There is no culture easier than radish, but many gardeners also fail.
   -Children, who among you can grow a radish! I asked my grandchildren.

It’s written on the package, bury it in the ground in April, and after 18 days radish will grow, - the grandchildren of the schoolchildren who can read the instructions on the packages answered me in unison.

Grandfather didn’t grow radishes for the first years, then he will eat a flea, then he will go to the arrow, let him teach you his current secrets. - Told the grandmother.
- Grandchildren, but tell me, what root crop shown in the photo is tastier for you and which is more useful!

The grandchildren are silent.

Let me tell you, see how in Japan children are taught to love daikon up to a year, and why. Or why in the US do kids love radishes as much as carrots?

We don’t want a radish, - the kids said.
   “A store radish lies in the refrigerator for a week, no one eats it,” added the tenth grader.

Not true! All of you have eaten radishes from our garden all year round and said that it was very tasty! Grandfather, remind them how it was, ”my grandmother asked.

And I began to recall how, since the end of April, every spring we go out into the garden every morning, see if the first radish is ripe, whether it is time to trust the granddaughter, to stretch the first root. During the winter, vegetables from the basement are fed up, the body requires new living vitamins, new odors and taste sensations. After a long winter, all mammals, and bears, and wild boars, and mice, strive to enjoy fresh vitamin roots.

The first bunch of its spring radish is always a holiday for both children and adults, by this time, there will always be young onions and last year’s parsley on the beds grows.
   Salad of radishes, onions, spices, sour cream and boiled egg in early May - what could be nicer on the table after a long winter?

Remember, it was delicious, we want our young radish! Crunch it! - the grandchildren clapped their hands.

But I continued to recall further how in June, when the radish was fed up, and everyone was waiting for their tomatoes and cucumbers, I brought Chinese red sweet radish and Peking cabbage leaves, my grandmother cut the cabbage into thin strips, and sprinkled the radish into thin pink rings, sprinkled it with sesame seeds, and decorated it with leaves basil and garlic, sprinkled with vegetable oil infused with ginger and the children began to crunch cabbage and radish, competing with someone crunching louder.

At the end of August, cucumbers and tomatoes began to annoy, my long Chinese Dungarian radish ripened and I grew vegetable fennel.
   - Children! We will arrange a new competition that crunches louder on your teeth, cabbage or fennel!

My grandmother made a straw from white plates of fennel, rings of sweet red and white radish, the children picked five kinds of herbs on the beds, brought edible flowers of borage and nasturtium, picked a glass of very large remontant raspberries and small strawberries to decorate the table and began to crunch fennel salad and radish, laughing out loud and rejoicing at the end of summer, the beginning of harvesting in our garden.

And ahead of us was the main competition, collecting daikon and radish for the winter. Of course, we are far from Japanese children, but pulling a daikon up to 35 cm long to our grandchildren is also very sporty.

Daikon and black radish are kept with us almost all winter. In any salad, we finely chop the daikon. Just the children do not notice it among other vegetables and herbs.

Children, and remember how I introduced you to the Russian dish of radish?

Children do not need horseradish and radish, but on frosty winter days, after a ski trip, it is worth chopping a whole plate of white radish finely, fry finely chopped sweet red onion in a frying pan, in frying sunflower oil, and sprinkle radish with hot oil and onion.

Yes! It was tasty and not at all bitter when we dipped a plate of brown bread on a plate and ate a lot of radish with a fork! Warm up immediately, - answered the grandchildren.

So we’ll tell you all the secrets about European and Chinese radishes, about black radish, about daikon from Japan, about sweet green and red Margelan radish. After all, we surprised many when we talked about carrots and beets of various shapes and colors, it is time to introduce different radishes. And to please readers with plates with beautiful salads from radishes and bright radishes.

Secret 1 - Everybody knows European radishes. In Europe, it was domesticated before Roman times. Favorite vegetable in Europe and America and the first greetings from the upcoming summer for our gardeners.

Daikon. Most gardeners have heard of such a culture as daikon, bought in stores, but few have tried to grow it.
   Daikon is commonly called Japanese radish. To its taste, daikon resembles radish, but a little sharper. In shape and size - it resembles a very large (almost giant) carrot, more than half a meter long and up to 10 cm in diameter. This is one of the most popular root crops in Japan, where it is grown on an industrial scale.

Black radish. There is a white winter. A purely European root crop, where several thousand years have been known. Radish is mainly cultivated for use in winter and early spring, when vitamin deficiency is especially felt.

Radish is Chinese or Margelan. Margelan is usually called green radish, it is also often called forehead radish. Compared to black, it has no bitter taste. Now there is a more tender and tasty Chinese radish with red flesh.

Everyone knows the Elephant Fang variety from the Chinese radish variety group. Bred by the Kuban Agricultural Institute by the method of hybridization of a sample obtained from China, and Tashanhong radish with subsequent selection and verification of the offspring. Although it is incorrectly ranked as a Japanese daikon.

Secret 2 - The homeland of all these crucifers is the region of Thailand and the Philippines, where wild ancestors still grow. But in the culture of radish and radish introduced first in India, then in China and Japan. In these countries over many millennia, they acquired special forms, turned into the Japanese Daikon, into the Chinese Sweet Radish.
   And Europe, having gotten from Central Asia, radish began to be grown as a very early round or oblong root crop with a crispy taste for spring salads. From Spain, it was brought to America only 500 years ago, but spread everywhere.
   Although now daikon in America is grown more than in Japan.

Secret 3 - Varieties of radishes. They are divided into spring-summer salad varieties, usually small round or elongated red, white and pink.
Winter varieties are sharper, usually elongated, sometimes weighing up to a kilogram, the colors are white, red and black.

In April, I give preference to ultra-mature and precocious varieties and hybrids, for example, 16 days, 18 days, French breakfast, Dawn, Donar F1, Askania, Presto, Alex F1.

In May, sometimes I plant varieties resistant to flowering, they are also called neutral to the length of the day, they form a root crop and with a long day, they can be grown throughout the summer. Such varieties include the All-Season, Krasa, the Red Giant, Nastyusha, Yum-yum, Rhodes, although when we have white nights, without cover, these varieties give an arrow.

It is nice to have varieties: with white - Mokhovsky, Odyssey, Icicle, Baron, Snow Queen, Octave, Autumn giant, pink: Resident, Pink barrel, purple: Malaga; yellow - Zlata, as well as a mixture of colors - Carnival.

Secret 4 - Daikon Varieties. Most of the autumn-winter forms from Malaysia to China and Japan are approximately the same. Elongated as a carrot root, up to 35 cm in length and up to 5 cm in diameter. In Japan, there is a special variety of up to 50 kg in weight.

For beginners, it’s enough to know our varieties zoned
   Sasha is an ultra-early, cold-resistant and high-yielding variety. It can be sown from spring to mid-summer.
   Dragon is a mid-season variety. Grown in the second half of summer after harvesting early vegetables.
   The cudgel is mid-season for open and protected ground. The variety is resistant to shooting and bacteriosis.
   Emperor F1 is a mid-season, high-yielding hybrid.
   Snow White - a variety designed for spring greenhouses and open ground. Suitable for early spring and summer sowing.

