Eggplant care: complete instructions

The article describes in detail the care of eggplants: watering, loosening, fertilizing, disease prevention.

Eggplant is one of the most capricious vegetable crops. To achieve a good harvest, you need to follow the rules and create comfortable enough conditions for the plants. But the difficulties of summer residents do not stop, therefore, this thermophilic culture has long and successfully been grown in the middle lane, specially installing greenhouses for this purpose. Indeed, growing eggplants in a greenhouse and following the rules of caring for the crop, you can achieve excellent results and harvest a rich harvest.

Eggplant Care: Watering

Eggplant Care: Watering

So, you managed to grow or buy excellent, strong and healthy eggplant seedlings, you transplanted them into the greenhouse in a timely manner. Now you need to adjust and adjust the watering. Eggplants are very fond of water, but they do not need to be watered for the first 4-5 days after transplanting. At this time, there will be enough water that you poured into the holes before planting. Often finding out that a particular plant loves moisture, gardeners begin to water it too often, setting up a swamp near the roots, and then they are forced to fight various types of rot, since waterlogging of the soil never leads to good results.

On cloudy days, even in a greenhouse, the ground remains wet for a long time, so you can water it once every 1-1.5 weeks. And if the weather is hot, then watering is carried out more often, every 3-4 days. Watering should be done carefully, at the root, so as not to wet the foliage, do it as early as possible in the morning. Only warm water should be used for watering, since cold watering of the plant can be mistaken for frost and then growth will stop. When you are finished watering, ventilate the greenhouse so that the humidity does not get too high.

Eggplant care: loosening the soil

Eggplant care: loosening the soil

After watering, it is imperative to loosen the ground around the plant so that a dense crust does not form on the surface and does not block air access to the roots. The root system of eggplants is shallow, so it must be loosened very carefully: young plants to a depth of no more than 4 cm, during the flowering period by 5 cm, and adult bushes to a depth of about 7 cm.And after each loosening, spud the plants a little, this will also go to them benefit and will slightly slow down the development of weeds.

Eggplant: growing and care. Suitable ambient temperature

Eggplant: growing and care. Suitable ambient temperature

Ideally, two thermometers should be kept in the greenhouse: the first under the ceiling, and the second near the ground, and make sure that the air temperature does not differ by more than 2-4 degrees. When the temperature drops to +13 degrees, eggplants stop growing, the optimum temperature for them is + 28 ... + 31 degrees, or a little higher. But in the first days after transplanting seedlings, it is necessary to ensure that the temperature remains stable, a sharp jump in one direction or another can harm the plants. Therefore, if the temperature rises too quickly, ventilate the greenhouse, water the paths, do everything to reduce it by a few degrees to acceptable values.

Formation

As we said, the root system of eggplants is shallow, and the shoots are often quite fragile and can break under the weight of the fruit.To prevent this from happening, you need to take care of the support - tie the plant to a peg, trellis prepared in advance, or come up with another support.

Unlike tomatoes, eggplants do not need to be pinned, but withering or damaged leaves and deformed fruit specimens must be cut off in time. Gardeners argue whether it is necessary to pinch the eggplants, since the plants are capricious and should not be injured once again. But if the summer cottage season comes to an end, and the plant continues to bloom violently, then in this case it is possible to remove part of the shoots in order to direct all forces to the growth and maturation of the already existing ovaries. If you are not ready to sacrifice a single flower, it is not scary, you will collect a large number of medium-sized fruits.

Eggplant care in the greenhouse and in the open field: fertilization

It is necessary to feed the plants, this will affect not only the harvest, healthy and strong eggplant bushes will be less susceptible to various diseases.

Feed the plants for the first time a couple of weeks after transplanting, during which time they will have time to adapt and will be ready for fertilization. Use complex formulations, for example "Kemira" or "Solution".

Then, when the first buds appear, pamper the eggplants with phosphorus and potassium, dissolving the fertilizer in the water and adding during watering. Superphosphate granules can be added under each bush after watering during the loosening process.

When the fruits are set, the plants will need nitrogen and phosphorus, which must also be applied with watering. At the same time, organic fertilizers can be used: solutions of mullein or chicken droppings, as well as wood ash.

The last feeding should be done 3-3.5 weeks before you plan to harvest. In a ten-liter bucket, dissolve one tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium salt and water the plants (one glass per bush).

Outdoor and greenhouse eggplant care: disease prevention

It is better to prevent any disease than to cure it, so taking certain preventive measures will greatly simplify the process of growing eggplants.

First, remember the rules of crop rotation and do not plant eggplants twice in the same place. Also, you can not plant eggplants after other nightshades: peppers, potatoes or tomatoes.
Secondly, do not allow strong temperature changes in one direction or another, stagnant moisture or too much air humidity - all this can lead to diseases.
Third, treat plants with fungicides in a timely manner to protect them from diseases.

Examine plants for pests, eggplants, like potatoes, can be seriously affected by the Colorado potato beetle.

If the plants do get sick, then Antracol, Quadris, Horus will help you cope, for example, with late blight or gray rot - in any agricultural store there is a wide selection of necessary drugs.

But some diseases cannot be cured even with the help of chemicals; diseased plants will have to be removed and burned, and the soil must be disinfected. Such diseases include fruit necrosis and tobacco mosaic. But with proper care and timely prevention, nothing threatens your plants.

Eggplant care