Heat-loving Eggplant: The Subtleties Of Care

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

In the family of everyone's favorite nightshade, which grow in our beds, one of the most heat-loving is eggplant. And in regions with a cold climate, this native of hot countries, without the help of a gardener, with great difficulty brings harvests of vegetables, or even does not set fruit at all. How can you help your pet to develop in unsuitable weather conditions for him?

Do eggplants need to be shaped?

Eggplant is a very demanding crop. This primarily concerns temperature. If it goes down, the plant sheds buds, flowers, and ovaries. And when the weather does not present surprises, in a temperate climate the plant still lacks that period of the warm season to fully realize its fruit potential, even when grown through seedlings.

Therefore, in our area, the plant has to be formed artificially, an eggplant bush is grown in two or three stems, removing unnecessary stepsons. Do not feel sorry for them and leave them on the plant just because buds have appeared there. Eggplant still does not have enough energy and time to grow each vegetable, especially when other fruits have already been set on it.

Why leaves wither and flowers fall

Often, gardeners are faced with such a phenomenon in which the leaves of eggplants first fade, and then the buds and flowers begin to fall off. Some attribute this to a lack of watering. However, this sign can also be a signal that an outbreak of fusarium wilting has occurred in the garden. The primary cause of the onset of the disease is contaminated soil, and high humidity, high temperature, and a lack of potassium and phosphorus are favorable conditions for the development of pathogens. Therefore, watering can only aggravate the situation. If you limit yourself to top dressing alone, this will not save the situation either. And in order to recognize root rot, it is not necessary to dig up the bed and examine the roots. It is manifested by the appearance of yellow spots on the grafted leaves, which then turn into necrotic foci.

To correct the situation and preserve the flowers, fungicides must be used for treatment. Mulching the beds will help to increase the effect in the process of plant healing. At the same time, moisture remains in the ground, a soil crust does not form on the surface of the soil, and there is no need to loosen the beds. And also there is no evaporation, due to which excess moisture does not rise around the plant.

For the prevention of root rot, it would be wise to use fungicides in tablets at the stage of growing seedlings, as well as when transplanting eggplants into the ground to a permanent place. They are buried in the ground near the root system, after which the soil is watered and mulched. If the disease has appeared in your beds, it is better to change the place for growing eggplants next year. And it is imperative to dress new seeds before sowing, since the disease is transmitted both through contaminated soil and through infected seeds.

In heat and dry age, eggplants have another enemy - spider mites. In this case, insecticides are used. Organic preparations are now on sale. They do not work instantly, but after a few days after treatment, there will be noticeably fewer parasites.

How else to help the eggplant?

To help plants with fertilization of flowers, artificial pollination is practiced. Only in our case, you do not need to pluck a flower, as is done with cucumbers. A small, soft-bristled brush works best for this. They process a flower on one bush with it and then move on to another plant, pollinating the whole garden in this way.