Daikon-Growing and agricultural

 Daikon, how is it growing? Useful and consumer properties. Best varieties of Japanese radish and planting dates. Agrotechnics for growing daikon, care properties, harvest.

Daikon is a root vegetable from the cabbage family. It is popular in Japan and has grown for over a thousand years. Due to its many valuable properties and pleasant taste, Japanese radishes are produced in other countries, including Russia. Active work is underway to create varieties and hybrids that suit our climatic and soil conditions, daikon cultivation technology is being improved, individual farms are reaping a great harvest.

What is daikon?

Daikon (translated from Japanese as “big root”) is like a two-year-old vegetable crop from the cabbage family, which resembles all familiar radish, only that it has a softer and more delicate taste, without burning effect, as it does not contain mustard oils. Unlike radish, daikon retains its juice even when the plant starts to sprout.

Depending on the variety, the length of the root crop is 15-60 cm, and the weight is about 500 g. It resembles a carrot in shape. The color is white.

The puree of the root vegetable is eaten fresh without additives. As part of a salad, it is also boiled and salted. As it is free from the extraordinary bitterness inherent in radishes, the vegetable is allowed for use by children and the elderly without restrictions.

At the top of the root vegetable is a root rosette of leaves, which has also been used in cooking, but only when daikon is grown on its site. It is not sold in stores because it has a short shelf life.

Useful properties of daikon

The composition of Japanese radishes is impeccably balanced. Daikon contains many valuable substances: these are minerals (especially phosphorus, magnesium, iron), vitamins (ascorbic acid, group B) and, fiber, enzymes, and pectins. Thanks to them, you can count on strengthening your immune system with regular use of Japanese radishes.

There are also many calcium salts in the daikon composition. These substances are responsible for removing excess water from the body, cleansing it of toxins and toxins. In addition, the pulp can dissolve stones that accumulate in the kidneys. It is also recommended to use it for diabetes.

In addition, Japanese radish contains a unique substance, lysozyme, with antiseptic properties. Thanks to the use of root crops, the growth of bacteria in the body is prevented, the risk of infectious diseases is reduced, and the digestive process is normal.

But the most crucial helpful feature of daikon is that the root crop does not absorb salts of heavy metals and radioactive elements from the soil. By the way, studies conducted on those who found that black radish absorbs 16 times more harmful substances than daikon. Thus, it is a truly environmentally friendly product.

Excellent taste, nutritional value, and favorable properties made daikon for planting on its site very popular. However, some nuances need to be considered to reap a good harvest.

The best daikon varieties

Vegetable growers around the world love daikon, so growers have grown wide varieties suitable for a variety of weather conditions, such as frost resistance, different soils, and even a specific area. Therefore, it is essential to choose the suitable daikon variety before cultivating. For example, Japanese radishes that grow successfully in the Moscow region are not eligible for cultivation in Siberia.

Early ripening (early), middle and late ripening varieties of daikon are isolated. We will consider the best of them further.

Early maturing types of Japanese radishes are varieties with a growing season of 40-50 days. Suitable for cultivation in areas where the weather is already warm in April.

The most popular are:

• Sasha … Early maturing, cold-tolerant varieties. The root vegetable has a juicy pulp. The taste is sweet-spicy, and the skin is thin.
• Prince of Denmark … The hybrid is considered medium early. Known for its ability to reap high yields – up to 2 kg from 1 m 2 … The skin is red; the flesh is white. The peculiarity of the daikon radish of this variety is disease resistance.
• Red samurai … The length of the root crop is 30 cm, and the weight can be up to 4 kg! The hybrid has white skin and pale pink flesh.
• American size … It reaches 50 cm in length, 10-12 cm in diameter, and weighs up to 2 kg. The variety is appreciated for crispy flesh and incredible juiciness. She also has thin skin.
• Snow White … The best daikon variety for long-term storage is up to 5 months if stored in the basement. The skin of the root vegetable is light green, the pulp is snow white, and the vegetable is very juicy.
• Minovashi … The puree is dense and has a very juicy, sweet taste. Root crops are well located and stored for a long time.
• Misato Green … The length of the root crop is 12 cm, and the weight reaches 300 g. Initially, when it is mature, the skin is green, then it turns white. Such a radish does not lie for a long time. Therefore it will not work to store it for a long time.

