Unpretentious Robin Hood Eggplant - Ideal for Beginner Farmers

Robin Hood is one of the most unpretentious eggplants with a short adaptation period and excellent taste. The variety has been cultivated for about 20 years and has stable popularity among both experienced summer residents and novice gardeners.

You will learn about its features, growing methods, advantages and disadvantages from this article.

Description of the eggplant variety

To get a harvest, learn more about the selected variety, take into account the peculiarities of its cultivation and the recommendations of experienced farmers.

Distinctive features

Robin Hood is an early high-yielding variety. Not picky about leaving. Compact, undersized. Does not require pinning. Used to prepare caviar, main courses and various salads. Suitable for long-term storage. Not able to hold heavy branches, so the bushes are tied up, creating support.

Specifications

The popularity of the variety is promoted by its unpretentiousness, productivity and fruiting characteristics.

Bush:

• height from 40 to 90 cm;
• few side shoots;
• a large number of buds (up to seven fruits per bush);
• ripening period - 90 days.

Fetus:

• pear-shaped;
• purple;
• weight up to 300 g;
• length up to 20 cm;
• diameter - 9 cm.

Taste qualities:

• tender pulp without bitterness;
• few seeds;
• thin shiny skin;
• used in cooking, canning and fresh.

Seven fruits grow on the stem, their total weight reaches 2.5 kg... One eggplant fruit weighs up to 300 g. For eggplant, these are high yields.

Other varieties of eggplant:

Eggplant "Black Beauty" and how to grow it

Eggplant "Fabina f1" with large fruits and high yield

Unpretentious in care and amazing taste "King of the Market"

How to grow this variety yourself

Robin Hood eggplant variety suitable for beginner gardeners, as it will bear fruit even in an unfavorable environment for growth. Seeds for seedlings are sown in mid-March.

Growing seedlings

For the cultivation of seedlings, seeds of a two-year harvest are used.... Before sowing, check for germination, disinfect, strengthen. For these purposes, a manganese solution, growth stimulants "Epin" and "Kornevin" are used.

It is worth sowing no deeper than 2 cm into warm, moist soil. The first shoots appear within seven days after sowing... At this time, the beds are being prepared.

Transfer

The bushes are transplanted into elongated beds with a width of at least 60 cm... It is recommended to leave a space of 40-50 cm between the seedlings. The plant is small, but for good development and fruiting, it needs constant free access to air.

The bush is formed so that the plants growing nearby do not interfere with each other... Before planting, the soil is fertilized with fortified fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus.

Important! At first, the development of seedlings may stop, since, first of all, the formation of the root system takes place.

Further care

To fertilize the soil, use birch ash, legume roots or a special solution... To prepare it, lay the straw, branches and roots of nettles and legumes. After that, compost soil is poured in a mixture with ash. Pour in water and cover with a lid or foil.

The lid is removed from time to time, and the solution is stirred.The resulting composition is used to treat the soil around the plants. Top dressing begins three days after planting the seedlings. You cannot water the bush itself with fertilizer - you can burn the stems and roots.

Features of cultivation and possible difficulties

As you grow carry out systematic cleaning of the lower yellowed leavesspraying for disease prevention and pest control.

Water the vegetables every time the topsoil dries out... Before watering, the beds are cleared of weeds. By adding soil to the bed itself, the aisles are made deeper. They do this work carefully so as not to damage the roots or the plants themselves. Fertilizers are placed between the bushes, then watered. The beds must be shed completely.

Reference! Before flowering, abundant watering is required once or twice a week. Then three times a week. In rainy weather, water once or twice every ten days.

To increase yields, it is recommended to form bushes... When they reach 25 cm, pinching is performed, which has a beneficial effect on the development of lateral shoots. 6-7 of the strongest shoots are selected, the rest are removed. To save energy, the plants remove yellow leaves, deformed fruits and shoots without fruit in a timely manner.

