Eggplant is tropical plants from the Solanaceae family native to Southeast Asia. At home they grow as perennials. Eggplants are probably the most beautiful and most difficult vegetables to grow. They are photophilous and heat-loving, but cannot tolerate overheating; moisture-loving, but cannot tolerate waterlogging. In addition, they cannot tolerate drafts.
Eggplants are plants with powerful, pubescent stems; they, like small trees with large oval leaves, decorate the garden. The stems, leaves and stalks of eggplant have sharp thorns. Regular eggplants produce shiny, dark purple fruits, but there are special decorative varieties with white, dark pink or yellow fruits.
❧ For. middle zone Russia has developed many varieties of eggplants not only purple, but also black, green, white, lilac-white. They also differ in shape - from round to thin cylindrical.
Most often, gardeners grow eggplants through seedlings, since eggplants require more than 100 days from germination to flowering. In central Russia, eggplants are usually grown in greenhouses, but recently this vegetable is increasingly being transplanted into open ground. The ability to grow eggplants in open ground is considered a great achievement among gardeners in central Russia.
Preparing eggplant seeds
Eggplant seeds that are stored correctly retain their quality and do not lose their ability to germinate for 3-4 years. But all this is true only if the seeds were stored in a cool (10-12°C) and dry place. Many seeds die even when briefly exposed to temperatures below zero.
Eggplants require 100-170 days for growth and development (from germination to harvest), depending on the variety:
Early ripening varieties - 110-120 days;
Mid-season varieties - 120-140 days.
Preparing eggplant seeds before planting
Usually, eggplant seeds germinate without special treatment only on the 14-21st day. If you prepare the seeds before sowing, you can achieve their accelerated germination.
For sowing, you need to select seeds according to specific gravity, remove small and deformed specimens. Seeds can be sorted by placing them in a 5% solution table salt(50 g of salt per 1 liter of water). The seeds should be kept in the saline solution for several minutes, stirring thoroughly.
Floating seeds must be discarded, the remaining ones must be thoroughly washed clean water.
Disinfection
To protect against viral diseases Eggplant seeds are disinfected for 20 minutes in a strong dark purple solution (1%) of potassium permanganate. After pickling, they are washed with cold running water.
Soaking eggplant seeds
After washing in cold running water seeds are washed in hot water in order to wash them off essential oil, which makes germination difficult.
The seeds are then soaked in a nutrient solution. To prepare a solution in 1 liter of water, you need to dilute 1 tsp. nitrophoska or wood ash, or liquid sodium humate, or “Ideal” fertilizer. The seeds are poured into fabric bags and, in this form, placed in any of these solutions for a day. After soaking, the bags are removed, the seeds are washed again and placed on a damp substrate so that they hatch.
If you do not intend to keep the seeds in a nutrient solution, then just before sowing they need to be soaked for 12 hours in warm water and then also placed on a damp substrate (this can be a wet napkin or a damp saucer).
Then the seeds are kept in a warm place at a temperature of 25°C until they hatch. In this case, you should constantly ensure that the substrate is damp.
Those seeds that have been stored for a long time, before soaking, need to be heated for at least 2 hours in water, placed in a bag, at a temperature of 45-50°C. You can warm the seeds in a thermos, also placing them in a bag. This technique significantly increases the germination of old seeds.
Hardening of eggplant seeds
If you plan to grow eggplants in open ground, it will be useful to harden the seeds at variable temperatures. For the hardening procedure during the day, the swollen seeds are kept warm (18-20°C). They are placed in the refrigerator overnight (3-5°C). Thus, you need to keep the seeds either warm or cold for 3-5 days. This technique significantly increases the resistance of plants to cold and allows you to get better returns from an early harvest.
Choosing soil for growing eggplant seedlings
Eggplant seedlings can be grown in a greenhouse. Greenhouse soil should consist of turf soil and humus, the components are taken in a ratio of 2: 1. Superphosphate is added to the mixture at the rate of 5 tbsp. for 5 kg of mixture. First, you need to lay a layer of manure 50-60 cm thick in the greenhouse for heating. Greenhouse soil is poured on top of the manure in a layer of 15-16 cm.
