Pepper is a rather demanding crop, and you can only get a harvest with proper care. Experienced gardeners achieve excellent results without problems, but beginners often have difficulties in growing pepper. It often happens that strong healthy bushes give 2-3 fruits of not the best quality or the ovaries fall off for no apparent reason. But you really want to collect peppers in buckets, so that it is juicy, large, fragrant! In fact, it is not so difficult to achieve a good harvest, you just need to carefully study several important rules of agricultural technology of this wonderful culture.
When planning to grow peppers in the open field, first of all, you need to choose the right variety. The growing season for pepper is very long, and even in early varieties, the first fruits ripen 100 days after germination. Therefore, in order to have time to get a harvest, you need to pay attention only to early and mid-season varieties. In addition, you should take into account the climatic features of your region. For example, in the south of the country, pepper is successfully grown. different terms ripening, since the conditions there are the most favorable, and in the northern and eastern regions the best results are shown mainly by cold-resistant early maturing varieties.
The shape and size of the fruit is also important. For stuffing and canning, it is worth choosing varieties with cone-shaped small fruits; for fresh consumption, large thick-walled cuboid fruits are more suitable.
If you are going to grow peppers for sale, take a closer look at hybrids. Dutch selection: they are cold-resistant, ripen early and amicably, less often they are affected by diseases.
It is difficult for a novice gardener to understand the abundance of varieties, so below are the most popular and reliable ones:
You should choose and prepare a site for pepper in the fall. Well-prepared soil is a guarantee of normal growth and fruiting of plants on next year... The ideal place is the beds on the south side of the house or outbuildings, which are in light shade in the afternoon. This arrangement provides protection from both wind and leaf burns in the July heat. Peppers should not be planted where tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants and other nightshade crops have grown in the previous three years. The best predecessors of pepper are legumes and pumpkin crops, cabbage, melons, green manure.
Preparing a bed for pepper
The soil for the pepper should be neutral or slightly acidic. In beds with acidic soil, plants take root for a long time after transplanting, develop poorly, almost do not bloom and do not bear fruit.
Advice! It is very easy to check the acidity at home: you need to take a little earth and moisten it with ordinary table vinegar. If no reaction follows, the soil is acidic and needs liming, but if bubbles appear on the surface, this indicates neutral acidity.
So, if the soil in the selected area is acidic, slaked lime (1 glass per square meter) or wood ash (1.5-3 kg) is added during digging. If the soil is neutral, you need to add rotted organic matter (from 5 to 10 kg per m2) and dig up the beds to a depth of 20-25 cm.
Sow pepper seeds in open ground impractical, the plants will not have time to start bearing fruit before the cold weather. That is why both sweet and hot peppers are grown through seedlings. Mid-season and mid-late varieties are sown around early February, early ones - in early March. Please note that overgrown seedlings adapt for a very long time in the open field, especially if already flowering plants are planted.
Step 1. The seeds are immersed in warm water for 5-6 hours to swell. Then they are laid out on a damp cloth, wrapped and left in a warm place for 2-3 days, until the sprouts hatch.
Step 2. Mix 1 part of garden soil, 1 part of sand and 2 parts of rotted organic matter, heated in a microwave or conventional oven for disinfection. Then add a tablespoon of wood ash to 1 kg of the mixture and mix thoroughly.
Step 3. Take peat pots or disposable cups with a capacity of 0.5 liters for sowing and fill them with prepared soil. You can sow seeds in total capacity, but as the seedlings grow, it will become cramped, and the pepper does not like picking.
Step 4. The hatched seeds are laid out one by one in each pot, lightly sprinkled with earth, moistened through a spray bottle. Then the containers are covered with glass or foil and placed in a warm place. The temperature must be kept within 22-24 degrees.
Sprouts appear as early as 2-3 days after sowing. At this time, they need to provide at least 12 hours of lighting, so prepare phytolamps in advance. The film is removed from the pots so that high humidity did not destroy the tender sprouts. Pepper seedlings are watered very sparingly, only when the substrate begins to dry out. Water is used only warm and separated, from cold water the development of seedlings slows down.
