How to grow a turnip on the open ground: features, care, planting and grades

About how to grow a turnip, our ancestors knew several centuries ago. After all, this vegetable plant has been known to people for more than four millennia. Already at this time the person not only knew how to grow a turnip, but also used it as one of the main food products. However, with the advent of potatoes, the significance of this root crop has decreased somewhat. In Russia, it was brought about in the fourteenth century from Greece.

Variety choice

For most of us, this vegetable is associated with the flattened root crop of old Russian fairy tales. It has a golden yellow color and a firm smooth surface. This species is one of the most common in our country. In the people he was nicknamed "wax". Gardener is important not only to know how to properly grow a turnip in the open ground. It is equally important to choose the right variety.

Far from all varieties of this root crop grow in our country. We usually grow a turnip, obtained by Russian breeders. This is a variety of Petrovsky. Although Japanese Geisha also grows well in some garden areas. In addition to these two varieties, recommended by the State Register, in our country the following varieties are also cultivated: May yellow green-headed, Milan white violet, Golden ball, Snow Maiden and others.

Optimal conditions for growing turnips

This root is a photophilous plant. Those who are interested in how to grow a turnip should know that it is a plant that requires a long day. Good illumination is one of the main conditions for its normal development. It is it that helps to accumulate such a useful vitamin C in the root crop. Moreover, those who know how to grow a turnip are sure that the heightened demand for illumination comes first of all during the initial period of growth.

The optimum temperature for cultivation and growth of this root crop is an interval from fifteen to twenty degrees of heat. Those who are interested in how to grow a turnip on the open ground, it is necessary to know that a lower regime can provoke the development of vershoks. For normal growth, the plant also needs sufficient soil and air moisture. Especially demanding culture to the soil in the period of germination and in the formation of leaves. Experts who know how to grow a turnip on the open ground consider that timely watering at this time has a positive effect not only on the harvest, but also on the taste.

Features

Turnip always needs nitrogen. It must be fed to the plant during the entire period of growth. Nitrogen helps to increase protein in fruits. However, in everything there should be a measure, because with an overabundance of nitrogen, the crop grows in the crop, besides, the quality and quality of the roots are reduced. At the first stages of cultivation and growth, the plant needs phosphorus nutrition. This microelement stimulates the development of the root system, increases resistance to unfavorable conditions and increases the sugar content of the root. The accumulation of carbohydrates, protein and ascorbic acid in the vegetable is promoted by potassium. In general, for the normal growth and development of any plant, trace elements such as boron, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, etc., are needed. Turnip is no exception.

Where is the culture grown?

The most suitable for this crop are sandy loamy or loamy soils, cultivated by peat bogs. However, turnip well tolerates the soil with high acidity. And varieties that have flat root crops can be planted in a small arable layer - up to eighteen centimeters.

Those who are interested in how to grow a turnip at a dacha should know that the best predecessors of this culture are tomato, cucumber, corn, zucchini, legumes and potatoes, which have already been fertilized with organic fertilizers. It should not be planted on strongly acidified areas, especially after cabbage.

Landing

Growing a turnip on the garden is not too difficult. The main thing is to know some features. Since turnip is an early ripening culture, it can be sown several times in a single season. For summer consumption, seeds should be sown in the spring. The harvest will be ready in sixty or seventy days. For the autumn, it is acceptable to sow in July, and for winter storage - in early August.

When spring sowing, the land should be prepared already in autumn. To this end, it is necessary to carry out autumn plowing and make the necessary fertilizers. With the onset of spring, a deep loosening is carried out at the site of landing - up to twenty centimeters. Then the rest of the fertilizer is added again. For the summer sowing, the land needs to be dug to a depth of up to twenty centimeters and before irrigation it is necessary to water fifteen to twenty liters per square meter.

Turnip can be planted and on a flat surface in the summer, and on ridges or ridges in the spring. Interdiction distance should be at least thirty centimeters. Turnip can be grown with a second or third culture after composting. But if the organic was not brought in before planting, then under the plowing it is necessary to give humus at a rate of two to three kilograms per square meter.

Phosphoric or potassium top dressing is applied in autumn and under the presowing treatment. Nitrogen fertilizers need to be introduced in the spring. Estimated doses are: ten to fifteen grams of urea per square meter, the same amount of sodium chloride and thirty to forty grams of superphosphate. If necessary, it is necessary to conduct liming of the soil.

How to grow a turnip from a seed?

Landing material should be taken only last year. The freshest seeds are the guarantee of a good harvest. This will say any agronomist who knows firsthand how to grow a turnip. At home, before planting, you should prepare the seeds for sowing. This process involves calibrating and soaking the planting stock. For convenience and uniformity of sowing, the seeds should be mixed with sand or its mixture with superphosphate. On marked ryadochkam should make grooves depth of two centimeters, which, as necessary, you need to moisturize.

The rate of sowing of turnip seeds is as follows: approximately one gram per square meter at a depth of one to two centimeters. You can put the planting material in the ground and nesting - two or three pieces per hole, followed by thinning.

Care

Usually shoots appear on the fourth to seventh day after planting, depending on the temperature regime. Care of the seedling includes mandatory removal of the soil crust. For this, a shallow, three to five centimeters, loosening is carried out. During the whole cultivation period, three to five interrow treatments are carried out. Before the plant produces three real leaves, thinning is performed. The distance between the bushes in the row should be from six to eight centimeters, and in summer crops - up to ten.

Thinning is most often carried out in the phase of two real leaves. This is about the twentieth day after emergence. Between plants, you should leave a distance of up to five centimeters. When a second thinning is done, it is increased to ten. And at the third - up to fifteen centimeters. If the sowing was carried out in the nesting way, then only the strongest plant should be left, removing all the others.

Those who know well how to grow a turnip, say that weeding is very important for this culture. On the bed, we can not tolerate the growth of weeds, as the roots are deformed from this, and their quality is reduced. In total, three shallow loosening should be done during the season. In this case, it is better to plant the plants slightly. The soil on the bed must always be moist. The norm is for every square meter to twenty liters of water. And watering experts recommend alternating with loosening.

In general, the main stages in the cultivation of turnip are the provision of optimal plant density, sufficient moisture, soil purity and pest control, especially with a cabbage fly and cruciferous flea.

Harvest and storage of turnips

Root crops for summer consumption should be cleaned selectively, when they reach a diameter of 6-8 centimeters, and for autumn and winter - at one time before the onset of frost. The plant must be pulled out of the soil and immediately cut off the leaves. Good yields from two to five kilograms per square meter are considered. Turnip in winter is very well kept. The optimal temperature for storage is 0-1 degrees of heat, and the humidity of air is 90%. Roots should be poured wet sand or peat, although some store the crop in plastic bags.

Pest Control

In the first stages of cultivation, up to the formation of the first two real leaves, that is, within ten days after the appearance of the sprouts, the cabbage fly and cruciferous flea are the greatest danger to culture.

To combat the first pest, it is recommended that such drugs as "Bazudin" and "Medotox" be introduced into the soil. And from the cruciferous flea the "Iskra" remedy will help. If you do not take appropriate measures, then in dry and hot weather, this pest can completely destroy the shoots. It is recommended against anti-cruciferous fleas to always maintain a site with sowing in the optimum wet state.