by Radish (and according to botanical classification it is a variety of common radish) is valued by gardeners for its early maturity and excellent refreshing tangy taste. In early spring, this vegetable, like no other, helps to cope with a loss of strength and vitamin deficiency, and strengthen the immune system.
What is radish good for? It contains a large number of vitamins useful for humans (C, A, PP, B1), coarse dietary fiber, microelements (potassium, calcium, phosphorus, sodium, magnesium, iron, etc.) necessary for normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. And mustard oil contained in radish is a cheap and widely available plant source of essential omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids.
Besides this, it is simply delicious – numerous salads, soups, and okroshka are prepared with the addition of radishes.
Radish roots grow in just 4-5 weeks, and there are varieties that, according to the manufacturer, can be harvested in 15-18 days after the shoots appear. It is quite unpretentious in cultivation – just water it and occasionally loosen the soil. However, sometimes summer residents, when harvesting radishes, are disappointed to see that the roots are slightly larger than peas, deformed or dry. In other cases, the “non-compliance with standards” is discovered only at the table – the radish is very bitter, the roots are too hard and fibrous, or have watery or loose flesh with an inexpressive taste.
What went wrong during the cultivation process, why did the tasty and beautiful radish “go bad”? Let’s look at the most common problems and ways to solve them.
The radish grew very small
The most logical explanation here (if this is not a feature of the variety) is a constant lack of nutrition and moisture during the cultivation process.
A bed for radishes can be prepared both in spring and autumn. The soil should be fertilized immediately, because the crop is not fertilized (they simply do not have time). If you have normal soil on your plot, then per 1 sq.m you need to add 0,5 buckets of sand and compost, 1 tbsp. of ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium sulfate.
As for watering, it should be, first of all, regular. If you have the opportunity, carry out drip irrigation on the bed or carefully moisten the soil yourself every day. After watering, slightly loosen the space between the rows to a depth of 3-5 cm so that a crust does not form on the soil, and there is always an influx of air to the roots.
The radish has grown too large
There are truly large-fruited varieties of radish – there are more of them among the late-ripening ones – the weight of the root crops of which reaches 40 g, and from 1 sq. m. you can collect up to 6 kg with proper care. These include, for example, Buggy, Crimson, Valerie F1, Mars F1, Myth.
If your “regular” radish has grown larger than it should, you’ve probably just overfed it (usually with organic matter) or overwatered it too often. Don’t be too quick to rejoice – the taste of such unnatural giants will be far from exquisite.
What should you do to prevent this situation? See point 1 – follow cultivation techniques. If your soil is depleted, you can feed the vegetables with herbal infusion diluted in water during growth. Fill the container 1/4 full with water, then add freshly picked plants (at a rate of 10 kg of grass per 100 l of water) and add 1 kg of dry chicken manure. Cover the container with a net, stir the infusion daily and use after the liquid stops fermenting (gas bubbles are no longer released). This usually happens after 1-3 weeks. Dilute the resulting infusion with water 1:1 and water the radish at the root.
Radish roots are loose inside, with voids
If there are many large voids inside the root crop, or even rot, most likely you have guessed wrong with the fertilizers again. Be careful – fresh manure cannot be applied under the radish, and it is better not to overdo it with nitrogen fertilizers!
If the radish is simply “loose”, there may be several reasons at once – either it is simply overripe, or you are late with sowing the seeds. When should you sow it, so as not to miscalculate? It depends on the variety, but you need to know that the best temperature for growing radish is 15-20°C, but in some regions you can wait for it only by mid-May, and even then not everywhere. To get an earlier harvest, start sowing radish when the temperature reaches at least 10°C. Seeds can germinate at 2-4°C, but they will need as much as 2 weeks to do this.
Voids and any other “damage” inside the root crops can also be caused by the presence of pests that feast on your harvest – take a closer look to see if there are any small “worms” crawling inside the pulp? The eggs and larvae of cutworms, click beetles, cabbage flies, and cabbage butterflies can very well live or feed inside the root crops. What to do? Do not forget about preventive measures – compliance with agricultural technology for growing, careful digging of beds, sowing green manure – and if pests appear, fight them with appropriate means.
The radish is very bitter and dry.
Insufficient or irregular watering is the main reason for this problem. If necessary (for example, in dry hot weather) – water the radish every day! And do not forget to loosen it – if a soil crust has formed on the bed, the plantings are initially very dense or all free space on the soil is occupied by weeds, your radish certainly does not get enough of the necessary moisture.
The slightly spicy, fresh, and sometimes overly bitter taste of radish is due to the presence of mustard oil in the plant, which contains erucic acid, an excess of which is harmful to the body.
Also, bitterness of root crops appears in “overgrown” radishes that were not pulled out of the garden in time, and in those that were hastily sown in cold, unheated soil (or the seedlings were caught in recurrent frosts).
You could also “overdry” the radish under a too hot, unventilated shelter in the spring, if you decided to protect the tender shoots from the vagaries of the weather, or in the summer, when you artificially limited the plant’s daylight hours to 10 hours in order to avoid bolting.
Radish roots are soft or, conversely, hard and fibrous
The “woody” or “flabby” state of the pulp, which should be juicy and crunchy, is most often also due to a lack of moisture and/or nutrition during the growth of radishes. The soil in the garden bed with this vegetable should always be moderately moist and sufficiently fertile!
The “wateriness” of root crops occurs due to constant excess moisture during cultivation. Also, the reason for this may be “overfeeding” with nitrogen fertilizers or the same return frosts.
The radish grew “crooked”
Root crop deformation is mainly typical for radishes grown on dense clay soil, which prevents their proper development. To avoid this, before planting, a bed with such soil intended specifically for radishes should be “improved” with sand.
In a particularly “difficult” case – with a lack of moisture and nutrition – on heavy, dense soil, root crops may not form at all.
And for those whose radishes grew well and there are no complaints about their size, color and taste, we offer our next article.
