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How to water sorrel after winter. Growing sorrel in a greenhouse

Sorrel is a perennial plant that is resistant to cold. In one place, the culture can grow for 4 years, then you need to sow sorrel in another corner of the garden. Sorrel has a strong branched root that grows up to half a meter in the ground. The plant is able to withstand not only short-term frosts, but also severe frosts down to -25 ° C. Sorrel grows well on slightly acidic fertile soil.

What do we know from history?

Asia and Europe are considered the birthplace of sorrel. And now sorrel grows there very abundantly. The wild plant has been known to people since time immemorial. There are more than 200 species of sorrel in the world.

In the 12th century, sorrel was first mentioned as a garden crop. For many years, the Russians believed that sorrel is a weed and tried their best to get rid of it. Naturally, no one used this plant for food. In the last few centuries, people began to grow sorrel in their gardens. As a vegetable crop, common sorrel is grown in vegetable gardens. In the people it is customary to call it "sour".

In Russia, many summer residents do not really like sorrel and in vain, it is advisable to take at least a small piece of fertile land in order to grow this vegetable crop. Sorrel is very useful for humans, it contains several acids at the same time: citric, ascorbic, oxalic and malic.

Sorrel belongs to very early and unpretentious cultures. As soon as the snow melts, and the spring sun begins to warm the earth, the first shoots appear. Already at the end of May, young leaves appear, reaching a height of 7-10 cm. They can be cut off and harvested next time in 2 weeks. They finish harvesting at the end of July, just by this time the leaves will accumulate a lot of acid and become rough, it is undesirable to eat them.

In late spring and during the first two summer months (June and July), the young leaves of the plant contain a lot of citric and malic acid, as well as a large amount of vitamin C, potassium, iron, sugar and proteins. During this period, you need to stock up on vitamins for the winter. You can cook many tasty and healthy dishes from sorrel: cook green borscht, bake pies or a pie, make mashed potatoes or add to a salad. Sorrel can be eaten not only fresh, but also canned. During conservation, all the useful properties of the plant are preserved.

Sorrel is popular not only in cooking, but also in folk medicine - it is used as a choleretic and blood-stopping agent, as well as for the treatment of scurvy. Doctors warn that excessive consumption of sorrel can harm a person, the kidneys will not be able to cope with a large amount of acid.

Popular varieties of sorrel: Broad-leaved and Malachite. The first has a loose rosette and elongated leaves. This variety is frost tolerant and drought tolerant. Malachite ripens very early, up to 2 kg of crop can be harvested from 1m2 of area. The first harvest can be harvested 1.5 months after planting the seeds. The rosette of leaves is compact, the leaves resemble the shape of a spear.

See the photo for sorrel varieties:

On sale you can also find less popular varieties of sorrel: Spinach and Broadleaf. They are low in oxalic acid.

How to grow sorrel

Growing sorrel in a summer cottage is very easy, you need to start by choosing a suitable place. In order to get a good harvest, it is necessary to allocate a moist piece of land, but only without stagnant moisture. The soil must be freed from weeds, especially the sorrel does not like the neighborhood with wheatgrass grass. Good soil is sandy loam or loam, generously fertilized with humus. Sorrel will also grow well on peat-drained soil. It is important to observe the following rule: groundwater should be at a depth of 1 m from the surface of the earth. On slightly acidic soil, sorrel will also grow well and delight you with its rich harvest, and liming the soil with a pH of 4.5 is not necessary.

How to prepare the soil before planting

If you want to get a good harvest, you need to take care of the soil in advance. It must be prepared in the fall. Add 6 kg of humus and 30 g of potassium chloride and superphosphate to a pre-allocated plot of land. This amount of fertilizer is calculated for 1m 2 of land.

With the onset of spring, just before sowing sorrel, the soil must be fed with this mixture: take 2 g of ammonium nitrate and potassium salt, 4 g of superphosphate and 40 g of urea, add 3 kg of humus, mix all the components thoroughly and fertilize the soil.

Planting sorrel

When can sorrel be planted? There are no exact landing dates. If you have such an opportunity, then sorrel can be planted in early spring, and in the southern part of the country you can plant sorrel in the summer if you have a free plot of land. When planting late (in summer), it must be borne in mind that the plant needs to have time to ascend and take root even before the onset of cold weather. This takes 1, maximum 1.5 months. So if you have a desire, you can plant a plant today and harvest the first crop in mid-September.

Of course, if you are not going to grow sorrel for sale, but for yourself, then it is better to plant sorrel in early spring. At this time, there will be more moisture in the soil than in the middle of summer and you will not have to waste time watering.

When planting, keep in mind that the sorrel will not rise quickly. If there is very little moisture, then it can ascend unevenly, and in some places it may not “hatch” at all.

Standard landing rules:

Observe the distance between rows - at least 20 cm.
The distance between plants is 5 cm.

How to prepare seeds for planting

It is advisable to prepare the seeds before planting in advance, if you are in a hurry and you don’t have time to prepare at all, you will have to sow the seeds directly from the bag.

For those who want to get 100% germination, we offer a simple way: the seeds must be soaked in water, wrapped in gauze and left for 48 hours. During this time, they will be saturated with moisture and sprout faster.

If you want the seeds to sprout well and be strong, then you can first add a little nutrient fertilizer to plain water.

Growing sorrel from seeds

When the soil is ready, you can start planting seeds. You can buy them in specialized stores by weight (which is much cheaper) or packaged in paper bags. When buying, pay attention to the expiration date of sorrel seeds.

Before you start planting, you need to free the ground from weeds. As already mentioned earlier, landing can be carried out at any time, except for winter. In early spring, as soon as the soil is ready for cultivation (not earlier than mid-April), it's time to get to work. There is moisture in the soil, which means that the seeds will germinate well.

Pre-soaked seeds must be sown in the soil (if the soil is not moist enough, it must be well watered). The sowing depth of sorrel is 1.5 cm. The distance between rows is 20 cm, you can save money and make rows with a distance of 15 cm. There should be a free space of 5 cm between the seeds.

Sowing should be mulched with peat mixture or simply sprinkled with earth. After 2 weeks, the first shoots should appear. If you cover the bed with seeds with a film, then on the 5th day you can expect the first shoots.

As soon as the seeds sprout, it is necessary to thin out the sorrel. The distance between plants should be 10 cm. After 50 days from the moment of sowing the seeds, it will be possible to harvest the first crop.

If you sow seeds in the summer, then this can be done in mid-June or July, just after harvesting onions planted on greens or radishes. Summer sorrel will have time to strengthen before the onset of frost and next year in the spring will give a good harvest.

Winter sowing can begin in October or November, taking into account that the seeds do not have time to germinate before the onset of frost. You can harvest the first crop in the spring. Please note that winter sowing does not give 100% germination, so the yield will not be very high.