If the air in the room is too dry, the seedlings should be sprayed in the morning (also with warm water). When airing the room, be sure to cover the seedlings from drafts, avoid sudden changes in temperature. A week after germination, it is recommended to reduce the night temperature to 15 ° C. The grown and matured seedlings should be hardened little by little. On warm days, when the temperature outside the window rises to 13 ° C, the pepper should be exposed to the open air, providing protection from the wind. For the first time, half an hour is enough, then the time spent in the air is increased daily. On cold days, seedlings are not tolerated, since plants can be damaged already at 10 ° C.
Before planting seedlings, the beds are weeded, loosened and leveled. The holes are made at a distance of 30 cm in a row, 60-70 cm are left between the rows. Peppers need to be planted in the evening or in cloudy weather, since the heat of the day is additional stress for the plant. About 5-6 hours before transplanting, the seedlings are watered abundantly so that the root system can more easily adapt to new conditions. Water for irrigation is also prepared in advance: it is collected in buckets or a large container and placed in the sun for heating.
Step 1. 2-3 liters of water are poured into each well and allowed to soak a little.
Step 2. Seedlings are carefully removed from the containers so that the earthen lump does not disintegrate. If peat pots were used, the peppers are planted with them.
Step 3. Plants are lowered into the hole a little deeper than they grew in cups, sprinkled with earth on all sides, compacted with hands.
Advice! Peppers are easily pollinated, so if you plan on harvesting seeds, plant different varieties as far apart as possible. Additionally, you can intersperse them with tall crops, for example, corn, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke and others. Sharp and Bell pepper it is also necessary to plant at the maximum distance, otherwise all the fruits will have a pungent taste.
2 days after planting, the pepper is watered and the ground is sprinkled with fine straw, dry grass or sawdust. In the future, you need to water the plants once a week until the ovaries are formed, after which the watering is increased - 1 time per 5 days. In order not to water so often, you can increase the mulch layer to 10 cm.
The plantings are fed three times:
By appearance pepper it is easy to determine which substances it lacks. If the leaves dry out along the edge and then curl, this indicates a lack of potassium. Lack of nitrogen is expressed by the dullness of the leaves, the presence of a grayish tint. In addition, the leaves become small. But with an excess of nitrogen, ovaries and flowers begin to fall off. The deep purple color of the back of the leaves indicates a lack of phosphorus, a marble pattern occurs when there is a lack of magnesium. The use of mineral fertilizers helps to replenish all this, but do not forget to accurately observe the dosage, otherwise all the surplus will end up in the fruits.
If the autumn is warm, with the help of another top dressing, you can prolong the fruiting of early varieties. To do this, 50 g of superphosphate, 15 g of ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride are diluted in 10 liters of water.
The soil between the rows must be regularly loosened to a depth of 10 cm. The formation of a soil crust slows down the development of pepper, causes oxygen starvation of the root system. It is best to loosen in the morning after watering, while the ground is still moist enough. If mulch was not used, loosening is carried out under the bushes themselves, but very carefully, since the roots are located very close to the surface. During the period of budding and flowering, it is advisable to spud each plant to a height of 10-12 cm.
To get large ripe fruits, excess shoots (stepchildren) should be removed from the plant. All shoots located below the first branch are removed completely, since they only draw out the juices from the plant and interfere with fruiting. In addition, the crown should be thinned so that each branch receives enough air and light. Too dense bushes form few ovaries, the fruits grow on them small and thin-walled.
On average, pruning is carried out every two weeks, but if the summer is rainy, stepchildren will have to be removed more often - about once every 10 days. It is advisable to combine pruning with loosening the soil in order to disturb the plant less.
The shoots of the pepper are quite fragile, and any careless movement can damage the stems. To avoid this, it is recommended to tie tall varieties to supports.
This culture is susceptible to late blight, white and apical rot, tobacco mosaic and some other diseases. In the best way the fight against them is prevention and proper care... Compliance with the planting scheme, timely thinning and pruning, correct watering Removing diseased plants from the garden will help you keep your plantings healthy and get the full harvest.