In the autumn, on my light lands, I grow varieties with deeply submerged root crops - Nerrim and Ninengo. In our area, you can grow daikon Daikusin, Tsukushi Haru, Green Neck Miyashige (more than 10 kg / m2), Blue Sky, Haruyoshi, Daisi and Harutsuge (7.5-9.5 kg / m2), Tokinashi (6 kg / m2) in autumn ) In many of them, the mass of the root crop reaches 2-3.5 kg.

Secret 5 - Radish is very easy to grow if you know how to handle two problems.
   The first problem, a cruciferous flea in April - May, can completely destroy young seedlings. It’s easier to cover the seedlings with non-woven material for the first two weeks. Of course, you can spray the seedlings with modern pyrethroids, but no later than two weeks before the harvest.
The second problem, in late May - June, days are more than 14 hours, plus heat. And any radish goes to the arrow. The solution is simple, you can plant radishes in April or August, and you can shorten the day to 12 hours, covering the beds the last two weeks before collecting dark material.
   I discovered a brilliant solution. I watched how in the west leek or celery was whitened, wrapping the trunks in foil insulation.
   So, you can make neat wooden boards on the beds with radishes, cut pieces of insulation coated with aluminum foil to the size of the sides and cover the beds for 12 hours.

I, having read the literature on the light culture of radish, make it easier. I arrange a radish day 2 - 4 hour sleep. On the hottest noon, from 13 o’clock until 15 o’clock (preferably until 5 p.m.) I cover the beds, with foil to the top, heat and light are reflected, the bed does not overheat, like under a black film.
   Radish doubles day and night. The ground under the foil cools, the humidity increases. In such conditions, the radish can ripen a week earlier and never gives an arrow, neither in June nor in July.

Secret 6 - European early varieties of radishes grow at a temperature of 10 to 18 degrees, loves high soil moisture and under such conditions ripens in 3-5 weeks. It tolerates small frosts easily. He loves loam, but acidity below 6.5 no longer tolerates.

Secret 7 - How and when to plant radishes. Radish is valuable in May. Therefore, I plant it sometimes from the end of March, planting a little every week until mid-April. Initially, the most early ripening varieties and hybrids, then varieties resistant to flowering and always a little Margelan radish. In June, I don’t sow radishes, since in July I don’t need radishes, my body needs to rest, get bored with cruciferous root crops.
   But at the beginning of August it is necessary to sow radishes giants along with winter varieties of daikon and various radishes.
   I always calibrate the seeds, sift out small and broken sieves on the sieves, bubbling before planting. Large, sticky seeds double the yield.

Secret 8 - Soil. Better as a cucumber, but without fresh manure. Loose, warm, without stagnation of water, enriched with old organic matter. Any predecessors, except cruciferous.
I plant a lot of dahlias, for them naturally annually allocate new beds, often on the south side of the buildings. Under the dahlias, you can safely sprinkle organic waste, grass, hay litter all summer long. Dahlias kill wheat grass and all perennial weeds, after which a magnificent loose bed is obtained, which in spring does not need to be loosened and fertilized. It turns out the perfect soil for planting radishes in April.
   And after harvesting the radish - in June it turns out to be a good place for planting ground standard tomatoes and peppers.
   Under the early radish, it is poorer in soils, sometimes I bring a little ash, this will reduce acidity and enrich the soil with potassium. Mineral for radishes has not been introduced for twenty years. But ACC before planting and a couple of times always apply on foliage. AKCh on radish gives a great effect. At the end of 2014, I wrote an article about AKCH and daikon that grew in a month in September. Read.

Secret 9 - Radish on poor soils. Beginners are confused in the problem of creating loose soil under radishes. Let's say the soil is poor in organic matter. You dig it up, moisten it, loosen it and sow the seeds. But after rain and watering and subsequent sunny days, the soil turns into concrete in a couple of days. You killed living soil engineers, but you yourself cannot loosen the soil every day.
   I propose the following agricultural method, which allows you to quickly restore the capillarity of the soil.
   Sow green manure, but not for the purpose of mythical replenishment of soil with organic matter. It is known that green manure replenishes soil, but during the season they mineralize as much organic matter in the soil.
   We need siderata as soil engineers. They will make vertical pores in the soil with their roots, so they do not need to be dug up, but they must be cut with a fishing line of a trimmer. And most importantly, beginners forget about, without additional organic mulch the effect of siderates is zero.
   Therefore, after mowing siderates, from above it is necessary to put any organic matter from 3 to 5 cm. Of course, manure is perfect, but weeds, peat, sawdust spilled with urea will come down and be sweet. All this must be done in August, so that soil living creatures start up in the organic matter, soil engineers begin to work. And in the spring, any root crops in such a bed will grow if you do not dig it and break the houses and cities of the soil micro and meso biota.
   And then. on your relatively poor nutrition soil, you can locally make long-playing Bui WMDs locally in the grooves.

You need to know that potassium should prevail in mineral top dressing, so it’s enough to pour just ash under the radish.

Secret 10 - Distance for early radishes. I adapt to the size of the beds, often a box or meter beds against the wall of buildings. Therefore, I make lines across, planting, as it were, in a squarely nesting manner, from 3 to 10 cm between plants, depending on the size of the root crop. It is important that the hand reaches out to weed the weeds, but the foot, so as not to step on the beds with radishes.

Secret 11 - Beds under the daikon. Not necessarily as loose as under radishes. The soil is about the same as described for beets and carrots.

I solve this problem easily, we have beds for onions, by the end of July, beginning of August, we always remove it, and winter garlic is also removed. Where the onion has grown, the autumn daikon will grow splendidly.
   Naturally, I don’t dig the beds, I have sand, so I don’t do high beds, if you have loam, it’s better to shift the soil from the row-spacing to the bed and make them higher. It is even better to mulch the plantings with rotted organics, but not with coniferous sawdust, acidic soils, especially depleted of nitrogen and radishes - these are always keel and other diseases.
   After the onion under the daikon, I sometimes introduce a loose old humus in the form of mulch. And four times during the fall I spray the daikon, like other AKCh radishes.

With a daikon, do not play fertilizing. All sorts of newfangled fertilizers give the opposite effect, there is a leaf, there is no root crop.

Secret 12 - Not bad radishes and radishes grow after tomatoes. Sometimes in August I remove and plant early early standard tomatoes in open ground and plant radish and daikon in autumn varieties.

If we store a few daikon bags for the winter, then black radish needs a couple dozen root crops. We attach it to the edges of the beds and it grows without any care, if only weeds would not drown out.

