The black handsome man receives good reviews from gardeners, because he combines several important consumer qualities at once - early ripening, high yield and delicate delicate taste. The plant itself is unpretentious and only requires the timely conduct of some agricultural activities. More details about the variety description and the rules of its cultivation can be found below.
Zucchini squash Black handsome
Seeds of zucchini zucchini Black handsome
Bush zucchini Black handsome
Grade description
He was co-authored by breeders S.V. Maksimov and N.N. Klimenko, and in 2006 he was included in the State Register of Breeding Achievements for cultivation in such regions as:
- Central Federal District (CFD);
- Central Black Earth Region;
- North-West Federal District (NWFD);
- Volga-Vyatka district.
In the first two places, the variety is supposed to be grown in soil conditions, and in the last two - in greenhouses.
Variety characteristics are given in the table:
Parameter | Description |
Ripening period | The variety is early ripe, from which it follows that it will bear fruits suitable for harvesting already in 45-55 days after the formation of the first sprouts. |
Plant features | This zucchini belongs to the bush varieties of squash and during the growing season forms a compact leafy bush. We consider its components separately:
|
Features of the fruit | The following information should be known about the Black Beauty:
Fruits have good keeping quality and withstand transportation over long distances. |
Application area | This vegetable marrow is of universal use, therefore its fruits can be used for cooking, stewing, frying, salting, canning, etc. Young zucchini 10-15 cm in size have a delicious and delicate taste, so they can be used fresh, added to vegetable salads as a substitute for cucumbers. |
Productivity | Compliance with proper agricultural technology will allow you to get 9-10 kg of fruit from one bush. In terms of unit of area when planting according to a 60x60 cm pattern, the yield is about 20 kg per 1 sq. m If the landing pattern is 60x100 cm, then with 1 square. m can collect up to 15 kg of fruit. The fruiting period lasts at least 3 weeks. Throughout this time, zucchini retains its high commercial quality. |
Disease resistance | The handsome black man demonstrates high resistance to the main diseases that are dangerous for plants of the Pumpkin family. These include powdery mildew and anthracnose. |
Agricultural technology
Zucchini in the garden can be planted only after the warm weather is established. By this time, the temperature should be kept at + 23 ° C during the day, and not fall below 19 ° C at night. The soil should warm up to + 10 ... + 15 ° C.
As a rule, such a regime is established from mid-May to early June. If the vegetable is planned to grow under a film, the sowing dates can be moved forward - until the second decade of April.
To stretch the harvest period, sowing can be done in 4-5 stages with an interval of 5-6 days.
The method of cultivating a vegetable crop depends on the climatic factor:
- In warm regions, seeds can be sown directly in open ground.
- In areas with a short summer season, it is better to choose a seedling method. In this case, the seeds for seedlings should be sown in February or March. After 25-30 days, the seedlings will acquire several real leaves and will be suitable for planting in a permanent habitat.
Site selection and soil preparation
The black handsome man needs to be cultivated in areas protected from winds and drafts, which are illuminated by sunlight for 8-12 hours. Favorable predecessors are:
- legumes (better than other crops enrich the soil with nitrogen compounds necessary for zucchini);
- potatoes;
- cabbage (white, cauliflower);
- onion;
- garlic.
Zucchini should not be grown after cucumbers, squash and other pumpkin crops. They can only be returned to their original place after 3-4 years.
When choosing a suitable site, it is also worth considering the factor of a favorable neighborhood. Beans, green crops or radishes are best placed next to the vegetable marrow, as they inhibit the activity of weeds. Near them you can also place nasturtiums, marigolds or odorous herbs (thyme, basil) - all of them scare away potential pests and at the same time attract pollinating insects.
The soil should be light and fertile. A good option is loams and chernozems with neutral acidity. If the land on the site is heavy and contains a lot of clay, sand must be added to the planting holes to improve its mechanical composition.
The selected area must be prepared for planting zucchini. For this purpose, starting in autumn, it is worth adding organic matter (manure, chicken droppings or humus) and digging a shovel on a bayonet. In cold regions, zucchini can be grown on a compost heap or a warm bed, which is prepared in the following sequence:
- Add any organic matter to the ground:
- semi-rotted manure;
- fallen leaves;
- straw;
- sawdust;
- tops (tomato, cucumber, beetroot);
- food waste.
- Tamp the bed slightly and cover it with a layer of earth. Before sowing, dig it, remove all plant debris, level and dig holes.
In such a bed, the heat-loving zucchini will quickly grow and bear fruit, constantly receiving heat and carbon dioxide from rotting organics.
A similar "slide" can be prepared in the spring, but the procedure will be somewhat different. Initially, you will need to dig small trenches in the ground (approximately on the bayonet of a shovel), and then add all the organic matter to them and sprinkle with soil. On such a bed, you need to dig holes in which to add a handful of humus and wood ash. The composition must be well poured with hot water, and then planted seeds or seedlings.
Presowing seed treatment
So that the seeds can germinate quickly and simultaneously, they must be pre-sowed. It consists in the following manipulations:
- Visually and by touch, check all seeds by removing hollow specimens (they will not give inputs).
