How to care for eggplant seedlings

Eggplants, like many garden crops, love light, heat and regular watering. Young sprouts are characterized by a slow rate of development, which is not suitable for growing in the climatic conditions of the middle lane. Growing seedlings will help to increase the result of survival and crop yields. First of all, it is necessary to select high-quality seed material, process and sow it. Further measures are aimed at caring for eggplant seedlings, on the correctness of which the development of plants depends.

Soil preparation for eggplant seedlings

The intensity of plant development depends on the fertility of the soil. Soil for growing eggplant seedlings is easier to buy at a specialized outlet. It is sold already with all micronutrients added. Alternatively, the soil is easy to prepare yourself.

Loose soil will allow moisture and oxygen to penetrate to the roots of plants. It is important to disinfect the soil before sowing.

Self-preparation of the soil involves mixing 1 part of peat, 2 parts of humus and adding half of this total mass of wood chips. You can improve the quality of clay soil by adding washed river sand. Not bad for eggplant seedlings is the land from the garden where cabbage or cucumbers used to grow. Disinfect the soil with boiling water. There are 2 ways here:

• the earth is doused with boiling water with densely dissolved manganese;
• the prepared soil is steamed with a sieve over boiling water for 30 minutes.

The simplest preparations are suitable for feeding. Wood ash is easy to make yourself by burning a few logs. In the store you only have to buy potassium, superphosphate and urea.

Preparing eggplant seed for planting

Eggplant grains begin to be prepared long before they are sown. It is important to determine the place of planting seedlings in order to know approximately the timing of preparation and sowing of seeds. If the planting of plants is supposed to be in the garden under the film, then the sowing falls on the third decade of March. With greenhouse cultivation of eggplant, sowing can begin in the third decade of February or early March.

Preparation of seed material provides for their disinfection. Eggplant grains are immersed in a saturated solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour, after which they are washed with clean water. The next treatment is aimed at accelerated germination. As growth stimulants, you can take store-bought solutions or prepare your own from 1 liter of water + 0,5 kg of boric acid. Good results are shown by a solution of 1 liter of water + 100 ml of aloe juice.

Sprouting will help speed up seedlings and protect yourself from sowing empty grains. Eggplant seeds are wrapped in a wet cotton cloth or gauze, placed on a saucer, covered with foil and placed in a warm place with a temperature of 25^оC.

Sowing eggplant seeds in the ground

For sowing eggplant seeds, small round or square plastic cups are best suited. You can’t save here, and it’s better to plant 3 seeds in each container. When the eggplant seeds germinate, the two weak shoots are removed, and the strong one is left to grow. Before sowing, the soil in cups is watered. You can take plain tap water, stand it for a couple of days and dissolve a few manganese crystals until a pale solution is obtained.

The germinated seed is carefully buried in the ground to a depth of about 2 cm. It is no longer necessary to water the ground, just cover all the sown cups with a film and put in a warm place. The sown germinated grains will hatch in 5 days. If the seeds were unprepared dry, seedlings should be expected on the 10th day. After the amicable manifestation of seedlings, the film is removed from the cups and taken out to a cooler place. However, you can’t overdo it. The temperature where eggplant seedlings will continue to grow should be a maximum of 5^оC below from the place where the cups with seeds stood immediately after sowing.

Organization of proper lighting for eggplant seedlings

Sprouted young eggplant sprouts from the first days need to be provided with intensive lighting. They get most of it through the window, however, this is not enough for seedlings of early February sowing. Winter daylight is short, and it is not enough for the full development of the plant. The problem can be solved by arranging artificial lighting.

Simple incandescent bulbs will not work here. The best results are shown by fluorescent and LED paws or a combination of both. They practically do not emit heat, but the lamps give a lot of light. It is important to maintain the maximum approach of the light source to the plant, which is 150 mm. Lighting is turned on approximately 2 hours before dawn, as well as at nightfall in the evening. It is easy to calculate the time for turning on and off the lamps, based on the fact that the daylight hours for eggplant seedlings should last at least 14 hours. Reducing the duration of lighting threatens with poor development of seedlings and late formation of buds.

The inclusion of lamps is recommended a few hours before dawn and after sunset, thereby increasing the duration of daylight hours up to 14 hours. Otherwise, eggplant seedlings develop less intensively, and flower buds on it will start much later.

