Planting pepper for seedlings is an important stage in the cultivation of this crop. Who from gardeners would not want to grow it? To be sure of the crop, you first need to grow seedlings. Gardeners of the XX century believed that Bulgarian or hot pepper is a culture of a warm climate, that in northern conditions it is simply impossible to grow it. And now a rare garden plot does without sweet or hot pepper, no matter in which region it is. A good crop contributes to the proper cultivation of seedlings of pepper, its planting. This culture grows well in the Moscow Region, Non-Black Earth Region, Siberia and, of course, in our Kuban. How to plant pepper for seedlings? So, the beginning of everything is the seeds.
There is sweet and hot pepper, there are low and tall varieties. Now, through the efforts of breeders, they have bred a variety of varieties, hybrids suitable for winter cultivation, planting in spring film greenhouses or open ground.
Pepper, in my opinion, is not difficult to grow. It is not susceptible to such complex diseases as, for example, late blight, which is difficult to fight. Therefore, it can be grown both in open ground and in film greenhouses. Peppers usually work out in any year, whatever it is - hot, rainy or cold. Sometimes it’s better, sometimes worse, but it never happens that there is no crop at all.
Stages of growing pepper seedlings
- preparation of seeds, soil;
- landing;
- seedling care;
- pick;
- top dressing;
- watering;
- hardening seedlings before planting.
Preparation of pepper seeds for sowing seedlings
Where to start to grow good seedlings? You need to start with the seeds.
Germination of pepper seeds is only 2-3 years. These are rather difficult germinated seeds. For example, tomato seeds can either be sprouted or not - they sprout beautifully. And it is advisable to germinate the seeds of peppers and prepare for planting.
What do I need to do? You can use low containers, for example, a saucer. Put a small layer of cotton wool, or gauze, or filter paper, or any fabric on the bottom. Spread the seeds on top.
You can fill them simply with water, or you can use a solution of wood ash (1 tablespoon per 1 liter of water). Of course, water will need much less than a liter - gauze, cotton wool, cloth or paper should just be well moistened. The water layer should be minimal. Seeds should not float.
Why do I mention ash. Ash is potassium. And this element is required when growing, planting pepper. With a lack of it, the ovaries will crumble. They will be few. And the leaves will be pale, thin. In short, plants will lack nutrition.
After soaking, the saucer should be put in a warm place. The temperature for the germination of pepper seeds should be 25-30 ° C. To ensure the necessary microclimate, the saucer can be covered with cling film, while leaving sufficient air space for the seeds to breathe. Seeds germinate for a long time - usually 10-14 days. But some seeds that have good germination energy can germinate after 5 days. Therefore, be patient.
The seeds will swell for several days and soon you will see that some of them begin to sprout. You can start sowing pepper.
Soil preparation for pepper seedlings
Now let's talk about what soil should be for growing seedlings. Pepper is very fond of organic fertilizers. Therefore, when preparing the soil for it, try to use very good compost. You can add a little rotted manure there. Of fertilizers, the soil must necessarily contain dolomite flour (100-150 g per bucket of soil), because pepper does not tolerate acidic soil at all. You can add complex fertilizer, for example, Kemiru Universal, you can nitroammophoska at the rate of 50-70 g per bucket of soil.
Do not forget to mix everything thoroughly after all these additives, carefully rubbing all the lumps. You will get, in fact, "living land", which will give strength to your plants.
I advise you to sow the seeds first in small containers, followed by picking into larger pots.
In the first tanks, the soil depth should be at least 5-7 cm. We spill the soil well before planting with a hot solution of potassium permanganate of intensely pink color. Then we make grooves with a depth of 0.5 cm with a distance between them of 3-4 cm. After that, we proceed to landing. We try to arrange the seeds evenly, for example, after 1 cm. If conditions and capacity allow you, they can be decomposed less often. It is advisable to sow the seeds of one variety in each container, write the name, so as not to mix them up later.
