When to clean daikon? How to store daikon?

Daikon - exotic plant, on the Russiankitchen gardens are not very popular. And completely in vain. This vegetable has a low calorie content, is universal in cooking (it can be boiled, fried, stewed or consumed fresh), easy to grow, improves the work of the stomach and intestines, has antiseptic properties, helps purify the liver and kidneys. From daikon it is possible to prepare excellent salads, which will be especially liked by those who adhere to a diet.

If you know how and when to clean the daikon, then you can easily provide yourself with this useful vegetable for the whole winter. In addition, it has a high yield.

Daikon: description

Translated from Japanese, this root cropliterally called the "big root". It has a long cylindrical shape and is more like a carrot than a radish, which is a relative. The size can reach truly gigantic, in our soils it is easy to grow a root crop weighing 4-5 kg. The taste is tender enough, without sharpness and bitterness, not like radish. Dykon, the photo of which is presented below, has a rounded shape, but to taste it does not differ from the cylindrical one and it can reach huge sizes too, the only negative is that it is not very convenient to store.

How to choose a daikon variety?

Now stores provide a very wide choiceseeds, preference is best given to those varieties that are bred by domestic breeders. They have better survival and fitness for our climatic conditions. All varieties can be divided into three groups, depending on when to clean the daikon. They can be early, early and late. The first group reaches maturity in 40-50 days. When you remove the daikon from the bed, it is usually indicated on a bag of seeds. For storage, of course, it is best to choose late varieties. Of the most popular cylindrical "club", "minivan", "fang elephant", "big bull". They are all medium-ripening. The spherical form of the root crop has the "sasha" variety.

How to grow a daikon?

Growth period until full maturationan average of 60-70 days. Seeding is best done in mid-summer, in July. The soil must be light and fertile. Remember that the vegetable is large enough and will require a lot of space. The soil needs to be thoroughly digged, add humus and superphosphate (40 g per square meter). If you do not want to thin the garden afterwards, it is best to sow the seeds one at a time, at a distance of 10 centimeters, between the rows you should leave the place to 0.5 meters. So it will be more convenient to water, loosen plants and easily recognize the time when harvesting daikon. It is possible to plant three seeds in one hole to secure it, then at the stage of two leaves it will be necessary to leave the largest plant, the remaining ones to pull out or transplant to another place. If the daikon is planted too early, then most likely it will go into the shooter and bloom. It is due to the fact that this plant is a short daylight, therefore it is desirable to plant the daikon in the second half of the summer.

Watering and top dressing

Daikon does not like waterlogging, but also in droughtit will grow poorly. Therefore, in this issue the main thing is moderation. Watering fertilizer should be carried out after the appearance of three real leaves. Use for this purpose is best infusion of mullein and urea.

Diseases and pests

The very first and main enemy is a fleacruciferous, it damages leaves very badly. To scare away, use ashes, which are sprinkled with moist soil on the bed. To prevent its appearance, many gardeners recommend planting daikon along with onions. This can be done in staggered order. In May, you need to plant a bow at a distance of 20 cm from each other. And after 1-1.5 months, plant daikon seeds. By this time, the green onion will noticeably grow, the odor of which surprisingly frightens off the pest. You can also use infusion of hot red pepper for watering.

Another lovers of daikon are wireworms. They significantly damage the pulp of the root crop, making numerous holes, such vegetables will be practically unsuitable for storage. It is very difficult to get rid of the wireworm, as, as a rule, all the soil on the site is infected.

A wireworm is a larva of a click beetle. To destroy it, it is necessary to plant legumes and mustard after the main crop is harvested from the site. The introduction of coniferous needles into the soil in spring. The late autumn plowing of the garden is also effective, when frosts begin already. This helps to destroy the larvae.

Radish daikon: when to clean?

Harvesting is carried out depending on the variety through40-70 days. Late-ripening varieties must be cleaned after the establishment of cold dry weather, but before frost. If the temperature drops below zero, then root crops, at least the ground, protruding part, will be damaged. In the future, this will prevent long-term storage. Therefore it is important for each variety to know its time - when to clean the daikon. If the soil is heavy, then pull out the tops can not, too long root will break. In this case, you need to carefully dig with a shovel or pitchforks.

After this, the daikon must be allowed to lie on the air so that the land that remained on it is dried and crumbled. But do not keep the vegetable under direct sunlight, it may start to flab.

How to store daikon?

For better safety you need to choose the mostgood root crops, without damage, streaks, cracks, smooth and smooth. Therefore it is important to know how and when to remove the daikon from the bed. Cut the crop with a pair of scissors. Prepare a large river sand, sift it. Large wooden boxes are required. Dyke to lay in even rows and pour each layer abundantly with sand. Keep boxes in the basement at a temperature not lower than zero, but not more than 5 degrees of heat, and low humidity. If the vegetable is too large and can not be used at a time, you can put it in a bag and store it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. If you know how to store the daikon correctly, observe the thermal regime and humidity, then the root crop must be at least three months old.