Secret 13 - Moisture. Radish not only loves moisture; it does not grow without it! Just as without the sun in the shade of trees, or shaded by weeds, it gives small root crops.
   In the spring for early radishes you need to provide daily! watering, loosening, adding organic mulch, weeding weeds, covering with non-woven material from the flea. All this retains moisture in the soil. Dry the soil at least once - get a “woody” radish, the children will reject it, it will not crackle louder than chips.

Autumn plantings in our area rarely require watering. Daikon in early August I sometimes water a couple of times and loosen, then the tops quickly close, and it drowns out any weeds. Autumn is rainy, nights are long, fleas do not bother, there are no problems with shooting.

Secret 14 - Harvesting. The early radish should not be overexposed on the bed, having typed its genetically determined size, on the 20-30 -40 day the radish should be cleaned and quickly consumed. Overexposure - you get voids and woodiness. Although modern greenhouse hybrids are resistant to these problems, I will not write about greenhouses. In March, I don’t want to eat greenhouse radishes and I don’t advise you, the value of radishes in the May sun, in vitamins and hormones, which is given to the roots by living soil biota, and not Chinese chemistry.

Secret 15 - Autumn radish ripens for a long time, and it picks up basic sugar in cold autumn nights. The later the daikon and radish are removed, the better they will be stored, and the higher their biological value will be. But watch out for the weather forecast. Freezing to -1 is only good. But frosts up to - 3 can already damage the protruding part of the daikon and it will not be stored. It is necessary either to remove or cover with a dense lurasil.

Secret 16 - Black radish is stored like beets without any problems until spring in the basement. The long autumn radish is a giant, I eat in September - October first of all, the main thing is to cover it with sawdust or sand. To not dry.
   Daikon can be stored until February. The truth dries faster than beets and carrots, so I keep it in the basement, in buckets wrapped in newspapers and covered with a lid, I discard the rotting once a month.

Secret 17 - Sometimes I leave on the bed several plants of spring radish, which gave the arrow. In the fall I dry the pods and collect the seeds. They can not be used for root crops, they will shoot. I need seeds to grow seedlings in winter and decorate a plate with winter salads.

Children, and what is useful in radish and daikon, you did not answer this part of my question, you only agreed that it can even be tastier than carrots?

Radish and daikon in folk medicine are advised to use when ..., - the tenth grader began to read tips from the Internet, but I interrupted him.

Never listen to the unscientific advice of grandmothers on the bench and advice from newspapers such as HLS! Vegetables and fruits are not a cure. These are the most valuable food products that our ancestors have been eating for millions of years, and without their use, our metabolism is rapidly disrupted. The most instructive example, when the Spaniards sailed to America for several months and took with them only salted meat and bread, they all died from scurvy, and if they replenished their supplies with vegetables and fruits, rough flour and cereals, they all sailed up.

Then I will read the following. The main benefit of radishes is the presence of many trace elements necessary for humans, such as phosphorus and sodium, iron and calcium, as well as magnesium. There are many vitamins in the radish, among which the highest concentration of vitamins such as C and PP and group B. Radish is very rich in fiber. It contains two and a half times more than, for example, in zucchini. Due to this feature, the use of radish in the ability to normalize bowel function and remove excess cholesterol from the body. In addition, studies have shown that the presence of pectin in the radish gives it the properties of a product that can significantly help cleanse the body of various harmful substances and toxins. - The grandson quickly corrected.

All this is in carrots, and beets, and in pumpkins, and all this should diversify our table so that it does not get boring. “We all miss the first radish and onions, the first vitamins in the spring, and it is they that help us eliminate the spring vitamin deficiency better than any pills in a week,” I added.

Grandfather is great, he not only shared important secrets, but also bought a lot of different seeds of radishes and radishes and planned the best places, with the most “lively soil”, where we will sow and care for these vegetables all season, and we will all summer and winter consume different radishes. Not for treatment, but so that we all have good immunity, and we do not need any medications. - Grandmother explained to our grandchildren our main secret.

Sofya Guseva Root crops

Are you planting a daikon? If not, be sure to grow a daikon - you will like it! The culture is very productive, in a short period forms a large root crop, which is perfectly stored for 2-3 months. And some varieties up to six months.

That is, you will have a fresh “radish” at home all winter. By the way, daikon's taste is softer and more tender than that of radish. The roots of daikon do not accumulate heavy metals and are able to remove radionuclides from the body. What is relevant in the Urals.

Also, daikon root crops have a therapeutic effect in diseases of the gall bladder, liver, kidneys, even treat cancer, suppress the harmful intestinal microflora. Of the plants that are found in gardens, only radish, daikon and horseradish have the ability to cleanse the kidneys and liver, dissolve stones in them. Here is a useful plant.

How to grow daikon - a useful vegetable and unpretentious!

1. When to sow

You can sow daikon in early spring or summer (end of July). This plant loves short days. It grows quickly, after about a week.

If you sow early (in early July), when the day is still long, then young plants immediately produce flower stalks. Therefore, follow a simple rule - hurry up with sowing in the spring and do not rush in the summer. Like all radishes, daikon does not like dense crops and also begins to bloom.

2. Land preparation, sowing and care

To grow beautiful, smooth roots, you need to prepare the ground well. It should be light, fertile, seasoned with well-rotted manure or compost. The roots of the daikon are large, we plan a distance between rows of 40 cm, and between seeds 30 cm.

Peg holes 4-5 cm. In depth and lay out a seed in them, they are large at the daikon. With spring sowing, there is enough moisture in the soil, you do not need to water much. But summer crops need to provide good humidity for seed germination.

Pour the prepared holes and sprinkle the seeds with moist soil and mulch on top of the planting with humus or peat 3 cm. When the plants sprout, add the mulch after watering (dry grass, weeds, hay). Like all radishes, daikon loves water.

3. Pests

They are the same as radishes, radishes and cabbage. Flea and cabbage fly are especially harmful. Do not wait for their appearance, immediately process young seedlings.

Daikon salad

You can sprinkle plants with tobacco dust, ash, ground red pepper. For best adhesion, spray the seedlings with soap and water. Also, immature plants can be hidden under cover material.

4. Cleaning

We eat summer daikon like radishes in salads and just like that, their children like to nibble. And the one that was sown in July, put away for storage. In winter it will be a good vitamin supplement to the table. We begin cleaning at the end of September. Dig it out in dry weather.

Do this with a pitchfork, as you will cut or break root crops with a shovel. They are long at the daikon, they can grow up to 70 cm. Do not keep in the sun for a long time so that they do not wilt.

Immediately cut off the tops by twisting. Dry it a little, brush it off the ground and put it in the cellar or underground. We remove all root crops (late radishes, turnips, radishes, beets, but the carrots are not afraid of frost) before the first frosts.

The daikon is well stored in open bags, covered with sawdust or onion husks in a cool dark place. To preserve moisture, you can tie a bag and make slots in it for breathing root crops. Here and all the features of growing daikon. Be sure to plant it on your own site - you won’t regret it. Don’t miss new interesting articles, subscribe.

Daikon - how and why to grow and consume it.

Daikon - one of the subspecies of the seed radish from the family Cabbage. Daikon is a very valuable root crop.

