The Autumn Equinox season is a good time for vegetables to grow
September 22 is the Autumn Equinox. During the Autumn Equinox, most parts of our country have already entered the cool autumn. The cold air moving south meets the gradually weakening warm, humid air, producing repeated rainfall, and the temperature drops again and again. The daily average temperature has fallen below 22°C, and it has reached the time of "one autumn rain, one spell of cold." However, after the Autumn Equinox, daily rainfall will not be very heavy. During the Autumn Equinox, there is a gentle cool breeze, mild weather and bright sunshine, and clear, crisp autumn air. It is a beautiful and pleasant season. Because the climate is mild and the light is abundant, it is very suitable for the growth and development of all kinds of vegetables. It is a relatively busy solar term for vegetable production management. Vegetable growers should pay attention to the following aspects in their farming activities.
?Suitable time for planting heat-loving vegetables in the autumn-winter crop
In solar greenhouses, overwintering crops of heat-loving vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers are at the suitable planting time. Greenhouses for growing overwintering heat-loving crops are required to have a heat preservation performance above 25°C. When the lowest outside temperature is -15°C, the lowest temperature inside the greenhouse should be above 10°C, so that the heat-loving crops can grow normally and supply the markets for New Year's Day, the Spring Festival, and the following spring. Greenhouse disinfection should be done in advance and agricultural film should be properly installed. Install 50-mesh insect-proof nets at the vents and doors of the greenhouse to block pests from entering. Prepare the soil and apply fertilizer 15 days before planting. Apply more than 5,000 kg per mu of high-quality, fully decomposed, finely crushed high-quality organic fertilizer. If organic fertilizer sources are difficult to obtain, 3,000 kg per mu of bio-organic fertilizer or commercial organic fertilizer can be applied. Prepare the soil carefully so that the ground is level, the beds are level, the soil is loose, and there are no visible or hidden clods. Make high beds 20 cm above the ground and cover them with plastic film. Promote drip irrigation under the film and integrated water and fertilizer management, which helps save water and improve fertilizer use efficiency. If conditions truly do not allow it, also adopt the water-saving irrigation method of subsurface irrigation under the film. Dig a V-shaped watering ditch between the two rows on the planting bed and cover it with plastic film. In winter, water from the ditch under the film, which helps reduce indoor air humidity and reduce the occurrence of diseases. Planting should be chosen on a sunny afternoon. When planting, the depth should be consistent and the density reasonable. For the tomato variety "Jinpeng No. 11," a suitable density is about 3,000 plants per mu, with an average row spacing of 70-75 cm and a plant spacing of 30-35 cm. After planting, water thoroughly in time.
Sowing of overwintering root-stubble vegetables
Spinach and scallions grown in the open field as overwintering root-stubble crops are most suitably sown in late September, basically the same as the sowing period of winter wheat. As the farming proverb says, "The Autumn Equinox is early, Cold Dew is late, sowing at the Autumn Equinox is just right." If sown too early, the seedlings grow too vigorously before overwintering and have weak cold resistance; if sown too late, the seedlings are too small. Neither is conducive to the safe overwintering of the seedlings, and the yield is low. Prepare the soil and apply fertilizer in advance. Apply more than 3,000 kg per mu of decomposed, finely crushed high-quality organic fertilizer or more than 2,000 kg of commercial organic fertilizer. For spinach, choose varieties with good cold resistance such as "Bozha No. 1," with a seeding rate of 3.5-4 kg per mu. After plowing and leveling the land, make flat beds 1.3-1.5 m wide, with a bed length of about 10 m. Use drilling or broadcasting as the sowing method. Sowing should be uniform, the soil covering depth should be consistent, and the soil moisture should be suitable.
Critical period for facility vegetable management and harvesting
Plastic tunnel vegetables planted in the autumn crop are at the peak fruit harvesting stage, while solar greenhouse vegetables are at the seedling growth and flowering stages. This is a critical period for field management.
◆Adjust suitable growth environment conditions. Temperature, light, and indoor air humidity are important environmental conditions for crop growth and development. Entering the Autumn Equinox, temperature changes are frequent and the temperature difference between day and night is large. Indoor temperature should be adjusted in time by opening and closing vents according to changes in outside temperature. The suitable temperature for heat-loving vegetables such as tomatoes is 23°C-28°C during the day and 15°C-18°C at night; the suitable temperature for cool-loving vegetables such as celery is 20°C-22°C during the day and 10°C-12°C at night. Light-loving crops such as tomatoes and cucumbers must have greenhouse film light transmittance above 60%. It is best to replace it with new film that has drip and fog dissipation functions, and move usable old film to greenhouses for sweet peppers or leafy vegetables. Adjust indoor relative humidity according to different crops. Tomatoes and eggplants are suitable for a relatively dry environment, with relative humidity of 45%-50%; sweet peppers, cucumbers, and leafy vegetables prefer humid conditions, and indoor humidity should be adjusted through ventilation and watering.
◆Scientific watering and topdressing. After newly planted greenhouse crops have recovered from transplanting, control watering for 10-15 days to promote root growth and downward extension. Water and apply topdressing only after the young fruit has set and begun to expand. Tunnel crops have rapid fruit growth and large leaf transpiration, so watering and topdressing should be done reasonably according to weather, soil moisture, and plant growth conditions. It is advisable to apply water-soluble fertilizers with comprehensive nutrition and a reasonable ratio, such as "Christmas Tree," through drip irrigation, at 5-8 kg per mu. Spray fertilizer on the leaves once every 7-10 days to quickly supplement the nutrients needed for growth.
◆Do a good job of pruning, removing side shoots, thinning flowers, and thinning fruit. Remove old leaves, yellow leaves, and side branches from plants in time, and thin out excess fruit and deformed fruit. For autumn tunnel tomatoes, fruit set after September 20 generally cannot mature, so it should be thinned out early.
◆Do a good job of pest and disease control. Focus on controlling tomato yellow leaf curl virus disease and late blight, cucumber downy mildew, and pests such as whiteflies, red spiders, and tea yellow mites. Tomato late blight and cucumber downy mildew are most likely to occur under low-temperature, high-humidity growing conditions, so this kind of environment should be avoided in cultivation management, and vents should be closed in time after rainfall.
◆Harvest in time. This can both increase the marketable rate and prevent fruit from weighing down the plant and affecting continued fruiting. When harvesting, handle gently to avoid damaging the fruit, and pack and sell separately according to different specifications.
?Critical period for Chinese cabbage yield formation
Autumn-sown Chinese cabbage has reached the early heading stage, and early-sown market cabbage has entered the middle heading stage. This is exactly the critical period for yield formation. Do a good job of topdressing and watering to ensure balanced supply of nutrients and water. Generally, water once every 7-10 days, and each time apply 10 kg per mu of liquid fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium with the water. Market cabbage is harvested successively from late September to mid-October, and topdressing should be stopped 20 days before harvest. Spray fertilizer on the leaves about once every 7 days. Functional fertilizers such as Leili 2000 have good effects, quickly supplementing nutrition and promoting growth. Do a good job of controlling diseases and pests such as downy mildew, soft rot, cabbage caterpillars, and aphids.
?Radish, carrot, and mustard
Water and fertilize in time
Various radishes and mustard grown in the open field in autumn are at the fleshy root enlargement stage. First, water in time to ensure uniform water supply. Do not let the soil become excessively dry, and do not apply too much water at one time. For radishes with a small amount of basal fertilizer, 6-10 kg per mu of organic liquid fertilizer containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium can be applied with the water. Second, promptly control pests and diseases such as aphids, cabbage caterpillars, viral diseases, and soft rot.