- In order to disinfect, soak the seeds for 20 minutes in a pink solution of potassium permanganate, and then rinse with clean water.
- For fast germination during the day, hold the seeds in a growth stimulator or potassium / sodium humate (1 tsp. Per 1 liter of warm water).
- To make the seeds hatch, wrap them in a damp cloth and keep them in a warm place for 2-3 days. During this time, you need to maintain tissue moisture.
Seeds with sprouts are suitable for planting in warm soil.
Reckless way of growing
In warm, loose soil, sowing seeds are sown, taking into account the following recommendations:
- The optimal planting pattern is 60x60 cm, but the intervals between the holes can be reduced to 35-40 cm, if there are fears that not all seeds will sprout. If the vegetable is planted in several rows, then between them you can withstand about 1 m, otherwise the overgrown bushes will not have enough free space for full development.
- To deepen the seeds by 5-7 cm, but in the case of heavy soils the optimal seeding depth is 3-5 cm.
- Place 2-3 seeds in each well. If a few shoots appear in a week, then you will need to leave the strongest sprout, and the rest to remove (pinch above the ground, and not pull out so as not to damage the entire root system of the plant).
After planting, moist soil should be mulched with humus or compost to preserve moisture in it and prevent the development of weeds.
Planting zucchini through seedlings
About a month before the seedlings are transplanted into the open ground, it is necessary to sow the seeds in separate plastic or peat cups with a height of 10-15 cm, since the vegetable crop does not tolerate picking. Seedlings are grown in the following sequence:
- 1/2 cup fill the nutrient composition. If in the future the plant stretches very much, then thanks to the free space left, the stem can be gently twisted in a pot and sprinkled with earth on cotyledon leaves.
The soil composition itself can be bought in a garden store or prepared with your own hands, mixing nutrient soil with leaf humus. It is advisable to add a handful of wood ash, urea or ammonium nitrate and other mineral fertilizers to it. The resulting mixture must be disinfected by pouring a solution of Fitosporin. - In a slightly moistened soil, lower 2 grains to a depth of 3 cm and be sure to peel the root down. If in the future all seeds sprout, then only the strongest sprouts should be left.
- Pots with seeds to clean in a warm and bright room until the first sprouts. Moisten the earth at least once a week to prevent it from drying out.
- 7-10 days before planting, proceed to hardening the seedlings, daily taking it to fresh air for 2-3 hours. Gradually, this period of time needs to be increased so that at the end the plant spends all day on the street.
Seedlings with 2-3 leaves need to be transplanted to the garden in the early morning or on a cloudy day to minimize stress for the plant. Wells should be prepared at a distance of 60-70 cm. Between the rows it is better to withstand 80-90 cm.
In each hole, you can add humus, compost, ash, rotted sawdust or peat at the rate of a bucket of nutrient mixture for each plant. In the resulting mixture, you need to make a deepening, plant seedlings together with an earthen lump, sprinkle soil on cotyledon leaves, pour warm water and lightly tamp.
If there is a risk of frost return, in the first days the landing should be kept under the film and regularly ventilated. If the seedlings were planted on very sunny days so that the seedlings would not burn out under scorching rays, they should be shaded with agrofibre or a large cropped plastic bottle. When the plant grows stronger and begins to grow actively, the shelter must be removed.
Caring for the Black Beauty
It consists in the timely conduct of several simple manipulations.
Watering
Zucchini need a lot of moisture, since they themselves are 90% water. However, you can not overdo it with watering so as not to expose the root system of the plant. The optimal irrigation scheme is as follows:
- Before the flowering period begins. In order to prevent the formation of a crust on the upper soil layer, it is enough to water the plant once a week at the rate of 5 liters of water per bush or 5-6 liters per 1 sq. m
- During flowering. Increase the frequency of irrigation to 3-4 times a week, and water consumption - up to 8-9 liters per 1 square. m
- During fruiting (fruit formation). Water at least 2 times a week, pouring at least 10 liters of water under each bush.
On dry days, the zucchini garden should be watered once every 2 days.
When watering, you need to use only warm water, since cold water will provoke decay of the ovaries and fruits. Pour it directly under the root, preventing droplets from falling onto the tops.
Loosening
The roots of a vegetable crop are close to the surface of the earth, so some gardeners do not loosen the soil around the bushes. In this case, it is extremely important to prepare the bed in advance - before sowing, loosen it and remove all weed residues.
If the soil was poorly prepared, then a few hours after watering, you can make it easy loosening. The need for this procedure will disappear if you plant greenery, radishes or beans near a zucchini garden. Such plantings prevent the growth of weeds, and by the time of the formation of full-fledged zucchini bushes have already completed their fruiting and will be suitable for harvesting.
Formation
The handsome black man does not belong to the climbing varieties of zucchini and does not particularly need to be formed. However, its bushes grow rapidly, and large lower leaves obscure the fruits on the central stem and interfere with pollinating insects. So that this does not interfere with the abundant flowering of the plant, you need to regularly remove the lower yellowing leaves, but not more than 3 pieces at a time. Empty flowers are also subject to removal - flowers without ovaries.