Subtleties of sowing:

it is more convenient to make grooves in the soil with a chopper, use a thick stick or a metal pin;
make grooves with a stick, pick up seeds in your hand. Please note that they are very small;
scatter them evenly over the furrow;
Gently crush the seeds on top with soil. Soil layer - 1 cm, this will be enough. If the soil is heavy, then the seeds will not be able to break through.

How to care for sorrel

Despite the fact that this garden crop is considered unpretentious and frost-resistant, sorrel loves watering very much. When the air temperature reaches above 26 ° C, and the summer is dry, the rosette will develop poorly, and soon the sorrel will begin to bloom. This reduces the quality of the future crop. The plant should be watered regularly during the summer. To prevent flowering, the first flower stalks should be removed as soon as possible.

In the spring, as soon as the sorrel begins to grow, it is advisable to loosen the soil and mulch. It does not hurt to fertilize, dilute 25 g of phosphorus or potash fertilizer in a bucket of water and water the soil liberally.

In autumn, humus or compost must be added to the aisles. For 1 m 2 of land, 5 kg of fertilizer is taken. Just the compost is good at mulching the bare sorrel roots.

A year later, it is necessary to make a good top dressing: for 1 m 2 of soil, you need to take 20 g of urea and potassium chloride and 30 g of superphosphate.

Harvest Rules

When it's harvest time, you'll guess. It is better to cut the leaves young, they will have less oxalic acid, and therefore more benefits. As soon as 4-5 leaves appear on the outlet, they can be cut off with a sharp knife. Step back from the surface of the earth 3-4 cm and make an even cut. Harvest carefully so as not to damage the apical buds of the sorrel. You can also pick the leaves by hand, but then be very careful not to damage the outlet.

Before you start harvesting, it is advisable to free the sorrel from weeds, and loosen the soil between the rows with a chopper. Harvest in the morning or evening. From one outlet, you can cut leaves up to 5 times.

As soon as you see that the sorrel began to throw out flower arrows, they must be cut off so that the plant does not weaken. After each such manipulation, it is necessary to apply a mixture of mineral fertilizers with nitrogen fertilizers in order to further increase the yield.

In the dry season (in summer, when there is little rain), it is better to feed the sorrel with liquid fertilizers, and in the rainy season - dry.

As soon as 3 or 4 years have passed since the planting of sorrel, this plant will no longer be suitable for harvesting and eating. So that sorrel does not go to waste, it can be used for distillation. In autumn, the plant is dug up together with an earthen clod and sent to the cellar for storage. The temperature in the room should not rise above +2 ° C and fall below 0 ° C. At the end of winter, sorrel can be buried in the ground in a greenhouse and watered abundantly. After 20 days, you can harvest the first crop.

If the area of the greenhouse is large, then you can dig in the sorrel immediately after digging up the plant. Then you can harvest in the winter.

How to deal with pests

The main disease of sorrel garden culture is powdery downy mildew. To prevent this disease, it is necessary to heat the seeds. In addition, the leaves are very fond of aphids. To get rid of pests, sorrel can be sprayed with a decoction of tobacco, and after harvesting the plant, destroy the remnants.

Often, when growing sorrel, many summer residents are faced with the fact that holes appear on the leaves - this is the work of the sorrel leaf beetle. It is enough to treat the sorrel with wood ash and this problem will be solved.

Sometimes small yellowish or brown spots appear on the leaves. Such plants need to be cut and thrown away, and the rest should be processed with healthy sorrel.

How to grow sorrel on your site, watch this video:

Sorrel is a country plant that does not require special care and contains a large amount of vitamins and minerals necessary for the human body. In order to get a rich harvest, it is necessary to properly and timely care for this crop. The plant can grow wild. The article provides a detailed description and plant photo.

Choosing a place for planting sorrel

Sorrel large-leaved differs from other ornamental and garden plants in that it does not like open sunny places. The best place to grow a crop is partial shade. The acidity of the soil does not affect the growth and development of sorrel in any way; a good harvest can be harvested both on acidic soils and on neutral soil.

Healthy! At the annual planting sanguine sorrel to improve the results, crop rotation should be carried out on the plot, it is best to plant the plant in the place where it previously grew, or.

It is best to determine the landing site in the fall to prepare the bed:

dig;
remove weeds;
add organic fertilizer (compost and ash).

Nitrogen fertilizers can be used as top dressing before planting sorrel, they should be added to the soil 1-2 weeks before sowing. Before sowing, loosening and leveling of the site is carried out.

To grow sorrel, you will need a small ridge measuring 1-2 sq.m.

When to plant outdoors: spring, summer or autumn?

Sowing time should be chosen depending on when you need to get a crop:

If the sorrel harvest is planned to be carried out in the fall, then it is recommended to plant the plant in the first month of spring, after the snow has melted and the threat of frost has subsided;
Summer months are suitable for sowing this crop,

from the end of June to the first half of July, after harvesting vegetables that ripen in early spring:, onions,. It is important not to forget to water the sorrel planted in the summer. The plant will be able to take root in the garden and easily endure the winter;

Planting and caring for sorrel in the open field in autumn are carried out late (October-November) so that the seed remains in the soil until spring and does not germinate earlier. Then already in the spring and summer months of next year it will be possible to harvest a rich harvest. This method is suitable if sorrel cultivation produced in sandy areas.

Watch the video! Sorrel Growing Secrets

How to prepare sorrel seeds before planting

Seed material must be prepared in advance. Seeds, in order for them to sprout, are soaked in water, wrapped in cloth or gauze and left for a couple of days. Seeds that have absorbed moisture germinate much faster. Nutrient fertilizers can be added to the water to strengthen the plant's resistance to adverse conditions and diseases. By doing this procedure, you can get 100% seed germination. You can plant seed without preparation, the plant will give good seedlings, but in the future it may turn out to be less strong and tall.

Sowing sorrel from seed

After preparing the seeds, you can start sowing, which is most often carried out in the spring. The seed is planted in the soil to a depth of about 2 cm, keeping a gap of 4-5 cm between the seeds. Leave 15 cm between rows. After sowing is completed, the beds are mulched with peat and covered with foil. The greenhouse effect will allow sorrel to sprout faster 5-7 days after planting.

If you do not cover the area with a film, then the first shoots may appear only after 2 weeks.

It is necessary to thin out the sorrel after the appearance of the first sprouts. A gap of at least 10 cm must be observed between the bushes. Attention should be paid to the fact that when to plant sorrel. Planting sorrel in the spring will help to harvest the first crop in the same year. You can also sow seeds in summer and autumn. Seeds planted in summer will be well established in the soil and will bring a wonderful harvest in spring. Sorrel sown in autumn will bring a harvest much later. Sowing in the autumn months should be carried out in such a period that the plant does not have time to germinate and does not freeze over the winter.

Agrotechnics of cultivation sorrel

After planting, watering and weeding the beds should be carried out in a timely manner. The site is recommended to be mulched and fertilized three times with mullein, taken in a ratio of 1:6. For greater effect, phosphorus and potassium supplements can be used as an additive.

