When to remove radish from the garden for storage: effective methods

Summer harvest

In spring, radish is sown in open ground from late April to mid-May. When using greenhouses and greenhouses, this time limit is pushed back to the very beginning of spring. Usually, early varieties are used, which promise the achievement of technical ripeness by root crops in 1 - 2 months.

Harvesting is carried out not at once, but as needed. They start with small, 2 - 3 cm in diameter, root crops, which have already gained not only weight, but also taste and benefits. And they finish, as a rule, when the ripe roots can no longer be kept in the ground, so as not to lose their qualities - they often become hollow, dry, if they are not harvested for too long.

The specific dates depend on the variety (you need to carefully read the information on the seed packaging) and weather conditions, but most often this happens no later than the end of June or the very beginning of July. And summer residents begin to eat their radish from the end of May.

First, the owners try their radish - such harvesting is called selective - they pull out even small root crops, immediately eat them, some varieties and species directly with the tops. So people get the vitamins and other useful substances they need, when there are so few of them on the table, at the same time they control the ripening of vegetables. When the radish reaches the peak of its maturity according to varietal characteristics, it becomes dangerous to keep it in the ground, because then there will only be a decline, that is, a decrease in its merits. The remaining crop is harvested completely.

Root crops need to be dug up, carefully peeled from the ground, cut off the long root and tops, and then put into storage. In an apartment at room temperature, the harvest can last no more than a week, on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator - up to 20 days. If the roots are kept in plastic bags, these bags should be opened or perforated to ensure air circulation and eliminate the possibility of condensation accumulation. Dug vegetables are usually eaten quickly - summer varieties do not imply long-term storage.

Video "From seed to harvest of radish"

This video shows the algorithm for growing a radish.

Harvesting of autumn and winter varieties

Radish is considered a vegetable of short daylight hours, because with a day longer than 14 - 15 hours, it does not grow a root crop, but rushes to release a peduncle. That is why in the open field, without any tricks, it is planted so that active growth does not fall in the very middle of summer with its high temperatures (and many species also shoot from this) and long daylight hours. Winter radish is the conventional name for all varieties that are planted in the second half of summer. As a rule, these are late or mid-season varieties, they are planted starting in the second half of July. The exact timing can be determined based on the amount of time it takes for each particular variety to ripen, and the date when winter usually comes in a particular area.So it turns out that some sow late radish in mid-July, others in August, and still others in general in its last days.

The harvesting of the radish should be completed before frost. Although it is considered a frost-hardy vegetable, this only means that the plant can easily endure short-term frosts without harm to itself. But if the root crop freezes, it will lose the main part of its useful properties and will not be able to be stored for a long time, and this is precisely what late varieties are grown for - in order to have this storehouse of vitamins and elements at hand all winter, when all other vegetables are no longer so useful.

In the fall, radish is also dug out (or pulled out) selectively, so that there is a fresh vegetable on the table, and also to monitor the degree of ripening. Then they choose a cool, fine day to harvest the entire crop. This usually happens in October, so in the Middle Lane and in the Urals, the radish is harvested after the holiday of the Intercession (October 14), later in the southern regions, and earlier in the northern regions.

The radish is carefully removed from the ground with the help of hands if the soil is loose, or with the help of shovels and forks if it is more dense and heavy. A couple of days before that, you can crush the tops, but you can also do without it. The extracted radish is left in the garden (in dry weather) for several hours to dry out. After that, carefully shake off the remnants of the earth, cut off the leaves, leaving petioles up to 2 cm, sort out the entire crop. The smoothest, without mechanical damage and other flaws, root crops are selected for long-term storage, the rest are stored in the refrigerator (cutting off the roots and tops) for use in the next 3 weeks.

when to remove radish from the garden for storage (there is not enough thinning 1 time (s))
when to dig the radish (there is not enough thinning 1 time (s))

Winter storage

Let's figure out when to store the radish from the garden and when to start digging up this vegetable. In order for the radish to be stored for 3 - 6 months, it needs to create certain conditions: the air temperature should be in the range of 0 - +3 degrees, and the humidity - from 85 to 95 percent. Some types of radish can lie at subzero temperatures - then the lower limit is pushed back to -3 degrees. These conditions are easiest to create in a cellar or basement. So the vegetable is usually stored along with other vegetables - potatoes, beets, carrots. It can be poured in small slides, up to 1 m in height, or it can be folded into wooden or plastic boxes with holes, put them on top of each other. Root crops will have to periodically sort out and remove those that start to deteriorate in order to preserve the rest.

The best way may be to preserve in wet sand - the roots are laid out in boxes so that they do not come into contact with each other, the layers are sprinkled with clean river sand. This sand will need to be moistened - then the radish will not lose its juiciness and elasticity.

In the absence of a cellar, the vegetable can be folded into a bag made of dense polyethylene, placed in an unheated room, making sure that the temperature there does not drop below -3 degrees.

Burts or trenches are also suitable for long-term storage of crops. You can put a vegetable on the bottom of such a trench, cover it with wet sand or earth on top, and put a layer of dry straw on it. From above, everything is covered with earth, a bump is made so that precipitation rolls off from it, and moisture does not get into the trench. You can put boxes with root crops at the bottom of the trench, and cover them with earth and straw. Straw should not be put directly on vegetables so that they do not dry out, moist earth or sand will retain moisture in them, and the straw will create an air cushion to maintain temperature. This method is bad in that it is difficult to sort out root crops and remove spoiled ones.

The varieties "Winter round black" and "Winter round white" are best kept. But all the methods described are suitable for other varieties and species. Experts say that the roots of our vegetable, unlike other vegetables, are useful, and the medicinal properties only increase with long-term storage.

Video "How and where to store radish"

In this video, experienced gardeners will tell you how to properly store a radish.