The maturation period of Daikon varieties in the middle period is 60-80 days. Some popular types of culture:

• The dragon … The root vegetable has a sweet taste and significant weight. Some specimens reach 1 kg and 60 cm in length.
• Pink glimmer … It got its name from the pulp, which has a pink color. But the pulp is white. It is known for its cold resistance. This type of daikon radish is suitable for cultivation in areas where daylight is short. The fruit has a round shape and a short length – only 10 cm.
• Dubinushka … The root crop reaches 50 centimeters in length and can weigh up to 1.5 kg. The vegetables have a sweet taste and a slight bitterness. The puree is white.
• Caesar … The color of the fruit is white; the shape is cylindrical. Interestingly, the roots go entirely into the ground when growing daikon in the open field.
• Big bull … It is not without reason that the variety got such a name: the weight of the root crop can reach 3 kg! Such a culture is also valued for its property for long-term storage. You can grow daikon in the garden when the temperature drops.

Late ripening varieties of Japanese radishes ripen about 90-100 days after planting. Not suitable for cultivation in temperate climates, as they do not have time to mature. As a rule, the fruits are heavy. Can store it for a long time.

Best varieties of late ripening daikon:

• Japanese far;
• Fíla fang;
• Nerima.

Daikon varieties are also selected according to soil type: Shiroagari and Shogoin – for heavy clay, Miyashige or Tokinashi – for loams, and Nerima and Ninengo – for light soil.

Important! Consider the characteristics of the variety when buying daikon seeds. The larger the fruit, the juicier the puree.

Daikon planting date

To get the big fruits of Japanese radish, it is essential to know when to plant daikon. Otherwise, it will not have time to mature. The best time is early spring or summer (late July – early August). It avoids the arrows and the harvest of a good crop; the roots will taste good.

The timing of planting in Japanese radish is reflected in how daikon is grown and subsequent care. In the spring, Japanese radish is produced using the planting method: the plants are grown and then moved to a permanent place – in a warm greenhouse. Suppose you do not plan to plant young plants under film tunnels but immediately transfer them to open ground. In that case, storing the plants in a glazed loggia on hot days is recommended.

Note! North of 55 ° when planting daikon in the spring, no root crops are formed.

In summer, you can sow seeds outdoors. If you are going to harvest late, plant daikon in August, but keep in mind. The culture must be covered with film when the air temperature reaches + 10 ° C, as the Japanese radish is a heat-loving plant. With subsequent sowing, do not expect large fruits formed. As a rule, their weight does not exceed 350 g.

It is essential to know that daikon is a short-lived plant. When a crop is sown in May-June, when daylight is extended, the steam loosens and goes into the arrow, damaging the development of root crops. A good harvest will not work, but you can get a crop seed.

Planting daikon in the fall is possible, but be prepared for a smaller harvest. You cannot rely on the maximum size of the root crop. In this case, agricultural technology for growing Japanese radish requires more fertilizer to be applied to the garden bed, as the place is depleted after early cultivation (this is important if you are planting it in an area released after harvesting other plants). Several seeds are sown in the hole simultaneously and then diluted.

How to grow daikon on your site?

Japanese radish is considered unpretentious, but when growing, it is essential to view all the nuances if your goal is to harvest a large crop. Then all the subtleties of growing daikon in the open and taking care of it.

Site preparation for daikon

Japanese radish can grow on a variety of soils. The best option, however, is light, fertile soil, well fertilized, where the groundwater is deep. It is good if the ground has a neutral reaction.

Before you start growing daikon in the country, it is essential to allocate the right area for planting culture. Cruciferous plants should not grow on it. And the best predecessors are pumpkins, which contain real pumpkins, cucumber, and zucchini.

To prepare the garden bed, you should loosen it using calves at a depth of about 25-35 cm. It is best to use compost together with rotten manure as fertilizer and sifted ash. In addition, the use of mineral fertilizers will not harm.

Introducing ashes is a mandatory action. It is the secret of how to grow daikon from seeds, as the enemies of the culture are snails and cruciferous fleas, and if their attack occurs, you can be without a crop.

