Eggplant "White Knight" F1

* How to grow eggplant in a greenhouse?
In terms of its biological characteristics and agricultural technology, eggplant, when grown in an unheated greenhouse, has a lot in common with pepper... The main difference is that eggplant is more demanding of heat, so before planting seedlings in a greenhouse, you need to be sure that in the event of a cold snap, the temperature in it will not fall below +15°C.
Standard seedlings suitable for planting in a greenhouse should be 10-12 cm high and have 5-7 true leaves, a well-developed root system, densely braiding the lump of earth and a thick stem: such seedlings easily "come out" of the seedling container without damaging the root system - this is very important, since for young plants such damage is more dangerous than the loss of a leaf or even part of the stem. This is why the day before planting the eggplant in a permanent place, the seedlings are abundantly watered, weak and diseased plants are discarded.
A very important factor for eggplant is not only well-heated air in the greenhouse, but also warmed soil to a depth of about 20 cm (the temperature at this depth should not be lower than +15°C).
Heavy loamy, poor soils remain cold for a long time, so the soil in the greenhouse should be loose, sandy loam or light loamy in mechanical composition and rich in organic matter.
If the soil in the greenhouse is not like that, then add large doses of high-quality compost or rotted manure (up to 10 kg per 1 m²), sand and lime. You can also mix turf soil and humus in a ratio of 3:1 and cover the soil surface with this mixture in a layer of 18-20 cm.
Before planting, add mineral fertilizers to the soil: 10-20 g of ammonium nitrate, 30-40 g of superphosphate and 15-20 g of potassium chloride. Eggplant is planted vertically in a permanent place, without deepening the root collar - the cotyledon leaves should remain shallow. The seedlings are planted in pre-prepared holes, pre-watering them with warm water. After planting, the seedlings are carefully and at the same time well pressed with soil, then the plants are watered (about 2 liters per plant) and covered with loose soil - to avoid the formation of a crust.
Most often, eggplant seedlings have a well-developed leaf apparatus and an insufficiently developed root system. If the next day after planting there is hot dry weather, and the roots were also damaged during transplantation, then the plants consume more moisture than it comes in. This leads to the fact that they wither and take a long time to take root.
To improve the survival rate of eggplant, the planted plants are shaded. The eggplant bush can have a spreading form (the height of the bush is 2 times less than its diameter), semi-spreading (the height is 1.5 times less than the diameter) and closed (the height exceeds the diameter). This characteristic largely determines the planting density of the plants - varieties with a spreading bush are planted a little less often than with a closed one.
Plants are placed according to a 60x60 or 40x35 cm pattern, depending on the shape of the bush.
Eggplant is demanding of soil moisture. If it is below 70-80% of the full field moisture capacity, the plants begin to lag in growth, drop buds and fruits, and the commercial quality of the crop deteriorates. But at the same time, eggplant does not tolerate stagnant water in the soil...
Watering is given special attention: eggplant is watered frequently and only with warm water (not lower than +20°C), without interruptions, because periodic or even short-term drying of the soil significantly reduces the yield. At the beginning of the growing season, water once a week and so that the soil gets wet to a depth of about 20 cm. During the fruiting period, when plants can shed flowers and even fruits due to lack of moisture, water 2 times a week. In this case, the watering rate can be increased to 30 liters per 1 m2. To reduce moisture evaporation from the soil, its top layer is loosened to a depth of 3-5 cm (12-16 hours after each watering). But at the same time, it is taken into account that the eggplant has a powerful root system, and most of the roots are located in the upper layer of the soil, so it is loosened near the plants very carefully. Instead of loosening, the soil can be mulched with peat, cut grass or straw.
When caring for eggplants in protected soil, it is necessary to combine high soil moisture with low air humidity - eggplant grows better at air humidity of no more than 70% (watering the plant only in the morning, mulching the soil and regularly airing).
Eggplant responds well to the introduction of phosphorus fertilizers. It is distinguished by the fact that it places increased demands on the content of available forms of potassium in the soil - if this element is lacking, the leaves are affected by spotting, and the fruits rot even in dry weather. During the growing season, eggplant is fed 6-8 times. Before fruiting, it is fed with a complete mineral fertilizer (1.5 tablespoons of nitrophoska per bucket of water), during fruiting, nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizers are given as top dressing (20 g of ammonium nitrate and 30-40 g of superphosphate per bucket of water). The rounded and pubescent stem of the eggplant is so strong that it does not lie down until the end of the growing season and does not require tying to a support. Its height depends on the characteristics of the variety and can be from 25 cm to 1.5 m. During the initial formation of the bush, 2-3 strongest shoots are found and tied to the trellis - each separately. Subsequently, all new shoots are removed when they reach a length of 5-8 cm. After 8-9 true leaves have formed, lateral shoots and large buds should be formed.
In addition to single large flowers, eggplants can also form inflorescences of 2-3 flowers. They should not be removed, as they can later form standard fruits. Sick, damaged and yellowed leaves and shoots are periodically removed. In eggplant, the proportion of leaves and stems significantly exceeds the proportion of flowers and fruits.
Its flowers, up to 5 cm in diameter, are located in the leaf axils in half-umbels of 2-3 pieces or one at a time. Sometimes, unnoticeable but sharp thorns form on the flower cup. This is a varietal feature, so the fruits from such plants should be collected carefully. Since eggplant is a self-pollinating plant, then in greenhouse conditions the flowering plant should be shaken a little so that the pollen from the anthers gets onto the stigma of the pistil. Shake in the morning hours - then the fertilization of flowers occurs better.
Eggplant sets fruit only when the flower is exposed to direct sunlight. Therefore, you should remove leaves that shade the flower. After the first or two flowers bloom, subsequent flowers may appear only after 10-20 days, which is normal. On average, a plant produces 3-7 fruits, but if a variety is capable of producing 8-15 fruits, this is already considered a large number.
When growing eggplant, it is necessary to regulate the fruits: no more than 5-6 fruits are left on each plant. If you leave more, they will not grow large.
To get a good harvest, eggplant requires a lot of light, so two important points must be taken into account:
The first is the degree of illumination: during daylight hours, there should be no shadow on the eggplant. The slightest shading by neighboring plants, bushes, trees, etc. leads to a decrease in the harvest. Long-term shading can lead to a complete absence of fruits on the plant.
The second point concerns the length of daylight: eggplant is a short-day plant (no more than 14 hours). If you reduce the length of daylight to 10-12 hours (with high light intensity), you can speed up the onset of fruiting and slightly increase the yield. To reduce daylight, a frame covered with opaque material is made over the eggplant. This material is removed daily for 10-12 hours (for example, from 8 am to 7 pm). This is done daily, because irregular darkening only brings harm.