Sowing pepper seeds, how to plant
After unfolding the seeds, we begin to close them. You can mix it with the same moist soil, or you can mix part of the previously prepared soil with sand (1: 1) and sprinkle the seeds so that the soil is light on top - nothing will prevent them from germinating.
We also put the container with sown seeds in a very warm place (25-28 ° С). I usually cover the bowl with the seeds sown with cling film - I create a pleasant microclimate for them. Before emergence, the capacity can be put on the heating battery. Just put it not on a bare battery, but on a plate so that there is no direct contact with hot metal.
As soon as the first shoots have appeared, even if not all, you need to remove the film and put the container in a bright place. I usually have this windowsill. After all, pepper is a very photophilous plant. Seedlings are not as stretched as tomatoes. If your windows are southern, then you can not even give them additional lighting. But, if the conditions are different or the weather is cloudy, additional lighting is required. Light seedlings should receive at least 12 hours a day. Pepper is a short day plant. Start backlighting should be in the morning, for example, it will be 9 hours, and turn off after 21.00, in the evening, but not later. Comfortable temperature for them is 20-25 ° C during the day and 18-20 ° C at night.
If you sow the seeds in a well-prepared soil, then the first time no fertilizing is required. And if the soil is purchased, you are not sure whether it is of high quality, then I advise if you have 1-2 true leaves to do this top dressing: 1) urea -1 g, double superphosphate - 4 g, potassium sulfate -1 g per 1 liter of water; or 2) Kristallin (rastorin) _ - 4 g also per 1 liter of water.
Pepper seedlings pick
As soon as the 3-4th true leaves appear in the seedlings, you can begin to pick. Tanks for this can be very different: peat-humus pots, large plastic glasses or special seedling tanks. Most importantly, their volume should be at least 500 ml.
We fill the dive containers with very moist soil, but not to the top, but leave about 3-4 cm free. We make a depression in the center, put a seedling inside. Carefully straighten the roots, sprinkle with soil to about the middle of the cotyledonary knee. But if the plant still stretched, then to the cotyledon leaves.
Now set the pots on the window. As the plants grow, you should arrange the pots less often so that they do not obscure each other. The key to the fact that your pepper seedlings are healthy, feels good, is appearance: young leaves on the top are always lighter than old ones that have a dark green appearance. This suggests that your plants feel great after planting.
The air regime for seedlings is very important. Pepper really does not like soil compaction, so be sure to try to loosen the top layer of the pot periodically.
Pepper seedlings are very often affected by a disease such as the black leg. Therefore, try, firstly, to plant it in warm, not cold ground, water only with warm water. And secondly, after diving around the stem, sprinkle the calcined sand with a small layer, about 0.5 cm. The sand passes moisture well through itself, it goes deeper to the roots, and the near-stem circle remains dry. These measures will protect your seedlings from the "black leg".
Dressing and watering seedlings of pepper
What are the features of pepper seedlings care? She is very fond of organic fertilizers. If you have such an opportunity, use it. Every 10 days, you can feed the seedlings with a complex fertilizer, for example, Kemira Wagon.
What other top dressings can I do? Spiked seedlings are very fond of foliar top dressing. How to do it better? A good fertilizer for this is Kemira Combi. This fertilizer has the appearance of a pink powder, highly soluble in water. Take a plastic bottle, for example, a volume of 1 liter with a conventional household spray. For such a volume of water, enough powder at the tip of a teaspoon (0.1-0.2 g). This fertilizer contains 17 trace elements, as well as phosphorus and potassium. Water for spraying should be warm - 20-25 ° C. Foliar top dressing is best done early in the morning until sunlight has fallen on the seedlings. When spraying, try to moisten the leaves not only from above, but also from below.
Foliar top dressing should be alternated with watering with nutrient solutions with potassium and calcium nitrate - every 10 days (calcium nitrate - 1 g, potassium nitrate - 1 g per 1 liter of water).