Regular watering of the beds should be carried out in order to exclude the possibility of early flowering. In this case, all the forces and nutrients will go to the growth and development of the leaves. In the dry summer months, this procedure should be treated with special attention. Appeared flower rosettes should be removed.

Before wintering, the leaves are cut from the plant and the soil is mulched, humus or compost is added between the rows.

Diseases and pests of sorrel

Subject to the rules of planting and care, sorrel is rarely affected by pests.

Harvesting

Sorrel reaches full maturity 2 months after sowing. If sowing was carried out in the spring, then the crop can be harvested in the first half of summer. If sowing is carried out in the fall, then juicy greens will be ready for harvest after the snow melts. The leaves of the plant can be picked and cut. The shoots in the middle are best left, as a new crop can be grown from them. Picking sorrel is recommended early in the morning, because it is at this time that the leaves are most juicy.

Conclusion

After reading the article, each summer resident will be able to determine the best month for sowing a plant and how to care for it.

Watch the video! How to plant and grow sorrel

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With the advent of warm spring days, sorrel leaves are among the first to sprout in the garden. A green vegetable is often used in cooking for cooking. It has a pleasant taste with sourness, rich in vitamins and minerals. How to grow sorrel from seeds in the open field, we will describe in the article.

Description of leaf vegetable

Sorrel belongs to the buckwheat family and is a perennial plant. Its root is taprooted and branched, therefore, it can penetrate up to 25 cm into the soil. At the root, there are buds on the head, from which the development of deciduous mass occurs. Their base can have a different shape:

heart-shaped;
annular;
swept.

The edge of the leaves is always even. On fertile soils, the leaves can be up to 10-15 cm in size. On the sheets, you can see a pronounced vein in the center. If you cut the leaves at the outlet, then there is a faster awakening of the kidneys. After that, the greenery begins to grow again.

In the second year of life, sorrel may have erect, ribbed stems. If they are not cut off in time, they can grow up to 50-100 cm. Over time, reddish inflorescences form on the stems. The leaves then begin to coarsen and become fibrous.

Sorrel is a highly sought-after type of leafy green. because it contains many health benefits:

The amount of vitamins and minerals largely depends on the plant variety. They also differ in the speed of maturation, the shape of the sheets. The most popular include the following varieties:

Altaic;
ordinary garden;
large-leaved;
broad-leaved;
Belleville;
Lyon.

Sorrel leaves are cut several times during the summer. The most delicious leaves of a popular vegetable are always in spring and autumn. The plant belongs to cold-resistant species and can germinate at a temperature of + 3-4 o C.

Choice of landing site

Sorrel does not like open sunny areas. Suitable for growing a place in partial shade from growing trees. The level of soil acidity will also not affect its growth and development. However, the green vegetable loves to grow on loamy soils. It is recommended to sow sorrel seeds where onions or pumpkin plants grew before. There he will grow even better.

It is advisable to choose a place for sowing seeds in the fall and prepare the site in advance. On the planned site, it is worth applying organic fertilizers in the form of compost and ash. Nitrogen fertilizers are suitable as top dressing. They are applied to the soil 1-2 weeks before sowing seeds in open ground. The bed must be dug up, weeds removed, loosened and leveled.

This crop grows well, so a small plot of land is enough to be enough for a family.

When to sow sorrel in open ground?

Since sorrel is a perennial plant, it grows in one place for 4 years. The first 2 years will be the most productive, after which the yield will begin to decline. Despite the unpretentiousness of the culture, you need to pay attention to the soil, and then you can get an excellent harvest. . It can be sown three times a year:

Sowing time is determined by the gardeners themselves, depending on when they want to get fresh green leaves. However, planting sorrel in the spring is considered the most fruitful.

Planting sorrel seeds

In addition to the beds for sowing seeds, you should also prepare planting material. So that the seeds sprout together and then please with juicy and tasty leaves, they need to be soaked in water. Planting material is wrapped in gauze and left in this form for a couple of days. They will swell, absorbing moisture, and then rise faster.

To make the seeds more stable and strong, nutritious fertilizers can be added. This will give the best germination and guaranteed yield. Dry seeds can also be sown. In moist and prepared soil, they will also sprout, but a little later.

Seeds are sown in grooves, to a depth of 2 cm. The distance between the rows should be about 15 cm. After sowing, the soil in the garden should be mulched with peat. It is recommended to cover the bed with a film to create the effect of a greenhouse. This will help the seeds sprout faster, and the first green sprouts will appear in 5-6 days. Without the use of a film, seedlings appear after 2 weeks.

Growing sorrel in open ground

With the appearance of 3-4 leaves on the first shoots, sorrel can be thinned out. At any time this plant needs watering. Sorrel must be watered in spring and summer. Mature plants also react positively to moisture. In dry land, the stem quickly throws out flower stalks.

It is also important to weed the bed in a timely manner, to loosen the soil. Mulching can reduce this amount of work. This must be done after each watering of the garden.

For the winter, sorrel roots are best covered. Suitable for this:

rotten sawdust;
humus;
compost.

In spring, preferably in the process of loosening the soil add ash and humus. Feeding will stimulate the growth of young leaves? and they grow up faster.

A month and a half before the onset of frost, it is better to cut the leaves. Otherwise, at the first frost, they will go limp and fall. In this state, the leaves will block the access of oxygen to the root system.

Diseases and pests

Sorrel is rarely exposed to various diseases and pest attacks. If such signs are noticed, they must be eliminated. The main pests and diseases of sorrel:

downy mildew - expressed in the appearance of spots with a gray coating on the back of the stems, which can be eliminated with a Bordeaux mixture;
rust - small spots of yellow-brown color with dark spores form on leaves and petioles when there is a violation of the temperature and humidity regime;
sorrel aphid - sucks juices from the plant, however, in the process of collecting leaves, sorrel cannot be processed, this can be done in autumn with an infusion of bitter herbs: wormwood, oak bark;
larvae and beetles of the oxal leafworm and caterpillars of the sawfly - you can get rid of them by spraying the plants with an infusion of garlic, nightshade or tomatoes.

Sorrel rarely gets sick, but if there are similar symptoms, then you should try to immediately respond and not start the garden. It is also recommended to change the place for planting sorrel. The vegetable can be called unique because it is easy to grow. It will grow anywhere and require minimal care.

Growing vitamin greens on the site is good and necessary. Perhaps everyone knows the appearance of sorrel, it is green and tastes sour. This perennial cold-resistant plant can withstand up to 7 degrees of frost. In the middle lane, an early variety of large-leaved garden sorrel is usually grown.

Place and soil for growing sorrel

The soil should be fertile, moist and free of weeds and other vegetation, especially wheatgrass. Loams or drained peat soils. Poor soils will make sorrel lean and tasteless. The site is well lit, in the shade the sorrel will stretch.

Planting sorrel

Sorrel can be planted in spring (April, to harvest at the end of summer), in summer (at the end of June, to harvest in May next year) or before winter (October, to harvest next summer). The main thing here is that the plant has time to sprout and take root, it takes 1-1.5 months.