If the seedlings are to be grown at home in boxes, then the soil mixture for them can be purchased in specialized stores or prepared independently. There is more than one cooking option soil mixture for growing eggplant seedlings:
2 parts of light turf or garden soil and 1 part of humus, add 5 tbsp. l. wood ash and superphosphate for every 10 kg of mixture;
1 part sand, 2 parts light garden soil and 3 parts peat. Pre-steam all components;
1 part sand, 4 parts light turf soil, 5 parts peat;
1 part sawdust, 3 parts peat and 0.5 parts mullein solution diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 5.
If the soil mixture does not contain wood ash and mineral fertilizers, then for every 10 kg of the mixture you need to add 40 g of superphosphate and potassium salt, 10 g of ammonium nitrate.
❧ For eggplants, only radishes are suitable as a predecessor or inter-row compacting crop. When sowing radishes as an inter-row crop, sowing should be completed approximately two weeks before planting eggplants, so that it can be removed in a timely manner.
The root system of eggplants is very capricious; it does not tolerate transplantation well, after which it is difficult to recover and lags in growth. Therefore, in order to preserve the root system, many gardeners grow seedlings in peat pots measuring 66 mm in diameter. For this case, prepare a special soil mixture: 2 parts turf soil, 8 parts humus, 1 part mullein with the addition of 1 tbsp. l. urea, potassium salt and superphosphate.
Sowing eggplant seeds
An early harvest of eggplants can be obtained if you correctly determine the time of sowing seeds for seedlings. You can sow eggplant seeds in a greenhouse and grow seedlings in pots here before planting them in the ground. Typically, eggplants from seedlings are grown in unheated greenhouses or under film covers. The timing of sowing seeds in both cases is no later than mid-February. Optimal time for sowing eggplants for seedlings - this is the beginning of February, its first and second decades. Of course, a lot depends on the local climatic and weather conditions. You can sow eggplant seeds for seedlings in March with the expectation that after 55-60 days the plant will be planted in the planned location. Often, beginning gardeners sow seeds late: at the end of March or beginning of April, in this case the eggplants begin to bloom towards the end of summer, so the fruits do not have time to ripen.
When growing eggplant seedlings without picking, the hatched seeds should be planted in containers with a diameter of 8-10 cm, 2-3 at a time. They are planted at a depth of 1-2 cm and at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other. In the future, you can leave one of the strongest sprouts. The seeds are sprinkled thin layer soil and water with warm water.
The minimum permissible temperature for good germination of eggplant seeds is 15°C, at optimal temperature 20°C seeds sprout approximately on the 10th day of planting. But it is best to maintain a constant temperature at 22-25°C during seed germination. Then, when sowing with hatched seeds, you can expect the emergence of seedlings on the 4-5th day. If ungerminated seeds were sown, seedlings will appear on the 8-10th day.
Soaking the seeds of tomatoes, peppers, and carrots in disinfectant and nutrient solutions is a common thing and a tradition. But if for the first time you decide to plant in the country eggplant, doubts arise: a Are their seeds soaked before planting?? Definitely yes! Eggplant seeds too needed pre-sowing treatment - for disinfection, enrichment with microelements, for hardening. Soaking will ensure the appearance of friendly, strong shoots and healthy seedlings in the future.
Processing eggplant seeds: stages
- Calibration
- Soaking for disinfection (disinfection).
- Warming up and hardening by cold.
- Soaking to enrich with nutrients and trace elements.
- Germination until biting.
Calibration
Seed calibration is carried out in order to reject light, hollow seeds and select full-bodied, high-quality specimens for planting. To do this, prepare a 3% salt solution (10 g of salt per 250 ml of water). Dip eggplant seeds into it and mix with a spoon. After literally 2 minutes, the seeds will get wet. Some of the seeds will sink to the bottom, the other part will float. Those that float up are removed with a spoon and thrown away. Seeds that have sunk to the bottom are washed in clean water and continue to prepare for sowing.
How to soak eggplant seeds. Disinfection
Traditionally, it is recommended to soak eggplant seeds in potassium permanganate or hydrogen peroxide for disinfection.
Potassium permanganate. Prepare a 1% pink solution and immerse the seeds in it for 15-20 minutes.
Hydrogen peroxide . Prepare a 2% solution and soak future eggplants in it for 5 minutes.
The purpose of this soaking is to protect plants from viral, fungal and bacterial diseases. Regardless of which method you choose, after the procedure the seeds should be rinsed well in clean water.
Warming up
Conducted in drying cabinet. The seeds are kept at a temperature of 50 degrees for 5 hours.
