treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate into a box or large plastic container and make holes in it no more than 1 centimeter deep. A grain is placed in each hole, lightly sprinkled with earth, but not crushed. The soil is moistened, the top of the box is covered with glass or film and put in a sunny place.

7-10 days after planting, the seeds sprout. Over time, they will get stronger, and after a month they carry out the first picking - the plants are separated and replanted in separate containers. After picking, the growth of seedlings may slow down somewhat, there is nothing to worry about, the plants adapt to new conditions. Picking protects bushes from excessive stretching.

With warming, they begin to transplant the grown seedlings into greenhouse soil. The optimal time for transplantation is mid-May. It is advisable to plant the plants no later than the beginning of June, otherwise fruiting will shift to a later date. 3-4 bushes are placed per square meter, the ground is watered after transplantation and time (usually 1-2 weeks) is given for the seedlings to take root.

Robin Hood can be fed only 2 weeks after growing. Nitrogen-containing fertilizers are perfect for the first feeding - they help in growing green mass and make the trunk strong. Here is an example of fast-acting feeding:

tbsp nitrophoska;
10 liters of water.

Dilute the powder in warm water and water the eggplant bushes in the morning at the root for 2-3 weeks at intervals of once every 5-7 days.

Transplanting

Before planting plants in a permanent place, you need to make sure that the plants have 5-6 leaves.

Hardening is carried out 7-10 days in advance Seedlings must get used to the sun and cold air and wind.

The containers are well watered and begin to be transferred to the beds.

Care

During the growth of eggplant, it is necessary to remove the lower yellowed leaves and periodically spray to prevent diseases.

The procedure for watering eggplants is repeated every time the top layer of soil dries out. First you need to clear the bed of weeds. The row spacing is deepened by spreading soil over the bed itself. This must be done carefully so that the garden tool does not damage the plants. Fertilizer is scattered between the eggplants and only then can water be released for irrigation. The furrows on both sides are covered with shutters - the water should completely saturate the beds.

Eggplant is a perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the nightshade family. In this article you can find out what the Bibo eggplant looks like and how to properly care for it.

Rules for caring for crops

After the transplantation process is completed, further care of the plants is carried out. They should be watered, fed and shaped in a timely manner. In gratitude, the plant will repay the declared volume of the harvest.

How to water

The rates and timing of watering depend on where the eggplant is grown, in a greenhouse or open ground, and weather conditions.

Water generously 1-2 times a week until flowering. Then increase to 3 waterings over 7 days. You can water less often, but more abundantly. If the weather is rainy, then watering is reduced to 1-2 times every 10-15 days.

When growing in a greenhouse, you should strictly observe the temperature regime.

How to feed correctly

To improve the conditions for growth and development of the crop, fertilizing is carried out. Use organic fertilizers or store-bought complex mineral compounds.

Experienced summer residents recommend using a natural mixture. You will need:

straw;
nettle stems and roots;
legumes;
compost soil;
wood ash.

All this is chopped and placed in a container, filled with water at the rate of 1 part chopped mixture to 3 parts water and infused under polyethylene or a lid. The mixture must be stirred several times. Water the ground around the eggplants, but do not pour under the roots.

After transplantation, Robin Hood eggplant plants stop growing, do not be alarmed. This is a normal reaction to stress.

Bush formation

To increase the yield, it is recommended to shape eggplants. When the height of the bush reaches 25 cm, their growth point is removed. This stimulates the growth of side shoots. Of the stepsons, you should also choose the strongest ones in the amount of 6 pieces, and remove the rest.

After carrying out the main work, all that remains is to monitor the plant, promptly removing yellow leaves, fruits with obvious signs of deformation and shoots that do not bear fruit.

Pest Control

Eggplants, as members of the Solanaceae family, most often suffer from attacks by the Colorado potato beetle. They are fought with chemical or folk remedies. It is recommended to use methods without the use of chemicals. The disadvantage of such methods is their short duration of action and multiple repetitions. But nothing harmful to the human body is deposited in the fruits.

Chemicals are more effective and last longer, harmful substances accumulate in the plant and transfer to vegetables.

For treating small areas, the following mixture will help:

1 part slaked lime;
2 parts wood ash;
1 part tobacco dust.

Everything is mixed and scattered between the rows of plantings.