In the spring, before sowing sorrel per 1 sq.m. add 4-6 kg of compost, 2-2.5 g of ammonium nitrate, 3-4 g of superphosphate, 1-2 g of potassium salt, or replace everything with urea 20 g per 1 sq.m. Dig up the area. Make grooves in the rows, if there are several, then keep a distance between them of 20-25 cm. The depth of the grooves is up to 5 cm. In damp soil, it is more convenient to make grooves with a metal pin. Now we scatter dry seeds throughout the groove (about 1 g per 1 sq.m). Sprinkle with earth on top, with a layer of no more than 1 cm, otherwise the seeds may not sprout. The first shoots appear in 10-12 days.

It is necessary to collect sorrel from the beds regularly (old leaves are cut with a knife) so that there is rejuvenation and a minimum accumulation of oxalic acid (oxalic acid with salts is toxic). Harvest approximately in August-September.

If you plant sorrel in the summer, apply mineral fertilizers, dig. Soak the seeds for a few days to germinate. Make grooves, water abundantly, lay out the hatched seeds and cover with loose earth with a layer of up to 1 cm. Before germination (10-15 days), monitor the soil moisture, do not allow it to dry out, but do not overmoisten it so that the seeds do not start to rot. Further care is normal.

Sorrel care

Watering from a watering can is the main thing in caring for sorrel, so a crust does not form on the ground. Without sufficient soil moisture, sorrel can sprout unevenly, start to sprout, bloom, or not sprout at all. However, stagnant water should not be allowed. With prolonged rainfall, some varieties of sorrel (Belleville) begin to lose color.

Thin out, leaving a distance between plants of 5-7 cm, then you will get large fleshy leaves. Loosen the aisles every two weeks. Harvest when the plant has 4-5 leaves.

Eat only healthy young sorrel leaves (8-12 cm). If sorrel leaves are not cut for a long time, they become rough and not juicy.

Timely remove flower stalks under the root so that there is no deterioration in the quality of the leaves. He will begin to grow back young and useful. Cut off pest-eaten or diseased sorrel leaves. Young healthy ones will grow up in their place. After cutting the sorrel, water the bed.

In the first year of growing sorrel, only leaves are formed on the plant, in subsequent years stems appear and the sorrel begins to bloom. When mass arrows appear, the sorrel harvesting is stopped, and the arrows are cut off, while you can use the trimmer, mowing the entire garden bed and thus rejuvenate the plants.

In case of frosts and for the winter, cover the sorrel with spunbond, leaves or any other covering material. But this is not necessarily sorrel frost-resistant enough.

At the beginning of spring, place sorrel in a greenhouse, i.e. stretch the arcs over it and cover with a film, the thicker, the better it will withstand gusts of wind (if the wind breaks the film, a strong temperature drop will occur, which can affect the "health" of plants). During the day, open the film slightly, but not completely, so that the leaves do not fade. Close for the night.

Sorrel is grown in one place for no more than 4-5 years, this should be taken into account when planting it.

Sorrel feeding

From mineral fertilizers, ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and calcium chloride are suitable, from organic fertilizers - diluted slurry or diluted chicken manure 1:10. You can also feed sorrel with complex fertilizer every time after cutting. However, sorrel can grow safely without regular fertilization of the soil. In dry weather, it is better to feed the plants in liquid form, in wet weather - in dry form.

In autumn, when digging a site for sorrel, add 6-8 kg of compost, 30-40 g of superphosphate and 20-30 g of potassium chloride.

As soon as at the first spring sunbeams the earth in the beds and forest clearings is freed from the white “blanket”, small green sorrel sprouts appear in these places, actively increasing their size with every fine day. And this fresh greens is very useful for us, because the body craves nutrients and vitamins. Therefore, many summer residents who are not able to go to the forest for sorrel grow it in their garden. By the way, there are other names for the plant: sour, sour, chuvel.

Characteristics and features of sorrel

Sorrel is a perennial plant belonging to the buckwheat family. Its root is taproot, branches well, it can go 25 centimeters into the ground. Many buds can be seen on the head of the root. It is from them that the development of leaf plates occurs in the future. Most often, their base is spear-shaped, heart-shaped or swept. The edge of the sorrel leaves is solid. On fertile soils, the length can be from 10 to 15 centimeters. The central vein is pronounced. When the leaf plates are cut off at the outlet, the buds on the root soon awaken, after which the green grows again. In the second year, sorrel produces erect stems with ribs. If not cut off, then their height is from 60 to 100 centimeters. These juicy and tender "bulls" with sourness love to feast on the kids. But when pink or reddish inflorescences called “panicles” ripen on the stems, they coarsen, their structure becomes fibrous. The base of the stem may be dark purple in color. Sessile leaves are placed alternately on the stems. Their shape is ovoid-oblong, oval, elongated.

Laboratory studies have shown that sorrel contains ascorbic acid, carotene, other vitamins, flavonoids (rutin, hyperoside), proteins, organic acids, microelements.

Sorrel grows in Europe, Asia, North Africa, Western Australia, Russia (including Siberia, the territory of the Far East).

The most important advantages of culture are frost resistance and cold resistance. Sorrel is not afraid of either severe winters or spring temperature drops to minus 7 ° C. Sprouts hatch from sorrel seeds when the soil temperature is only plus 3°C. However, seedlings are more friendly when the temperature is plus 17°C and above. In order for sorrel rosettes to develop well, they need moist soil. When there is little moisture, the sorrel begins to shoot, its leaf plates coarsen. But even in those places where water constantly accumulates, sowing sorrel is not worth it. The preferred reaction medium is neutral or slightly acidic. In one place, sorrel is able to produce good yields for four to five years. It is advisable to make a bed where there is a slight shading (from trees, a fence, a barn), and the sun's rays illuminate and warm this place in the evening hours.

In wild-growing sorrel, when compared with cultivated, the taste of the leaves is more sour, and their size is smaller.

Sorrel varieties that are most in demand among gardeners:

"Belleville" - has been known for a long time, in good conditions it gives about seven kilograms per square meter per season, endures harsh winters, and shows resistance to flowering in summer. Suitable for sauces, spring salads, cabbage soup and preservation.
"Broad-leaved" - will share greens for cabbage soup about 45 days after the day the sprouts crawled out of the ground. The leaves are oblong-ovate, slightly acid, their color is dark green, there are long petioles. The width of the plates is 7 centimeters, and the length is up to 16 centimeters. The socket of them is loose. The downside is that in hot summers, if there is little rainfall, then this sorrel shoots quickly.
"Large-leaved" - the leaves are light green, pleasant to taste, from six to ten centimeters wide, and up to fourteen centimeters long. You can cut the first batch after 35-40 days from the day of hatching from the ground. Suitable for different regions of the country. Differs in surprising resistance to frosts and shooting.
"Malachite" - has beautiful green smooth (or slightly bubbly) spear-shaped leaves, the edge of which is wavy. They grow very fast. The first cut can be done after 40-45 days from the moment shoots were noticed from the ground.
"Emerald Vitamin" - the first time its light green most delicate leaves can be cut after 37 days, and then every 18 days. The shape of the leaf plates is elongated-oval, and they taste sweet and sour.
"Emerald Snow" - a sprawling rosette consists of slightly bubbly ovoid leaves. It looks beautiful in the garden, gives abundant harvests of pleasant-tasting leaves.
"Spinach" - it is classified as mid-early. A rosette of large leaves is loose. Their color is rich green, slightly acidic in taste.

