Key Techniques for Planting Eggplant in July for Summer Cultivation

Open-field summer eggplant

Eggplant likes water, so during the long drought with no rain in July, supplement water to keep the soil moist. When watering, dissolve the fertilizers ammonium bicarbonate, monoammonium phosphate, and potassium sulfate in water at concentrations of about 0.3%, 0.15%, and 0.2% respectively. For furrow irrigation, after filling one furrow with plenty of water, evenly sprinkle the above fertilizers into the furrow to dissolve, with per-mu amounts of 15-30 kg, 10 kg, and 10 kg respectively. If there is no water shortage, you can dig a hole in the middle of every four eggplant plants and put fully decomposed farmyard manure into the hole. Note that topdressing should be based on plant growth and daily yield, and fertilizer burn must be strictly prevented.

Summer eggplant is prone to powdery mildew, so special attention should be paid. When the disease occurs, white powdery mildew spots appear on the leaf surface, and the spots gradually enlarge and darken in color. In severe cases, the entire leaf is covered with white powder. At the same time, mildew spots also appear on the back of the leaf, petiole, fruit stalk, and calyx. The disease is likely to occur at temperatures of 25°C-28°C and humidity of 50%-80%, and incidence decreases when humidity reaches 100%. In the Sichuan region, the disease mainly occurs severely during high temperature and drought, and occurs less during rainy periods. At the initial stage, spray special fungicides for powdery mildew, such as triadimefon (Fenxiuning), Fuxing, sulfur-multi suspension concentrate, myclobutanil, Cuibei, and other fungicides. Because eggplant leaves have many epidermal hairs, to increase the adhesion and spreading of the fungicide, add 0.1%-0.2% laundry detergent or mix in 27% high-fat film emulsion at 300 times dilution when spraying; the mist droplets should be fine, the water volume should be sufficient, and spraying should be uniform.

Autumn eggplant sowing

Before July 20 is the sowing time for eggplant cultivated in autumn. When sowing, be sure to pay attention to rain and strong sunlight. The seeds can be sown directly without pre-germination. After sowing, build a small arched shed on the seedbed; cover it with plastic film when it rains, and cover it with shade netting with a shading coefficient greater than 80% when the sun comes out (double layers can be used in the early stage). Keep the bed surface ventilated, cool, and moist. When the eggplant seedlings have two true leaves, they can be pricked out for transplanting; nutrient cups with a specification of 9×9 cm or larger are better, or they can be grown into 10 cm square block seedlings, and after about another 20 days, they can be transplanted.