Planting eggplants in open ground: the secrets of a bountiful harvest

Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/ru/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19 Category: Garden plants Published: January 26, 2016Last edits: January 06, 2021

eggplant plant , or dark-fruited nightshade (lat. Solanum melongena) , or badridzhan , or blueberry , is a species of herbaceous perennials of the Nightshade genus, growing wild in South Asia, India and the Middle East. This vegetable began to be introduced into culture one and a half thousand years ago, as evidenced by ancient texts in Sanskrit. The Arabs began to spread eggplants around the world: they brought them to Africa in the 9th century AD. Europeans discovered the eggplant vegetable in the middle of the 15th century, but blue ones came into regular use only in the 19th century. In this article we will tell you how to grow eggplants in open ground, how to grow eggplant seedlings, what causes eggplant leaves to turn yellow, what diseases eggplants suffer from, how to treat eggplants against pests and diseases, how to harvest eggplants, and give a lot of other important information about growing this vegetable and caring for it.

Planting and caring for eggplants

• Planting: sowing seeds for seedlings - in early or mid-March, planting seedlings in the ground - at the end of May or early June.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• Soil: optimal - loam or sandy loam.
• Watering: the first ten days after planting seedlings in the ground - moderate to scanty; from the moment the ovaries form, watering is gradually increased.
• Feeding: frequent - once every 2-3 weeks. The first feeding is 2-3 weeks after planting in the ground. Mineral complexes are mainly used: Crystallin, Ammofoska, Nitrophoska. From organic matter, slurry is useful. Fertilizers are applied to pre-moistened soil. Sometimes foliar feeding with a weak solution of boric acid and microelements that are not in the soil may be necessary.
• Garter and pinching: in the greenhouse they are tied in 2-3 places to stakes or to a trellis; in open ground, a bush with several stems is formed: at a height of 30 cm, the top of the main stem is pinched to enhance tillering. When the bush grows, 2-5 upper side shoots are left, and the rest are cut out.
• Reproduction: seed.
• Pests: aphids, spider mites, Colorado potato beetles, whiteflies, cutworms, naked slugs.
• Diseases: stolbur, gray rot, late blight, viral mosaic.

Read more about growing eggplants below.

What you can and cannot plant eggplants next to

It is not difficult to find tables that indicate the best and worst neighbors for a particular garden or vegetable crop. Basically, the proximity of plants is logically explained. So, it is not recommended to plant eggplants next to tomatoes or potatoes. They do not interfere with each other's growth, but they have a common enemy - the Colorado potato beetle. Having settled on potatoes, it will also damage eggplants.

Eggplants are often planted together with peppers, almost alternating plantings. Since they have almost the same growing conditions, this is quite logical. You just need to look at the height of adult plants so that tall varieties of eggplant do not shade the pepper bushes, which also require sunlight.

Peas and beans are considered good neighbors for blueberries, but here you also need to pay attention to the height of the plants in terms of possible shading. Eggplants coexist well with any type of cabbage. And such popular flowers as marigolds and nasturtiums drive away many pests from eggplants with their scents.

Botanical description

The height of the eggplant bush reaches from 40 to 150 cm. The leaves of the plant are alternate, large, rough, green, sometimes with a purple tint. Flowers with a diameter of 2-2.5 cm, bisexual, purple, solitary or collected in semi-umbrella-shaped inflorescences of 2-7 pieces, bloom from July to September. The fruit is a large, round, cylindrical or pear-shaped berry with a diameter of up to 20, a length of up to 70 cm and a weight of up to 1 kg, matte or glossy dark purple in color, containing small, flat light brown seeds that ripen in late summer or early autumn .

Features of eggplant

The height of an eggplant bush varies from 0.4 to 1.5 m. Large, alternately arranged leaf plates have a rough surface, they are colored green, sometimes with a purple tint. Semi-umbrella-shaped inflorescences consist of 2–7 flowers, which can also be single. The bisexual purple flowers reach 20–25 mm in diameter. Flowering occurs in July–September. The fruit is a large cylindrical, round or pear-shaped berry, it can reach about 0.7 m in length and about 0.2 m in diameter. The fruits weigh about 1 kilogram, they have a shiny or matte dark purple color. Inside them are flat, small, brownish seeds; they ripen in the last summer or first autumn weeks.

Three golden rules for growing eggplants

Growing eggplants from seeds

How to sow seeds

Eggplant is the most heat-loving vegetable of the Solanaceae family. It does not tolerate frost and in our climate it is grown only through seedlings. The ripening period for early ripening eggplant varieties is one hundred days from the moment of germination, while for late ripening varieties this time period is 150 days. Eggplant seedlings are planted in early or mid-March in such a way that the soil has time to warm up to 18 ºC by the time the seedlings are transplanted into the ground, and the seedlings are at least 75 days old by this time.

Growing eggplant seedlings begins with pre-sowing seed treatment, and it is best to take seeds from the second year of storage rather than the first year for planting, since they are more viable. In order to activate the seeds, they are soaked for three days in a three percent solution of potassium humate, and then planted one at a time in cassettes or separate pots with moist soil consisting of 60% high peat, 20% humus, 10% turf soil with the addition of 5% sand or sawdust and the same amount of vermicompost, burying the seeds 1 cm into the soil composition. After sowing, the soil is compacted, then the containers are covered with film or glass.