Diseases and pests characteristic of the variety

Eggplant is most commonly affected by the Colorado potato beetle, to combat which chemicals and folk recipes are used. Ideally, chemical-free control methods are recommended. Their minus is a short-term effect, you have to often repeat the treatment. But the substances harmful to the human body do not accumulate in the fruits.

Chemicals are more effective, but harmful compounds accumulate in the plant, which then enter the fruits.

To cultivate small plots of land, use the following composition:

• slaked lime;
• wood ash;
• tobacco dust.

The ingredients are mixed in a 1: 2: 1 ratio and scattered over the beds between the rows of seedlings.

Eggplants are prone to the following diseases:

• blackleg.
• late blight;
• gray rot;
• mosaic;
• stolbur.

For treatment and prevention, timely processing is carried out disinfectants and strengthening agents, such as Fitosporin.

Read also:

Subtleties of caring for "Black Opal" eggplant and its benefits

Eggplant "Nutcracker": advantages and disadvantages of the variety

Harvesting and application of the crop

Determining the degree of maturity based on the appearance of the eggplant is not easy. Most often, ripeness is determined based on the length of the fruit.

Another way to find out if a vegetable is ripe or not is to press on it... If the remaining dent hasn't evened out for a long time, then it's not ripe yet. If it levels out quickly, carefully cut the eggplant. To do this, use garden shears.

To keep vegetables fresh, they are shifted with straw and placed in a dark, cool room. This allows you to keep the vegetable for up to two months.

Attention! If you want to store eggplant longer, then cut them into rings, put them on strings, and dry them in a dry, cool, ventilated area.

Robin Hood pickled and salted in dozens of ways. The vegetable retains its taste and nutritional composition.

Advantages and disadvantages of the variety

The advantages of this variety of eggplant include the following indicators:

• unpretentiousness;
• high taste;
• early maturity;
• compactness of bushes;
• high productivity.

There are very few disadvantages:

• the need to tie bushes to supports;
• the need for shelter from frost;
• protracted ripening of fruits in low light.

Feedback from those who grew

To make a choice of a variety, beginners usually study the reviews of experienced farmers. Below are some of them.

Lyubov, 45 years old, Moscow, Stupinsky district: “I decided to plant eggplants for the first time in 2018. I sowed the first package - there were no shoots. Then she sowed another variety, it sprouted very well. I was pleased with the harvest.I used only my own eggplants for cooking and canning. The failed variety is a hippopotamus. Ascended - Robin Hood. Eggplant, like pepper, does not like transplants. It is worth replanting only with a lump of earth so that the roots do not hurt. I planted one seed per cell, after the appearance of the first true leaf, I transplanted it into a larger container along with the earth. Grown in a greenhouse. I did not devote much time and attention to them. Agrotechnics like pepper. Only at the eggplant I removed the lower leaves of the stepsons, but I don’t do it with pepper ”.

Anton, 50 years old, Bryansk region: “When a plot of their own land appeared, there was also a desire to have their own vegetable garden, and it is necessary to have a greenhouse. I started by growing greens under plastic. During this time, I "ennobled" my poor clay soil. I built a greenhouse in one of the sunniest places and decided to try planting eggplants. The choice fell on the Robin Hood variety, because it seemed to me the most unpretentious.

A photo of a ripe vegetable on a pack helped me finally make my choice. Seedlings appeared quickly. I bought fertilizer in the form of tablets in the store, diluted it with water and watered it every three days. After a month and a half, there were beautiful seedlings in the pots, each with 5-6 leaves. I planted it in my greenhouse, covered the aisle with ammonium nitrate. The bushes were taken quickly, after a month I already tasted the first fruits. I often cook a vegetable stew with eggplant. The taste of Robin Hood is beyond praise - the pulp is not bitter at all, there are almost no seeds. Next year I will plant eggplants in the garden - the soil should already be ready by this time ".

Conclusion

Robin Hood eggplants are unpretentious in cultivation, not demanding on the composition of the soil. They adapt to any climatic conditions in the region. Even a beginner in gardening can plant them and get a harvest. Excellent variety with excellent taste and thin skin.