This genus includes 7-10 species that grow wild in Eurasia and North Africa. Three species are found in the CIS countries, including field mustard and white mustard. Has long been cultivated in Western Europe only one species - white mustard, the homeland of which is considered to be Mediterranean countries. In Indochina, India, China, North Africa In Asia Minor, gray or Sarepta mustard is grown. Wild species mustards originate from Asia. Two cultivated species are grown in Russia.
Structure. Plants belonging to this genus are annual, less often perennial herbs. Most of them are weeds. The leaves of some species are entire, in others they are incised with lyre-shaped lobes, and in others they are dissected.
The flowers are usually yellow, less often yellow-white. The petals of the corolla usually have a reverse-oval bend. At the base of each stamen there is one honey gland. The flower has one pistil with a sessile ovary, a style that turns into a large two-lobed stigma.
Mustard fruits are bivalve pods with long, sometimes sword-shaped spouts. The valves of the pods have from 3 to 5-7 longitudinal veins, dense, convex, with tubercles. The seeds are spherical in shape and usually lie in one row. Each seed has two bilobed cotyledons, between which the embryonic root is located in a groove.
Growing . Sarepta mustard is grown on the territory of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. large areas, in the non-chernozem zone up to 62° north latitude, white mustard is cultivated in small areas. Mustard seeds are sown after legumes and winter crops. Sowing is done in rows with row spacing of up to 15 cm and a planting depth of 5 cm. Measures to care for crops include harrowing before germination, getting rid of weeds, and controlling insect pests. Harvesting is carried out at the beginning of the appearance of waxy ripeness of the seeds.
Useful properties
The beneficial properties of mustard are due to the fact that the seeds contain up to 35% fatty oil, as well as up to 1% essential allyl oil. White and blue mustard are grown to obtain mustard oil from the seeds, which is used in the confectionery, perfumery, canning industries, baking, as well as essential oil used in medicine in the form of mustard alcohol (a distracting and irritating drug). Mustard is popular in cosmetology as a means for making masks for better growth hair, they can be prepared at home. Anti-cellulite wraps with mustard are also used in cosmetology for weight loss. Made from plant cakes mustard powder, which is the basis of mustard plasters and dry table mustard. There are various types mustards as seasonings: Dijon (French), honey mustard, fruit, green, Don (brine), etc. Leaf and root varieties of Sarepta mustard are eaten as vegetable crops. All plants from this genus are excellent honey plants.
Mustard can have good service both in the garden and in the kitchen. To do this, you need to decide on the type - white, black or light green (Sarepta). What mustard looks like: the white variety plant has feathery leaves arranged in pairs. Top sheet- trilobed. Flowers are collected in inflorescences of yellow or white. It usually blooms in summer and produces seeds in August. The variety is more suitable for greening the site.
Black mustard is distinguished by leaves that are not pinnate, but rather smooth and solid.
It is called black for the color of the seeds from which table mustard is made. For culinary purposes, it is considered the best, as it contains many essential oils that add flavor to sauces.
Sarepta variety is universal in cultivation and use. Oil is made from Sarepta mustard, used in cooking to make sauces, namely Russian mustard in jars, added to salads in green form, on summer cottage grown to improve the health of plants and soil. The leaves look like white variety, mustard flowers are also collected in yellow or white inflorescences.
Mustard seeds in cooking - indications and contraindications
Fatty acids are the main benefit of the mustard plant. They contain all the fat-soluble substances - vitamins A, E, D. Microelements are also present - calcium, iron, zinc and others.
Burning substances increase appetite and metabolism. Once in the body, it has an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antimicrobial effect. Therefore, the use of mustard is indicated for weakened people with low immunity, recovering from illness.
Carefully! If you overdo it with fresh seeds, you can provoke a natural cleansing of the body - diarrhea, as they have a laxative effect
Mustard sauces go best with meat dishes.
Application in cosmetology
When losing weight, sagging skin is often observed. problem areas Therefore, mustard is used for various masks and wraps. This procedure is also available in salons, but it is not cheap, since a paste is first prepared from seeds and leaves, which is then used to treat the skin.
Video: All about mustard
Mustard masks promote blood flow to the hair follicles, which affects hair growth and condition. Add mustard oil to masks for problem skin. Bactericidal substances help get rid of pimples and blackheads.
Mustard in medicine
Not only folk, but also traditional medicine mustard medicines are used. Everyone knows mustard plasters, which are used to treat colds, neuralgia, hypothermia, bronchitis.
A bath with crushed powder warms up well and quickly cures the runny nose and flu, while simultaneously improving the condition of the skin.