If you like novelties, then we suggest trying in practice such varieties that are distinguished by high yields - “Winter Stock”, “Vegetarian”, “Schi Borscht”, “Trapeza”, “Avdeevsky”.

Now the attention of summer residents is also attracted by decorative varieties, which are also suitable for culinary purposes: "Red Veins", "Sanguine", "Bloody Mary".

Planting sorrel

It is advisable to prepare a bed for this crop in the fall. The territory is dug up, while a mixture of humus and wood ash is added. You can add 7 kilograms of compost, 25 grams of potassium chloride, 35 grams of superphosphate per square meter. Urea is applied in the spring, 20 grams are measured per square meter. The place must be cleared of weeds, especially wheatgrass roots, otherwise they will take nutrients from the sorrel. We also mention the predecessors of sorrel, after which it develops well - these are dill, carrots, parsley, radishes, beets, lettuce, potatoes.

It is permissible to sow seeds in three terms:

in November or October (when the ground is a little frozen);
in April (when the earth begins to thaw);
in July (after radishes, spinach, Chinese cabbage and onions).

From dry seeds, sprouts will appear in about two weeks. If you soak the seeds, it will speed up their spitting (everything will happen on the eighth day). Under the film shoots are usually shown on the sixth day. The recommended embedment depth is from 15 to 30 millimeters. Leave a distance of 20 centimeters between rows. During summer sowing, mulch the bed with peat or humus. On average, about one gram of seeds is spent per square meter of land.

Further care for sorrel

Be sure to thin out your seedlings, first making the distance between plants four centimeters, and then six to seven centimeters.
The main aspect when growing sorrel is not too plentiful, but timely watering, no matter what time you planted the seeds. If the soil under the sorrel dries out, then such conditions of detention will provoke the release of flower stalks by plants, which will immediately affect the taste of the green mass.
Periodic weeding and loosening will also affect the yield. You can make your work easier if you mulch the plantings after watering. Then weeds in the garden will appear less.
When a flower arrow appears from the outlet, cut it off.
In the morning, the leaves are more juicy, so it is advisable to cut them at this time, using scissors or a small handy knife. At the same time, leave the petiole 3-5 centimeters near the ground. Do not touch the small leaves located in the center of the outlet, let them continue to gain nutrients. Sometimes novice summer residents simply pull the sheet, hoping that it will come off. But at the same time there is a big risk that the plant will quickly break out with the roots. Cutting is usually done every two or three weeks. About a month before the expected autumn frosts, cutting greenery should be stopped to allow the sorrel to rest a bit and gain strength before wintering.
Before the arrival of the calendar winter on the roots remaining in the garden, you can sketch out the contents of the compost pit, rotted sawdust.
In early spring, remove old leaves on oxal rosettes, mow the stems. At this time, mineral supplements are appropriate, for each square meter a teaspoon of ammonium nitrate, superphosphate and potassium salts is added. You can use heavily diluted mullein, chicken or fermented nettle infusion.

If you want to get your own seeds from sorrel, then in the spring select a few specimens and do not cut the leaves from them during the summer season. Pinkish flowers appear around June. Seeds in panicles will ripen in July, acquiring a brownish color. Cut off the "panicles", tie them in bunches and leave for 10 days to dry and ripen. Then grind the “panicles” with your hands, while removing debris. If you store the seeds in a dry place, their germination will last for four years.

With proper care, sorrel does not cause trouble. And yet sometimes he is overcome by diseases:

Rust - then spots appear on the leaves and petioles, the color of which is yellowish-brown. On these spots are spore-bearing dark boxes. You can rid the plant of the disease with the help of a solution in which copper sulfate is mixed.
Downy mildew - spots with a grayish coating are visible on the underside of the leaf plate. It is possible to prevent the spread of the disease if, 10 days before cutting the greenery, treat the plants with Bordeaux liquid or Fitosporin.

Pests that love to eat succulent leaves are sorrel leafworm, sawfly caterpillars, and winter scoops. Then you have to spray the plants with infusions prepared using nightshade, garlic, and tomato branches. When invading aphid colonies, do regular spraying with infusions based on onion peel, burdock leaves or dandelion. It will also be useful to dust the leaf plates with ash powder. In autumn, cuts of leaves are treated with infusions of tops from potatoes or tomatoes. At the same time, you can use a phyto-remedy called "Fitoverm" or the drug "Anabasin-sulfate".

By allocating two ridges on the site for different varieties of sorrel, you will provide your family not only with greens for vitamin cabbage soup, but also prepare canned sorrel in half-liter jars for the winter. And after drying, washed and chopped leaves can be decomposed into bags with a special fastener and sent to the freezer.

Sorrel, photo

Fresh sorrel leaves contain many vitamins and nutrients. Our article will help to grow juicy greens in the country, in a greenhouse or on a windowsill. We will tell you how to properly grow sorrel from seeds in the open field and at home.

Following the advice from the article, you will no longer buy sorrel, and there will always be fresh greens grown by your own hands on your table.

Growing sorrel from seeds

This plant is cold-resistant, and in the presence of snow cover it tolerates frosts well, develops well in a small shading and overwinters in the ground.

At a temperature of 3ᵒС, seeds germinate, and seedlings appear already 8-14 days after sowing. Reduced soil moisture and high temperatures promote the development of a leaf rosette that blooms soon, thereby deteriorating product quality (Figure 1).

Peculiarities

Growing sorrel at home begins with the choice of beds. It will be better if the soil is fertile. The advantage should be given to loamy soils, but the culture grows successfully on other soils.

Note: The bed is placed in partial shade, which is intensively illuminated only by the evening sun. Do not allow water to stagnate in the soil.

Figure 1. Outdoor cultivation

If it is not possible to choose a site on a hill, they equip high beds or make soil drainage. They begin to prepare the earth in the fall: they dig it up and fertilize it with humus and ash. Organic fertilizers will help you get a rich harvest of leafy greens in the spring.

Conditions

How to grow sorrel from seeds so that the harvest is rich and stable? First of all, you need to choose the right site. The soil must be fertile and moderately moist, as the culture does not tolerate stagnant water.

Note: The bed must be cleared of weeds, especially wheatgrass, whose branched root system retards the growth of greenery.

The best soil is considered to be loamy and sandy loamy. They must be fertilized with humus or drained with peat. Liming is not carried out for the plant, since soils with low acidity are more suitable for it.