Cold hardening
Cold hardening is no less useful. It makes plants more resistant to low temperatures. How to harden:
- First, the swollen seeds are kept at room temperature (+20-24 degrees) for 12 hours (during the day).
- Then planting material placed in the cold (+ 2-7 degrees) for 12 hours (overnight). The bottom shelf of the refrigerator will do.
Such manipulations are performed for 10 days.
How to soak eggplants. enrichment with microelements
In order to enrich them with useful substances, the seeds are soaked in a solution of growth stimulants for 12-24 hours at room temperature (20-25 degrees).
Germination -
the last stage of processing eggplant seeds before planting seedlings. You can germinate seeds in water or in a fertilizer solution.
Fertilizer solution. The seeds are placed in fabric bags and dipped in the following solution for 24 hours: 2 tbsp. l. wood ash per 1 liter of water (mix well until dissolved). Then the bags are taken out, sprinkled with clean water and placed on a saucer. It is enough to keep the seeds there for another 1-2 days at a temperature of 24 degrees until they bite. It is not necessary for all the seeds to hatch; 5 percent is enough. The hatched seeds can be sown. As a rule, they sprout within 5-6 days.
In water. The seeds are laid between layers of damp gauze and kept there for 1 – 2 days. As the gauze dries, it needs to be moistened. When 5 percent of the seeds have hatched, you can start sowing. It happens that 2 days are enough for the seeds to hatch, but in some cases it takes longer - from 5 to 8 days.
How long should you soak eggplant seeds?
It depends on the method of pre-sowing treatment:
- Soak eggplant seeds in potassium permanganate for 15-20 minutes, and in hydrogen peroxide for 5 minutes.
- Seeds are kept in growth stimulants for a day or half a day (12-24 hours).
- Soaking for the purpose of germination just before sowing can last from 1 to 8 days (depending on the germination of the seeds). As soon as 5 percent of the seeds hatch, you can sow. Seeds hatch en masse only on the 5th - 8th day.
Eggplants have long received permanent residence on our garden plots. The taste qualities and usefulness of this representative of the nightshade family are appreciated by most gardening lovers. At the same time, gardeners are well acquainted with the vagaries of the vegetable, its whimsicality and demanding care. Problems can arise at any stage of cultivation, including during planting and the appearance of the first shoots. Healthy and high-quality seedlings are the key to the future harvest. Good start can minimize many further complications. Let's consider the main issues related to growing eggplant seedlings at the emergence stage.
Timing of appearance of first shoots
With properly organized planting and creation of comfortable conditions, eggplant seeds germinate 7–10 days after sowing. The speed of germination depends on many factors. The main one is favorable temperature conditions. It is recommended to place containers with sown seeds in a room with an air temperature of at least +25 o C.
Important! If the temperature is from +15 to 18 o C, then the seeds can sprout, but they will have to wait much longer.
When sowing eggplants, you should also pay attention to the planting depth. If seed material is placed more than 1.5–2 cm into the soil, there is a risk of seedling death. If the outcome is favorable, the first shoots will appear much later than the specified period.
The optimal depth for planting eggplant seeds in the soil is 0.5–1 cm
Why don't sprouts appear?
If the eggplant sprouts did not appear at the appointed time, then first of all it is necessary to find the cause of this problem in order to prevent the mistake from reoccurring. There may be several main reasons for the non-germination of seeds:
How to speed up the germination of eggplant seeds
To grow seedlings, eggplant seeds are planted approximately 75–80 days before subsequent planting in the ground: 7–10 days are needed for the seeds to germinate; a time period of 65–70 days is considered optimal for transplanting to a permanent location. If for some reason the planting deadlines are not met, then it is better to play it safe and take measures to speed up seed germination. To reduce the risk of unsuccessful sowing, experienced gardeners advise:
Seed stimulation
The use of the stimulation method reduces the interval from sowing to the first shoots by several days. Most often, they use simple soaking in a solution of a suitable growth stimulant, which is offered in a wide range by retail chains. These are Energen, Epin-extra, Zircon, Novosil, Ribav-extra and others.
