In the name King of the North F1, the Latin letter F and the number 1 mean that this is a hybrid of the first generation. Perhaps the only disadvantage of this variety is the inability to get seeds from it. The second generation of eggplants will no longer produce fruits with the desired qualities.
One of the most popular types of eggplant in the Asian part of the Russian Federation. Siberian gardeners collect up to fifteen kilograms of fruit per square meter and up to ten eggplants from each bush. The King of the North F1 was bred specifically for the northern regions, but he was also highly appreciated by the vegetable growers of the Middle Strip.
King of the North F1 has earned rave reviews not only from summer residents of the northern regions, but also from industrial farms. Its keeping quality, uniformity of fruit and high yield make it suitable for industrial cultivation.
Description
In general, the variety is very unpretentious. The King of the North is a frost-resistant eggplant variety that can withstand light frosts. He does not like heat, and therefore it is difficult to grow it in the southern regions of Russia.
The bushes are low, only forty centimeters. Bushes are planted at a distance of forty centimeters from each other with a row spacing of sixty centimeters. Thus, for each unit of area, about five bushes are obtained.
The variety is early maturing. You can get a crop already in the fourth month after sowing the seeds. The fruits are long with purple skin. The cross-sectional diameter is small. With a low growth of the bush, the length of eggplants, growing up to thirty, and sometimes forty centimeters, creates certain difficulties.
Eggplant in contact with the soil can rot. This issue is solved by mulching the soil under the eggplant bushes.
The weight of the fruit is about three hundred grams. Fruit pulp with excellent taste, white color. There are no thorns on the calyx for easy harvesting. The hybrid bears fruit throughout the summer.
Agrotechnics
Like other eggplants, the F1 King of the North is grown in seedlings. Seedlings are often planted directly in open ground. Today Siberians have adapted to growing not only this variety in the open field, but also other rather heat-loving vegetables.
For this, a bed with fresh manure is equipped. The bed is closed with polyethylene to keep warm and accelerate the roasting of manure. Similarly, instead of manure, you can use green mass, which will crush into compost.
If the temperature inside the garden is too high, the eggplant roots will burn. It is necessary to wait until the temperature inside the garden drops. After that, holes with a volume of about eleven liters are made in the garden bed, filled with compost and garden soil, and a young eggplant is planted in the hole.
At low temperatures (below minus nine), the seedlings are covered with plexiglass. The roots, warmed by the warmth of the pre-warming manure, can work at full capacity. Eggplant develops a powerful root system in such a bed. As a result, the bush can set and form large fruits in greater quantities.
The second option for a warm bed is to build it from scrap materials like straw, reeds, sedge, sphagnum moss, sawdust. The advantage of beds made of such material is that the substrate serves only one season. Then it is dug up from the ground or processed into compost. Due to the one-time use, there are no pathogenic bacteria in the substrate and the plants do not get sick.
Such a substrate heats up like manure ridges, thanks to which the plants develop faster and bear fruit more amicably.
The landing site for the King of the North F1 is chosen in the sun and protected from the wind. Eggplant can be planted between shrubs, you can block the bushes from the strongest and coldest winds (you need to know the wind rose in the area) with plexiglass.
Planting legumes is considered a good shelter from the wind. This method is more suitable for industrial cultivation, as it implies long ridges. In joint planting with legumes for eggplant, there is another plus: during the formation of fruits, eggplant needs a lot of nitrogen, while legumes produce nitrogen in the roots.
Growing eggplant outdoors in warm beds protects the bushes from fungal diseases that are common in the warm, humid microclimate of greenhouses.
Since the activity of the fungi developing on the boundary between air and soil is reduced by the mulch that covers the soil, fungi cannot damage the eggplants. Such beds eliminate the tedious weeding of weeds, saving the gardener's time. But you have to work hard when organizing them.
Reviews of gardeners who tried to grow eggplant varieties King of the North F1 on such beds unanimously boil down to "I will not grow in the greenhouse anymore"... According to the testimony of people who have tried both methods, in the greenhouse the eggplant drives the green mass without intending to set the fruit. While in open air beds, the yield is often even higher than the hybrid promised by the manufacturer.
I have been growing King of the North eggplants for the second year in the Leningrad Region. Today is July 11, 2020 and I have already removed 2 absolutely ripe eggplants. There are a lot of ovaries. I grow in an arched greenhouse under ultrasil. Moreover, I use the shelter only until stable weather is established without frost.
Very happy, wonderful hybrid. I recommend