Protection from diseases

The best protection is proper prevention. It consists of cultivating the soil, planting material and maintaining crop rotation.

Eggplants are susceptible to the following diseases:

black leg;
late blight;
gray rot;
mosaic;
stolbur.

Treatment is carried out in a timely manner, choosing products that have the least impact on the plant itself, quickly decompose and do not remain in the eggplant fruits.

How to care outdoors

Caring for an eggplant plant involves timely watering, sufficient feeding with fertilizers, cultivating the soil around the bushes and protecting them from diseases and pests.

Watering

Since this crop does not tolerate excessive soil moisture, it should be watered abundantly, not allowing the earthen clod to dry out, but not often. Young bushes are usually watered once a week. During flowering, the frequency of watering is reduced, and during the period of fruit ripening it is increased again.

In no case should you water eggplants using the sprinkling method. The best options are pouring water into grooves made in the ground near the bushes, or drip irrigation. However, most often water is poured directly under the root.

It should be borne in mind that the water for irrigation should in no case be cold, from the tap, as it can cause the ovaries to drop from the plant and even its death. Irrigation water must be settled and warm.

Feeding

Typically, eggplant bushes are fed with fertilizer three times during the season. This plant responds very well to nitrogen and potassium fertilizing, and to a lesser extent to phosphorus.

It will be useful for you to know what to do if your eggplants dry out.

But since nitrogen, actively influencing the development of green mass, inhibits the formation of ovaries, nitrogen fertilizers should not be applied before the first fruits appear. Subsequently, it is useful to water the bushes weekly with a solution of rotted mullein or bird droppings.

In addition, eggplant plants need mineral supplements in the form of:

gland;
boron;
manganese salts.

Fertilizers containing them are applied to open ground in the amount of 5 g for every 1 square meter. m.

Soil care

Low bushes of the Robin Hood variety are very sensitive to the presence of tall weeds nearby, so during the season it is necessary to repeatedly weed the beds with plants, combining weeding with loosening and hilling.

Also, loosening the soil should be carried out after each rain or watering, so that the resulting earthen crust does not interfere with the supply of oxygen to the root system. It should be remembered that eggplant roots lie shallow and can be easily damaged during weeding and loosening.

In order to maintain optimal temperature and humidity conditions in the soil for the root system, it is useful to mulch eggplant bushes with sawdust or grass mowed before the seeds begin to form.

Protection from pests and diseases

Most often, eggplant bushes are attacked:

Colorado potato beetle;
spider mite;
aphids.

Read more about how to deal with mites on eggplants.

Since eggplant plantings are usually not as extensive as potato fields, it is quite possible to collect Colorado potato beetles from them by hand. With due persistence, you can manage to collect and destroy them all before the voracious larvae appear, which, in fact, destroy the plantings. Spider mites most often appear in greenhouses.

They fight it with chemicals and biological products, represented by:

"Agrovertin";
"Fitoverm";
"Healthy garden";
"Iskra-bio".

Aphids harm eggplant plantings everywhere. To combat it, you can use the same biological products as against spider mites. A folk remedy in the form of a solution of potassium permanganate and green soap (3 g of potassium permanganate and 200–250 ml of green soap per 10 liters of water) is also effective.

Of the diseases, the Robin Hood variety is most often affected by late blight and tobacco mosaic.

Phytophthora is combated using solutions containing copper, - Bordeaux mixture and copper sulfate; They treat the soil before planting seedlings, as well as after they take root.
Tobacco mosaic is more difficult to combat. At the first manifestation of this disease, eggplant leaves must be treated with a solution of whey, 100 ml of which is diluted in 1 liter of water and a little of any microfertilizers are added there. It is also useful to spray the bush with a solution of 1 liter of milk in a bucket of water with the addition of a few drops of iodine. In addition, the top layer of soil should be replaced by 0.2 m.

Collection and storage

It is difficult to determine the degree of ripeness by the appearance of a vegetable, so they are guided by the length of the fruit.

Another way to tell whether an eggplant is ripe or not. You should press on the fruit; if the dent does not straighten out for a long time, it means that it is not yet ripe. If it levels out quickly, you should carefully cut the eggplant using garden shears.

