Thanks to the tireless work of domestic breeders, the cultivation of heat-loving eggplants in open ground can now be carried out by residents of regions with a cool climate. Variety Vera grows and bears fruit well in the Urals, in Siberia and even in the Far East. But to get a stable harvest you need to know some tricks that we will be happy to share with you.
History and description of Vera eggplant
Eggplant is a universal vegetable. It can be fried, stewed, pickled, baked. And the famous "raw" eggplant caviar? Surely every mistress has her own secret to cooking this wonderful snack. Vera eggplant is ideal for all types of cooking. This variety was created for cultivation in open ground in garden plots and household plots. Vera eggplant is also recommended for small farms.
Eggplant Vera is a domestic variety included in the State Register in 2001. Although eggplant is a heat-loving plant, the tolerance regions for Vera are not in warm areas. Vera is considered a cold-resistant variety recommended for cultivation in the Ural, West Siberian and Far Eastern regions.
Appearance
Vera eggplant bushes can be called high - 73 - 75 cm, but compact at the same time. And this is not the limit, sometimes the height of the plant can exceed 1 m. The bushiness of the bush is average. Leaves of medium size, with notched edges, green-purple hue. A cup of flower is covered with rare spikes. The usual weight of Vera eggplant is 125 - 181 g, less often larger fruits grow, weighing up to 300 g. The shape of the fruit is pear-shaped. The skin is purple, glossy. The pulp is whitish, dense, without voids, without bitterness. Taste is excellent.
Eggplant Vera - video
Grade characteristics
- Eggplant Vera belongs to the early ripening varieties - from the appearance of full germination to the moment of maturity, from 100 to 118 days pass. Technical ripeness occurs in August - early September.
- Resistance to cold weather is one of the advantages of the variety, which allows it to be grown in an unstable climate in open ground.
- Fruiting is stable. But you cannot name the high yield - 0.9 - 1.2 kg per m². The maximum figure is 2.9 kg.
- Commercial quality of fruits is high. The output of marketable products is excellent - 90 - 100%.
Grade Features
Vera is distinguished from many other varieties by its good cold resistance and stable yield. But productivity has low indicators, which does not allow the use of the variety on an industrial scale, such as, for example, Diamond, bringing up to 7 kg m².
Advantages and disadvantages - table
Advantages | disadvantages |
Early harvest | Inadequate yield allows you to grow grade only in private gardens or small farms |
Stable fruiting | |
Excellent commercial quality of fruits and high yield of marketable products | |
Cold resistance |
Landing Features
Vera eggplants can be grown in two ways - seed and seedlings. Directly in the soil, seeds are sown only in regions with a warm climate. During the growing season, the eggplant has time to develop and bring a crop. In cold regions where summers are short and cool, you need to grow a variety only in seedlings.
Sown seeds for seedlings in February or March. It all depends on the climate of the region. Before direct disembarkation into the ground, about 2 months should pass. Direct sowing of Vera eggplant seeds in open ground is carried out in mid-April or early May. Sowing is carried out when the soil warms up to 13 ° C.
In regions with unstable climates, it is best to plant a variety on a warm bed. The soil in it warms up quickly enough, and shelter on the box is easy to pull. Such a structure can easily be made with your own hands.
Warm beds with female hands - video
Care
It is quite easy to grow Vera eggplants, it is no more difficult than growing, for example, tomatoes. But the culture has some features, knowing which you can get a great harvest.
Watering
Vera eggplant is a hygrophilous plant; the soil on the bed should be in a moderately moist state. Overdrying is not permissible. It will lead to shedding of flowers and ovaries, but the fruits will not grow to the right size and the flesh will become wooden. Waterlogging can turn into diseases of the root system.
Water must be pre-heated in the sun with water. From cold eggplants begin to hurt and stop growing.
- Before flowering, eggplant bushes are watered once every 6 to 8 days at the rate of 12 liters per 1 m². In hot weather, the frequency doubles.
- When flowering begins, and then the fruiting period begins - the variety Vera needs to be watered 2 times a week, with the above amount of water.
Remember that weather conditions often affect your watering schedule. If in hot weather the frequency of humidification can increase, then in the presence of precipitation and cooling it will decrease.
To plant seedlings successfully rooted, it is watered often - every 3 days.
Top dressing
Eggplant Vera absorbs a lot of nutrients from the soil, especially during fruiting. The culture is most responsive to organics, but the plant can not do without mineral fertilizing.
- The first time top dressing is made in 15 - 20 days after transplanting seedlings into the ground. When grown in seedlings, they are fertilized after final thinning. On 1 m² of soil make:
- ammonium nitrate 10 g;
- potash fertilizers - 3-5 g.
- Instead of these fertilizers, you can use Ammofosku, Nitrofosku or Kristallin - 25 g per 1 m².
- Every 3 weeks, top dressing is repeated. But the amount of fertilizer already increased by 1.5, and in poor soils by 2 times.
Organic Fertilizer Application - Table
Application Period | What to feed | How to make fertilizer | Application rate |
Build-up period green mass | Dung grass tincture | Shredded leaves of dandelion, plantain and chopped nettle is placed in a 100-liter barrel. To 6 kg of raw materials add a bucket of mullein and 10 tbsp. l ashes. Fill with water mix and stand for a week. | 1 liter of solution per 1 bush. |
Fruiting period | Bird solution litter | For 100 liters of water 1 bucket of bird droppings in a porridge condition, 2 cups Nitrofoski. Insist 5 days. Before mix well using. | The application rate is 12 liters per 1 m². |
If the soil is nutritious, then you need not to overdo it with the addition of fertilizing, otherwise the plant will begin to "fatten" - that is, to build up green mass to the detriment of fruiting.