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Growing seedlings

Eggplant seeds germinate at a temperature of 25-26 ºC in 10-15 days. When most of the seedlings have sprouted, the film is removed and the temperature and light are increased. Caring for eggplant seedlings will not require much effort from you. From the moment of sowing until the appearance of buds on the seedlings, the soil should not be watered, the air humidity should also not be high, and only during the period of bud formation the soil and air humidity should be increased.

If you sow the seeds in rich soil, you will not need fertilizer for eggplants, but if the soil in which the seedlings grow is poor, then water it 2-3 times with a weak solution of crystallin - 12-15 g per 10 liters of water. And make sure that the seedlings have enough light, otherwise the seedlings will stretch painfully. If the weather outside is cloudy for a long time, then you should make the temperature in the room a couple of degrees cooler, which is achieved by ventilation, and also slightly reduce the humidity of the air and soil.

Picking eggplants

As we have already mentioned, unlike the related tomato, eggplants do not respond well to picking, which is why they are sown immediately in separate containers. However, when one or two seedlings form, it becomes necessary to transfer them into larger pots - 10-12 cm in diameter. If you want, call it picking. Before planting eggplants in large pots, you need to water them generously, and then carefully move them along with the earthen lump into a new container.

Two weeks before planting seedlings in open ground, they begin to harden them: they gradually lower the temperature, eventually bringing it to 14-15 ºC. The last couple of days before planting, the seedlings should spend the entire daylight hours outdoors, and if it is warm in the yard, you can leave the seedlings outside all night. Hardening procedures increase the resistance of seedlings to wind, adaptability to cool temperatures and direct sunlight. Seedlings that will later be grown in a greenhouse do not need hardening.

Eggplant varieties and growing regions

Eggplants, unlike many other vegetable crops, require special cultivation conditions.

Basic requirements of eggplants for growing conditions:

• fertile and loose soils;
• exclusion of even short-term frosts;
• temperature minimum is +20 °C, at lower temperatures the culture slows down its development;
• minimum daylight hours – 12 hours;
• regular watering - when there is a lack of moisture, the bushes shed ovaries and buds.

In Siberia

In Siberia, it is almost impossible to grow ordinary eggplant varieties intended for regions with warm climates. But, thanks to selection, hybrids have been developed that are characterized by increased resistance to cold and early ripening. Such varieties can be grown not only in the Krasnodar Territory or Crimea, but also in Siberia.

Popular varieties for growing in the Siberian region:

• "Nutcracker";
• "Robin Hood";
• "Purple Miracle";
• "King of the North";
• "Dwarf early";
• “Big bumpkin” and others.

In the Urals

It is very difficult to grow eggplants in the Urals - the conditions here are completely unfavorable for this crop. But local vegetable growers and gardeners manage to grow varieties and hybrids that have a ripening period of up to 95 days.

Varieties suitable for the Urals:

• "Diamond";
• "Joker";
• "Snow";
• "Leader";
• "Mowgli"

In the Moscow region

In the Moscow region, eggplants are grown using seedlings. Planting of seedlings begins no earlier than mid-May, so that they are not caught by spring return frosts.

Popular eggplant varieties for the Moscow region:

• "Albatross";
• "Romantic";
• "King of the North";
• "Taste of Mushrooms"
• "Agate";
• "Giselle"

Planting eggplants in open ground

When to plant

We have already written about when to plant eggplant seedlings in open ground: the main conditions for transplanting seedlings into a garden bed are soil temperature within 18 ºC and the age of the seedlings is 2-2.5 months from the moment of emergence. Seedlings should reach a height of 16-25 cm, have 8-10 true leaves, and possibly several buds. It is desirable that the threat of return frosts has already passed by the time the seedlings are planted. That is, the optimal time for planting seedlings in beds is early June. The place for growing heat-loving eggplant should be sunny, but protected from the wind.

The best predecessors for eggplants are cabbage, cucumber, carrots, onions, garlic, zucchini, beans and peas.

You cannot grow eggplants in an area where potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, physalis and eggplants themselves previously grew.

Soil for eggplants

The most fertile soil for eggplants is loamy or sandy loam. They also grow well on heavier soils, but in this case it will be necessary to add peat and humus to the soil at the rate of one bucket of each fertilizer per m² of land, and it is also necessary to “dilute” the heavy soil with coarse river sand or sawdust. It is better to do this in the fall, six months before planting eggplant seedlings, while digging the area to the depth of a spade bayonet. If you want to manure the soil, then this fertilizer is applied fresh in the fall, and in the spring you can dig up the area only with rotted manure.

And yet, it is better to prepare a place for eggplants in the fall, so that in the spring, when the soil dries out after the melted snow, all that remains is to loosen it with a rake, embedding fertilizers scattered throughout the area into the soil: 2 cups of wood ash, a teaspoon of urea and a tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate per m² - if the soil on the site is poor.

