Content
Maria is an early ripening variety of eggplant, bearing fruit already in the fourth month after planting it in the ground. The height of the bush is sixty to seventy-five centimeters. The bush is powerful and spreading. Requires a lot of space. You should not plant more bushes of this variety than three bushes per square meter.
The fruits are medium in size, weighing two hundred to two hundred and thirty grams. They are good for industrial cultivation, as they have a beautiful, even shape, resembling a cylinder, and approximately the same weight. The skin is a beautiful purple color. The white flesh is devoid of bitterness.
The Maria variety is high-yielding. Unlike the Almaz variety, it consistently produces high yields. You can get up to eight kilograms of fruit per meter.
The variety is intended for both open beds and for growing in greenhouses and film shelters. The main advantage of this eggplant variety, in addition to high yield, is resistance to nightshade diseases and a calm reaction to temperature changes.
Agricultural technology
To grow eggplant, the soil is prepared in the fall. The best predecessors of eggplant are cabbage, legumes, cucumbers and carrots.
As “relatives,” eggplants are susceptible to the same diseases as other nightshades.
You will need to choose a place for planting that is windless and well-warmed by the sun.Eggplants do not like strong winds, but they love warmth very much, being southern plants by origin.
Peat and fresh manure are added to well-dug beds and left for the winter. During the growing season, eggplants really need potassium and phosphorus, so they will be grateful if you add about half a kilogram of ash per square meter or potassium salt with superphosphate to the organic matter. On average, one hundred grams per unit area.
When preparing the soil in the fall, you need to carefully select the roots of perennial plants. weed. At the same time, in the fall, you can add straw cuttings or sawdust to the soil. If the site has heavy soil, you can add sand. Eggplants prefer light loam and sandy loam soils.
Early and mid-ripening varieties are most often planted in open ground, since eggplant is considered a long-growing crop and may not have time to ripen before the cold weather.
The Maria variety, being an early ripening variety, fully meets these requirements. Eggplant can be planted in open ground, but it is advisable to do this in southern regions with long summers. To the north, the variety is more profitable to grow in greenhouse conditions.
It is also worth considering that although the fruits of the Maria variety are not large, with a large harvest the bush may need to be tied up.
Eggplant seeds must be prepared for planting. The seeds are disinfected in a solution of potassium permanganate, after which they are soaked in a nutrient composition for a day.
It happens that the seeds have been sitting for too long and have lost a lot of moisture. Such seeds can be placed in oxygen-enriched water for a day. Sounds scary. In fact, this will require a regular aquarium compressor.The seeds are placed in a container of water and the compressor is turned on.
Next, the seeds can be placed in pre-prepared pots with soil. You can pre-germinate them in a damp cloth at an air temperature of twenty-five degrees. After five to seven days, it will become clear which seeds have sprouted. The hatched seeds need to be transplanted into the ground, the rest should be thrown away.
From such a glass, a young eggplant will later be transplanted into the ground directly with a lump of earth.
Eggplants are usually planted in a mixture of turf and peat. Options for humus with turf or humus with peat are possible. Basic requirements: a large amount of organic matter, the ability to retain moisture without waterlogging the soil. Soil acidity 6.5 – 7.0.
If garden soil from your own garden was used as an impurity, then the soil must be disinfected. This can be done by calcining the soil in the oven, or by spilling the soil with a solution of potassium permanganate.
The Maria variety is planted in open ground at the end of May in the south and at the beginning of June in the Middle Zone after the end of night frosts.
After planting young eggplants in the holes, the soil is slightly compacted and mulched, sprinkled with a layer of sawdust three to four centimeters thick on top.
When planting in greenhouses, you need to monitor the humidity. The problem with greenhouse cultivation is that it provides a favorable environment for the development of pathogenic bacteria. The Maria variety is resistant to the most common diseases, but under certain circumstances immunity can be broken. There are also less common diseases for which eggplant varieties have not yet been bred for resistance.
Some diseases
Late blight
It affects not only potatoes, it can also nest on eggplants. The appearance of the affected fruits can be seen in the photo.
Control measures: At the first sign, spray with fungicides. As a preventive measure, all plant debris is removed from the soil in the fall if possible.
Anthracnose
Eggplant is also not considered a disease, but anthracnose itself does not consider it so. The photo shows what an eggplant affected by this fungus looks like.
Unfortunately, one of the most dangerous diseases. The infection can persist even in eggplant seeds, so if the seeds of this eggplant crop are affected by the fungus, it is better not to leave them for breeding. Often the infection becomes noticeable already at the stage of fruit ripening. Fungicides are used to combat the fungus.
White rot
Attached to eggplants in greenhouses. This is also a fungal disease that thrives in conditions of high humidity in the microclimate of greenhouses. The photo shows a fruit affected by white rot.
As a preventive measure, it is necessary to monitor the humidity of the air and soil. The soil must be disinfected both when sowing seeds for seedlings and when planting seedlings in a greenhouse. If there are signs of plant damage by white rot, it is necessary to apply fungicides.
Reviews from gardeners
Reviews about this variety of eggplant generally delight the hearts of its creators.