Applying fertilizer to the soil

It is important to support young sprouts at the initial stage of their growth. For the first time, eggplant seedlings are fed after the appearance of two full leaves. You can wait until the third leaf grows. For top dressing, a solution is made from 1 liter of water, 1 g of potassium, 1 tsp. wood ash, 0,5 tsp. saltpeter and 4 g of superphosphate.

The second time the seedlings are fed with organic fertilizers 10 days after the first application of top dressing. Eggplant seedlings react instantly to organics, and after 3 days they are intensively growing. For the second feeding, you will need to prepare a solution of 1 part fermented chicken manure and 15 parts of water.

The third top dressing is considered the main one, which is performed 1 week before planting eggplant seedlings in the ground. Usually vegetable growers use superphosphate. This fertilizer is poorly soluble in water, so the solution is prepared in advance. For 1 liter of hot water, dilute 1 tbsp. l. fertilizers, and periodically stirring this liquid, wait about 1 day until the superphosphate is completely dissolved. The next day, a clean layer of water should form on top of the jar, which must be drained. The remaining saturated solution is diluted at the rate of 1 tsp. on a bucket of water, and feed eggplant seedlings.

Transplanting eggplant seedlings into large containers

If initially the seeds were sown in small containers with a diameter of up to 50 mm, after about a month there will be little space for the mature plants and they are transplanted into large glasses. Containers with a diameter of 80 mm and a wall height of up to 100 mm are optimally suited. In order not to damage the root system, the seedlings are watered abundantly before transplanting. Turning the cup over, the plant will easily come out with a clod of earth. It remains to place it in a new large container with earth, and then gently sprinkle loose soil on top.

Transplanted eggplant seedlings in large glasses are placed on the windowsill, while the glass is covered with white paper for 2 days. During this period, the plant requires moderate lighting.

Watering seedlings from the first days of her life

When growing eggplant seedlings, one must remember that newly hatched sprouts do not require watering. Slightly dried soil is enough to moisten from the sprayer with warm settled water. The first time sprouted seedlings are watered on the third day. The interval for further watering is set after 5 days. It is best to water the seedlings before lunch at about 11 o’clock in the afternoon. It is important not to wet the tender leaves of the plants and not to fill the soil until silt forms.

If the soil dries out faster due to the high temperature in the room, the seedlings are watered after 3 days. It is important to loosen the soil under each plant for oxygen access.

Hardening of seedlings

Indoor culture is very tender and is not immediately suitable for outdoor planting. Plants need adaptation to the external environment, which is achieved by hardening. The hardening process begins about 2 weeks before planting in the ground. Eggplant seedlings are taken out for a short time to a cold veranda or balcony, increasing the time of stay every day. If there is a greenhouse, seedlings for hardening can be taken out at the end of April. However, night frosts will still negatively affect the plants, so they are covered at night with an additional structure with an awning. During the day, the cover is removed.

Planting seedlings in their permanent place

The time of planting seedlings depends on the place of its cultivation. By this time, from 8 to 12 full-fledged leaves should form on the plant. When growing eggplants in a greenhouse, planting seedlings begins on May 5th. The same numbers are followed when landing in the open ground of the southern regions. For the northern and steppe regions, the optimal landing time is considered to be the middle and end of May, but it all depends on the weather conditions.

During planting, each plant is carefully removed from the cup so as not to disturb the soil clod with the root system. Thus, seedlings take root faster and immediately grow. Plants grown in pots will produce eggplant 25 days earlier than seedlings grown in boxes. When planting, observe the distance between rows – 700 mm, the spacing of each plant – 250 mm. If the seedlings were grown in a box, the plants are carefully removed and buried by 80 mm. Here it is necessary to pay attention that the root neck is deepened by 15 mm. After planting, each seedling is irrigated.

Care of planted seedlings

4 days after planting eggplant seedlings in the ground, all plants are examined. If poor survival is observed in some or the seedlings are generally dry, new plants are planted in their place.

In summer, eggplants are watered after about 9 days. During drought, the intensity of watering can be increased. After each watering, be sure to loosen the soil to a depth of 80 mm. On the 20th day after disembarkation, it is necessary to make the first top dressing of 100 g of urea per 10 m². The second time they are fed after 3 weeks after the first fertilization. On the same area, with the help of a chopper, 150 g of superphosphate and 100 g of urea are buried in the soil, after which the beds are watered.

The video shows the care of seedlings:

If everything was done correctly at the initial stage, healthy seedlings will bring a good harvest of eggplant. It is only important to protect the culture from the Colorado potato beetle, which loves to eat it very much.