How to plant in the ground

The technique for planting eggplant seedlings in open ground is the same as for peppers: holes are made in the garden bed at a distance of 30-40 cm from each other, 2-3 cm deeper than the height of the pots with seedlings, and a distance of about 60 cm is left between the rows. Then the holes are filled with water, pre-watered seedlings are planted in the resulting mud along with a ball of earth, the holes are filled with soil and compacted. After planting, the area is mulched with dry soil or peat.

For the first two weeks, it is necessary to ensure that the soil in the area is moist at all times, and peat mulch will best prevent the soil from drying out too quickly.

Growing in a greenhouse

In greenhouse conditions, it is better to grow hybrid varieties of eggplant, and the most popular of them are Nutcracker, Purple Miracle and Bagheera.

Planting seedlings in a greenhouse requires compliance with the following conditions:

• seedlings should have 8-9 developed leaves;
• the root system of seedlings must be well developed;
• the height of the seedlings should reach at least 20 cm;
• The age of seedlings planted in a greenhouse is 65-75 days from the moment of emergence.

The beds in the greenhouse are prepared as follows: in the fall, the soil is cleared of the remains of other plants and disinfected with a solution of copper sulfate (2 tablespoons per 10 liters of water). Three weeks before planting eggplants, 4 kg of humus, 60 g of superphosphate, 30 g of ammonium nitrate, 15 g of magnesium sulfate and 30 g of potassium sulfate are added to the soil for each m², after which the beds are dug up, incorporating fertilizers into the soil, and leveled. The holes are dug a little deeper than the height of the pots with seedlings, at a distance of 45 cm from each other, maintaining a gap between rows of about 60 cm.

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Before transplanting into the greenhouse, the seedlings are watered, then carefully removed from the pot along with the earthen ball, transferred to a hole, buried, the soil is compacted and the seedlings are watered in the new place.

Eggplants are moisture-loving, so moistening the soil is the most important point in caring for them, but before watering the eggplants after planting the next time, let them settle for about five days, after which the plants are watered once a week, and when the eggplants begin to bear fruit, the frequency of watering doubles. Moisten eggplants with warm water early in the morning. After watering, the greenhouse is ventilated, since the soil should be wet, but not the air.

The optimal temperature for growing eggplants in a greenhouse is 28 ºC; higher temperatures are unacceptable, so ventilating the greenhouse should become a regular procedure, especially on hot days. In addition, in hot weather, you need to water the paths in the greenhouse.

Fertilizing eggplants grown indoors is carried out twice per season:

• before the start of fruiting, two weeks after planting the seedlings on the beds - with mineral and complex fertilizers (Mortar or Kemira);
• after fruiting has begun - nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers (a solution of a tablespoon of ammonium nitrate and superphosphate in a glass of water).

Organic fertilizers are applied only once - to the soil before planting, since their later application can lead to powerful growth of greenery and abundant flowering, but the fruits will not set.

Sometimes you have to tie eggplant bushes to supports, because in greenhouse conditions they grow too tall and at the same time fragile; in addition, it is advisable to remove the lateral shoots from the bushes, leaving only the five strongest ones.

As for diseases, in greenhouses due to high humidity, late blight or tobacco mosaic can develop, which can be combated with Zircon or Fitosporin, although it is easier to prevent the development of diseases by regularly ventilating the greenhouse. Of the harmful insects, the ones that most annoy eggplants in a greenhouse are aphids, whiteflies and spider mites. The appearance of insects can be avoided in the same simple way - by ventilating the greenhouse.

How to grow eggplants - step by step instructions

Eggplant is the most heat-loving crop among all nightshades.

The most suitable air temperature is +24-26 degrees . At this temperature, plants develop quickly and correctly. If it drops below 15 degrees, the ovaries and flowers on the bushes will begin to fall off, and at 13 degrees the plant’s growth stops completely.

Reference. The crop is grown in much the same way as peppers or tomatoes.

Selection of seed

Agrotechnical measures begin at the stage of preparing planting material. The key to a good and high-quality harvest is correctly selected planting material.

Tips for choosing eggplant seeds:

1. Varieties that produce large yields are very demanding on the composition of the soil, and they also require good care. For the first time, it is recommended to purchase varieties that are not so capricious, although they produce less fruit. For beginning gardeners, these seeds will be the most productive.
2. Immunity. It is advisable to choose blue varieties that are resistant to most common infections. It is especially important that they do not suffer from viral diseases, which are practically incurable and difficult to prevent.
3. Resistant to temperature changes. This parameter is especially important for the central and northern regions of Russia. These varieties do not have as delicate a taste as the southern varieties, but they are easy to care for.
4. Hybrids are more resistant to unfavorable factors, but the seeds collected from the harvest do not have the characteristics of the parent plant. Therefore, if you plan to harvest seeds from grown eggplants in the future, you need to choose varietal plants.
5. Each variety or hybrid is suitable for growing in a specific climate zone. This factor should be taken into account when choosing planting material.
6. The highest germination is observed in seeds that have been disinfected in the factory and covered with a nutrient coating.

Preparing seeds for planting

Before planting, planting material must be properly prepared. This is especially true for those eggplant seeds that were not processed at the factory.