In Russia, an exotic daikon for Russians is called “sweet radish” and “white radish.” Often the daikon root crop has gigantic dimensions: up to 60 cm in length and up to 10 cm in diameter, and weighs up to 5 kg. Moreover, daikon has a very valuable property: it does not absorb harmful substances from the soil.

Daikon is one of the most valuable vegetable crops!It is no accident that the long-living Japanese have bred many varieties of daikon and eat it almost every day almost every year.

The largest areas among vegetable crops are regularly allocated by the Japanese precisely for daikon!In Russia, such daikon varieties are famous and popular: " Big bull«, « The Dragon«, « Cudgel«, « The emperor«, « Elephant fang«, « Minovase«, « Sasha«, « Terminator«, « Tokinashi«, « Caesar«, « Japanese white long«.

Taste properties.   The root of the daikon, unlike radish, does not contain mustard oils, and, in contrast to radish, has a very moderate aroma. Daikon has a delicate taste, juicy pulp and pleasantly crunches on the teeth.

It is used in salads with vegetable oil, sour cream or cream. Young daikon leaves are edible, it is recommended to eat them regularly. Fresh daikon sprouts are a popular side dish for salads and sushi. Beneficial features.

Daikon is a low-calorie food product: 100 grams of root vegetables contain only 21 kilocalories, but it also contains a lot of vitamins B and C. In addition, daikon contains an active enzyme that promotes the digestion of starch. Daikon contains a large number of phytoncides that destroy microbes and protect the body from infections. Daikon helps to better absorb fats, proteins and carbohydrates, in addition, it removes excess water from the body.

Fructose is the main type of sugar found in daikon, so it is indicated and useful for patients with diabetes. Daikon shooting   is its characteristic feature and a huge drawback.

The main reason for shooting a daikon is a long daylight day. If you cover the beds with a daikon with black film in the morning and evening, shortening the daylight hours to 10-12 hours, you can almost certainly get rid of the shooting of a daikon. In 2014, I’m going to put arcs from a smooth one over the daikon bed reinforcing bars three meters long and 6 mm in diameter, and cover the daikon’s landing with black plastic film over the arcs from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. Undesired shooting is caused not only by a long day. Radish, radish, daikon go to the arrows in case of violations of the moisture regime and thickening, the plants go on to form seeds and tend to leave offspring after themselves, like any living creatures who find themselves in adverse conditions. Therefore, you should strive to use varieties that are resistant to shooting, such Daikon varieties are: Snow White   - an early variety of daikon that can be planted in open ground and rifle resistant.

Root crops are white, the pulp is juicy and of a slightly pungent taste. Productivity is up to 8 kg / sq.m. It is stored in wet sand for up to 5 months.

Big bull   - mid-season grade daikon with a large root crop, which has a juicy pulp of mild taste and a weight of up to 3 kg. It can be stored all winter. The Dragon   - mid-season grade of daikon, with the formation of root crops 60-70 days after sowing.

The root crop has a length of 30-60 cm and a weight of up to one kg. The best time for sowing in open ground is the second half of July. Landing pattern - 65? 20 cm.

It has a delicate, juicy, white and dense pulp without a sharp taste. It can be eaten fresh. Allows long-term storage.

Cudgel   - mid-season grade of daikon - from germination to harvesting 55-60 days. It is recommended for consumption in the fall and winter, because it has a shelf life of up to 6 months. The best sowing date is the second half of July.

Productivity - up to 10 kg / sq.m. Resistant to stem and bacteriosis. Root crops have a length of up to 60 cm and a weight of up to 4 kg. Allows cultivation in the open ground.

Elephant fang   - mid-season daikon variety with vegetation for 72-80 days. The root crop is white, with a length of 50 tons - 60 tons and weighing up to 0.5 kg. It has a white, juicy and tender flesh.

Minovase Summecross   - a daikon hybrid that resistant to shooting, it can be sown from April to July. In fertile soil, the root crop sometimes grows to a length of one meter and to a mass of 4 kg. It is characterized by good keeping quality, tastes great.

I believe that this particular variety is of the greatest interest. Prince of danish - medium-early high-yielding daikon variety bred in Denmark. The root crop has a red color, length up to 25 cm, juicy and tender flesh without a pungent taste.

Sasha   - cold-resistant early ripening grade of universal term of use. The root crop has a mass of up to 0.4 kg. The growing season is 35-40 days.

It can be grown both in open and in protected ground. Productivity - up to 4.5 kg / sq.m. Japanese white long   - a high-yielding late-ripening daikon variety with root crops up to 65 cm long and weighing up to 3 kg.

Its juicy flesh has a slightly spicy taste. This variety is resistant to shooting and is well stored. To avoid the shooting of any daikon varieties, you need to plant seeds in early spring or late summer.

During spring plantings of daikon seeds north of the 55th degree of latitude, root crops often do not form, and plants bloom. Therefore, in central Russia, sowing for seedlings in the beginning of Aprilthen in 30 days the seedlings can be planted in a greenhouse or in a greenhouse. On April 1, 2014, I am going to plant 30 seeds of daikon in 15 peat pots to check the germination of purchased seeds and have seedlings for the garden. At the end of spring frost, seedlings can be planted on the beds. Since daikon is a heat-loving plant, at an air temperature below + 10 degrees, daikon must be covered with a film. In central Russia, the deadline for sowing daikon seeds is early August. Growing.

Daikon usually grows 40-70 days, it can be planted from May to August, and get a crop from July to mid-October. Moreover, daikon is unpretentious, has a high yield even in Russia, and its root crops are well tolerated. Landing.

Daikon is not particularly fastidious to the quality of the soil, but you need to select varieties designed for the soil in which you will grow it. I plan to grow daikon on triangular beds, planting seeds at the tops and in the center of the hexagon with a side of 30 cm. To maximize daikon yield , it is recommended to drill holes with a depth of 50 t cm and fill them with fertile soil with sand.

Before planting seeds, it is advisable to moisten the garden well. In each well, when planting seeds on the garden, I will plant three seeds, and after the appearance of leaves I will remove the extra plants. Daikon Care   It comes down to weeding, watering and loosening the soil.

To minimize labor costs, I will cover the surface of the soil with ideal right mulch 5-10 cm thick, leaving a circle free of mulch around the plant with a radius of three cm. When the tops of the root crops begin to bulge out of the soil, I will spud them so that the root crops do not lose their nutrition and taste. The main pests of daikon:Cruciferous fleas   - they eat daikon leaves.

To drive away these insects, the ground part will be moistened once a week and sprinkled with ash. Garden scoop   - To combat their larvae and caterpillars, I will sometimes water the plants with a pale pink solution of potassium permanganate.

I will also use, if necessary, an infusion of red hot pepper, prepared in this way: pour 5 pods of pepper with one liter of hot water, infuse for 12 hours and dissolve in 10 liters of water. Slug   damage the root crop, making it unsuitable for storage.

