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For any gardener, vegetable grower or just an amateur farmer, physical labor in your favorite area is not a simple end in itself. Each of them strive to get a certain result from it. It can be an unprecedented harvest per unit area or a unique size vegetable, berry or root crop. But there may also be a plant unknown to this region, cultivated somewhere in the expanses of Africa or South America.
But when several similar options coincide – yield and size, early maturity and yield, taste and uniqueness of the variety, there is no limit to the pride of the garden master. Nothing like that happens when it comes to red eggplant. As a vegetable, it is unpresentable and low-yielding. Few people like its taste. The only thing that makes this eggplant stand out is that it is red and yet it is an eggplant.
How to grow
The common eggplant (Solanum melongena) is a perennial plant found in Africa or India. In the harsh conditions of the local climate, it is grown as an annual purple-colored vegetable. And when people, among themselves, talk about eggplant color, they mean exactly these color tones. It is not for nothing that its unofficial name – “blue ones” is no less popular than just eggplant. Cultivated plant because of the great taste and excellent yield.
The eggplant bush during the fruiting period is an indescribable sight. Up to 10 beautiful fruits weighing up to 500 g and over 300 mm long. few people will remain indifferent. In order to get such an eggplant crop and as early as possible, you need to work hard. After all, eggplants of any color and decorativeness are still southerners. During the period of its active growth and fruiting, and this is about 100 – 130 days, eggplants are quite capricious and demanding on growing conditions:
- plant growth temperature should be within 240 – 27.0. This means that the seedling method of growing eggplant cannot be avoided;
- the soil should be moist and rich in nitrogen;
- excessive humidity is unacceptable. Regular airing is a must;
- daylight hours – the maximum duration without shading;
- due to the large weight of the crop – the garter of the bushes of the plant is required. This is especially true for varieties with a bush height of more than 500 mm.
But if the eggplant is red
For a vegetable grower, all plants are like children. It does not matter at all what race they are, skin color and what genes they have. They all need care and love. They may be weak from birth, strong in their genetic potential, or painful due to poor acclimatization. Only the attention and love of parents will make them healthy and happy in the future.
This is also the case with red eggplants, but this is already Solanum aethiopicum. In other words, Ethiopian nightshade. These are the usual “blue”, but not eggplant. Although nature created them red, these are the same eggplants, with all the nuances of their cultivation. These plants are as sissy as their purple counterparts. In the same way they love heat, water and light. They love fertile soil and warm watering under the root. That’s just the taste and yield they were not entirely successful. But how beautiful.
Choosing a variety of red eggplant is very simple.
Ease of choice is associated not so much with the quality indicators of the variety, but with the scarcity of choice. And the choice itself is not made with the aim of stopping at a variety that guarantees an unprecedented harvest or ultra-short fruiting periods, but with the aim of growing a rare and beautiful plant with red eggplants. There are several such varieties of eggplant, excluding the seeds offered by Aliexpress:
“Red Raffeld”
Medium-sized bush, without thorns, up to 500 mm high. The plant is self-pollinating with flowers located in the axils of slightly pubescent leaves. Their size is close to the size of tomato flowers. The fruit ripening period reaches 140 days. Round eggplant fruits are collected in compact brushes. Up to 7 eggplants are formed in each of the brushes, with the constant growth of new specimens. The weight of each fruit does not exceed 100 g. As it grows, it changes color from green to red. It has a smooth, shiny skin and a familiar eggplant flavor. As it matures, the degree of bitterness increases.
“Japanese Red”
It has bushes of medium height, reaching 800 mm. in greenhouse conditions. The plant has no thorns, and the leaves are slightly pubescent. The flowers are located in the axils of the leaves, are similar in size to tomato flowers – self-pollinating. After pollination, it forms clusters of 7 eggplants. Fruit ripening occurs sequentially. They are about the size of tomatoes and weigh no more than 100g.
When ripe, the fruits change color from green to orange and then to red. Eggplant pulp has a pleasant yellowish color, light eggplant taste. Culinary processing is possible in the same way as with ordinary blue ones.
“Chinese lantern”
Small, compact bush up to 800 mm high. The plant has a long flowering – until the end of summer. The flowers are beautiful, star-shaped and quite large. The fruits of the plant resemble Chinese lanterns and look like tomatoes. He is a big fan of sunny, unshaded places.
Planted seedlings at the end of May. March seedlings of the plant can be obtained 2 weeks after planting. Prefers light humus soils;
“Dandy”
Small (up to 400 mm), strongly branched bush with a dense, strong crown. The plant is very hardy and stress resistant. It easily tolerates small shading. It withstands the conditions of conservatories and limited containers and vases. The plant bears fruit with small, bright red eggplants of a rounded shape.
The degree of bitterness of eggplant changes with the ripening of the fruit. Each vegetable grower chooses a sufficient degree of crop maturity for himself.
Seedlings are the basis of a beautiful plant and a good harvest
Like all eggplants, the red variety also has a very long growing season. To calculate the period of probable planting of plants, more than 115 days should be counted from the desired time for obtaining fruits. Therefore, the red eggplant cultivation schedule will look like this:
- seed selection, preparation and germination – the last days of February or the first days of March;
- planting seeds – early March;
- the appearance of the first shoots of the plant, hardening, culling and growing healthy seedlings – the end of March;
- top dressing, compliance with temperature and light conditions – April;
- transplanting plants into larger containers – April;
- preparation of places for permanent cultivation of red eggplant and the acquisition of covering material – mid-May;
- moving to a permanent place for growing plants and transplanting them, sheltering and ensuring a decent existence.
It is necessary to compare the possible climatic conditions during transplantation and the degree of seedling development by this time. But in any case, seedlings should not be less than 75 days old.
Conclusion
The presence of varietal diversity of plants in a cultivated garden is not only a guaranteed harvest of various crops. It is also a source of pride for the vegetable grower and the white envy of the neighbors. At the same time, the bright bushes of Chinese lanterns will once again remind you that man does not live by bread alone.