Formation
If the height of the Vera eggplant does not exceed 70 cm, and the plant itself has a strong stem, then you can do without support. The variety is distinguished by a compact bush, therefore, to form more fruits, the plant is formed into 3 to 5 stems, but at the same time, no more than 10 ovaries must be left. Usually stepsons are not a big problem of the variety, but if they appear, remove them without regret, as well as leaves growing below the first branch.
To stimulate the formation of ovaries, use the drug Bud or Ovary. To attract bees for pollination, the eggplant is sprayed with a weak sugar or honey solution.
How to shape eggplant - video
Diseases and Pests
During the growing season, due to improper care, Vera eggplant can suffer from various diseases. Most often, the elimination of errors (normalization of watering, feeding, elimination of thickening) corrects the situation and restores the normal development of the plant. But sometimes you have to resort to more radical methods. In addition to diseases, insects can harm eggplant. The most insidious of them is the Colorado potato beetle.
Blackleg
Most often, this dangerous disease manifests itself at the stage of development of seedlings. But the plants transplanted into the open ground are not immune from this danger. The stem at the base begins to darken, thins and becomes covered with a grayish coating. The plant gradually fades. If the disease penetrates the roots, the bush will die. Ideal conditions for the development of the disease is increased humidity, acidic soil, temperature changes.
To prevent fungal infection, the seeds are disinfected in preparation for sowing. You also need to remember that:
- before planting eggplant, acid soil is leached;
- nitrogen-containing fertilizers can cause a problem, so do not get carried away with them;
- crop rotation significantly reduces the risk of developing this disease.
If the black leg could not be prevented, urgently need to remove the affected plants along with the root lump and destroy. The hole is treated with a 1% solution of copper sulfate, or one of the biological products - Alirin, Glyocladin, Gamair or Trichocin. Apply according to instructions.
Late blight
This is the most common nightshade disease. First, the leaves are affected. Brownish-red spots appear on them, bordered by a light green stripe. Further, the disease captures the stems and fruits. Depending on weather conditions, late blight is manifested in different ways. In dry weather, the affected leaves dry out and quickly fall off. In raw - they are covered on the underside with a whitish coating. On peduncles with fruits brown-brown blurry spots appear. Morning mists, high humidity, thickened plantings and temperature spikes are the most favorable factors for the development of the disease.
To fight late blight, the following drugs are used:
- Quadris;
- Consento;
- Anthracol;
- a solution of 1% Bordeaux fluid;
- 0.2% solution of copper sulfate.
In order to prevent the need to comply with agricultural technology. Alternative methods also come to the rescue.
- after harvesting, all plant residues should be collected from the garden. If late blight is noticed on tomatoes or potatoes, treat the eggplants with the infusion of garlic - chop 200 g of the product, pour 3 liters of water and insist for several days. Before use, strain the tincture and dilute with clean water 1: 1;
- you can spray the bushes with milk diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 1.
Colorado beetle
This pest is familiar to many gardeners. The most dangerous are the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. It is they who are capable in the blink of an eye to destroy foliage, flowers and ovary, leaving only the stem from the eggplant. Of course, you can forget about the crop.
There are many ways to deal with the Colorado potato beetle. Very often the beetle is collected manually, but, as a rule, these actions do not bring the desired result. It is best to turn to folk methods or purchase chemicals in specialized stores. In addition, there are plants whose smell is unpleasant to the pest.
Folk remedies
Folk remedies are effective when the Colorado potato beetle is just beginning to appear and its quantity is too small.
- In 10 l of water add a glass of chopped garlic, stand for 4 days, filter and dissolve a little laundry soap in the infusion.
- A decoction of horsetail and dandelion. Shredded plants (1 glass each) pour 10 liters of boiling water and insist 2 days.
- 50 g of hot pepper pour 5 l of boiling water. Boil for 2 hours over low heat. Cool, filter and add 50 g of laundry soap.
- 1/2 capacity is filled with poplar leaves. Pour to the top with water and insist 4 days. Filter.
- Each eggplant bush is sprinkled with wood ash.
Chemicals
Chemicals are used when the pest has already multiplied. The following drugs are considered most effective.
- Decis;
- Karbofos;
- Fitoverm;
- Arrow;
- Keltan.
But it should be remembered that the Colorado potato beetle easily adapts to chemicals. Every year you need to use new tools, so you should follow the news.
Strong odor plants
The Colorado potato beetle does not like strongly smelling plants - marigolds, marigold, wormwood, celery. It is them that can be planted between eggplant bushes or laid out between rows.
Vera eggplant reviews
I planted Vera's eggplant in the garden under the arches with lutrasil. It ripens early. About 70-80 cm high. There were not many fruits on the bush, but large ones. There are seeds left. I will plant this year.
Natalya
//rudachnik.ru/baklazhan-vera-otzyvy
I grew in OG Veru and Bagheera. Bagheera bought this year, I liked it.
Hope AA
//dacha.wcb.ru/index.php?showtopic=14793&st=20
wrote about this variety, my germination was not very good, but there were a lot of seeds in the package, one bush came across a re-sorting. All plain in the photo - Vera. To taste normal, not bitter, there were not too many seeds either.
innaya
//www.forumhouse.ru/threads/296935/page-16
Vera eggplants are unpretentious. Therefore, to grow a healthy vegetable in the garden is not difficult. But how nice it is to observe the ripening fruits. And while Vera's eggplant ripens in the garden, the housewives have time to look for unusual recipes for its preparation.