Eggplants are stored fresh by covering them with straw and storing them in a dark, cool room. In this way, the vegetable is stored for 1-2 months.

For longer storage, eggplants are cut into rings and hung to dry in a dry, cool, well-ventilated area.

Robin Hood is suitable for any method of pickling or salting. Perfectly preserves taste and nutritional composition.

Harvesting

The ovaries on the bushes form at the end of June, and mature fruits will appear in 3-4 weeks. At first, the color of the vegetables is green, but every day the color changes - the fruits darken. A clear sign of ripeness is the presence of a black color and large size of the vegetable. If its diameter has already reached 5-6 centimeters, then the fruit can be picked.

Robin Hood is capable of not deteriorating for a long time in cool conditions (at a temperature of 10-16 degrees Celsius). The harvested crop can be placed in the refrigerator or cellar; the eggplants will remain there for at least a month. Before removing, wipe the skin with a dry cloth and wrap each fruit in newspaper - this will prevent moisture from entering.

Reviews from summer residents about the Robin Hood eggplant variety

For information, beginners look for reviews from experienced vegetable growers. The comments contain useful information about the features of caring for and growing this crop variety:

Evgenia: “I’ve never grown eggplants myself. A neighbor gave me a couple of bushes of the Robin Hood variety. I planted it in May, and a month later the first harvest was harvested. The taste is excellent, they made caviar and even dried it. The next year, inspired by the results, we decided to prepare the bed and plant the vegetable ourselves.”
Anton: “I started my first growing experience with Robin Hood eggplants. Grown by seedling method. I sowed the seeds back in February. Since the culture is light-loving, I organized additional lighting. When 56 leaves appeared on the plants, I planted them in a greenhouse. He took good care of it, fertilized it, sprinkled the row spacing with ammonium nitrate. After 30 days, the first harvest was harvested. In the family's favorite vegetable stew, eggplants performed well, with no bitterness. Next year I plan to grow it in open ground.”
Maria: “I love Robin Hood for its germination and productivity. The bed is 6 m long, 0.6 m wide, I can place 20 bushes. I grow the seedlings myself and get 2 kg of vegetables from one plant. I’m not looking for a replacement, I’m completely satisfied.”

Growing Robin Hood eggplants is not difficult; they are undemanding in terms of soil composition. They adapt perfectly to any climatic features of the region.

Characteristics and description of the variety

Robin Hood is considered an early ripening variety; the bush begins to bear fruit 90-100 days after planting. The fruits have a beautiful shape, reminiscent of a pear. The length of the eggplant is up to 20 centimeters, with a diameter of 8 centimeters. The weight of the fetus ranges from 200 to 300 grams. The skin color is dark purple, almost black; even without sun, eggplants shimmer beautifully with a glossy sheen.

There is no bitterness in the taste of the vegetable, which makes it almost a favorite product in the kitchen. Ripe eggplants can be added anywhere: to stews, meat dishes. The fruits are suitable for frying and stewing; they can be used in preparations and to make caviar.

The bush grows to a height of 80-100 meters; tying it to a trellis or other support is mandatory and should be done almost immediately after transplanting the seedlings into the greenhouse. The plant produces few stepsons, which is very convenient for gardeners. Side shoots are pinched as soon as they appear. The plant is formed into 1-2 stems. There are practically no thorns on the stem.

The yield of Robin Hood, subject to the correct agricultural cultivation technology, is 8-12 kg per planting meter of land. However, the indicator may decrease due to low temperature, excessive humidity and insufficient lighting.

Robin Hood is suitable for all regions without exception, but only for greenhouse breeding. Not suitable for planting outside, with the exception of the southern regions of the country. Frosts and cold snaps at night can be destructive for plants, so maintaining the temperature at plus 22-25 degrees is simply necessary for normal fruiting.

The advantages of the variety include:

lack of bitterness in taste;
large size;
beautiful skin color;
high keeping quality;
greater productivity.

Disadvantages include poor resistance to frost and long ripening of fruits in the absence of light.

Robin Hood's immune capacity is at a high level. The plant is weakly affected by mosaic viruses and late blight, but sometimes gray rot can form. The risk of rot infection increases especially if the humidity in the greenhouse is high and there is no sun. To avoid unpleasant consequences, plants and soil are treated with any fungicidal agents 2 times per season.