The oil is taken to lower blood cholesterol levels and prevent the formation of intravascular plaques.
A contraindication to use is a predisposition to increased blood pressure, gastritis and increased stomach acidity, renal failure or stones in the pelvis, active tuberculosis, acute pneumonia.
Mustard as green manure - benefits and harms
Mustard grass is considered a weed and is destroyed. But in vain, since its presence is personal plot– this is the safety of the plants among which it grows.
Growing Mustard Plant Helps Reduce Costs manual labor for digging and loosening the soil. The grass has a long root, after which there is no need to dig up the soil. The principle of greening is as follows:
- Plants are planted densely so that there are many roots in the soil. After mowing the upper above-ground part, the roots rot in the soil, giving nutrients, which they pulled out from deep layers of soil. In this case, tubules remain through which air and water enter into the depths.
- Greens are used as they grow to be added to compost, to feed animals and birds, to be added to the soil before planting vegetables, for mulching and feeding growing crops.
- The plant is planted between tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers to prevent beetles that eat the crops from multiplying.
By nutritional properties green manure equated to manure, which has its own negative aspects: first of all, the cost, which cannot be compared with the cost of 1 kilogram of seeds, which can be used to plant a plot of land up to 6 acres.
And finally: if anyone has seen mustard growing in a field, he will definitely want to see the same beauty in his dacha.
The plus is that besides beauty, mustard has many other useful characteristics, which will be useful on the site and in everyday life.
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White mustard
The original homeland of white mustard was the Mediterranean countries; over time, the plant spread throughout the territories of America, Europe, Japan and India; and it is also found everywhere in Asian, Pakistani territories, and Africa.
In Russia, mustard is distributed over vast territories, almost throughout the entire continent, except in cold weather. northern regions. Grows like weed on uncultivated soils and along highways. Most of all the distribution area is recorded in middle lane Russia. In addition, mustard can be purposefully cultivated as a honey crop. Bees love to visit this crop, so it can be seen around apiaries.
An annual plant with erect, rigid herbaceous stems that widen towards the top, dividing into several branches. It grows very quickly, reaching sizes from 30 to 80 centimeters. The root is a tap root, highly developed, has a good ability to absorb nutrients, and goes deep into the soil, sometimes up to 3 meters. For winter period the roots grow very strongly, loosen and drain the soil around.
The petiolate leaves are shaped like a musical lyre, pinnate, and notched. The main foliage mass is located near the middle and upper part of the plant trunk. The plant is edged with small hairs.
Petiolate leaves
Flowers are white or yellow color, the stamens protrude from the corolla, with cross-shaped nectaries located at the base of the stamens. Flowers are collected in large inflorescences - clusters of 25-100 flowers. Flowering of this crop begins from June to July, lasting a maximum of 30-35 days. Every single flower It blooms for only 2-3 days. Mustard is pollinated by self-pollination or cross-pollination with the help of insects. When flowering ends, the plant produces fruits, which are small size pods filled round seeds 2-3 millimeters in diameter. The pod ripening continues throughout August.
Mustard seeds have been used in medicine from ancient times to the present day. They are ground, using the resulting powder, to prepare locally irritating and increase blood flow to skin funds. Mustard plasters, plasters - used for external use for colds, rheumatism, as a distracting and warming agent for hypertension, sciatica, and other diseases.
Thanks to its unusual spicy taste, mustard has found its use among chefs. Oil is made from its seeds, and the powder is brewed with the addition of other ingredients to obtain a spicy table seasoning. The seeds of this plant are added during canning as a phytoncide and to enhance the taste of the product. Mustard is used as a spice, being integral part many seasonings for frying meat, fish, poultry; improves the taste of marinades, sauces and salads, giving them a piquant spiciness. There are many culinary recipes, where the seeds of this annual are involved.
By chemical composition white mustard seeds are rich in vegetable and essential oils. Contains proteins, enzymatic substances, mineral and organic components, sugars and glycosides, plant organic acids, groups of vitamins and minerals.
Important! The pollen of the flowers is lemon-yellow in color and contains aromatic substances, plant sugars, and carbohydrates.
Honey productivity
The productivity of the amount of nectar in this honey plant depends on weather conditions, since the mustard flower produces nectar only at temperature environment from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. If the temperature drops to 18 degrees, the flowers stop producing nectar until the air temperature becomes favorable again.
Bee pollinates mustard
Each flower can produce 0.2 to 0.5 milligrams of nectar, with sugar content of at least 25 percent of the total.
According to the observations of Russian beekeepers, 1 hectare of this crop yields approximately 70 to 100 kilograms of honey. Mustard is an excellent honey plant also because bees are ready to collect nectar from it not only in the morning, but even at night.