If you notice that the leaves have acquired a slightly yellowish color, then they lack nitrogen. Therefore, when feeding, use urea (for 1 liter of water 2-3 g).
Try to prevent overdrying or waterlogging of the soil. Try to water the seedlings with warm, settled water.
Uneven, sparse watering leads to weakening of seedlings, which, due to lack of moisture, begin to drop leaves. The trunk begins to lignify ahead of time, the plant forms only one trunk, looks oppressed, flowering, fruit formation is delayed, yield decreases.
On the contrary, waterlogging contributes to excessive soil compaction, the root system of pepper seedlings ceases to work, nourishes the plant. Remember, I said above that a healthy plant has dark green leaves on the lower and middle tiers, and on the top is light green? And with waterlogging, the leaves of the whole plant acquire a dark green color. This suggests that the plant is bad - you did something wrong when planting or leaving.
Peppers pests how to fight
But the main nuisance for those who grow pepper seedlings are pests. The most famous of them is aphid. If you have other houseplants at home, you can hardly grow pepper without aphids. What are the ways to combat aphids? I will not advise you on chemical warfare agents, because this, in my opinion, is completely unacceptable at home.
Let's look at folk remedies of struggle.
The first remedy: take 25 g of ash or the same amount of tobacco dust per 1 liter of water. The solution is insisted 3-4 days. Strain. Add 3-4 g of liquid laundry soap. Spray pepper seedlings with a sprayer.
The second tool will help pest control not only at home, but in the garden too. Take 250 g of fresh needles. Grind it. Insist in 1 liter of water a week, preferably in the dark. Then take 30-50 g of infusion, dilute it with one liter of water. The solution for treating your plants from aphids is ready.
The third way. Take the peel from one orange, insist it in 1 liter of water in a dark place for one week. Strain, add 3-4 g of liquid laundry soap. This solution is also good for treating seedlings or pepper plants from aphids.
But I warn you, which method you would not choose, one processing is not enough. It is necessary to do 2-3 treatments.
The age of pepper seedlings before planting in a greenhouse or open ground is 60-70 days. It can even be planted blooming or with buds.
Sweet pepper
Now let's talk about the formation of sweet pepper. When the seedlings reach the age of 75-80 days from the time of emergence, you can proceed to the formation of bushes.
Very often, pepper fruits are formed in an irregular, ugly shape. This occurs at elevated air temperatures. If pepper grows in a greenhouse - ventilate it more often. And if this is open ground, then look, perhaps your bushes are too thickened, have several empty shoots that interfere with the blowing, ventilation of plants.
Until the 10th leaf, pepper grows in one stem. And then the stem bifurcates. The next leg of each of these branches also forms two stems. That is, 4 skeletal branches appear above 11-12 leaves. If you look carefully, you will see that in addition to these skeletal branches, there are even smaller branches that can grow inward or outward. Usually these are empty processes on which fruits never form. But they will obscure, thicken the middle of the bush, and then take away the nutrients from the fruits. They must be ruthlessly removed. Even if there are buds or flowers on these shoots, but they go inside the plant, break them off. There will be no sense from them.
Pepper seedlings hardening
Before planting, 10-15 days before, seedlings should be hardened. You need to start hardening from a temperature of 14-15 ° C, gradually lower it, to about 12 ° C - but not lower.
After planting the seedlings of pepper in a permanent place, when it takes root, periodically inspect the plants, remove the lowest leaves - two or three leaves in 2-3 days.
In order for seedlings to better take root during transplantation, especially if these are overgrown plants with flowers and buds, it is better to do the following root dressing. A week after planting, you need to take 50-80 g of azofoska per 10 liters of water + 2 caps of Uniflor-growth liquid fertilizer containing 18 trace elements, which are very necessary for plant growth. Pour the peppers under the root with this solution. For 2-3 plants - one liter of solution.
I must say that planting pepper on seedlings, growing it is a creative process. Do this only when you feel like it and in a good mood. And you will definitely have a good harvest.