Soil preparation for sowing

Under the bed, semi-shaded areas with fertile and moderately moist soils are determined. Growing a crop is not difficult, as it is resistant to frost and lack of moisture. If it is not possible to grow the plant separately, it can be planted next to other vegetables.

Careful selection of the site allows you to grow greens without transplanting for four or more years.

What do we have to do

Planting and care in open ground begins with autumn tillage. It is dug up and fertilized with humus. If the culture has already grown on the site, the bushes can be transplanted by dividing the rhizomes.

Figure 2. Preparation of beds and sowing in open ground

Seeds are sown in the spring, and seedlings appear within a few weeks. During this period, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizers must be applied (Figure 2). Then they begin to fertilize the plant with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

Seeds are sown in beds 12 cm high. In autumn, in the area under the bed, manure or compost, superphosphate and potassium chloride are introduced under the shovel. In the spring, manure or compost, ammonium nitrate, and potassium salt are added for sowing. Before sowing, the soil is cleared of weeds by a mechanical method. The use of herbicides is undesirable as they can accumulate in the leaves.

When to plant sorrel

When to plant seeds when growing sorrel from seeds? Sowing can be carried out at any warm time of the year, from early spring to autumn (Figure 3):

spring start sowing after the earth warms up. At this time, the soil contains a lot of moisture, which contributes to the germination of seeds. It is advisable to pre-soak the seeds in warm water for two days. After sowing, the bed is mulched and covered with a film. This will speed up germination, and seedlings will appear in 3-5 days. Next, the film is removed, and the plants are thinned out.
In summer sown in June-July. When sown in summer, the crop will produce a crop in the spring of next year, as it successfully winters in the ground.
Podzimny sowing carried out in late autumn so that the seeds do not germinate before the onset of frost. The harvest is already next year. Podzimny sowing is best done on sandy soils in areas with a temperate climate.

Figure 3. Spring, summer and winter sowing

Experienced gardeners advise sowing in several stages. This will allow you to get a consistently high yield of greens almost all year round.

From the video you will learn how to properly carry out winter sowing.

Sorrel Care

Gardeners who are interested in how to grow sorrel from seeds often make a common mistake. Its essence is that many believe that he does not need any care, but this is not entirely true. In fact, the culture needs regular watering, especially during summer sowing. At high temperatures and low humidity, a leaf rosette appears, the plant blooms and its leaves become too stiff.

Note: To prevent flowering, flower stalks are removed as early as possible.

Planting and care in the open field includes(picture 4):

Before the start of growth, in early spring, the soil is mulched, loosened and fed with mullein;
To mulch the bare roots of the plant, compost or humus is introduced into the row-spacing in autumn.
Thinning and weeding is carried out regularly. Also, plants need to be watered, especially with a lack of natural rainfall.

Figure 4. Plant care: mulching, weeding, watering and top dressing

In addition, it is necessary to remove inflorescences, this will help young leaves develop well. Every four years, it is transplanted to a new site so as not to be attacked by slugs and other pests.

From the video you will learn all the necessary information on growing and caring for sorrel.

Growing sorrel on the windowsill

In winter, to cook sorrel dishes, you can grow it on a windowsill or a glazed loggia, and it is not at all necessary to wait for spring. The main thing is to comply with certain conditions and rules.

Peculiarities

To obtain greenery, rhizomes of a 2-4 year old plant with a large number of buds are used, although seeds can also be sown. The varieties Maikopsky, Altaisky and Odessa broad-leaved develop most successfully in the conditions of an apartment.

A slightly acidic, loamy, fertile soil is most suitable for growing a plant. It is better to buy it in a store so that the soil is guaranteed to be clean from pathogens.

Any containers with outlet holes are suitable for growing. Expanded clay or pebbles are poured at the bottom of the tank for drainage and the soil mixture is poured. Roots are deepened into it or seeds are laid out on the surface, sprinkling them with a small amount of soil (Figure 5).

Crops are watered or sprayed with water at room temperature, and covered with a film to speed up germination.

Conditions

It is advisable to place containers with seeds on the south window so that the plants have enough heat and light. But since the culture tolerates penumbra well, north-facing windows will also do.

Note: In winter, when there is little sunlight, you can put additional lighting (fluorescent lamp). But it must be placed at a distance of at least 30-40 cm from the seedlings, so as not to cause leaf burns.

The plant is cold-resistant, so the temperature can be low, and if you have a balcony where there is no frost, then the container can be moved there.

Figure 5. The order of growing greens on the windowsill

After the appearance of the first shoots, it is advisable to thin them out. When growing and caring for a city apartment, watering and loosening are carried out periodically so that the earth is constantly moist and light. So the roots will receive more water and oxygen, and the green mass will grow better. You can also fertilize using any universal fertilizer for indoor plants.

Growing sorrel in a greenhouse

Sowing seeds in greenhouse soil is carried out throughout March. Adult rhizomes are planted from late February to mid-March.

The microclimate of closed ground premises allows you to get a higher yield than when growing in a garden. In addition, if the greenhouse is heated, fresh herbs can be harvested even in winter.

Peculiarities

The seed method of reproduction is used when planting a new variety. Two days before sowing, the seeds are placed in a cotton napkin, moistened with warm water. The sequence of sowing in the greenhouse:

The swollen seeds are sown in cut shallow grooves;
The grooves are filled with soil mixture;
Watered with water and mulched with a layer of humus or peat.

The first greens will appear on the 10-12th day. Further care in the greenhouse does not differ from the activities that are required when growing in open ground.

Conditions

A greenhouse bed has been prepared since autumn, digging with humus, superphosphate and potassium chloride. In the spring, before planting, the soil is loosened again and watered with a nutrient solution. This is necessary, since in closed ground most often there is not enough nutrients, and it is fertilized without fail.

Greenhouse sorrel care includes(picture 6):

Constant monitoring of soil moisture. If possible, it is advisable to install drip irrigation, which will ensure a stable supply of moisture to all plants;
Removal of peduncles is carried out during the entire growing season, as flowering will reduce the nutritional quality of greens;
The beds are constantly cleared of weeds so that the plant has enough space to grow;
Top dressing is carried out after each cutting of greenery. This will help the plants accumulate enough strength for further growth.

Figure 6. Methods for growing a crop in a greenhouse

At the end of the growing season, the above-ground part is cut off at the root, and the beds are covered with a layer of compost or peat to preserve the vitality of the roots. If these conditions are not met, the yield will be low.

Planting and care in the open field

Before sowing, the seeds are soaked for speedy germination and cover the bed with the seeds already planted with a film. Some time after the appearance of the first shoots, it is necessary to remove the shelter and thin out the plants.

Sorrel care in the open field includes several important steps.:

Regular but moderate watering will ensure stable soil moisture without stagnant water. With increased dryness of the soil, flower stalks will appear faster;
The bed is systematically loosened and cleared of weeds;
Roots for the winter are covered with humus or rotten sawdust;
After cutting the greens, top dressing is carried out with liquid fertilizers.