To close access to the plant by the pest, it is necessary to surround the beds with grooves, and pour ash in them. Daikon cleaning   it is usually produced 40–70 days after planting, and only in dry weather, so that the air adhering to the root crops in the air dries out and easily separates. Note that even slightly damaged root crops will not be stored for long.

When harvesting a daikon, root crops are pulled out of the soil for the tops. If you cannot pull out, use a pitchfork. Separating damaged root crops from whole ones, eat their food as soon as possible.

Seed production. Having selected the plants that are intended for growing seeds, you need to trim the tops from them, leaving the stalks 10 cm long. Root crops sown in spring should be used - then in the fall you can get seeds.

Root crops with petioles must be kept in the refrigerator for 10 days, then planted obliquely in the soil and wait for the seeds to ripen. Care must be taken to prevent cruciferous plants of other species from growing nearby, otherwise pollination will occur, and instead of daikon seeds you will get seeds of an incomprehensible hybrid. Storage. Root crops intended for storage are laid in layers in boxes, each layer is filled with wet sand, and the boxes are cleaned in the cellar.

To keep the daikon fresh until February, it is advisable to maintain the temperature in the cellar at about one degree Celsius, and the sand in the wet state. ecopark.Table with main features Daikon   located on the page " Daikon". I invite everyone to speak in. I welcome and welcome criticism and exchange of experience. I keep a link to the author’s site in good comments! And do not forget, please, click on the buttons of social networks, which are located under the text of each page of the site.

Delicious Daikon Radish: Growing

The Japanese spring treat is daikon radish, cultivation is important. Daikon (Japanese radish) is a hybrid of radish and radish. It is extremely healthy and tastes good.

The larger the radish, the juicier and tastier it is. The vegetable lacks the bitter taste characteristic of radish. It contains many pectin substances, salts of calcium, fiber, vitamin C; it removes radionuclides, contributes to the normalization of the intestines.

Daikon helps cleanse the kidneys and liver. Root vegetables are recommended for diabetic patients, as it contains fructose. Vegetables help cleanse the body, kill viruses and germs.

Even before the ripening of the vegetable in early spring, very young daikon leaves are used in the preparation of salads. It is very simple to grow. Japanese radish is grown on any soil. The vegetable is sung in 60-70 days.

It is best to plant Japanese radish in mid-July, but if you need to grow only greens, you can plant it later. To plant a hybrid, two beds are made: the gap between the rows is about half a meter.

Planting material is planted to a depth of 3-5 cm in small holes at a distance of 25-30 cm. Rows are arranged after 40-50 cm. If planted in this way, all plants are provided with sufficient nutrition.

They do not obscure each other. Having sown the seeds, they are covered in halves of plastic containers. In this case, the seeds germinate in 4-5 days. After the appearance of the first true leaves, the seedlings dive, removing weak and unformed shoots, providing stronger plants with better conditions. Considering that daikon and onions are excellent “neighbors”, onions are sown between the rows , which protects the seedlings from direct sunlight.

Onion odor protects daikon from pests (butterflies and cruciferous fleas). To protect the plant from these pests, you need to sprinkle the beds with tobacco dust or wood ash, and then cover it with garden fabric.

Plants damaged by pests should not be eaten or stored for food. Beds with daikon should be watered sparingly, so excess moisture can cause mucosal bacteriosis. When the first leaves of daikon appear, they should be pinched so that they are not damaged by slugs.

Plants damaged by slugs are poorly stored in winter. In order for Japanese radish to grow dense and tasty, the earth needs to be deeply loosened and fed with fertilizers that dissolve well in water. Harvested for 1.5-2 months (depending on variety). Daikon is removed only in dry weather.

Harvested root vegetables are sorted, sorted, rejecting damaged ones. The grown crop is well stored in the basement or refrigerator, which has a temperature of 1 to 5 ° C. Root crops need to be laid in boxes with sand or moss.

It should be noted that if the storage temperature is above 3 ° C, then white rot may appear on the fruits.

Daikon growing and care

Greetings, dear friends, a hybrid of radish and radish grown in Japan is called daikon, which we mistakenly attribute to summer varieties of radish. The well-known root crop is well stored, has great nutritional value and always gives a stable crop on cultivated soils of a caring gardener. Overseas vegetable often grows over half a meter in length and weighs more than 500 g. Before you start the story about the site, let's talk about the beneficial properties of this root crop.

Beneficial features

Root crops differ in juiciness and tenderness of taste with the absence of bitterness characteristic of radish. Its composition contains a large amount of trace elements, vitamins, antioxidants.

In addition, daikon has antiviral and antimicrobial effects, helps cleanse the body. They eat not only the root, but also the young leaves of the plant.

Growing daikon and planting care

Daikon is unpretentious and does not require special agricultural technology. It is cultivated on any soil, but for productivity or commercial cultivation, it is better to use light soils saturated with organic food.

They plant a crop in early July; later planting is also suitable for greenery. For sowing, two small beds are used, with a gap in the row spacing of about half a meter. Seeds are placed in small holes, which are made at a distance of approximately the length of the palm of each other.

Initially, it is advisable to cover the plantings with cut-off plastic containers - seedlings under them are observed already on the 5th day. When true leaflets appear, plants dive in the hole, leaving a more formed, strong shoot. When conducting, we must not forget about regular watering, weeding and loosening of the soil.

To form a bulk root crop with a dense structure, the soil is loosened deeply and fed with easily digestible, soluble fertilizers. Planting with a daikon is not recommended to be transfused with water, unlike radishes: as a result of waterlogging of the soil, root crops can become infected with gray rot.

Harvested after one and a half, two months after sowing - the period depends on the variety of daikon. Harvesting is carried out only in dry weather, where the roots are dug up, the root crops are immediately sorted, sorted and rejected. It is better to use a spring planting seed.

The tops are cut off from it, leaving cuttings about 10 cm high, and put in the refrigerator. After 10 days, they are planted under a slight slope and the plant is cultivated until the seeds fully ripen.

Daikon storage

Harvested root vegetables are stored in the refrigerator or in the cellar at a temperature of 1 to -5 in boxes with sand or moss. To avoid the formation of white rot on the fruits, the temperature in the storage area should not exceed 3 degrees.

Pests

The main pests of this plant are considered: cruciferous flea, garden scoop and slugs. To combat them and prevent the occurrence - the earth is sprinkled with ash or hot pepper, making grooves around the perimeter of the landings.

Translated from Japanese, the word “daikon” sounds like “a big root.” The root of the daikon is much larger than that of the usual radish for us, and contains significantly less bitterness, and is also excellent in taste. Its productivity is very high, and that is why in Japan its plantings occupy first place among other vegetable crops.

Unfortunately, in our country it has not yet received wide distribution. Daikon is a very valuable food, healing and dietary plant. Root crops are well stored for several months. Duration of storage depends on the variety of vegetables and conditions.