After fertilization should cover the beds with black film for 6 days. When daikon sowing is delayed, it is necessary to loosen the soil slightly and then cover the garden bed again to prevent moisture evaporation, weed growth, and pest development.

Before sowing daikon or planted plants, remove the film and loosen the bed again. Do not forget to moisten the soil a little. Then you can start tagging the site.

Prepare labels. With its help, it is necessary to mark the surface according to the plan of the equilateral triangle to ensure the efficient use of the area.

Planting plants

After purchase, you should sort the daikon seeds and separate the largest ones. Choose without defects. Small and those with visible defects are good for growing plants.

Before sowing the Japanese radish, prepare a unique soil mixture to grow daikon from seeds: mature compost with rotten manure, ventilated peat, and forest roads from the hills in equal amounts.

Pour the prepared mixture into a regular vegetable drawer. The thickness of the layer should not exceed 7 cm.

To grow a daikon radish, stick to a 4×4 cm or 5×5 cm seed sowing pattern and maintain a sowing depth of no more than 4 cm. For even sowing, you can pre-create signal strips.

Moisten the soil before sowing the daikon. Insert the seeds into the ground with a small pair of tweezers. When the work is completed, the box must be closed.

Note! The germination time of daikon seeds varies from 4 to 6 days.

The timing of daikon planting depends on the variety chosen. Seedlings are planted when 2-4 leaves appear. When speaking, bark flowers are also taken into account.

Before planting young plants, water the soil abundantly in the box to prevent the root ball from spreading when you pull it out, it is a critical condition: when buying a seedling, do not break a lump of earth.

Gently touch the leaves with two fingers. Remember not to grab the stem. Dip the young plant into a hole about 7 cm deep. Put it deeply, but the leaves must be on the surface. Otherwise, the plant will die. Spread the seedling with the pin and straighten the root.

If you grow daikon in an open field with a long root crop, you need to make the holes for the plants deeper. It is convenient to use a pin to deepen. When planting plants, the distance between plants is maintained at – 25 cm and between rows – 40 cm.

After the daikon seedling is correctly placed in the hole, fill it with loose soil. Remember not to hit the surface around it.

Saw daikon on open ground

Preferably if the area under the daikon is light soil with deep groundwater, it can prepare the garden bed in the autumn by digging deep, as the root of the culture goes deep underground.

Then it is fertilized using humus and superphosphate – 1 bucket and 40 g per 1 m 2 … Before sowing daikon, the plot is loosened where the culture gives the best yield on light, loose soil.

To grow daikon, make rows, keeping a distance between them usually no more than 40-50 cm. The seeds are sown at a depth of 3-4 cm. An important rule is that the space between plants is 20-25 cm. Since daikon, like any radish, does not like dense crops and its roots are large, enough space is needed. After being buried in the ground, they are compacted.

Provided that the soil is not fertile, the beds are placed at a distance of 30 cm. PartPart of the ground is removed at a depth of 60 cm. Instead, fertile soil and humus are placed in the holes. Do not forget to add ash and superphosphate.

If you are sowing daikon in the spring, do not water too much because the soil is well saturated with water, but summer crops, on the contrary, need to moisten (pour holes) to ensure better germination of seeds.

Sprouts fast: after a few days, sometimes you have to wait for about a week, the first shoots appear, and when you find 3 leaves on a young plant, it thins out.

Water the daikon as needed. It is recommended to add mulch after watering.

Note! Before growing daikon for seed, ensure there are no other cruciferous species nearby to prevent cross-pollination and obtain a hybrid.

Daikon care

A few days after planting the daikon, you need to start taking care of the plant. Due to the used nutrients nutrition in the seed, you need to feed it.

For the first feeding, it is recommended to use a mullein infusion with the addition of urea. To prepare it, add water to 1/3 of a barrel of cow dung and leave for two weeks to ferment. Do not forget to dilute it with water before applying the fertilizer and add urea – 1 tsp to the bucket. Fertilizer is used carefully and spread 1.5-2 cm from the stem.