In the spring, ash and humus are brought into the aisles, and the earth is loosened. In the process of growing, it is better to cut the leaves in the morning so that they are more juicy. Harvesting is stopped about a month before the onset of autumn frosts, so that the plants accumulate strength before wintering.

Diseases and pests of sorrel

The culture is not too susceptible to disease, but if growing conditions have been violated, some diseases may still appear.

The main diseases and pests are(picture 7):

Downy mildew provokes the formation of spots with a gray coating, which are located on the back of the leaf. To fight, spray with Bordeaux mixture.
Rust - small yellow-brown spots with dark spores, appear on the leaves and petioles in violation of the temperature and humidity conditions.

Figure 7. Diseases and pests of sorrel (from left to right): downy mildew, rust and sorrel aphid

The sorrel aphid sucks the juices out of the plant. It is impossible to process a plant against a pest during the harvesting process. Only in autumn can you water the bed with an infusion of bitter herbs (for example, wormwood or oak bark).

Winter greens, forcing, cultivation and storage Forcing sorrel in a greenhouse

Forcing sorrel in a greenhouse

In winter, in greenhouses, along with other greens, sorrel, which is in great demand, should also be driven out. The harvest of sorrel during the winter for several cuts can be brought up to 4 kilograms per square meter. Sorrel is expelled from rhizomes of three or four years of age. They are harvested in the fall on the crops of sorrel, which goes under the plowing. Thus, sorrel planting material is very cheap.

Sorrel is driven out in greenhouses and on racks and in boxes. However, it must be borne in mind that during the winter it can be cut 5-6 times, and therefore it takes a long time to rack. In this regard, it is most advisable to expel sorrel in portable boxes. Nutrient-rich soil, such as peat-manure compost, is enriched with 3-4 kilograms of ammonium nitrate per cubic meter of mass before being placed in boxes. A good soil for forcing sorrel is also a peat humus mixture with complete mineral fertilizer, approximately the same composition as that used in the manufacture of peat humus pots. The soil is laid in boxes with a layer of 10-12 centimeters.

Before planting, the roots of the shavel are cut so that they are all the same length - 10 centimeters. Grooves are made in the box and the rhizomes are planted somewhat obliquely, in one row, 3-4 centimeters apart. Then the plants are covered with earth to the apical buds, which are left open. The second row is planted 8-10 centimeters from the first, etc.

For the first period of germination, boxes installed in stacks are left in the corridor of the greenhouse, where they maintain moderate humidity and a temperature of 16-18 degrees.

After the sorrel is well rooted and germinated, the boxes are transferred to the light on additional racks in greenhouses. For the first cut, sorrel leaves are ready 20-25 days after planting. Cut them off with a sharp knife without damaging the apical bud.

After the first and subsequent collections of leaves, the sorrel is fed with a solution of mineral fertilizers of approximately the following composition: ammonium nitrate - 30-40 grams and potassium salt - 15-20 grams per bucket of water.

The second collection of sorrel is carried out 15 days after the first. Subsequent collections give slightly fewer leaves than the first. The collected sorrel is loosely placed in a solid container and sent for sale.

The consumption of sorrel is an effective method of solving the problem of vitamin deficiency, which affects a huge number of people at the beginning of the entry of spring into their own legal rights. In addition, a novice gardener will be able to grow sorrel in a greenhouse, since the whole process of caring for and growing a plant is not complicated and cheap for everyone. The plant will provide the whole family with the necessary set of vitamins, plus it is possible to grow sorrel for sale.

A piquant plant does not require bright lighting and tolerates frost without complications. But, in order to grow greens, it will still be necessary to apply some hardening, choosing the right place for planting and getting acquainted with the main nuances for caring for various varieties.

Sorrel care
Sorrel cultivation - video
Sorrel in a greenhouse - photo

The best varieties of sorrel for growing in a greenhouse

It is best to plant adult rhizomes in the last days of February and in the first half of March. It is possible to sow seeds in greenhouse soil throughout March. The most common varieties of sorrel are:

Belleville - considered a productive, early variety, the leaves of the plant are mild in taste with a little sourness.
Spinach - this variety contains a huge amount of vitamin C, grows quickly.
Odessa - the approximate period for the ascent of culture is 45 days, it is resistant to heat and cold.
Lyon - this variety is distinguished by yellowish-green leaves with a pleasant aftertaste. The only drawback is the low resistance to frost.
Altai variety - characterized by a sharp sour taste. The Altai variety is resistant to cold, green leaves have a reddish tint.

sorrel seeds

Advice. Experts advise growing sorrel in the same place for 2-3 years, after which you change the landing site. In another case, the plant will significantly lose its own level of quality, and the yield will also drop to low levels.

sorrel feels best in loamy soil. Fertilizer must be applied to the planting site. The optimal proportion of the mixture: manure or compost 6-8 kg is mixed with superphosphate 40 g, potassium chloride 30 g is added. This is enough to fertilize one square meter of soil.

The soil must be scrupulously dug up, after which nitrogen fertilizers must be applied.

Growing sorrel from seeds and forcing from rhizomes

If the planting is done in early spring in sufficiently moist soil, then after 2-7 days it is possible to take the first greens. The seed method is much more often used for planting a primary crop or a new variety. Two days before sowing, the seeds are placed between layers of cotton napkins, placed in a bowl and moistened with hot water. At the end of which the sequence of actions is as follows:

In the greenhouse, the seeds are sown in grooves 2 cm deep. A distance of 4-5 cm must be maintained between the seeds, and the row spacing should be around 10-15 cm.
The cut grooves are filled with a soil mixture.
The earth is mulched with a layer of humus, watered abundantly from a watering can.

At the end of planting sorrel, after 2-3 seven days, it is possible to take greens

It is possible to reduce the germination time due to a simple film that covers the bed. With this method, the time of ascent of the culture is reduced by 5-7 days.

The most economical method of growing sorrel is its distillation from decrepit rhizomes. Planting material with this method are the root shoots of plants already intended for disposal. Even before the onset of the first cold weather, the rhizomes are dug out along with the soil, after which they are placed in the cellar. Then you need to do the following:

furrows are cut with a depth of 12-14 cm, row spacing 7-11 cm;
rhizomes are planted with an interval of 5-6 cm;
at the end of which a generous watering is carried out.

The first harvest will appear after 2-3 seven days.

Sorrel prefers loamy soil

Sorrel care

Care for a young plant is contained in regular loosening of the earth, active control of other pests and weeds. Sorrel should always be fed and watered abundantly. The leaf rosette will develop poorly if the ground is not wet enough.

Sorrel should be watered systematically, it plays an important role in filling the leaves. Flower stalks must be removed immediately so that the quality level of the future crop does not decrease.

One of the necessary activities is weeding. Sorrel does not tolerate being together with weeds. In order to speed up the germination of subsequent plantings, at the end of cutting the greens, any meter of the oxalic bed is fed with superphosphate and ammonium sulfate. The entire aerial part of the plant must be cut at the root at the end of the growing season.