The root crop has a delicate, juicy, hard-white pulp and is free from the sharp and bitter taste of radish, which is created by the high content of mustard oils that stimulate the work of the heart. The root crop “cleans” the kidneys and liver, dissolves stones. It has the ability to suppress the harmful microflora of the intestines and stomach, contains a large amount of calcium and potassium salts, vitamin C, glycosides, volatile and other substances that determine the healing properties of the plant.

For this reason, those who want to cultivate daikon in their area should start growing in the early spring in a greenhouse or sowing directly into the ground in the second half of summer (July). The culture feels good only on light soils - sandy loam or well-drained peatlands. The cultivation technique is quite simple.

On a preformed ridge, a groove of 2-3 centimeters deep is made, into which two seeds are placed at a distance of 25-30 centimeters. There should be at least 60 centimeters between ridges. Sprouts appear in a week, sometimes earlier.

At this time, it is necessary to ensure that young plants are not affected by the invasion of the cruciferous flea, otherwise emergency measures must be taken to protect it. As soon as two true leaves are formed, one, less developed plant is removed from the nest.

It’s better to just pluck it so as not to disturb the root of the main bush. In the future, while the daikon grows up, growing and caring for it comes down to weeding, loosening (first deep and then superficial) and, if necessary, watering. If the soil is fertile, then there is no need for top dressing, but if you need to feed it, it is better to do it immediately after thinning. After forty to seventy days after sowing, depending on which daikon variety and weather conditions, they begin to harvest. During this time, the root crop only half remains in the ground, the rest of it protrudes above the ground. On sandy soils, it is well pulled out of the tops, but on heavy soils it must be dug up, otherwise you can easily break a long and juicy root crop. You probably already they realized what a wonderful culture it is - daikon, the cultivation of which is no more difficult than caring for a simple radish, how unpretentious and harvestable, and most importantly - what a healthy and tasty vegetable it is.

We are used to the fact that our radish is a spicy, pungent taste, a vitamin-rich vegetable. But the culture has a less vigorous, but from this no less useful variety - daikon or Japanese radish. She is tender, juicy, slightly sweet, piquant. Planting and caring for a daikon has its own characteristics - in amateur vegetable gardens, vegetables are often grown as a second crop, the roots of which are a great alternative to autumn radish, and they are also well stored in winter.

To understand how to plant a daikon correctly, we suggest understanding its biological features and the nuances of agricultural technology.

  "Big root" - a tasty, healthy, low-calorie product, the main vegetable of Japanese cuisine

Vegetable No. 1 of the Land of the Rising Sun

It has been experimentally proved that under similar growing conditions, the content of nitrates, salts of heavy metals, radioactive substances in daikon is 10–20 times lower than in other root crops. Maybe that's why vegetable culture is so popular among the Japanese, it is part of many Chinese, Korean, Thai dishes. For residents of South-Asian countries, cultivating daikon in the open field is as familiar as for us - potatoes, onions, cabbage.

The plant belongs to the family Cruciferous, is grown in one and two year old culture. Externally, the vegetable is recognizable by carved, pubescent leaves collected in a sprawling rosette, reaching a diameter of 50-60 cm. In the first year after sowing the seeds forms a root crop, which, depending on the variety, can have a cylindrical, spindle-shaped, conical, rounded shape. In traditional varieties, it is white, new hybrids can have a greenish, pink, light purple skin color.

Planted root crops bloom and give seeds - in daikon they look like radishes, maybe a little larger. Seeds can be grown in one year. If you plant a plant in early spring, it will have time to form a head and drive out a flower arrow.

Note! Better seeds are obtained from root crops, planted specifically for planting (transplant method). Sowing material obtained in one year is prone to stalking; the percentage of flowering in such plants will increase from year to year.

Daikon refers to plants with a strong photoperiodic dependence - if the day is long, it blooms, short - forms a root crop. Sowing in the usual terms for other crops (May - early June) is one of the reasons why the daikon went into bloom, instead of forming a vegetative organ.

Varieties for the Russian garden

At home, the culture has dozens of varieties, combined in 7 varieties - the shape of the fruit, the degree of immersion in the soil, the ripening time. The assortment for Russian gardens is not so numerous. When adapting foreign varieties and breeding domestic breeders take into account a number of points.

• Daikon is sown when grown from seeds at a time when the day is waning, i.e. in the second half of summer, otherwise he will go to the arrow.
• In order for the root crop to form and grow under these conditions, early varieties with a growing season not exceeding 60–75 days are needed.
• Shooter resistant seeds are preferred.

These conditions are met by varieties that received positive reviews from gardeners - Minovashi, Dragon, Elephant Fang, Dubinushka, Moscow Athlete, Sasha (with rounded root crops), hybrids Emperor F1, Flamingo F1.

Advice! When choosing a variety, consider the structure of the soil. If it is light and loose, the types of daikon with a long root crop immersed in the ground (Minovashi, Caesar, Emperor) are suitable. On heavy soils, rounded-shaped fruits (Sasha), rising from the soil by one, two-thirds of the length (Dragon, Dubinushka, Moscow Athlete) grow better.

The subtleties of growing daikon

Before proceeding with the planting of a daikon of the selected variety, pay attention to the general rules of agricultural technology.

1. This is a photophilous culture, loving moisture and good nutrition. On a sunny, high humus bed, the daikon will quickly grow, it will be juicy, with delicate crisp flesh.
2. Since the root crop of a vegetable is large, it can reach 25–40 cm in length, before sowing, the soil must be dug up to the appropriate depth, if necessary, loosened with peat that has ripened plant compost. In this case, the fetus will not encounter resistance during growth, it will be even and smooth.
3. Root crops do not like fresh organics, if they bring manure, then only under the previous culture.

Sowing dates

Many gardeners claim that the main condition for a good harvest is to correctly calculate when to plant a daikon. They recommend 2 terms:

• early spring - for summer consumption;
• in the second half of summer - for autumn-winter storage.

In fact, not everything is so simple. In addition to the length of daylight hours, the temperature regime is important for the formation of a quality root crop. The culture will not develop at temperatures below 10⁰C, and hot weather stimulates the flowering of plants. Considering that in the summer there are enough other vegetables, we recommend not to bother with the spring planting of the daikon, but to do it in July. With this approach, you will get a guaranteed harvest by the time when the cucumber tomatoes are already quite fed up, and you want something fresh and piquant.

Many gardeners take the starting point on July 7 (Ivan Kupala), someone focuses on July 12 (the day of Peter and Paul). If autumn is warm in your region, then the sowing period can be extended until mid-August. Sowing is better after rains, so the timing often varies with this factor in mind.

Advice! The optimal time for planting a daikon in the middle lane is the second half of July, but no later than the first days of August. Otherwise, the root crop does not have time to grow.

Predecessor cultures

The best predecessors for daikon are the early cultures, which by this time are being harvested. These are young potatoes, summer carrots, legumes, onions, green plants. Unwanted neighborhood - close relatives of the Cruciferous family (radish, cabbage).