Dusting the bushes with wood ash is effective against pests. This should be done at least 5 times per season, preferably in the morning, while the leaves are wet. From spider mite and aphids are also well helped by sprinkling the pepper with garlic infusion. Slugs that do not mind eating fresh leaves are collected using traps or scared away with salt, lime, mustard, pepper powder, scattered between the rows.
Planting peppers in open ground is an essential step towards a rich harvest of this crop. Mistakes made by a beginner at this stage can negate all efforts to grow high-quality seedlings. In the article, I will tell you in detail and in simple words how to plant peppers in open ground with minimal effort on your part and as comfortable as possible for the plants themselves.
When grown on a windowsill, pepper plants need additional lighting.
About a week before the planned planting, pepper seedlings begin to "walk", bringing the plants to fresh air. At first, walks should be short, for 15-20 minutes, but each time their duration is increased by 50%. At a temperature not lower than +14 ... 15 degrees, the plants will be perfectly tempered and they will better transfer the transplant to an open garden.
If there is no room in the garden, then peppers can also be grown in bags filled with nutritious soil.
A bed for pepper is placed on an area with moderately fertile, light soil with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction. This culture does not grow well in places with a close occurrence. groundwater- then it is better for her to take a high warm bed... How to build such a bed, read in.
Pepper just hates shadow... Therefore, the plants must be under the sun all day, otherwise their development will be slowed down and the harvest will be very scanty.
Another important condition when choosing a site for this culture is that it must be reliably protected from the wind.
To do this, at some distance from the garden, you can make a partition or arrange a wattle fence from any available materials. Alternatively, around the plantings, at a distance of 70-100 centimeters, you can arrange 1-2 rows of curtain plants - beans, corn, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, Swiss chard. Plants required are sown or planted with seedlings in advance, 2-3 weeks before planting the pepper itself. If you plan to keep the bed under the film all season, then you do not need to build any additional protective barriers.
Legumes, onions, beans, pumpkin, squash, squash, root vegetables and cabbage- here is the list the most successful predecessors for pepper... I do not recommend planting pepper after any nightshade, for example, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, as well as after any kind of pepper. Wait at least 3-4 years before placing the pepper in such a place.
It is better to remove the first (crown) flower of a pepper seedling. This will noticeably enhance the branching of the bush and the yield.
Any soil can be improved and made suitable for planting peppers by adding various organic materials to it:
To determine the texture of the soil in your area, perform a simple test. You can find its description in.
Consider the following when preparing the soil for this crop:
Spring soil preparation for planting pepper is in full swing)
In central Russia, peppers are planted in open ground not earlier than the last decade of May, and with a prolonged spring, it is better to postpone this work to the beginning of summer.
By the time of planting, pepper seedlings should have 7-9 well-developed leaves, as well as short, strong internodes and several formed flowers. Early maturing varieties are allowed to be planted even with an ovary.
On the eve of planting in a permanent place, hardened pepper bushes are watered abundantly so that they are not lethargic. Otherwise, they will lag behind in growth and throw off the first buds.
Planting sweet peppers in open ground is carried out at 9 simple steps:
You can reduce the need for watering, weeding and loosening by planting pepper seedlings directly into a black film or non-woven covering material. To do this, the soil in the garden bed is fertilized, moistened, mulched with peat and covered with a film or non-woven cloth. Pepper plants are planted 40-45 x 50-60 centimeters in cross-shaped holes made in the selected material.
This pepper clearly does not want to be eaten))).
The pepper slowly takes root in a new place, so the plants need to be helped to acclimate. To do this, the first one and a half to two weeks, they are watered every 2-3 days under the root, using 1-2 liters for one plant.
In dry and hot periods, watering is carried out on a daily basis.... During this period, the soil in the aisles must be loosened, but with great care, to a depth of no more than 3-5 centimeters. This avoids any damage to the plant roots before they finally take root.
As long as the temperature at night does not exceed +16 degrees, the peppers should be under a film cover. In the daytime, if the air under the film warms up above +28 degrees, it is opened slightly or even completely removed.
But if, according to the forecast, return frosts are expected - this sometimes happens in early June - the soil in the garden with the planted seedlings must be shed with water at a temperature of + 35-38 degrees. Then, in addition to the film, throw on top of a dense non-woven fabric and your plants will be reliably protected from the cold.