Photo gallery: preparations for stimulating the growth of eggplant seeds
The drug has flexible application periods and can be used on almost all crops in open and protected ground without violating established growing technologies 
After treatment with Epin-extra, seeds germinate faster, plant resistance to frost and disease increases 
Zircon increases the germination of seeds, improves the rooting of seedlings Novosil is a highly effective natural preparation obtained from Siberian fir needles, which has a growth-regulating, fungicidal effect 
Energen is used for soaking seeds, used for spraying seedlings of flower and vegetable crops
Note! Before soaking the seeds in stimulants, it is recommended to keep them in water to swell. For these purposes, it is better to use not simple, but melt water room temperature.
To speed up the emergence of seedlings, you can also use natural growth stimulants:
- aloe juice Select succulent leaves of the plant and place them in freezer for freezing. After this, the greens are chopped (without using metal objects) and squeeze out the juice. Before use, the juice is diluted with water in a 1:1 ratio. It is recommended to keep the seeds in aloe solution for 4–6 hours;
Aloe juice improves seed germination and increases plant immunity
- infusion of onion peels and ash. A handful of onion peels and a teaspoon of ash are poured hot water, insist for three days, filter. The eggplant seeds are soaked in the resulting infusion for 2–4 hours;
Onion-ash infusion enriches seeds with essential minerals and trace elements
- to prepare a honey solution, dissolve one teaspoon of honey in a glass warm water and soak the seeds in it for 5–6 hours.
Honey solution has long been used as an effective growth stimulant.
Important! To stimulate seedlings, only one of the proposed methods is used. The exposure time in the growth stimulator should not exceed 8 hours.
Video: pre-sowing treatment of seeds with biological products to stimulate germination
Germination of seeds
The seed germination procedure accelerates the emergence of seedlings. It is most reliable to carry it out in containers with wet sawdust. This material is convenient because the fragile roots are not damaged when removed before planting.
Note! If you choose fabric, gauze or cotton pads for germination, then planting the seeds in the ground should be done immediately after they hatch, without waiting for the roots to grow, which can grow into the tissue and break off when removed.
For germination, stimulated seeds are placed between layers of selected moistened material and placed in a warm place (+25–27 degrees). It is necessary to constantly ensure that the material does not dry out. At night, containers can be covered with cellophane film. This will create an additional greenhouse effect and protect the seeds from drying out. During the day, the cellophane cover can be removed.
Eggplant seeds will hatch 5–7 days after soaking
Important! If there is too much liquid in the container, the seeds will inevitably die from too much moisture and lack of air!
Seedling care
To grow strong and healthy eggplant seedlings, which will successfully take root in the future permanent place, it is necessary to properly care for the emerging shoots.
Temperature conditions for eggplant seedlings
- if before the emergence of seedlings it was necessary to maintain a temperature within 22–27 degrees Celsius, then after the emergence of sprouts it is recommended to reduce the temperature to +15–17 o C and keep the seedlings in the specified mode for a week. At this temperature it will strengthen and develop root system seedling;
- after a week or two, the daytime temperature is raised to the original level. It is recommended to stay at +25–27 o C during the day and around +15–17 o C at night on sunny days. In cloudy weather, the daytime temperature should be +20–22 o C.
Strong and healthy seedlings can be grown provided the correct temperature regime
When placing containers with seedlings on window sills, difficulties may arise due to the cold of frozen windows or excess heat from heating radiators. Therefore, you should provide protection from cold glass (do not place containers close to the glass, make a layer of foam rubber or other insulation), and heating battery cover with a thick cloth to distribute heat evenly.
Watering seedlings
It is very important to properly water the emerging eggplant seedlings. If possible, use melted or rainwater, heated to room temperature. Tap water needs to be settled. Water the seedlings as the soil dries out, usually once a week.
The room where the seedlings are kept should not be too dry, because eggplants are southern plants, so they do not like dry air. Air humidity is increased by spraying or installing open containers with water. The room is periodically ventilated, avoiding drafts.
The emerging seedlings are watered carefully, without eroding the soil and without exposing the delicate root part of the stem
Important! Excessive humidity is harmful to seedlings, as it contributes to the development of many diseases, including blackleg.
Lighting requirements
When organizing illumination, one should proceed from the fact that an excess of light is not harmful to seedlings; problems arise when there is a lack of it. It is best to place containers with seedlings on windowsills facing south. Here the seedlings will receive a sufficient amount of light and will not need additional lighting.
Important! When placed on the south side of the window, it is recommended to cover it with gauze, which will protect young plants from sunburn.