If there is a choice, it is preferable to beds, fertilized before planting the first culture humus. Many are interested in whether it is possible to plant daikon after garlic. Given that the vegetable is harvested before July 12, this is a good option.

Landing Features

If the soil is overdried, before digging it is watered abundantly, full mineral fertilizer such as nitroammofoski (100 g / 10 m²) or Kemira containing NPK complex and microelements is applied.

The planting pattern of the daikon: the distance between rows is 60–70 cm, between the plants in a row - 20–25 cm. A convenient option is beds 1.5 m wide, on which the vegetable is sown in 2 rows. It is convenient to care for the seedlings; if necessary, they can be covered with a film.

Rows are marked on a fluffy, leveled surface, spilled with water, small holes are made, in which 2-3 seeds are placed. The depth of planting of the daikon is no more than 2 cm. The planted seeds are mulched with a dry mixture of garden soil, peat and humus. In a week shoots will appear.

Advice! If it is too hot, to preserve moisture and protect crops from pests, it is better to cover the bed with non-woven breathable material - lutrasil, agril, spanbond.

Crop care

Immediately after the appearance of the first leaves, the seedlings are thinned out, leaving stronger specimens. The soil is regularly loosened, root crops are earthed up as they form.

Watering the daikon needs abundant and regular, but only if the weather is dry. The golden rule for this plant is moderately moist soil. He does not like moisture drops, this makes the flesh coarser and begins to bitter.

If fertilizers were applied during planting, this is sufficient for normal growth and development. But if the plant is oppressed, think about how to feed the daikon. It can be poured with a solution of complete fertilizer, an infusion of organic matter, the so-called. herbal tea, a weak solution of mullein (1:20).

Advice! To make the root crop sweeter, in the middle of the growing season feed it with Magbor at the rate of 1 tablespoon of fertilizer per 10 liters of water. Trace elements magnesium and boron improve not only the taste, but also the keeping quality of the fruit.

Pest control

One of the essential elements of daikon care is timely protection against diseases and pests.

Cruciferous fleas are the enemy No. 1, they can destroy seedlings before the formation of these leaves. To prevent this from happening, immediately after sowing, the bed is pollinated with a mixture of ash and tobacco dust in a ratio of 1: 1. This procedure is repeated several times per season. Well saves seedlings from a flea adversity covering material. In case of a serious damage to the plantings, they are recommended to be treated once with actophyte - a drug of biological origin.

Of the daikon pests who love to feast on fruits and leaves, slugs are most taken out, the fight with them is to keep the snail out of the plant. To do this, grooves are made around the beds and covered with ashes. A good effect is given by sprinkling aisles with powder superphosphate.

Harvesting and storage

For selective harvesting of vegetables begin in 40 days. When to collect daikon completely depends on the length of the growing season of the variety and weather conditions. To extend the growing season and protect root crops from frost, they are sheltered at night.

The optimal harvesting period is the dry period of October, the so-called Indian summer or immediately after it. Dug out root vegetables are dried in the fresh air, carefully, so as not to damage the thin skin, cleaned from the ground, cut the tops.

How to store daikon so that there is enough vitamin vegetable for the whole winter?

• Crop freezing must not be allowed; roots with mechanical damage are poorly stored.
• Small and thin root crops are not suitable for storage, they quickly wither.
• It is best kept in a refrigerator. In a plastic bag with several holes, it will retain elasticity and juiciness for 3 months.
• About the same amount of vegetable is in the basement at a temperature of 1–5 ° C. To preserve moisture, boxes with root vegetables are covered with a film or sprinkled with wet sand.

Note! After freezing, the vegetable is not subject to “restoration”. Thawing, it will turn into a mass unsuitable for consumption.

Instead of a summary: mistakes in growing daikon

To summarize, we focus on common problems in growing crops.

1. The timing of planting the daikon in the open ground (late in spring or too early in summer) is incorrectly defined - the culture goes in the direction of the arrow.
2. The entire growing season is too hot weather - rough, inedible fruits.
3. Fertilized the bed with fresh manure - ugly root crops affected by scab.
4. Watering alternates with periods of drought - the roots are rough, bitter.

Unfortunately, if the daikon has bloomed, it is too late to do anything. This process is irreversible, however, if the root crop is formed, and then bloomed, it, unlike radish, can be quite edible.

Daikon Landing:

I suppose that the current globalization has been rooted since ancient times and the work of Japanese breeders. But of course, this article is not about globalization, but the answer is that it is a daikon and what are its useful properties.
  Since he is increasingly finding fans all over the globe. In recent years, in Russia, this miracle vegetable daikon is gaining great popularity.

And since not far off is already sowing work on personal (garden) plots. To learn more about this plant, which is useful for a healthy diet, we all just need to.

So far, I only looked at the white daikon root in the store with some surprise, but after trying the "foreign brother of our radish" I decided to plant it in my garden and eat it all year round.

Scientists consider daikon to be a variety of radish, obtained in ancient times by the Japanese breeding from the forehead - the Asian group of varieties of radish (Raphanus), native to China. Refers to root crops, and is a variety of sowing radish.

Daikon - as one of the selected from many types of radish, is translated into Russian as the "big root", in translation - Japanese or Chinese radish. And in India it is called - muli, the Korean name for the Japanese radish is mu.
Having studied the history of this vegetable, it turns out that this root crop is a "Japanese-Chinese" relative of our radish. And in Russia this peculiar vegetable is called: “sweet radish”, “white radish”.

Varieties of foreign but healthy vegetable

Japanese radish aka daikon   It has a very large number of varieties, only in Japan there are more than 100 species.
  The simplest and at the same time popular in Japan variety "Aokubi has the shape of a giant carrot, about 20-35 cm in length and 5-10 cm in diameter.
  Sakurajima, grown in Kagoshima Prefecture, impresses with its huge root crop in the form of a large white turnip, and has a rich pink color of the inner flesh.

Varieties of this foreign daikon vegetable are known and popular in Russia: Minovase, Tokinashi Caesar, Terminator, Emperor, Dragon, Big Bull, Elephant Fang, Dubushka "late ripening variety" Japanese white long ".

The root crops of the plant themselves do not belong to small species, and under favorable conditions they can grow in length over 60 cm.
  The weight of this vegetable often exceeds 500 grams. Such varieties are known for the weight of the fruit, in which it is measured in kilograms (it is not uncommon to weigh 5 kg for one daikon root).
  And a very important point - daikon, having amazing properties, does not absorb harmful substances from the soil.

Growing

Daikon belongs to the category of not whimsical plants; root crops tolerate storage well.
  It also has high yields in Russian latitudes, while certain varieties can be planted from May to August and produce crops depending on planting from July to mid-October.
  Since the vegetative growth period of this vegetable is 50-70 days.

