How to properly grow eggplant seedlings at home
Proper cultivation of seedlings is the key to a good harvest in the future, so it is better not to buy seedlings, but to grow them yourself.
Eggplant is a rather capricious plant; when growing its seedlings, you will have to pay attention to the ground , temperature, water conditions and other requirements for this plant.
When to sow eggplants for seedlings?
From the moment of sowing to disembarkation of seedlings of eggplant, 55-60 days pass. If you plan to plant seedlings in a greenhouse, sowing can be done in mid-February. In the case of planting in open ground, eggplants should be planted for seedlings in the first half of March.
Rules for planting eggplants for seedlings
Soil preparation
The soil into which the seeds will be sown must be disinfected. To do this, you can bake it in the oven.
The root system of eggplant seedlings is very sensitive, so it is important to properly formulate the soil mixture. It is better not to buy soil, but to make it yourself. There are several well-proven cooking options. Choose the one whose components are available to you.
- Humus (8 parts), mullein with the addition of urea, potassium salts and superphosphate (1 part), sod land (2 parts).
- Peat (3 parts) + sawdust (1 part) - since the mixture contains no nutrients, any seedling solution should be added.
- Humus (2 parts) + sod land (1 part).
- Humus (2 parts) + peat (1 part).
Whichever option you choose, be sure to stir the mixture until smooth.
Seed preparation
2-3 weeks before sowing, check the seeds for germination: 10 seeds are soaked in warm water for a day, then placed on a moistened cloth or gauze folded in several layers. The seeds are kept up to 6 days in a warm place, keeping them moist, and then the number of germinated is counted.
Seeds with a germination rate of more than 50% are considered suitable for sowing.
Before sowing, the seeds should be disinfected. To do this, they are placed in a strong solution of potassium permanganate ("potassium permanganate") for 30 minutes. Recently, this drug has disappeared from pharmacies, so they can be processed thermally: pour hot water into a thermos (temperature 52-55 aboutC), place the seeds in gauze bags there for 30 minutes, then remove and cool for a few minutes in cold water.
In order to accelerate germination, seeds are left for a day in a warm nutrient solution (you can use special fertilizers or ordinary wood ash), and then soaked in clean warm water for 1-2 days.
Sowing eggplants for seedlings
You can grow seedlings in different containers: boxes, pots or cups.
When sowing in cups or pots, it is necessary to fill them with ¾ of soil mixture, sow seeds in the center, slightly moisten them with water and sprinkle with a thin layer of soil. After sowing, the cups should be covered with foil. The substrate should not be tamped to saturate the soil with oxygen.
When sowing in a box, it is filled with soil mixture by 7-8 centimeters and the eggplants are sown in furrows spaced 5 centimeters apart. Further steps are the same as for sowing in pots.
Eggplant seedling care
Until the first shoots appear, the containers in which the eggplants are sown should be kept under a film at a temperature of 25-30 aboutC. Seedlings should appear no later than a week later.After that, the seedlings are placed in a bright place and the temperature is lowered to 14-16 aboutC. If this is not done, then the seedlings will elongate, their root system will develop worse. This temperature regime should be adhered to the first week from the emergence of shoots. Then you should set the daytime temperature 16-26 aboutC, and night - 10-14 aboutFROM.
If the air humidity is low in a room with seedlings, the plants must be covered with a film.
Plants should be moistened moderately, being careful not to erode the soil. To exclude the defeat of the "black leg" it is better to do this in the morning, the temperature of the water or solution for irrigation should be in the range of 26-28 aboutFROM.
During growth, the seedlings should be rotated 2 times a week so that the seedlings do not stretch.
Top dressing of seedlings
When growing eggplant seedlings at home, you should alternate watering and feeding. If a nutrient-rich mixture was chosen as a growing substrate, and the seedlings are developing well, light feeding is carried out. To do this, 1 glass of tea leaves are poured with 3 liters of boiling water, infused for 6 days and the seedlings are poured with the resulting infusion. In the same way, you can insist finely chopped shells of 10 eggs.
If a mixture containing a large amount of peat and sand was chosen for growing seedlings, or the plants do not develop well, and their leaves turn light green, more substantial feeding is required.
You can use ready-made complex fertilizer for seedlings or prepare it yourself. To do this, mix superphosphate (1 teaspoon), potassium sulfate (1 teaspoon), complex fertilizer (2 teaspoons) and dissolve the mixture in 10 liters of water.
You can also use ordinary wood ash as a fertilizer for eggplant seedlings. It is carefully scattered in a thin layer on the surface of the soil, being careful not to get on the leaves and stems.
Dive seedlings eggplant
After 2 true leaves appear on the seedlings, the plants can be dived - planted in pots or cups 10x10 centimeters in size.
The containers must necessarily have openings at the bottom in order to avoid stagnant water. It is better to fill the pots with the same mixture in which the sowing was performed. Before diving, the soil should be watered with a solution of wood ash, potassium sulfate or complex fertilizer. For 10 liters of water, take 1 teaspoon of any of the fertilizers.
Seedlings are watered with water 2-3 hours before diving. Carefully select the seedling, trying not to damage the root ball, and with it the roots, transfer the plant to a new container and sprinkle the soil mixture over the cotyledon leaves. Attention: there should not be an exposed section of the stem between the cotyledon leaves and the soil.
After diving, the seedlings slow down their growth, at this time they form a more powerful root system. The first few days they need to be protected from direct sunlight, and if the seedlings are on the windowsill, cover the window with a newspaper.
The first watering is carried out 6 days after the dive. In the future, the seedlings are watered abundantly every 5-6 days.
Planting eggplant seedlings in open ground
A month before planting, the plants begin to harden: in the daytime they open a window or take the plants out into the fresh air. For 2 weeks, the seedlings are sprayed with a 0.5% solution of copper sulfate - this will protect the plants from fungal diseases.
At the time of planting, the plants should have 8-12 leaves.
Eggplants can be planted in the greenhouse in the second half of May, and in open ground - not earlier than the beginning of June.
Answer to the question: when to sow peppers for seedlings - read in this article!
Great article and video.
Many thanks! Very accessible recommendations. It is good that there are no "lyrical" digressions like: where does this plant come from, etc. Everything is laconic and clear
Thanks for the article, for the first time I took up the garden and seedlings in general, and out of 50 eggplant seeds, 34 things emerged on the 3-5th day, very strong and green))
I wrote a comment, went to check the seedlings, and there 10 more things hatched)))
so out of 50 seeds - 44 have sprouted !!! )) Thanks again for the detailed instructions))
And, which is very interesting, thanks for the information.
stupid article how interesting it is to set day and night temperatures
And why set the night temperature. In the room, the temperature during the day is not too different from the night values. In greenhouses at night the temperature drops by several degrees, which is not critical. Adhering to the temperature regime during the daytime, it is not difficult to adjust the night maintenance of seedlings. Only in case of night freezing is it necessary to additionally heat the room.
in February March people keep seedlings in the apartment
You can glue the window sill with foil, leaving yourself with access to the window. And thus regulate the temperature on the windowsill without affecting the house. And in an apartment it is even easier if there is a balcony.