The cultivation of milk eggplant

Milk eggplant Solanummammosum, Solanaceae Solanum plants, causal shape like nipple named, but also because the base of the fruit has many finger-like protuberances, called five-finger eggplant.

Milk eggplant is a perennial deciduous subshrub, plant height up to 2 meters, crown up to 1 meter, branches stout, semi-lignified, prickles and tomentose, leaves opposite, broadly ovate 10-20 cm, irregular cracking. Flowers axillary, Cymes. The fruit is green, golden yellow when ripe, conical, the top is obtuse, the size is different, the big one can reach 10 cm, there are finger-like protuberances at the base.

Milk eggplant originated in tropical America, which began to germinate and grow above 15 ℃, which required sufficient sunshine, high temperature in summer and exuberant growth, blossomed in late summer and early autumn, and New Year's Day began to ripen before and after fruit ripening. After fruit ripening, the fruit could be kept fresh for 4 months, stopped growing below 1-5 ℃, deciduous leaves below 10 ℃, and sprouted again in spring the following year. Among them, the growth of root tiller seedlings is the most exuberant, and the sprout growth of old branches after defoliation is poor.

Reproduction: eggplant can be cut into three segments before sprouting in early spring after defoliation, and cultivated after germination, but the growth is poor, which can be remedied by water and fertilizer. After the fallen leaves, the upper branches can be cut off three sections from the ground to cultivate the soil for the winter. When the spring is warm and sprouting, the plants can be dug up, the nibble soil can be removed, and a ramet can be replanted according to three buds. But it is the most labor-saving and batch producer; sowing method is still used. First of all, select the disease-free fruit and beautiful fruit for keeping seeds, wait for natural air-drying to sow before sowing, peel off the seeds, wash the pulp, sow the seedlings with culture soil, and then transplant them in a bag with 3 seedlings per bag. when the seedling height is 10 cm, the plant spacing is 50 cm, the border cultivation, the seedling height is 4 inches, and 3 branches are left in each plant, and a total of 9 branches in each hole is enough. The cultivated soil should be fertile, loose and free of water, and there should be plenty of sunshine. Because the plant is larger, it needs more soil, water and fertilizer, so it is not suitable for pot planting.

Management: milk eggplant because of large plants, deep roots and luxuriant leaves, basic fertilizer should be adequate, and then apply compound fertilizer once a month. Due to border cultivation, there is water in the border ditch, and the border surface will not accumulate water. Milk eggplant drought resistance is also strong, sunny days can be drenched once every three days, December consequences ripe and begin to fall leaves, stop drenching, in case of long-term rainy winter, to prevent rotten fruit.

Finished product finishing: milk eggplant is often planted on the ground, and the ripe fruit during the Spring Festival is used as an ornamental. Milk eggplant for ① cut flowers: choose deciduous fruiting branches with sturdy and long branches with many fruits and uniform distribution, cut them from the lowest fruiting place to 30 cm down, for commercial flower branches to carry and insert into vases, and cut off the fruitless branches from the last section of the top fruiting branch, so that the fruit appears in the visible place at the top of the branch. The cut flower branch of the finished eggplant is 50 cm to 1 m long, which can meet the commodity and ornamental requirements. ② potted artificial planting: select weaker fruiting branches, cut the dense fruiting section, merge several branches, insert them into a 5-inch 7-inch plastic basin, fix the base of fruit branches with iron wire, put stone rice in the pot, after shaping, it looks like a pot plant. Because the milk eggplant fruit is leathery, waxy, not easy to be air-dried, does not deform and does not change color after drying, and the fruit is kept fresh for as long as 3 to 4 months without decay and drying, although the fruit branch is broken from the mother, it is very popular because it can be watched indoors for a long time without water.