Using this procedure, you can significantly reduce the likelihood of infection of plantings, increase the resistance of plants to various negative factors, and also speed up germination.

Seed preparation is as follows:

1. Warming up planting material . The package of seeds just needs to be placed near the battery for 15 days. This will speed up the emergence of seedlings.
2. Germination test . Planting material should be soaked in a glass of water with the addition of 1 tsp. salt. Seeds that sink to the bottom are considered suitable for planting.
3. Disinfection . To disinfect the seeds, you need to keep them in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes (the color should be light pink). You can also use store-bought drugs, for example, Fitosporin.
4. Growth stimulation . This procedure will increase the percentage of germination, accelerate the germination of planting material, and also increase its resistance to temperature changes. For stimulation, the drugs Epin or Kornevin are used. Must be used according to instructions.

You can also germinate the seeds before planting. To do this, they need to be wrapped in a damp cloth and placed in a warm place for several days. But you can skip this stage.

Growing seedlings

Little blue ones are usually grown in seedlings, transplanting formed and strong plants to a permanent place. To grow eggplant seedlings, you need the right soil. It should be fertile, loose and light.

The soil must be fertilized with humus or compost (up to 25% of the total volume of the substrate).

Eggplant care

Growing conditions

Caring for eggplants in open ground consists of watering, followed by weeding and loosening of the rows, the formation of bushes of late and medium ripening, as well as fertilizing the eggplants.

Watering

Eggplants need moisture most during the period of mass formation of fruits, however, intensive moistening of seedlings during the first decade after planting can greatly weaken unestablished plants. The water for moistening eggplants should be warm - 25-30 ºC; you should pour the water carefully under the root so that drops do not fall on the leaves. After watering, you need to carefully loosen the rows and remove weeds from the area.

You need to loosen the soil in the area at least 5 times a season, avoiding the formation of a crust on the surface of the soil, but if you mulched the area with peat in a timely manner, you will have to loosen the rows much less often, and in this case there will be few weeds in the area with eggplants.

How to tie up eggplants

Eggplants growing in a greenhouse grow much taller than ground ones, so they need to be tied to a trellis or to stakes in three places, but from the very moment the seedlings are planted in the ground, it is necessary to form a bush into one stem, which over time will need fixing. The strongest shoot is left on the bush, removing lateral growths. While there are only leaves and flowers on the stem, the shoot can withstand the load perfectly, but when the ovaries begin to form, and then the fruits grow and ripen, the load on the stem increases many times over, so the stability of vigorous eggplants decreases sharply.

The method of growing single-stem eggplants by fixing the stem to a support allows you to save a lot of space in the greenhouse.

For those who grow eggplants in open ground, it is better to form an eggplant bush with several stems. As soon as the plant reaches a height of 30 cm, the top of its main shoot is pinched to encourage active tillering. When the bush grows, from two to five upper side shoots are left on it, the rest are cut off with pruning shears. Make sure that all remaining shoots are evenly illuminated.

Feeding eggplants

Eggplants need frequent feeding - once every two to three weeks. The seedlings are fed for the first time 15-20 days after planting in open ground. How to fertilize eggplants? A mixture of mineral fertilizers consisting of 10 g of ammonium nitrate, 10 g of superphosphate and 3-5 g of potassium sulfate, calculated per m² of area. Instead of the listed fertilizers, you can use ammophoska, crystallin, nitrophoska in an amount of approximately 20-25 g per the same unit area. In subsequent feedings, the fertilizer rate is gradually increased by one and a half to two times. Remember that after applying fertilizers, you must water the area.

Eggplants also respond well to feeding with slurry. Don’t forget about foliar feeding: spray the eggplant leaves with a weak solution of boric acid, and in cool summers, treating the eggplant leaves with microelements won’t hurt. Please note that solutions for foliar feeding should be several times weaker in consistency than those applied under the root.

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How to properly care for the crop?

Eggplants are demanding in terms of growing conditions, but they do not need special care. It is important to water them on time, feed them and protect them from pests.

Lighting

Eggplants need 12 hours of daylight. If lighting is less than 12 hours, the plant slows down, does not develop, and fruits do not form.

Illumination for more than 12-14 hours is also not allowed. If the daylight hours are too long, eggplants begin to intensively grow green mass, without producing flowers and ovaries. Therefore, you should always have a covering material on hand that will help limit the access of light to the plants.

Temperature

Eggplants require a certain temperature regime for active growth and fruit formation. When the temperature drops below a certain minimum, plant development stops.

Optimal temperatures:

• soils – from +16 to +18 °C;
• daytime – from +18 to +24 °C;
• night – from +15 to +18 °C.

Today, manufacturers offer varieties that can grow and develop normally at an average daily temperature of +15 °C.

Culture is extremely negatively affected by:

• prolonged drizzling rains;
• lowering the temperature to +12 ° C - this leads to the dropping of flowers and ovaries.

If the temperature drops below +12 °C, the plant dies. To protect eggplants from death during cold spells, plantings are watered with warm water or covered with covering material.

Watering

Eggplant is a moisture-loving crop. Both the development of the plant as a whole and its productivity depend on the correct watering.