The honey productivity of this annual depends on when it was planted in the soil. It has been noticed that if you sow mustard seeds in the fall, before wintering, then next year Honey yield increases to 150 kilograms per hectare.
Here are some data on planting dates and productivity:
The most the best honey plant Among beekeepers, it is white mustard that is considered; yellow mustard and blue mustard are slightly inferior to it in honey production.
How to grow mustard
Mustard likes it loosened and harrowed loamy soil with a good proportion of humus and limestone. It can be sown to a depth of no more than 2 centimeters. The plant sprouts quickly, they appear within 4-5 days. Seeds actively germinate even at low plus temperatures of 1-2 degrees, in addition, mustard can withstand light frosts, up to minus 5 degrees. After the sprouts sprout, it is advisable to weed the plantings.
Beekeepers who cultivate white mustard as a honey plant know that to increase honey yield, it can be sown in several passes - 2 times in May and 1 time in June.
Autumn planting of mustard
Useful properties of the plant
White mustard has a number of useful properties, as well as interesting features:
The mustard product produced by bees has a bright, rich light yellow color, as well as a subtle pleasant aroma. This type of honey has a peculiarity - it quickly crystallizes and is not suitable for bees' wintering, although this honey has a healing effect on the bees themselves.
Mustard honey
This natural bee product contains many minerals - potassium, magnesium, calcium, chromium, silicon, phosphorus, selenium, zinc and other organic substances. In addition, honey contains vitamins B, C, A, D, and PP.
It is important to remember that the product retains the activity of vitamins only for the first 6 months, so try to enjoy this delicacy, getting the maximum benefit from it while it is fresh.
The taste of mustard honey is sweet, distinctive, and leaves virtually no aftertaste. Another benefit of honey is the fact that it contains iodine. The use of such a bee product is beneficial for the body, as well as for various diseases:
- hormonal disorders of the thyroid and pancreas;
- has a beneficial effect on the central nervous system;
- increases the overall tone and immune defense of the body;
- treats bronchitis, colds, helps cope with persistent cough;
- removes toxins and heavy metal salts from the body well;
- strengthens the heart and blood vessels, improves the functioning of the liver, kidneys, and genitourinary system;
- reduces inflammatory and edematous manifestations in many diseases.
Important! When buying honey, ask for a certificate of its quality to ensure that it does not contain heavy metal salts, since white mustard likes to grow along highways.
Pay attention to the white mustard - it is unique and unpretentious plant. Plant it in your garden, find a place for it. This honey plant will thank you with its properties, and soon it will become your favorite and reliable assistant.
So, mustard is a plant from the cruciferous (cabbage) family. Its close cultural relatives: cabbage of all kinds, radishes, watercress, rutabaga, radish, turnip and leaf mustard. She also has “relatives” among green manure: oilseed radish, rapeseed, winter and spring rape. This is important to consider when crop rotation. Bad predecessors also used for mustard are oilseed flax, sunflower, beets and millet.
Mustard, as a fertilizer, cannot be used before or after other cruciferous crops. Otherwise, the likelihood of developing clubroot disease (Plasmodiophora brassicae) increases.
White mustard (also known as English mustard) and Sarepta mustard (also known as Russian or gray mustard) are used as green fertilizers (green manure).
The benefits of mustard as a fertilizer are that it:
1. clears the area of weeds. This effect is especially evident on cultivated soils;
2. has excellent phytosanitary properties: it allows you to get rid of wireworms, pea moths and slugs; helps suppress plant diseases: late blight and potato scab. It turns out that for the development of late blight, the presence of iron in the soil is necessary, and mustard binds this iron, which helps to improve the health of the soil;
3. quickly increases biomass. Thanks to the large biomass, the soil is replenished with useful organic substances, which are easily processed by “underground inhabitants” into humus;
4. improves soil structure. Long roots (can penetrate from 1.5 to 3 meters) perfectly loosen, drain and structure the soil. This also contributes to the moisture and air capacity of the soil;
5. promotes the retention of nitrogen in the soil, that is, it prevents its leaching. Note: if legumes fix nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form suitable for other plants, then mustard only retains nitrogen (prevents its leaching). Also, this green manure absorbs other nutrients from the soil, converts them into organic form and thereby prevents them from going into deeper layers;
6. Taking into account the low winter hardiness, after frost and under the influence of snow, mustard plants lie on the soil and from green manure they smoothly turn into mulch. This property is used in autumn and winter to protect the soil from freezing
In addition, honey mustard and its flowers attract many pollinating insects.
