2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Daikon (Latin Raphanus) - vegetable culture; a root vegetable of the Cabbage family, or Cruciferous. Other names are white or Chinese radish. Southeast Asia is considered to be the homeland of the daikon. The plant is now widely cultivated in Korea, Japan, China and Taiwan. In Russia, the culture began to be grown relatively recently. It is known that the daikon was obtained by selection from Asian radish varieties. Unlike radish, the plant does not contain mustard oils, has a moderate aroma and a pleasant sweetish taste.
Characteristics of culture
Daikon is a biennial plant that in the first year of life forms a spreading or raised rosette of leaves and a root crop, and in the second, a stem with a branched peduncle and purple flowers. The leaves are large, smooth or pubescent, strongly dissected.
The root crop is round, cylindrical, conical, elliptical, fusiform or serpentine, depending on the variety, it can have a white or light green color. Root weight 0, 3 - 2 kg. The seeds are large, light brown in color.
Daikon is a cold-resistant plant, seeds germinate at a temperature of 3C, adult plants can withstand frosts down to -4C. The optimum temperature for growing a daikon is 15-25C. The vegetative period is 60-120 days.
Growing conditions
Daikon is a plant characterized by a strong photoperiodic reaction, to be more precise, the culture reacts to the length of daylight hours. When sowing daikon in early spring, it goes to stem too quickly and eventually produces small and tasteless root vegetables. In Central Russia, the crop should be sown in mid-June - early July.
Daikon is not picky about soil conditions, but it develops best on light, fertile, well-moistened, peat-humus or peat-sod soils with a neutral pH reaction. Heavy clay soils are not suitable for growing daikon.
Reproduction and planting
The daikon is propagated by seeds. Sowing is carried out in open ground, for summer consumption - in early June, for winter storage - in early July. Root crops obtained from June crops are worse preserved than from July crops. The plot for growing crops is prepared in the fall: the soil is dug to a depth of 40-50 cm, rotted compost, urea, superphosphate and potassium salt are added; in the spring, the ridges are thoroughly loosened with a rake and fed with nitrophos.
Seeds are sown in pre-moistened soil, after which they are mulched with dry soil and covered with plastic wrap. Woven materials should not be used as they do not protect against pests and do not retain moisture in the soil. Sowing is done in two rows. Seeding depth is 2-3 cm. The distance between plants should be 20-25 cm, and between rows 60-70 cm. Plants are thinned out if necessary.
Care
Overall, caring for a daikon is not difficult. Plants need regular watering, weeding, top dressing and loosening of the soil in the aisles. After watering, it is advisable to mulch the soil in the near-stem zone with peat, this procedure will prevent the formation of crust and compaction. Top dressing is carried out twice a season; complex mineral fertilizers are ideal for this purpose.
Pest control
Pest control is one of the most important crop care activities. The leaves of plants are often eaten by slugs; for prevention, the soil around the plant is treated with approved molluscicides or powdered superphosphate is scattered. Cruciferous fleas are dangerous for daikon, they are able to destroy seedlings in 1-2 days. To prevent this from happening, immediately after sowing, the ridges are covered with lutrasil or agril and kept in this state until 2-3 true leaves appear on the seedlings. If aphids or thrips are found on plants, they are sprayed with infusions of tobacco dust, celandine, hot pepper or tansy.
Harvesting and storage
Harvesting begins 50-70 days after sowing. Overgrown roots lose their taste. Long root crops, completely submerged in the soil, are digged in with a shovel, others are pulled out by the tops. Root crops are cleaned from the ground, dried in the open sun, the tops are cut, leaving short stalks. The daikon is stored in basements or cellars in boxes under a film. You can also store root vegetables in sand at a temperature of 0-3C.
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