Rules for watering eggplants:

• Plantings are watered only with warm water. In the south, water can be heated in the sun. In other regions, water for irrigation is heated artificially. The optimal water temperature is +25 °C.
• Eggplants are never watered from above, only at the root. Water getting on the leaves has an extremely negative effect on the health of the plant.
• If eggplants are grown by seedlings, then the plants are watered for the first time 10-12 days after planting in the ground. In hot and dry weather - after 7-8 days.
• The soil should always be moist. But humidity should not exceed 65-70%. Eggplant roots do not tolerate high soil moisture.
• When the plant enters the flowering and ovary formation phase, watering becomes more frequent and the amount of water given to the plant increases. The soil should be moistened up to 20 cm deep. Water the plantings every 5-6 days.

Feeding

Eggplants actively bear fruit; from each bush, depending on the variety, they harvest from 3 to 6-7 kg. Full fruiting is impossible without regular fertilizing. The frequency of feeding is once every 2-3 weeks.

How to feed eggplants:

• First feeding.
  Performed at the root. It is carried out 10 days after transplanting the seedlings into the ground. The guideline for fertilizing is the appearance of the first new leaf on the bush. Apply nitrogen-containing fertilizer. For the first feeding, the preparations “Kemira”, “Kristallin”, “Rastvorin”, “Effekton” are suitable. Take 30-40 g per bucket of water. The solution norm for one plant is 1-1.5 liters. Instead of these fertilizers, you can add ammophos - dilute 150 g in a bucket of water.
• Second feeding.
  It is carried out two weeks after the first feeding. A mixture of wood ash and mineral fertilizer - nitroammophoska or nitrophoska - is added. Apply 20-25 g per bush. The second option is an extract from bird droppings. Insist 2-3 kg of litter in a bucket of water. After 2-3 days, the infusion is filtered and diluted in 10-15 liters of warm water. For one bush – 1-1.5 liters of solution.
• Third feeding.
  In the flowering phase, eggplants are given nitrophos, nitrophoska or diammophos - 40 g per 1 sq. m. During this period, the plants are sprayed with preparations containing microelements and solutions of fermented herbs. Boric acid can also be used for spraying. 2 g of the drug are diluted in 10 liters of hot water.

Considering the repeated harvesting, it would be useful to support the fruiting of eggplants. After the first or second harvest of fruits, it is recommended to feed the plants with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

Weeding

In the beds where eggplants grow, the soil should always be loosened and moist. The formation of crust and the growth of weeds is unacceptable.

Loosen the soil carefully so as not to damage the roots located close to the surface of the earth. Loosening is carried out on the second day after watering. At the same time, hilling is carried out - the soil is raked up to the stem.

Formation of bushes

Low-growing and dwarf eggplants do not require the formation and structuring of bushes. For other varieties - medium-growing and tall-growing, formation is carried out when the bushes reach a height of 25-30 cm.

The formation of bushes cannot be delayed, since cutting off large stepsons injures the plant and can cause disease and even death.

How to form bushes:

1. Examine the central stem. Remove the stepsons located in the axils of the leaves - up to the first bud. In underdeveloped plants, even the first bud can be torn off. This procedure promotes the active development of stems and roots, the formation of flowers and ovaries. Eggplant shoots grow slowly, so they are plucked once every half month.
2. On early and mid-season varieties that form many ovaries, tear off 20-25% of the flowers. This must be done if the eggplants grow large - weighing more than 250 g. A large number of flowers leads to smaller and underdeveloped fruits.
3. Middle and late varieties are usually tall, with a large number of spreading branches. Form such plants from 1-2 or 3 stems. Leave one ovary on the branches, pinch out all the others, or better yet, carefully trim them with pruning shears.

When properly formed, a tall bush has from 5 to 8 large fruits.

Garter

Tall eggplant bushes are tied to trellises. The trellis method of garter prevents mutual shading of plants.

Features of eggplant garter:

• The plant is tied near each branch - this is the most fragile part of the stem, which often breaks under the load of fruit.
• Trellis are made from twine stretched along the bed in several levels. Attach the twine to the stakes installed at the beginning and end of the row.

Pests and diseases

The most famous diseases of eggplant are late blight and mosaic, as well as stolbur, black leg and gray rot. Blackleg is a fungal disease that causes darkening and destruction of the root collar of plants, and when the disease affects the root system, eggplants dry out and die. The disease can be diagnosed already at seedling age, and increased soil and air humidity contributes to its development.

Mosaic can destroy up to 15% of the eggplant crop. It can be identified by the peculiar variegated color of the leaves, which appears as a result of the plant being infected by a virus. Most often, the virus is transferred to eggplants during picking.

Stolbur is a phytoplasma disease that more often affects eggplants growing in open ground than greenhouse vegetables. From stolbur, the leaves of eggplants become red-violet, and the top ones become corrugated, the stems thicken, become brittle, the flowers become deformed, dry out and fall off. The carriers of stolbur are leafhoppers.