Taste and healthy properties of daikon

The daikon root vegetable, as opposed to radish, does not contain mustard oils, and, unlike radish, has a very moderate aroma.
  This foreign vegetable tastes tender, juicy and pleases with a crispy structure.
  Fresh root shoots (kaiware) are very useful - they are used as a popular side dish for salads and sushi.
  In Eastern European cuisines it is known as "white radish", served in salads with vegetable oil, sometimes with sour cream, or cream.
  White root vegetables are used in many national cuisines, for example, in addition to those mentioned, in Vietnamese, Tibetan and Indian. The unique radish successfully conquers the culinary expanses in Europe and Russia.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with us in the section "Recipe book - we cook deliciously at home" with material on how to cook a healthy and tasty plant:

Plant health information - daikon and beneficial properties

• Belongs to the category of low-calorie foods. So in 85 grams of the root of the plant contains only 18 kilocalories, but it is very rich in vitamin C (just a holiday for those in a hurry to lose weight by spring and summer).
• Science has established that white radish (aka Japanese) daikon contains an active enzyme that promotes the digestion of starchy foods.
• Also, the vegetable is rich in a large number of volatile, which have a detrimental effect on microbes, and also have a protective effect on the body from various infections.
• And there are also potassium salts that remove excess fluid from the body, toxic metabolic products and waste.
• This root also contains specific protein compounds, salts of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, pectin substances.

Traditional medicine from different countries since ancient times used in its recipes the useful, nutritious and healing (useful) properties of daikon.

• Very important for the normal functioning of the metabolism - enzymes, amylase and esterase contained in daikon are similar to those present in the human body. They help better absorption of fats, proteins and carbohydrates.
• Biologically active substances located in a rich root have unique medicinal properties, they help in the treatment of colds and as an anticancer (preventing cancer) development.
• This wonderful vegetable helps to improve the functioning of the kidneys and liver, remove excess water from the body.
• Fructose is the main type of sugar found in daikon and therefore is a necessary food for people who are diagnosed with diabetes.
• And in order to prevent severe metabolic diseases, these useful properties of daikon are very important for an active life and nutrition of people.

Daikon or Japanese radish can be increasingly found on supermarket shelves and in summer cottages. A white overseas vegetable that looks like a large carrot becomes very popular in Europe due to its mild taste and healthy composition. In Asian countries, daikon is included in the daily diet of every person and is grown as the main food product. There are different types of this culture, differing by maturity and cultivation features, which will be discussed in the article.

Since the vegetable has some similarities with the usual radish for us, many people ask the question: “Radish and daikon - is this one species?”. Based on the biological characteristics, we can say that daikon is not a radish, but rather a radish, or rather its subspecies. Daikon, like radish, belongs to the plants of the Cabbage family, but unlike it, it has a milder taste and moderate aroma, since it practically does not contain mustard oil.

Daikon (Japanese or Chinese radish) is a root vegetable crop that is a subspecies of sowing radish. According to some reports, this radish was bred by Japanese breeders from the Asian varietal radish growing in China. “Daikon” in Japanese means “big root”, but in the literature you can find other names of the culture: “white radish”, “sweet radish”.

The root crops of this culture are really impressive in size. Some species grow in length of 60 cm or more, and their weight ranges from 600 g to several kilograms. The most common and most common type of “Aokubi” in Japan is similar in shape to carrots, has a length of 25–35 cm and a width of 6–10 cm in diameter. But the appearance of "Sakurajima" is distinguished by gigantic root crops that look like a radish but bright pink inside. Now many types of daikon are grown in Europe: Caesar, Dragon, Emperor, Japanese Long, Minovashi and others.

As already mentioned, Japanese radish practically does not contain mustard essential oils, due to which it is softer and tastier than regular radish. The root crop has an illuminating, crisp flesh, the taste of which changes from top to bottom: the radish is sweeter from above, and it becomes sharper closer to the root. Some species with small root vegetables have a particularly mild and sweet taste.

You can use daikon in different forms. In his homeland, in Asian countries, salads are most often prepared from the product, as well as pickled, boiled, salted. Interestingly, not only radish itself is suitable for food, but also tops - young greens are also added to salads.

Radish of this variety is divided into types: winter and summer. Each species has a different vegetation period. Summer (early) radish ripens in 50-60 days, it is sown in the spring, eaten fresh and not intended for storage. Winter radish has a longer growing season (up to 70 days). It is planted in the second half of summer, and harvested in late autumn. Such a radish has excellent commercial qualities and can be stored for several months.

Beneficial features

In oriental cuisine, daikon is an essential ingredient in most dishes. It is part of salads, soups, served as a side dish for fish, meat, seafood. In Japan, this radish is traditionally served with sashimi, in China and Korea it is salted, pickled, harvested for future use and consumed all year round. Such a popularity of the product is caused not only by its excellent taste, but also by its low calorie content - 21 kcal per 100 g.

Radishes of this variety are allowed to be consumed by people of all ages, in addition, with health problems, it can become a real panacea for the disease. Overseas radish has a rich vitamin and chemical composition. It contains a lot of vitamin C, A, E, B vitamins, as well as iron, copper, zinc, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur. But the special value of the product is volatile and glycosides, which endow radishes with high antiseptic properties.

With regular use, Japanese radish has a beneficial as well as therapeutic effect on the body:

• improves the filtering ability of the liver;
• helps to remove sand from the kidneys;
• restores heart rate in arrhythmias;
• calms, improves a dream;
• improves the digestive tract;
• inhibits the growth of microbes and bacteria;
• relieves alcohol intoxication;
• with prolonged use, removes toxins, neutralizes free radicals;
• root juice has a mild diuretic and laxative effect;
• chopped pulp is an effective remedy for acne, blackheads and other skin problems.

This type of radish is recommended for elderly people who, due to cardiac abnormalities, cannot use radish or horseradish. For them, Japanese radish is not just a useful product, but also a natural remedy.

Growing Features

In general, daikon is unpretentious to growing conditions. But since the Far East is the birthplace of culture, some of its species, when cultivated in European latitudes, have their own characteristics. Like any kind of radish, a vegetable does not need a long daylight. Moreover, with illumination longer than 13 hours, plants begin to produce arrows and peduncles. To prevent this, seeds should be sown at a time when daylight hours are still short: summer species in early spring, winter species in the second half of summer.

No less important for the daikon temperature. Like ordinary radish, it tolerates cold well, and forms root crops in cool (+ 15–20 ° C) soil better. However, unlike it, this type of radish does not need frequent watering and maintaining constant humidity. Watering the plants should be done as necessary, but weeds should be removed, row-spacings must be loosened regularly.

Overseas radishes prefer light, preferably sandy, soil with a low peat content. The technology of planting the crop is quite simple: on a previously dug and fertilized area, furrows are made 2–4 cm deep, 2 seeds are planted in them at a distance of 20–30 cm. The distance between the rows should be at least 50 cm, since root crops can be very impressive the size.

Shoots appear after 5-7 days. When the sprouts have two leaves, one sprout should be removed from the hole, leaving the strongest. During the germination period, it is necessary to ensure that plants are not attacked by a cruciferous flea.

With appropriate care, crop yields can reach 10 kg per 1 meter of area.