On the window sills of the eastern and western windows, the seedlings will have to be additionally illuminated with fluorescent lamps. It is better not to place eggplant seedlings on northern windowsills. Lack of lighting will lead to stretching of seedlings and diseases.
Eggplants need a lot of light to grow properly.
Note! Every 2-3 days, unfold the containers with seedlings on the windowsill so that all the sprouts are evenly illuminated and receive a sufficient amount of light and solar heat.
Competent feeding
Well-amended soil for sowing seeds can provide small seedlings with sufficient nutrients. If eggplant seedlings have green, velvety leaves, they are strong and stocky, then excess feeding can only harm them: it will stimulate too active growth and early budding. Insufficiently strong seedlings can be fed a week after emergence with phosphorus fertilizers (25 g per 10 liters of water), which will have a beneficial effect on the growth of the root system of the seedling.
Fertilizing is carried out with fertilizers diluted in water and only after watering.
When the first true leaves appear, you can feed the seedlings with nitrogen-potassium fertilizers, which will stimulate plant growth and protect them from most diseases:
- potassium nitrate (a tablespoon per 10 liters of water);
- ammonium nitrate (1 tablespoon) + potassium sulfate (2 tablespoons) per 10 liters of water.
Pulling eggplant seedlings: elimination and prevention
High-quality and healthy eggplant shoots should look squat and strong. If the seedlings have stretched out, then you first need to establish the reason why this happened. All problems are concentrated in the influence of external factors, since neither pests nor diseases of eggplants provoke the stretching of seedlings. Most often, seedlings are stretched due to violation of the rules of lighting, temperature conditions, watering and fertilizing, as well as the density of crops.
Pulling seedlings is not a disease, but it entails the most unpleasant consequences
Note! Stretching of eggplant seedlings can be a consequence of one of the listed reasons, or a combination of them.
Table: reasons for pulling eggplant seedlings and ways to solve problems
| Reason for pulling seedlings | Solution |
| Increased air temperature | Reduce the 24-hour temperature of seedlings to +17–18 o C |
| Poor lighting | Observe lighting conditions. Can be used additional lighting ultraviolet lamps or install mirrors so that reflected sunlight hits the plants |
| Excessive watering | Normalize the watering regime for seedlings |
| Lack of nutrition | Use a well-seasoned soil mixture for sowing. Providing balanced feeding of seedlings in a timely manner |
| Irrational application of fertilizers | Plants that are stretched may be a sign of too much potassium in the soil. |
| Incorrectly selected volume of landing tank. In cramped conditions, the growing root system does not have enough space for normal development, it feels uncomfortable, and this negatively affects the seedling. | If the volume of the planting container is clearly insufficient, transplant the seedlings |
| Planting density | Thin out the crops. The optimal time for thinning is the formation of the second true leaf |
| Acidic soil | Prepare the soil mixture for seedlings in advance and correctly. Add wood ash or dolomite flour to it. |
The following measures can help stop the stretching of seedlings:
- pinching the growth bud above the second true leaf;
- filling in a container of well-heated and dry earth. It will help the plant take root better and the stretching will stop. If there is no free space in the container, you can build up the walls of the planting container using dense polyethylene or a parquet backing.
Note! The possibility of seedlings being pulled out is easier to prevent than to eliminate the consequences of this phenomenon.
Video: pulling seedlings and how to deal with them
To get a good harvest of eggplants, you need to work hard on growing healthy, strong seedlings. Certain efforts and following the basic rules will protect you from problems and lay the foundations good harvest tasty and valuable vegetable.
Growing eggplants has an incredible advantage over other garden crops. These vegetables have unique shapes, sizes, a range of aromas, and most importantly, a varied palette of colors.
If you like to plant classic eggplants, you can choose regular ones, seeds, or buy ready-made seedlings at the market. However, if you are not used to denying yourself and love abundance and assortment in your garden, look for extraordinary, colored eggplants. Plants can grow in the most unusual colors, such as red or white. Striped eggplants are often found.
In any case, the rules for planting eggplant seeds for seedlings are similar.
Preparatory work and planting seeds for seedlings
First of all, an experienced gardener tests seeds for germination. The seeds are wrapped in cloth; you can use a cotton bag that holds about a dozen seeds. The matter is immersed in warm water at room temperature for about a day, then the temporary housing is moved to a plate, the seeds are germinated for about 3-5 days, maintaining moisture.