Gray rot, like any fungus, spreads through infected plant remains, and it is especially active at high humidity and at temperatures not lower than 20 ºC. Gray rot looks like dark water spots on the leaves, fruits and stems of eggplants, on which a gray coating appears over time.

Late blight manifests itself as dark brown spots on the lower leaves, which gradually turn black, and a white coating forms on the underside of the leaf blade. Subsequently, the disease affects the fruits and inflorescences of eggplant: first, subcutaneous, vague spots appear, increasing in size, and the peduncle turns black and dries out.

Eggplants also have a lot of pests, but most often they are bothered by aphids, spider mites, and naked slugs. Aphids and spider mites feed on the sap of plants, making punctures on their leaves and stems, causing them to dry, wither and curl, and slugs not only eat leaves, sometimes leaving only veins, but also damage the fruits.

Treatment

How to process eggplants so that diseases and pests do not destroy your harvest. In order to protect eggplants from disease, it is necessary to observe crop rotation on the site, that is, do not plant eggplant seedlings after nightshade and other undesirable predecessors have grown there, properly care for the eggplants and carry out preventive treatments of the seeds and soil on the site before planting.

Seeds are disinfected by keeping them for half an hour in a weak solution of hydrochloric acid or in a strong solution of potassium permanganate, and the soil on the site before planting seedlings, as well as after rooting in open ground and after harvesting and disposal of plant residues should be treated with preparations containing copper - copper sulfate , Bordeaux mixture. This measure will help protect eggplants from late blight and mosaic diseases, but if diseases do appear, you can resort to treating the eggplants with Zircon or Fitosporin.

Unfortunately, no drugs have yet been invented for stolbur and blackleg, but disinfection of seeds and soil before sowing can weaken the pathogens.

Slugs, if there are few of them, can be collected by hand, but if there are a large number of mollusks on the site, you need to scatter a mixture of ash, tobacco dust and lime along the rows after loosening the soil.

As for harmful insects, eggplants can be treated against them before and after flowering with quickly decomposing insecticides, for example, Keltan or Karbofos or the drug Strela, which is safe for human health.

Pests, diseases of eggplants and their control

This native of Southeast Asia has many enemies. And although not all of them migrated to our northern soil, there are also plenty of domestic ones that contribute to a reduction in the harvest, or even its complete damage.

Diseases

Mosaic

A viral disease that most affects seedlings and young plants after planting in the ground. It is characterized by a rash of bright green spots on the leaves. If diseased plants are found, it is better to remove them and sterilize garden tools. Spraying plants and soil with a solution of copper sulfate and the preparations “Zircon” and “Fitosporin” will help as prevention. The same remedies will also help with late blight, which is characterized by the appearance of rot, gray and brown spots, and white coating on the underside of leaves on leaves and fruits.

Gray rot

A fungal disease spread by air (spores) and soil (with water). Watery gray spots appear all over the plant. To combat the disease, the affected leaves are removed and the stem is smeared with a mixture of CMC glue and trichodermin. The soil is fumigated with a mixture of dichloropropane and dichloropropene, or nemagon (1-chloro-2-3-dibromopropane), or di-chloroisobutylene.

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Verticillium

With verticillium, the lower leaves become yellow and limp. Gradually, wilting spreads to the entire plant. Control measures are radical: vegetation with the slightest signs of disease should be burned. Treat the entire planting with bromides.

Apical rot

Greenish-gray spots in the form of concentric rings in the upper part of the fruit. Characterized by accelerated maturation of the affected “blue ones”. Remove affected specimens, increase watering and feed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers.

Pests

Slugs

Lovers of a humid environment, as well as young shoots. Control measures: collecting by hand, placing metaldehyde granules between rows, scattering deciduous tree ash and slaked lime in plantings.

Cruciferous flea beetle

A small black bug that readily eats and completely destroys seedlings and young leaves. To combat it, plants and row spaces are sprinkled with ground pepper, slaked lime, and watered with a weak solution of vinegar or garlic infusion. Chemical control agents include Actellik.

Colorado potato beetle

A beetle with a characteristic yellow-black color. The larva is orange. It is precisely this that is dangerous because it is capable of completely destroying the deciduous mass. The fight against the beetle involves collecting the adult insect and the larvae, and removing leaves with clutches of eggs. The bushes are also sprayed with Sonet and Prestige preparations.

Whitefly

A small butterfly feeds on the sap of the plant, and thereby dehydrates it, causing death. Control measures include glue traps, spraying plants with a solution of laundry soap, infusions of dandelion or garlic, and the intexicide Aktar.

Aphid

A small, almost invisible pest. Becomes visible in very large crowds. Plants affected by aphids do not bear fruit - because the very tops of the bushes with ovaries are affected. The natural enemy of aphids is the ladybug. Among the chemical agents used to combat aphids, the drug “Strela” is used.

In the period before flowering, as a preventative measure for the appearance of this pest, spraying eggplant with “Karbofos” or “Keltan”.

Collection and storage

The fruits can be collected after 30-40 days after flowering, when they become glossy. Eggplant fruits are harvested in a semi-ripe state: they are not tasty either unripe or overripe. Actually, there are two types of maturity of eggplants: technical, upon reaching which the eggplants are ready to be harvested and eaten, and biological, at which the ripe fruit is no longer tasty. You need to cut the fruits with pruning shears, leaving a 2 cm long stalk on them.

