How to grow eggplant seedlings at home

Growing seedlings Growing eggplant at home is a completely feasible task, even for a beginner, provided you approach the task not with a rush, but with thorough theoretical preparation. It's also worth considering that of all the nightshade vegetables, eggplant is the most finicky, especially during the seedling stage, but if you follow all the rules, your efforts will be rewarded with a bountiful harvest of this tasty and healthy vegetable. Before sowing the seeds for seedlings, you should prepare both the seeds and the soil.

Preparing eggplant seeds

— test landing;

It's worth noting that eggplant seed germination rates drop sharply depending on storage time. Therefore, two-year-old seeds should be tested for germination. If the germination rate is over 50%, they can be used for planting. Some stored seeds should be soaked and then germinated while still moist. This procedure should be performed one month before the main seed preparation. If you have seeds collected from last year's harvest, there's no need to test plant them, provided they have been stored properly.

— selection;

Prepare a 4% salt solution, pour the seeds into it, and let them soak for about five to ten minutes. Observe how many seeds float to the surface; these should be discarded. The remaining seeds that have sunk deeper into the solution are removed and dried.

— disinfection;

Selected seeds for growing eggplant seedlings at home (video) are placed in a cheesecloth bag and dipped in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15 minutes, then removed and dipped in a container of clean water to rinse. The seeds are then removed from the bag and dried.

Another method for disinfecting eggplant seeds before planting is to place them in a thermos filled with hot water, no hotter than 55°C, and leave for 4-5 hours. Find out. When to plant eggplant seedlings in 2016.

A third option for disinfection is to purchase a special fungicide, Fitosporin M or Vitaros, and follow the instructions for use.

- stimulation;

To ensure that seedlings will emerge quickly, before planting the seeds, they need to be "awakened" using a growth stimulant, which can be purchased at the store, such as "Energen."

Experienced gardeners use solutions rich in microelements to stimulate growth. The most popular are a water solution of wood ash and a mixture of water and aloe vera juice. The material chosen for growing eggplant seedlings at home from seeds is soaked in the growth stimulant solution for 12 hours, two to three days before planting the seeds.

- soaking, hardening, germination;

After completing the above procedures, the seeds are soaked in water at room temperature, after they swell, they are placed in a cold place with a temperature of 1-2 *C for 36 hours, or exposed to sudden temperature changes several times during the day.

After hardening, the seeds are laid out on a damp cloth, covered and left in a warm place for germination. When the sprouts reach a size of 5 mm, the seeds are sown for seedlings, having first prepared the soil and containers.

Soil preparation

This process involves two steps: preparing the soil mixture and then disinfecting it. These days, soil is a no-brainer; stores offer nutritious ready-made soil mixes for any crop, but if you want to save money, you can easily prepare a high-quality mix yourself.

Experienced gardeners distrust store-bought mixtures and prefer to grow eggplant seedlings at home (photo) in soil prepared according to their own recipe. However, the most popular and versatile soil is a mixture of peat, sand, and leaf mold, taken in a 2:1:1 ratio.

We recommend:What diseases can affect eggplants in a greenhouse and how to treat them?

Instead of sand, you can optionally add perlite and vermiculite. These two special soil additives promote optimal loosening, which increases aeration and reduces acidity. These additives prevent the soil from forming coarse, dense clumps that block oxygen supply to the roots, allowing them to spread freely and evenly throughout the substrate, which will certainly improve root development and the quality of the seedlings.

Once the mixture has been prepared, it should be disinfected using one of the following methods, which have been tested through experience:

- pour boiling water over the soil mixture;

- bake in the oven;

- steam in a steamer.

The prepared soil is spread into prepared containers or pots. However, given that eggplants have a very delicate root system, they don't tolerate transplanting well, and poor transplanting can reduce yields by up to 20%, it's better to sow the seeds directly into cups. If you choose this method, you can use peat pellets or cardboard cups, which you then plant the seedlings directly in. In this case, you'll need to be careful when watering, as soil that hasn't been absorbed by the root system can become a source of various diseases, including blackleg.

To protect yourself from this problem, you can use a method called "transplanting," where the seeds are planted in very small containers, such as eggshells, and then, at the time of transplanting, the root ball is transplanted into larger cups. When growing eggplant seedlings indoors, transplanting can easily be substituted for transplanting, with a greater guarantee of a high yield. Ensure drainage in the cups, add a small amount of prepared soil, and then "transplant" the root ball. You know, How to get rid of moles in your garden.

Planting seeds

The timing of eggplant seed planting is determined by the expected onset of consistently positive nighttime temperatures in your region, minus the 65-75 days required for the seedlings to reach the desired stage of development. For temperate climates, this timeframe is early June if planting outdoors, and early May if planting in a greenhouse.

Before planting, the mixture prepared at home should be fertilized with a small amount of complex fertilizers. To do this, the soil laid out in containers is watered with fertilizer prepared according to the description on the package.

Sprouted seeds are taken with tweezers and placed in cups or containers at a distance of at least 4–5 cm, sprinkled with a layer of dry soil 2–3 cm.

The entire planting is covered with film and placed in a warm place with a temperature of 25 - 30 C, as soon as the first shoots appear, the temperature must be reduced to 14 - 16 C, if you neglect this "trifle", the seedlings will be elongated with a weak, underdeveloped root system.

After a week, the seedlings are transferred to a new temperature regime, providing up to 26 C during the day and a maximum of 14 C at night.

From the first days, seedlings should be provided with additional artificial lighting, depending on the region, so growing eggplant seedlings at home in Siberia, provides for the presence of mandatory fluorescent lighting with a power of up to 80 W.

The seedlings should be rotated regularly to ensure all plants receive equal, favorable growing conditions. If you do decide to transplant them, provided they have 2-3 true leaves, then cover the seedlings with soil mixture up to the cotyledons.

Feeding seedlings eggplant in a greenhouse or in pots, it should also be carried out regularly, using either complex ready-made fertilizers or chicken manure prepared in a ratio of 1:15, as well as mullein in a ratio of 1:10.

The first feeding should take place 2 weeks after the emergence of seedlings, the subsequent feeding is carried out after 3-4 weeks.

Before planting outdoors, seedlings should be hardened off by exposing them to the air for a period of time, depending on weather conditions. Gradually increase the time the seedlings are exposed to the air, and they are planted in the ground when the plants have 8 to 12 true leaves.

So, having studied the material, we can conclude that growing pepper and eggplant seedlings at home is not such a difficult task, especially since these crops belong to the same family and all the recommendations are similar.