The following feeding should take place two weeks after the first. For this, it is recommended to use a complex mineral fertilizer. But remember that it is better to feed the plant a little. Otherwise, the tops will grow, and the roots will be small.

Furthermore, switching between fertilizer and irrigation is recommended, which takes place according to soil moisture and weather.

To reduce the quality of the root crop, adjust the watering. The plant does not tolerate stagnant water but is also damaged due to a chronic lack of moisture and drying out of the soil. Japanese radish needs moderate watering. When watering the plants, fold the tops backward. Water should only get into the ground. With dehydration, you can get such a daikon disease as mucus bacteria.

On loams, after watering or rain, you need to increase the soil ventilation: punch the ground using a fork.

When the air temperature drops to +10 degrees, you should cover the culture using a cover film, as the daikon is afraid of the cold. At lower temperatures (2-3 ° C), the roots of the unprotected plant begin to freeze. In this case, the taste is lost, and the quality of the fruit is maintained. If you did not manage to cover the daikon and it froze, dig up the roots. Otherwise, they will become hollow and loose and get a bitter taste.

In addition, daikon maintenance consists of weeding and loosening the soil to provide better airflow to the roots.

As the daikon grows, the root crops’ tops will begin peering over the ground. Do not worry. In some varieties, up to 1/3 of the fruit is released into the air. To preserve the nutritional and taste quality of the pulp, it is necessary to cover the plants.

Pests in Daikon

Cruciferous fleas attack young shoots – a common pest of radish, radish, and cabbage, which eats plant leaves. You will need it to be attached to a low arch to provide reliable protection. You can remove it when the daikon tops close.

If it can prevent the pest invasion, it can be driven away. To do this, sprinkle the plants with ash or tobacco dust. Red pepper is also actively used for this purpose. For the material to adhere better, a pre-soap solution is sprayed on the plants.

The larvae and maggots of the garden shrub damage the Japanese radish. To get rid of them, use a solution of potassium permanganate or an infusion of red pepper. To prepare it, pour 1 boiling water into 5 pepper pods and insist for half a day. Before processing the daikon, the substance is dissolved in water (10 l).

Snails can damage the root crop. In this case, the fruit will be unfit for storage. To block the path to the plant for the pest, make a groove around the bed. It is recommended to grind such holes with ash.

Harvest

Harvest time varies by daikon variety. For early development, the growing season is 40-50 days. For middle development-60-80 days, and late development-90-100 days. However, you should, in any case, remove the root crop before the first frost; otherwise, you will lose the daikon in the taste.

The work is done in dry weather, and pulling the roots out of the ground will be easier because the soil that accompanies the fruit is easily separated. If the soil is heavy and wet, it is recommended to use a shark to pull the root crop and harvest daikon without loss. Do not use a shovel to dig up the Japanese radish. You can cut it down.

At first glance, it does not seem to be a big deal to pull up daikon, as one-third of the root crop is usually out of the ground, but it is enough to pull it out. The fruits, on the other hand, are crispy and fragile, be careful. Remember that the slightest damage will not store the Japanese radish, so separate such specimens from the others during harvest. Use the first in food.

They cannot store the fruits of the Japanese radish in direct sunlight for a long time. They will weaken. Treat them immediately and keep them. The tops are cut off by turning them. Then the roots are slightly dried and shaken off the ground.

Harvest daikon for long-term storage is placed in boxes in several layers. It must pour them with moss or wet sand for this purpose. Now you can put the boxes in a dark, cool basement or basement, where the temperature ranges from 0 to + 1 ° C. In this case, it will be possible to keep the Japanese radish fresh until February.

Important! Keep the sand or moss in the daikon lattice box moist to prevent the roots from sagging.

In addition, open bags with sawdust or onion skins are suitable for storing daikon. They are also placed in a cool, dark place. The bag is tied to retain moisture, but holes are made in it that is needed for air to reach the root vegetation.

To get daikon seeds, you need to pick the fruit, cut the tops and leave the stems – no more than 10 cm in length. Put the root vegetables in the refrigerator and refrigerate them for 10 days. The daikon is then planted (tilted!) And waited until the seeds were fully ripe.

Note! With the second harvest of Japanese radish, the mass of the root crop increases, and the shelf life increases.