And mustard is a good companion for many crops. For example, it stimulates the growth of beans, fruit trees, grapes. Only as a companion you need significantly less seeds than when grown as green manure.
Mustard is good in crop rotation with grain crops. It is an ideal predecessor plant for potatoes (as it fights wireworms, late blight, scab), tomatoes and other nightshades.
The disadvantages of mustard include the following:
1. its plants suffer from the same pests and diseases as other cruciferous plants. That is why it is worth considering the rules of crop rotation when sowing this green fertilizer;
2. Sometimes birds enjoy eating seeds and even mustard greens. On the other hand, what seeds do birds not like? And the benefits of birds are usually greater than the harm. As a last resort, you can cover the mustard seeds after sowing with mulch.
Growing mustard as green manure
Growing mustard as green manure is not the same as growing it to produce seeds. So, for example, we don’t have to wait for the seeds to ripen. That is why its sowing is possible from March-April to August-September. When sowing mustard around mid-August, we will only receive phytosanitary treatment of the soil, that is, from the same wireworm, scab, late blight. From mid-August, not much green mass will grow, and accordingly, soil fertilization will be less.
Seeding rate of mustard for green manure
From spring to mid-August, about 200-300 g per hundred square meters are sown. From the second half of August, the number of seeds is increased to 300-400 g per hundred square meters. Please note that this seed density is precisely for using mustard as a fertilizer. If you want to grow it for honey collection, then the number of seeds is reduced and the plants themselves do not need to be sown so densely.
It is recommended to sow seeds to a depth of 2-3 cm, after which the soil should be compacted (it is better for the seeds to be in contact with the ground). If you simply scatter the seeds over a compacted surface, then you should cover them with a small layer of mulch. In any case, for seeds to germinate, they need at least some moisture and contact with the ground.
Mustard usually begins to bloom 4-6 weeks after sowing. You can cut it with a Fokin flat cutter or a cultivator (swift or other) during the period of budding or flowering (it is advisable to prevent the formation of seeds). Before cutting, it is recommended to water the plants with a solution containing effective microorganisms, as this promotes better processing of green fertilizers. Also keep in mind that in dry weather, green manure will take a long time to be processed by worms and microorganisms, so in this case you need to water the area with mowed green manure from time to time.
If you want to collect your own seeds, keep in mind that white mustard pods hardly crack, so they can be collected at any time of the day. But Sarepta mustard pods are more susceptible to cracking. That is why the seeds of this species need to be collected early in the morning, in the evening or even at night. In addition, to obtain seeds you do not need such dense sowing, and you need to sow in the spring, in this case. Summer sowing is unlikely to provide you with seeds.
Mustard is an annual spicy plant, known to people from a long time ago. Belongs to the plant family of the genus Brassicaceae. There are approximately 40 species, the most popular of which are: black mustard, white mustard, Sarepta mustard. These are herbaceous annual plants with lyre-shaped or whole leaves. Mustard has a branched, erect stem. Let's look at how the plant blooms. The ovary is sessile. The stigma is large, slightly two-lobed.
The fruit consists of a pod that opens with the help of 2 valves. The seeds are spherical and located in one row. Externally, the three most common types of mustard are not very different. white plant has yellow, large seeds. U black mustard the seeds are red, brown or black, smaller.
The flowering period of the food crop lasts from June to September. At 6 o'clock in the morning the flowers open and begin to spread their scent. Pleasant aroma and golden-colored pollen attract the attention of bees. The honey plant is treated with insects from dawn. Flowering of an individual specimen lasts up to 3 days. After this, withering and falling off begin. On the first day, the opening takes place at 6 am, on the 2nd day - at 9 am, on the 3rd day the flowers remain half-opened. The uniqueness of the type is that bees pollinate it even at night.
The plant is not picky, for this reason it can be sown on land free from growing crops. Of course, you paid attention to the graceful yellowish fields that appeared at the end of September. If the crop is harvested from the fields, the period of fertilizing the soil begins. The mustard plant will help preserve maximum nutrients, as well as moisture in the soil. All you need to do is apply this natural fertilizer to the area and after 3-4 days you can see the first shoots appear.
The spice grows very rapidly if you sow the crop in early spring, in which case you can harvest it at the end of August. If the crop is used as soil enrichment, then you can sow mustard at the end of September; it will saturate the soil nutrients and oxygen.
Let's learn how to grow white mustard - a popular type of plant that is grown in Russia and other countries. What can you get after cultivating mustard? As soon as the plant strengthens and begins to grow, an excellent root system. Mustard roots take phosphorus from the ground and, processing it, give it back. As a result, the territory is enriched and becomes fertile. All pathogens (scab) die, which has a beneficial effect on the future harvest. In addition, the spice will undoubtedly help in the fight against wireworms, and this pest is very difficult to get rid of.
