All gardeners grow eggplants in their beds. After all, they are not only tasty, but also very useful for the body. Eggplants can be eaten fresh, or you can cook delicious winter preparations from them. When to plant eggplant for seedlings and how to properly care for them, I will tell you in this article.
Landing dates
It is difficult to say for sure at what time it is worth planting eggplant for seedlings in the Moscow region. It all depends on:
- climatic conditions;
- the selected crop variety (there are early, medium, late);
- growing conditions.
But when planting them, it should be borne in mind that, compared with other vegetable crops, the blue ones take quite a long time to sprout. From the moment the first shoots appear to transplanting seedlings into open ground, at least 55 days must pass. But the first harvest can be harvested from the bushes only 100-150 days after germination.
Personally, I plant eggplant seeds for seedlings in late February - early March. And I plant them in open ground in mid-late May. At this time, warm weather sets in, and the threat of a return of night frosts passes.
Preparing seeds for sowing
Growing eggplant in the garden is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. The only thing is that these plants are thermophilic, and they are planted in open ground only with seedlings. Before I start sowing seeds, I always prepare them:
- I examine the seeds for defects in good light;
- I sort them by size;
- I reject seeds with defects and dark spots.
I always plant small and large eggplant seeds in separate containers. Since strong seedlings will always crush weak ones.
seed hardening
Before planting blue ones, I always disinfect the seed. The easiest way is to soak the seeds in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes. You can also soak the seeds in a solution of hydrogen peroxide.
In addition to disinfection, I also carry out the stratification of seeds, which speeds up the process of their emergence. I mix the seeds with sand, moistening them, and put them in the refrigerator for several months. Thanks to stratification, not only the emergence of seedlings is accelerated, but also the amount of the future crop increases.
If you have no time and desire to carry out the stratification of seed, you can get by with hardening them. This process is similar to the previous one:
- The seeds are mixed with sand and moistened.
- Wrapped in gauze and placed on the bottom shelf in the refrigerator for 12 hours.
I recommend doing this procedure at least 3 times. It is important to ensure that the sand is always moistened.
After that, you can safely proceed to the process of planting seed in prepared containers with soil. Despite the fact that most gardeners germinate eggplant seeds in advance, and then place them in planting containers, I do not do this procedure. Although it significantly speeds up the process of blue seedlings.
Planting blue ones for seedlings
For planting blue ones for seedlings, you can use different containers: peat cups or tablets, plastic cups and cassettes. The earth is selected fertile, light and loose. I do not recommend burying the seeds in the ground. For them, a sowing depth of 0.5 cm is sufficient. Before planting seeds, the soil must be moistened without fail. Then the containers with seed are covered with a film until the first shoots appear. Further care of seedlings comes down to regular watering, fertilizing, picking.
As you can see, growing eggplant seedlings on your own is not at all difficult. Having spent some free time in early spring, by the end of May you will receive strong and healthy blue seedlings grown by yourself, which can be planted in open ground.
Read also: Features of sowing seedlings of pepper and eggplant for an excellent harvest
Another related article: Caring for tomato seedlings, which provides me with a high-quality and tasty harvest
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