If 50 out of 100% show signs of life, then planting eggplant seedlings will be a success. Most non-hybrid seeds require preliminary disinfection. Potassium permanganate remains the most common and accessible method.
Preparing eggplant seeds for seedlings:
- Seeds for planting eggplant seedlings are left in a solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour;
- Rinse with clean water
- Place in a nutrient composition: add a spoonful of wood ash, fertilizer or nitrophoska to a liter of water.
After a day, the seeds are removed and transferred to a saucer until germination. Thanks to preliminary work, the time for planting seedlings in the ground can be easily reduced - the seeds sprout within a week after sowing.
Hardening of eggplant seeds
For better germination and frost resistance, eggplant seeds for seedlings are hardened. To do this, after treatment with nutrients:
- the seeds are moved to the place of the “fruit” drawer of the refrigerator, where they spend two days
- return to room conditions for a day
- are sent to the refrigerator for the previous period
- They move to a warm place, from where they are immediately transplanted into prepared soil. All this time, a moderate water balance must be maintained.
When planting seeds in mid to late March, use additional light sources. The lamp power is selected up to 80 watts, the optimal daylight hours for eggplants are at least 12 hours. At night, the seeds should “sleep” with the lights off. February seed sowing, aimed at early dates Planting seedlings, provided there are bright windows, does not require lighting.
Carefully planting eggplants for seedlings is not the only task a skilled gardener will have to do. To obtain a good harvest, numerous factors must be taken into account. Eggplant is a delicate plant that should be approached with trepidation. Therefore, do not be lazy to choose a high-quality soil mixture or create it yourself.
An excellent choice for soil mixture for eggplants would be turf soil, peat, and humus. Mix peat and humus in equal parts, add the germinated seeds into neat grooves, place the seeds every 2 cm, water to a depth of a centimeter and get strong seedlings in a month and a half.
Eggplant picking:
- water the seedlings in 2.5-3 hours
- use peat pots, plastic dishes from sour cream, ice cream
- fill with nutrient soil mixture
- moisten the soil
- place the plant in the hole up to the first leaves
Eggplant is a favorite crop of many summer residents when it comes to its consumption. Homemade eggplant caviar, stew, stuffed eggplants... It’s not difficult to dispose of the “little blue” harvest. This crop causes difficulties when growing it. On the thorny path from seed to eggplant, the gardener faces many pitfalls. The first of these is seeds.
You need to choose seeds depending on the area in which you are going to grow the crop.
- Firstly, these must be zoned varieties. Because only they can ripen under the climatic conditions given by the nature of your area.
- Secondly, it is always better to purchase hybrids. This seed has accelerated germination and can resist diseases and pests.
- Thirdly, be sure to look at the packaging dates of the seeds and their expiration date. Do not waste your time and energy on sowing expired material - germination will be low and the seedlings will not be viable.
- Fourth, choose seeds prepared for planting in a special way - panned, granulated, glazed, encrusted. Around such seeds there is a special shell, which contains all the substances necessary for the seed to germinate. This is a real “energy bomb” that you just need to sow and water. In addition, treated seeds do not need to be prepared for sowing.
But, as practice shows, most summer residents prefer to use classical methods and prepare seed material for sowing on their own. For them - full cycle preparation, compliance with all stages of which guarantees good germination, strong seedlings, hardy healthy plants, big harvest.
Calibration
Eggplant seeds are medium in size compared to the seeds of other garden crops. They are distinguished by their relative “sameness.” The seeds are not exactly the same, but close to it. There is no such difference in size as, for example, in cucumber seeds. But it is still necessary to calibrate the seeds. For what? Seeds of the same size, planted in the same container, will sprout amicably, will develop at the same speed, will be ready for planting at the same time and will not choke or suppress each other during the growth process.
Advice! This does not mean that small seeds should be thrown away and only large ones should be sown. Large, small, and medium-sized ones are sown, but in three different containers (if they are containers) or in different cups in groups.
What is subject to mandatory culling are deformed seeds, painted in a different, unnatural color, with spots, moldy. Typically, seeds sold in stores are calibrated at the packaging stage.