White mustard increases quickly if you sow the crop at the beginning of spring, in which case you don’t have to worry about the plant dying from frost. Mustard can withstand nightly drops in temperature, down to minus five degrees. For this reason, this crop is so highly valued due to its ability to grow mustard both very early (before planting potatoes) and late, if the crop has already been harvested.
From the stage of sowing into the soil until the green mass of the plant is obtained, a couple of months pass. Seeds retain the ability to germinate, including at negative soil temperatures (frost from 0 to -3). Mustard is mowed when it was sown in order to enrich the nutritional qualities of the soil, before flowering begins.
Sowing mustard is not a difficult task; the main thing is to decide why and at what period it is necessary to start planting the plant.
Rules for planting mustard as green manure:
- First, using a flat cutter, loosen the soil (depth up to 5 cm).
- We take already prepared mustard seeds (sold in special stores in large packages).
- We make furrows in the ground at a distance of 15 cm. In accordance with the information shown on the packaging, the sowing rate is 120-150 grams per hundred square meters of territory.
- You can go the other way and sow mustard seeds scattered without following the above instructions. However, then we increase the seed consumption by 2 times.
- We loosen the area and bury the mustard seeds 3 cm.
That's it, the mustard planting is over. Now you can observe the process of plant formation and be content that the earth will be freed from pests, weeds and saturated with nutrients.
Sowing white mustard can be done in spring period before planting vegetables and potatoes.
So, mustard for fertilizing the land is needed for the following purposes:
- Since the spice has roots that thoroughly penetrate the soil, in this case they loosen, structure and drain it well.
- The root system itself secretes a substance that is harmful to the wireworm, for this reason it avoids such areas.
- When planting mustard green mass into the soil, more bacteria, which process and enrich it.
- Suppresses the growth of weeds, as it grows quickly on its own.
- It can transfer difficultly soluble nutritional components(phosphates).
- Mustard roots protect the soil in spring and in autumn time from water and wind erosion, and in winter time prevent powerful freezing.
More about useful features see mustard here:
Composition, beneficial qualities of mustard and harm
The mustard seeds from which mustard is made include protein, fats, essential oil. Mustard also contains large number vitamins: B, E D, A. The fat component is assumed to be erucic, linolenic, acids.
If you consider the effect of mustard on the body, you can make sure that it helps improve the functioning of absolutely all its systems. With external and internal use these products:
- stimulates blood circulation;
- promotes cell restoration;
- accelerates wound healing;
- neutralizes pathogenic microorganisms;
- optimizes the metabolism of elements, breaking down fats and helping to digest heavy foods;
- restores the functioning of the digestive tract;
- slows down the formation of tumors;
- has a beneficial effect on the liver;
- effectively fights colds and serves as a preventative against them;
- has a healing effect on diseases of the peripheral nervous system;
- improves the condition of facial skin and hair.
Despite the fact that the spice has such necessary qualities, it can also cause damage to the body. Of course, the harm cannot even compete with the benefits of mustard, however, it is nevertheless recommended to use it very carefully. When you consume it excessively in food, in this case, instead of usefulness, you can get digestive tract disorders and allergies.
If you apply mustard externally and leave it on the skin for too long, you may get a burn.
It is for this reason that it is imperative to know when to use this seasoning. You can see what mustard looks like in the photo.
Areas of use of white mustard
Mustard – honey-bearing herb. White mustard is one of the most accessible pharmaceuticals, so it is important to take into account: how to brew mustard in everyday circumstances; how to float your feet; Is it possible to hover a child’s legs; Is it possible to use the medicine during pregnancy or while breastfeeding? The grains of the plant are used to extract oil, and the remaining cake is used to obtain powder. Mustard is used in everyday life to cure various diseases, and also as cosmetic product from age spots. Mustard leaves are taken in food as a vitamin-containing product in raw or boiled form.
White mustard seeds have the mildest and piquant taste, while dark mustard seeds have a pungent taste, strongly reminiscent of horseradish. White mustard is used whole or ground in the canning industry and in households. Black spice is used mainly in pharmaceuticals for the production of various herbal substances and mustard patches. Mustard oil is used mainly in soap making.
Relatively huge amount seeds are used in the food industry for the production different types mixtures of spices and herbs for canning vegetables and mushrooms.
But the largest number of them are used to make mustard. Despite this, almost any manufacturer, depending on the spices used, acquires a different taste. There are two main types known - French and horseradish mustard. Mustard with horseradish is made from a mixture of coarsely ground or crushed white and dark mustard seeds.