One of the most common problems a novice gardener faces when growing peppers is when the plants begin to shed their ovary en masse. The main reason for such a nuisance is flaws in care and weather surprises, which are especially dangerous in an open garden. In order to more fully understand what exactly caused the ovary to drop in your situation, I suggest reading.
We have removed for you small video, in which they shared their experience of growing pepper seedlings and planting them in open ground.
February is coming soon - the time of sowing sweet peppers for seedlings. Not only the size of the crop depends on how correctly this is done, but also the resistance of plants to adverse weather conditions. good harvest sweet pepper?
I'll start with seedlings... Sweet pepper seeds are very "stubborn": sometimes you wait for shoots for three weeks, or even more. Therefore, you have to sow pepper as early as possible, sometimes at the end of January. The peculiarities of growing sweet pepper are that it is a very thermophilic plant.
That's why one of the conditions for success: growing pepper seedlings in a city apartment on a warm windowsill
pepper is hard to transfer, but then it forms a more powerful root system and overtakes non-transplanted plants in development.
Before sowing, pepper seeds can be left in a wet cloth for 2-3 days. And one more of the secrets of growing sweet peppers. He is very touchy - he does not like to be rearranged from place to place, or when something is plucked out or cut off on him. For this reason, I never form plants, do not stepchild them and act carefully when transplanting, trying not to damage the roots.
Soak pepper seeds in epine and sow in a seedling container.
I take the soil ready (for tomatoes and peppers). Seeds usually germinate in 5-7 days.
When the seedlings release the third true leaf, I dive(depth to cotyledonous leaves) into small cups, in which the seedlings grow up to the size of seven leaves.
Feed sweet pepper seedlings you must also be careful, otherwise you can burn young plants with abundant feeding. For this I use a very good liquid agent "Ideal". And if you create warm comfortable conditions for the seedlings, then you do not need to feed the seedlings, the seedlings will delight you anyway.
Regularly in the morning, watering is carried out at small rates, excessive soil moisture causes a massive disease with black leg and root rot. The only feature is the obligatory solar hardening of the seedlings. Weeding and loosening are also required. Top dressing with mineral fertilizers is timed to the next watering.
The best period for planting bell peppers is the period In the first decade of June, when the danger of frost has passed, the peppers can be planted in open ground. When planted on very hot days, the plants quickly lose their turgor and, touching the leaves to the very hot soil, dry out.
I plant peppers in ridges at a distance of 40-50 cm from each other and with distances between bushes in a row of 20-25 cm. Pepper belongs to the nightshade family. He has many common diseases and pests with tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes, which must be taken into account when choosing predecessors.
When choosing a place in the garden for peppers it is necessary to take into account the following features of this plant.
Pepper does not tolerate even partial shade at all. It should be in the sun from sunrise to sunset. He needs not only a lot of warmth, but also light. In addition, peppers do not like strong winds, especially drafts. ideal place for peppers - south side of the house, sheltered from the winds and giving additional reflected light.
Pepper does not tolerate cold soil. Therefore, if you are counting on a serious harvest, it is necessary to raise the beds at least 30-50 cm. Or provide subsoil heating. Many gardeners do not take this into account and if a failure happens, they blame the weather and the variety, and the seeds and everything else. And the reason may be quite trivial - the soil is cold and too dense. This is especially true for clay-rich soils. When sweet peppers are planted in the garden, I water them only with warm water heated in a greenhouse.
Stealing - removal of the lateral axillary shoots that have just begun to grow. Grasshopping is used on pepper to restrict growth processes and mobilize the plastic substances of plants for the formation of a crop. On pepper bushes, it is necessary to remove stepchildren and some of the upper flowers.
pinching (removing tops) When the pepper plant reaches a height of 20-25 cm, it is necessary to remove the top of the main stem - this forms a compact bush with well-developed lateral shoots. The pinched plants will branch out quickly. Of the many shoots that have appeared, only 4-5 upper (stepsons) are left, and the rest are removed.
I weed and loosen the aisles at least five times over the summer, occasionally I feed it: I spread cow dung and water it with slurry. I don't tie the bushes - I put them between the rows of the arc. Plants rely on them if there are many fruits. That's the whole care.
