Do Greenhouse Eggplants Need Pollination? Detailed Guide to Verticillium Wilt Prevention and Control
Eggplant is a common vegetable that is deeply loved by consumers and is grown in all parts of our country. Nowadays, one important way of growing eggplant is greenhouse cultivation, which not only makes management convenient but also improves yield and quality. So do greenhouse eggplants need pollination? How should verticillium wilt be prevented and controlled when it appears?
1. Do greenhouse eggplants need pollination?
Vegetables whose product is not the fruit (such as leafy vegetables, root and stem vegetables, etc.) do not need artificial pollination. Although the product of legume vegetables is the fruit, they are self-pollinating plants and do not need artificial pollination.
Cucurbit vegetables usually need artificial assistance, but special greenhouse cucumber varieties have parthenocarpic ability, so they usually do not need artificial pollination. When other cucurbit vegetables are grown in greenhouses, artificial supplementary pollination results in higher yields, and if there are insects such as bees or flies in the greenhouse, they can also complete the task of supplementary pollination. Eggplant, pepper and tomato were originally self-pollinating plants that did not need artificial pollination, but when greenhouse temperature and light conditions are a little poor, flower and fruit drop easily occurs, so growth regulators are sometimes used to preserve flowers and fruits.
2. How should verticillium wilt be prevented and controlled when it appears in greenhouse eggplants?
1. Symptoms of verticillium wilt appearing in greenhouse eggplants.
Disease generally begins at the bud stage. The middle and lower leaves of the plant fade from green to yellow between the veins or along the leaf margins, gradually developing into yellow mottling on half a leaf or the whole leaf, with the leaf margins curling slightly upward, and sometimes only half a leaf is affected. In the early stage of the disease, plants wilt at noon on sunny days and can recover in the morning, evening or on cloudy and rainy days; in the later stage they wilt obviously and no longer recover. The leaves wither and fall off, leaving only bare stems or the heart leaves on the plant, and the fruits become stiff and stop growing. When the diseased roots, stems, branches and leaf stalks are cut open, the vascular bundles can be seen to be yellowish brown or dark brown.
2. Prevention and control methods for verticillium wilt appearing in greenhouse eggplants
First, choose disease-resistant varieties.
Second, disinfect the seeds. Before sowing, soak the seeds for 2 hours in a 500-fold dilution of 50% carbendazim wettable powder, or dress the seeds with 50% captan wettable powder at 0.2% of the seed weight.
Third, disinfect the seedbed soil. For every 667 sq m, mix 3-4 kg of 50% carbendazim wettable powder or 50% dijuning wettable powder with 10 times its amount of dry fine soil, spread it evenly on the ground, and rake deeply to 15 cm.
Fourth, rational crop rotation. Rotate with non-solanaceous crops for more than 3 years, such as scallions, garlic, rice, etc. Strengthen field management. Implement formula fertilization, applying 5000 kg of decomposed barnyard manure and 30 kg of a mixed fertilizer with equal amounts of N, P and K per 667 sq m as base fertilizer. Use high ridges covered with plastic film, control watering in the early stage, strengthen intertillage, increase the application of potassium fertilizer and nitrogen fertilizer during the fruiting stage, and promptly apply topdressing and foliar spraying after picking.
Fifth, chemical control. In the early stage of the disease, promptly pull out diseased plants and burn them, and at the same time drench the roots with an 800-fold dilution of 70% thiophanate-methyl wettable powder, a 500-fold dilution of 50% carbendazim wettable powder, or a 500-fold dilution of 50% dijuning wettable powder, applying 0.3-0.5 kg of liquid per plant, once every 10 days, for 3-4 consecutive applications.