Validity check
Like cucumbers, eggplants are checked for the suitability of the seed material for planting by soaking in a three percent saline solution. For a glass of water, this is about a heaped teaspoon. Stir the salt thoroughly so that no sediment remains. Then put the seeds into the solution in a free wide container (not in a glass). You can stir if any air bubbles form to get rid of them. The seeds that float up are empty - they do not contain a plant embryo and are not suitable for sowing. The rest are washed with water, dried and sent to the next preparatory stage.
Advice! It happens that absolutely all the seeds float up. Blaming unscrupulous manufacturers, summer residents throw them away and go for new ones. Do not hurry. Perhaps due to non-compliance with storage conditions, the seeds are overdried. Try to germinate them.
Germination
This preparation method is usually applicable to slow-germinating seeds larger than average in size, which eggplants are not. But if you want to germinate them, you can use the same method as when germinating seeds of all garden crops. The seeds, washed from the saline solution, are placed on gauze. The gauze is placed in a flat container (tray, saucer) and moistened generously with water. The seeds should be inside the gauze, the fabric should not dry out, the germination temperature is high (it is best to place the container on heating device or near it), but not higher than +45° C. When sprouts appear (or do not appear), check germination at the same time.
Disinfecting measures
If the seeds are not treated by the manufacturer and do not have a special shell, disinfection is mandatory. There are many methods for this. The most proven and traditional of them is potassium permanganate. There are several misconceptions about this and mistakes that inexperienced gardeners make.
- The more saturated the solution, the better the disinfection. No. The solution should be one percent. It has a fairly rich, but not dark purple color. Otherwise, the embryo inside the seed will simply die.
- The longer you keep it, the more germs will be destroyed. No. Eggplant seeds should be in the solution for no more than twenty minutes.
- If the soil is disinfected, the seeds do not need to be disinfected. Pathogenic bacteria are often carried by the plant embryo. Therefore, tillage will only protect the surface of the seeds, which is not enough.
Stimulation
If you don’t want to bother with germination, it makes sense to use growth stimulants. Yes, stimulants are “chemicals”, but they have an aggressive effect chemicals they cannot be attributed. These preparations promote the accumulation of nutrients for better seed germination. They do not harm plants. But the benefits from them can be enormous and multifaceted.
Video - Tricks for sowing eggplant seeds for seedlings
What are stimulants and growth regulators?
Heteroauxin
WITH contains potassium salt. Available in tablets. Promotes rapid germination seeds, the growth of new roots and adventitious roots, the appearance of baby bulbs in bulbous flowers, the formation of new tubers in corms.
Kornevin
Root growth stimulator "Kornevin"
Similar to heteroauxin, it can also be produced in tablets or powder. This drug is actively used when planting young seedlings of fruit and ornamental shrubs, trees, roses. Kornevin also helps any cuttings to take root and brings the bulbs of hyacinths, tulips, daffodils, gladioli, begonia tubers and dahlias out of dormancy.
Zircon
Contains hydroxycinnamic acid. It not only stimulates seed energy, root formation and growth, but also promotes abundant flowering, and also increases plant disease resistance. Zircon protects plants from damage by phytopathogenic bacteria and viruses. When zircon is used, the synthesis of chlorophyll in plant tissues is activated, and it also protects cells from harmful ultraviolet radiation. For better effect, zircon is used together with the preparations heteroauxin or kornevin. C and B1 and charcoal are added to the solution.
Epin
An alcohol solution of epibrassinolide, similar in action to plant phytohormones. It is very good for soaking seeds for further cultivation V unfavorable conditions or on controversial soils.
Treatment of plants with stimulants occurs in two ways. If the drug is in powder, the roots, bulbs or cuttings are dipped in water and then in the powder. The seeds are sprinkled with powder. You can prepare a solution from tablets (as well as from powder) and immerse the plants in it for the time indicated in the table.
Hardening
It is necessary to harden the seeds only if you are going to grow eggplants in open ground and sow the seeds when it is still cold. In this case, they are placed in gauze, moistened and kept in the cold for two days (optimally zero degrees). In the case of growing seedlings at home, the seedlings will need to be hardened off before planting in holes in open ground.
Eggplants should not be grown by sowing in open ground. Our summer is not enough for the harvest to fully ripen. The crop can be grown by sowing in a protected greenhouse soil. This will give a fifty percent guarantee of the harvest. The best option is to grow seedlings indoors and plant them in protected soil. In this case, you can get 100% return from the seeds. But first you need to choose the right seeds. And then carefully prepare them for sowing.