At the end of which the bed is covered with a layer of peat.

Sorrel needs abundant watering

The main disease of sorrel is peronosporosis. The disease is determined by plaque on the underside of the leaves. For the treatment of culture, the use of Bordeaux liquid is recommended, the spraying of which must be stopped 2-7 days before cutting. The plant suffers from small pests in the face of caterpillars and sorrel leaf gnats.

To combat them, chemistry is not used, it is enough to treat the plants with a special infusion of dandelion leaves, garlic and celandine.

Sale of sorrel grown in a greenhouse

All the earliest has a special treasure. So, grown early sorrel can be sold at a good price, but closer to summer, the price of greens drops significantly. It is possible to grow sorrel in a greenhouse without any particular difficulties, since the main pests of the crop are not yet active in early spring, and in most cases, the simplest treatment is enough to fight minor diseases.

Leaves that have reached a size of 8-10 cm are torn off at the root and knitted into bunches. The beams must be uniform in height. Finishes are cut with a knife.

Selling sorrel is a good thing, because the price during the period of demand can be near high levels (depending on the region), but after a month or two, in most cases, the price drops many times.

Sorrel is picked when the leaves are 7-8 cm long

The leaves are cut off after 3 seven days after planting, and then as they grow back. During the season, it is possible to collect about 8 kg of greenery from each square meter. If the sale is not provided, then the leaves are placed in a plastic bag and sent to the refrigerator for storage.

Having a couple of sorrel plots, it is possible to provide your own family with the necessary vitamins, diversify the table with different salads, fresh borscht with greens. Plus, growing sorrel in a greenhouse can be a successful and profitable business, if you follow all the recommendations and rules for caring for and planting, then it is possible to make a good profit in a short time period.

A sorrel bed on a personal plot is an excellent solution to the problem of vitamin deficiency, which is familiar to millions of consumers at the end of winter. And if there is a greenhouse in the country, getting high-quality fresh herbs will be as easy as shelling pears, without waiting for it to appear on the market. Delicate leaves with a piquant sour taste, used in cooking for preparing green cabbage soup, refreshing salads and original fillings for pies, will be ready for use in 2-3 weeks.

Landing dates

Due to the resistance of the culture to cold weather, sowing seeds of sorrel in greenhouse soil can be carried out throughout March. Planting of adult rhizomes is carried out from late February to mid-March.

Preparing a greenhouse bed

A greenhouse bed for sorrel is prepared in the fall - for digging every m? soils are filled with humus (6 kg), superphosphate and potassium chloride (30 g each).

In the spring, shortly before planting, the soil is loosened and shed with a warm nutrient solution, for the preparation of which 40 g of carbamide (urea), 4-5 g of superphosphate and 2-3 g of ammonium nitrate are dissolved in 10-12 liters of irrigation water.

Growing from seeds

The seed method of propagation of sorrel is most often used in the primary cultivation of a crop or when planting a new variety. Two days before sowing, sorrel seeds are placed between layers of a cotton napkin, placed in a shallow dish and moistened with plenty of lukewarm water, into which a drop of growth stimulator can be added to accelerate the germination of the material. The sequence of actions when sowing sorrel in a greenhouse is as follows:

Swollen seeds are sown in cut grooves 1.5 cm deep. To avoid thickening of crops, a distance of about 5 cm is kept between individual seeds. Row spacing is 12-15 cm.
The grooves are filled with soil mixture.
The bed is generously watered from a watering can with a shower head and the soil is mulched with a layer of humus or peat.

The first greens will break through to the surface in 10-12 days. If the greenhouse bed is additionally covered with a film, the germination time can be reduced to 5 days.

Forcing sorrel from rhizomes

A very promising and economical way to obtain fresh sorrel greens is to distill the culture from old rhizomes. In this case, planting material is powerful root shoots of 3-4 year old plants, unsuitable for further cultivation and intended for disposal. Rhizomes at the end of autumn, before the onset of cold weather, are dug out together with a clod of earth and stored in a cool cellar. The landing procedure is carried out in the following order:

On the prepared bed, furrows are cut with a depth of 10-12 cm, observing the row spacing of 6-10 cm.
Rhizomes are planted obliquely with an interval of 3-4 cm.
Landings are abundantly watered with warm water.

The consumption of planting material when using this method is 6-8 kg of large rhizomes and 3-4 kg of smaller ones per m? landing area. The first crop can be harvested after 15-20 days from the date of planting.

Landing Care

Caring for greenhouse sorrel includes only elementary procedures.

As the soil dries out, the bed is watered with warm water. Regular watering plays an important role in filling the leaves, but the culture does not tolerate waterlogging of the soil.
So that the sorrel does not go into color, flower stalks should be removed immediately after they appear.
Sorrel reacts very negatively to the neighborhood of weeds, so systematic weeding is a must.
After each cutting of greens, in order to accelerate the growth of new leaves, they carry out mandatory feeding of plantings. For every m oxalic beds contribute 10 g of ammonium sulfate and 30 g of superphosphate.
Since sorrel is a perennial crop, at the end of the growing season, the entire aerial part of the plants is cut off at the root, and the bed is covered with a layer of compost or peat. It is important to remember that the cultivation of sorrel in one place is allowed no more than 3-4 years. Failure to comply with this condition threatens to crush the leaves and low yields.

Diseases and pests

The main disease that affects sorrel is peronosporosis, the development of which can be determined by the bluish bloom on the underside of the leaves. The culture also suffers from leaf rust, which is manifested by the appearance of yellow or poisonous orange spots on the surface of the leaves. As a treatment for the culture, spraying with Bordeaux liquid is shown, which should be stopped 10-15 days before cutting the greens. Also, in the fight against sorrel diseases, the biological preparation Fitosporin, which is absolutely harmless to the human body, has proven itself well.

Of the modern highly productive varieties of sorrel in a greenhouse, the following showed good results:

Belleville is a frost-resistant variety with a pleasant, not too sour taste.
"Large-leaved" - an ultra-early variety, resistant to cold and flowering. Light green leaves have a delicate taste.
"Altai" is a well-recognized variety due to the reddish hue of dark green leaves with a pronounced sour taste. Cold resistant.
"Broad-leaved" is one of the most popular highly productive varieties of sorrel. The elongated ovoid leaves are distinguished by a slightly acidic taste. In extreme heat it is prone to coloring.
"Lyon" - a variety with yellowish-green leaves of a pleasant taste. Cold tolerance is low.

In addition to the above, gardeners highly appreciated such varieties of crops as "Malachite", "Spinach", "Emerald Snow", "Maikopsky 10", "Odessa broad-leaved".

Harvesting

For the first time, sorrel leaves are cut off 2-3 weeks after planting, in the future - as the greenery grows. For the season from each m? you can collect about 6-7 kg of leaves. Cut sorrel is allowed to be processed or stored in the refrigerator, after being packaged in plastic bags.