Eggplants are not stored for a long time, so it is better to use them for food or prepare them for the winter - preserve them in the form of caviar or salads, pickle them or pickle them. Some housewives cut the fruits into circles and dry them.

If you place the eggplants in a dark place with a temperature no higher than 2 ºC, they can stay fresh for about a month. You can wrap each eggplant in a sheet of paper, put them in a box in one layer and place them in a cool place, where they can also be stored for some time. Putting the eggplants in a plastic bag and leaving a hole for ventilation, placing the bag in the dark and cold is another storage method. Well, and, of course, eggplant fruits are stored longest in the refrigerator. The main thing for storing eggplants is darkness and coolness.

Growing seedlings at home

2-3 eggplant seeds are sown in each pot, deepening them 1 cm. The soil is moistened with a spray bottle. Some gardeners place a layer of snow on the ground instead. It is believed that this additionally hardens the seeds, making the seedlings more resilient.

Containers with seedlings are covered with film and placed in a place with a temperature of +27...+30°C. At this stage, plants do not need light or oxygen. The film is removed as soon as the first shoots appear.

In order for the seedlings to be strong, it is important to provide them with regular care. The list contains the basic rules for growing seedlings:

1. As soon as the first shoots appear, the film is removed. The seedlings are moved to the windowsill. If the seeds were sown in February, they will need illumination with phytolamps or fluorescent lamps 12 hours a day. The lighting device is placed at a distance of 50 cm from the pots with plants.
2. To ensure that the plants are strong and do not stretch out ahead of time, they are provided with a special temperature regime. For the first week after emergence, the seedlings are kept at a temperature of +16...+17 °C during the day, then they are moved to a room with a temperature of 23–27 °C. At night, throughout the growing period, the temperature is reduced to 15°C.
3. Eggplants are afraid of drafts. Throughout the entire period of growing seedlings, it is important to avoid exposure to this negative factor.
4. Eggplants don't dive. They are immediately seated in individual pots.
5. Water the seedlings as the top layer of soil dries. Plants are sprayed with a spray bottle, always with warm water.
6. Eggplants are fed 2 times during the entire growing period. The first is 2 weeks after germination. Use fertilizers with a high phosphorus content. Purchased preparations are suitable, for example, “Crystalon yellow” (1 tbsp per 1 bucket of water) or homemade remedies (herbal infusion with the addition of 20 g of superphosphate per 1 bucket of water). Next time, fertilizing is applied 5 days before planting in a permanent place. The same professional preparations or homemade products with added potassium will do.
7. 2 weeks before planting the plants in a permanent place, they begin to harden. To do this, place eggplants on the balcony, on the street or in a greenhouse for several hours every day, gradually increasing the hardening time.

Advice! Some gardeners believe that if sufficiently nutritious soil was used for seedlings, then it is not necessary to feed it.

Types and varieties

Currently, the classification of eggplants divides them into three subspecies: eastern, European and Indian.

The eastern subspecies of eggplant is represented by low plants with semi-spreading and spreading bushes, mostly early, but sometimes mid-early varieties. The shoots and stems of plants of this subspecies are thin, greenish-violet, the leaves are ovoid, small, green, with purple veins and petioles. The fruits are also small, spherical, serpentine, crescent-shaped, pear-shaped, cylindrical, dark purple in color with greenish or white flesh with a mild bitterness.

The western subspecies of eggplant is represented by mid-season and late varieties of closed or semi-spreading bushes of medium or high height with thick green stems, at the tops of which purple pigmentation is faintly visible. The leaves of plants of this subspecies are large, elongated-ovate, pubescent, green in color, sometimes with a light brown tint in the area of ​​the veins and petioles. Relatively large fruits of various shapes, having reached technical ripeness, acquire a purple, brownish-violet, dark purple and black-violet color. The pulp is yellowish or greenish-white with varying degrees of bitterness.

The Indian eggplant subspecies is widely represented in cultivation, but its varieties are not grown in our climate.

We offer you a description of the best varieties of the western subspecies of eggplant, which can be successfully grown in the middle zone:

• Valentina - the standard size of the purple-black fruits of this early productive variety is 5x26 cm, they are elongated downwards and have exceptional taste and resistance to the tobacco mosaic virus;
• Purple miracle is an early ripening hybrid, with shiny purple fruits, weighing 350 g, with greenish pulp without bitterness. This is a productive and wilting-resistant variety;
• Czech Early is an early-ripening, high-yielding variety with powerful, compact low bushes with dark purple, smooth, shiny, egg-shaped fruits with greenish-white pulp without bitterness;
• Black Beauty is a Danish early-ripening variety with a bush height of about 50 cm and fruits of a very dark color and cylindrical shape weighing about 240 g;
• Delicacy - early ripening variety, bush up to 40 cm high, dark purple fruits, white flesh without bitterness;
• The Golden Egg is an early-ripening hybrid with medium-sized fruits shaped like a goose egg. This variety is grown more as an ornamental plant;
• Donskoy is a medium-yielding, medium-spreading bush of medium height with pear-shaped fruits weighing up to 180 g;
• Epic is an early ripening variety with original drop-shaped fruits of dark purple color measuring 10x22 cm, characterized by unpretentiousness and high yield;
• Donetsk fruitful - an early variety with dark fruits up to 15 cm long, up to 4 cm in diameter and weighing up to 160 g;
• Black Beauty is a high-yielding early variety with very large fruits - up to 900 g in weight;
• Maria - the weight of small elongated fruits of dark purple color reaches 220 g, the variety is characterized by rapid ripening of the fruits, which compensates for their small size;
• Barbentane is an early-ripening, productive variety with a long fruiting period with glossy dark purple fruits;
• Nautilus is a mid-early variety with saber-shaped dark purple fruits weighing up to 500 g. Suitable for growing indoors;
• Arap is a tall bush, reaching a meter in height, which bears very dark purple-brown fruits up to 25 cm long;
• Albatross is a mid-season, high-yielding variety up to 50 cm high with pear-shaped blue-violet fruits weighing up to 450 g;
• Solara is an early-ripening, productive and easy-to-care variety with dark purple fruits weighing up to 1 kilogram.

How and when to plant eggplant seedlings

Although eggplants are not fans of picking, some gardeners still grow them in common containers, which means that the procedure cannot be avoided.

Important! The right time for picking occurs when one or two true leaves appear on the seedlings.

The soil for replanting can be used the same as for sowing seeds. And the soil also needs to be disinfected! But you need to use spacious containers; peat pots and plastic cups are suitable. Their volume should be about 0.3-0.5 liters.

Picking eggplants should be carried out according to the following scheme:

• You need to make drainage holes at the bottom of the container.
• Carefully remove the seedling without destroying the earthen clod. Try not to damage the delicate roots.
• Transplant the plant into a new container using the transfer method.
• After picking, water the seedlings and place them in a place where the plants will be protected from direct sunlight.

Video: how to pick eggplant seedlings.

Requirements for growing eggplants

The most suitable areas for this are those that are well heated by the sun, for example, southern slopes protected from the winds.

Eggplants grow well on light sandy and loamy soils filled with humus. Slightly increased acidity is tolerated, but neutral is preferred. Cold peat and peat bog acidic soils are completely unsuitable for them. Eggplant is very demanding of both lighting and humidity. It cannot tolerate even light sliding shadows or temporary drying.

Planting eggplant seedlings in the ground and in the greenhouse

Eggplants are planted in a permanent place in a greenhouse or film shelter at the age of 55–60 days, approximately in mid-May. The seedlings should not be allowed to “stand still” in the pot. In case of cool weather, it is better to harden it and plant it regardless of the weather, additionally covering it in the greenhouse with one or two layers of lutrasil, than to wait for warming.

Planting is carried out 60 cm between rows, 30–40 cm between plants in a row. To give the plants stability, the root collar is buried 3–4 cm, and immediately after planting and watering, mulch with humus or compost to better retain heat and moisture at the roots.

Advice from experienced gardeners

To grow a lot of large eggplants, beginners should take a closer look at the secrets of agricultural technology from those who know a lot about growing eggplants.

Helpful Tips:

• Between the beds where eggplants grow, plant plants that repel insect pests.
• Grow eggplants in warm beds. In the fall, dig a trench, fill it with waste and cover it with soil. In spring, plant seedlings on a warm nutrient substrate. This bed can be used for three years.
• The culture does not tolerate transplantation well. You should not sow seedlings in large boxes, so as not to pick them. It is better to do without picking - sow the seedlings in separate glasses.
• Eggplants need constantly moist soil, which means mulching is indispensable. Ordinary grass, straw, and sawdust can be used as mulch. Mulch will prevent the bed from drying out and reduces water costs.

For information on the rules for growing eggplants in open ground, watch the following video:

The best way to grow eggplants in open ground is from seedlings; this is the way to guarantee a harvest. For each region, you need to choose the right planting time and variety that can grow in certain weather conditions.

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Eggplants: origin and history of cultivation

Once in Europe, eggplant fruits were exotic, and the ancient Greeks even called it “mad berry.” Why mad? Yes, because if improperly cultivated and stored, a lot of toxins accumulate in the berries. Often, after consuming such a fruit, a person experienced hallucinations and attacks of rabies.

But over the centuries, people learned to cultivate eggplants and appreciated their taste characteristics. By the end of the eighteenth century, the vegetable appeared in the Russian Empire. In our country, eggplant has successfully taken root in the south. But in the twentieth century, gardeners from central Russia could boast of rich harvests of this vegetable.

In addition, eggplants are very beneficial for the health of the human body. And it’s not surprising, because they are rich in minerals: calcium, magnesium, potassium. The fruits also contain phosphorus, iron, fiber and vitamin PP (nicotinic acid). So if you decide to quit smoking, then eggplant is just your vegetable.

Among other things, nutritionists have noted that regular consumption of eggplants helps remove toxins and bad cholesterol from the body. And last but not least, the vegetable is very low in calories. If you care about a slim figure, eggplant is just for you.