Top dressing
The plant constantly blooms and bears fruit, spending too much effort on these processes. To maintain the viability of the plant, it is worth feeding 3 times over the entire growing season:
- Before the flowering phase. Under the bush, add an infusion of bird droppings or mullein (0.5 l of organic per 10 l of water) at the rate of 2 l per 1 plant. An alternative is a nitroammophoska solution (20-30 g per 10 liters of water).
- During flowering. Feeding with a potassium-phosphorus mixture is carried out. To prepare it, you need to mix 50 g of potassium nitrate and superphosphate, and then dilute in 10 liters of water. Fertilizer consumption - 1 liter per bush. The plant can also be fed with potassium humate.
- At the stage of ovary formation. As the last top dressing, you need to make organic fertilizer with infusion of wood ash.
Zucchini can not be fed with products that contain chlorine.
Additional feeding can only be dispensed with when making a sufficient amount of the nutrient mixture during planting. In this case, squash bushes can be watered with infusion of nettles or other weeds. It is prepared in the following order:
- Fill the pot with weeded weeds to 3/4 of its volume and fill it with water to the level that there is room for fermentation. Otherwise, during decomposition, the slurry will overflow over its edge.
- Cover the pan with a film and tie so that oxygen does not enter into it, and nitrogen does not escape from it.
- Leave the composition for about 2 weeks. This time will be enough to complete the fermentation processes, and the composition has acquired the characteristic smell of a stable.
The finished composition must be diluted with water 1: 2 for top dressing under the root and 1: 5 for foliar top dressing. Apply in conjunction with irrigation.
Infusion of weeds will be not only an excellent top dressing for zucchini, but also protect the crop from potential pests (it scares them away with its pungent odor).
Pollination
If not enough ovaries are formed on the bushes, you need to attract even more insects for pollination. For this, the plant must be sprayed with sugar syrup or sweet water.
Disease protection
For prevention, you must adhere to the following rules for growing zucchini:
- observe crop rotation and do not plant vegetables in the same place for 2 years in a row;
- Do not fill the bushes with water, creating a favorable environment for the development of pathogenic microflora;
- Before planting, seeds must be decontaminated;
- comply with the above landing patterns and not thicken the landing;
- at the first signs of the disease, remove the affected parts of the plants or completely bushes (they need to be taken out of the site and burned), and the rest of the planting should be treated with chemical preparations.
Harvesting and storage
Harvesting period is July-August. Zucchini with a size of 15-20 cm should be cut off with a stalk of at least 5-10 cm long. To stimulate the development of new ovaries, you need to pick fruits every 2-3 days, preventing their overriding. Immediately after harvesting, it is recommended to water the bush abundantly.
For long-term storage, fruits weighing about 1 kg should be selected, which were collected before the onset of frost. They should be wiped off the ground with a dry cloth, and not washed off with water. They need to be stored in the clear, and not in plastic bags, otherwise the condensate formed will contribute to their decay. Between zucchini, it is advisable to sprinkle sawdust or lay out scraps of newsprint.
Zucchini should be stored in a dry, cool and dark place at a temperature of + 4 ... + 10 ° C. It can be a basement, cellar or pantry. In such a place they can be kept for up to 2 months.
Pros and cons of the variety
Strengths of the Black Beauty:
- has an early ripening period;
- has excellent appearance and taste (thin skin and delicate, juicy, dense pulp);
- grows in the form of a compact bush, but has a high yield - up to 20 kg of fruits per 1 square. m;
- bears fruit for a long time;
- yields universal fruits that have good keeping quality (about 2 months) and transportability.
This variety has no obvious flaws, but some gardeners note that it is heat-loving and sensitive to cold snap. The fruits themselves quickly deteriorate at room temperature, so they need to be kept either in the refrigerator or in the cellar.
Reviews of the Black Beauty
Elena Antonovna, 41 years old. Zucchini was cultivated by a handsome black man at his site this year. I can note excellent germination and productivity. The fruits are very tasty and with a small seed part. By the way, their color was not as black as the manufacturer expected. Perhaps this is due to the fact that I grew a plant on a sunny bed.
Igor Petrovich, 53 years old. This is one of the most beloved zucchini varieties. The plant is unpretentious and very productive - just strewn with flowers and ovary. This year, one part of the collected fruits was consumed in food for several weeks, and the rest was allowed to prepare blanks for the winter.
Angelina Vladimirovna, 55 years old. Zucchini was grown by Black Beauty this year for the first time. The plant did not require special care - it was only 2 times polished, watered and removed the lower leaves several times. The bushes blossomed and bore fruit well. Zucchini formed quickly, barely had time to shoot them.
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Black handsome is an early-ripening zucchini variety that bears fruit with smooth, almost black fruits, up to 25 cm long and weighing up to 1 kg. The plant itself has a compact size and does not differ in particular whimsicality - even an inexperienced gardener can grow it on his personal plot.