Be aware that peppers are highly pollinated. Therefore, never plant hot and sweet peppers nearby.- sweet will taste bitter.
it is better to place plants in open ground in pairs, separately one male and one female species. Such a strategy, believe us, will yield an excellent harvest. 20 pepper bushes are enough for a family of three
The main thing for sweet peppers is to create warmth for them.
Seedlings of peppers are planted with distances between ribbons of 2 lines (rows) - 80 cm, between lines - 50, between plants in a line - 15-17 cm (two-line ribbon method).
Planting care is as follows: weekly watering (400-450 m3 of water), loosening in rows and aisles, top dressing. The period from germination to fruiting is 110 to 140 days.
Plant the California Miracle - you will definitely be with the harvest, plant it in the ground in mid-May, no later and under the covering material, be sure (some kind of non-woven)
After analyzing more than half a thousand varieties of peppers included in the State Register, I received the following data on the colors of peppers in technical ripeness (hereinafter TC):
Peppers purple in TS: Violetta, Bucharest, Star of the East Violet, Cinderella, Cardinal, Nocturn, Night, Peresvet, Purple bell, Lilac shine, Arap, Bagheera (dark purple), Watercolor (light purple), Maxim (dark purple), Othello, Peresvet, Violet
Peppers lilac in TS: Purple Haze
Peppers yellow color in TS: Strong Yellowish Peppers in TS: Albatross, Anlita, Belogorets, Valentinka, Vesper, Darina, Gypsy, Trusting, Dawn, Gambler, Isabella, Kazachok, Carat (yellowish with a purple tint at the top), Dwarf, Cascade, Prince Silver, Maria , Mirage, Monte Cristo, Marble, Treasure ostrov, Charm, Python, Radonezh, Rostov jubilee, Rubik, Swat, Slavutich, Sweetheart, Sunny, Sunny, Tornado, Daring, Fakir, Field Marshal, Christopher Columbus, Tsarevich, Chardash, Yarik
Peppers yellowish green in TS: Anniversary
Light yellow peppers in the vehicle: Dobrynya Nikitich, Postrel, Firefly, Fidelio
Greenish-white peppers in TS: Arsenal, White Night, Bianca, Blondie, Bulgarian, Butuz, Emelya, Zhanna, Zlata Praga, Snake, Iolanta, Irina SEDEK, White Lightning, Monaco, Peacock, Romeo, Semyon Dezhnev, Siberian Express, Snowball, Snowdon, Sunny bunny, Fisht, Fountain, Everest, Eldorado
Light cream peppers in TS: Belozerka Salad colored peppers in TS: Winnie the Pooh, Swallow, Gift of Moldova, Topolin
Sowing with Aunt Nyura; Boxes with the soil prepared in the fall should be brought into the house two or three days before sowing so that the soil warms up. On the day of sowing seeds in the morning, Baba Nyura waters the soil hot water, but not boiling water, and in the evening starts sowing.
Sowing time. Sows in the evenings, focusing on the lunar calendar. Does nothing with the earth on a full moon. Tries to sow on the growing moon.
Care. After sowing, covers the boxes with cellophane and puts them in a dark place. As soon as weeds appear (there is no need to wait for the appearance of "loops"), the film is removed and the seedlings are exposed to light.
The deepening should be such that the tar is not washed out when watering the seedlings. Aunt Nyura does the same in the greenhouse when the seedlings move there in May. He does not water the seedlings with anything but water.
For the first time it feeds after planting in the ground, watered with "Biomaster".
This fertilizer is especially good for acidic soil (and now it is probably acidic everywhere in our country). Has been using for many years and has no regrets
Always with a harvest of peppers
Pepper seeds before sowing for two days I soak in a solution of phytosporin(I spread it according to the instructions on the bag).
The planting should not be deeper than 2 cm and not smaller than 1 cm. With a deeper planting, the sprout will sprout for a long time or may not rise at all.
Sometimes gardeners make a big mistake when sowing - they overmoisten the soil and the seeds don't sprout. The sprout hatches, but dies due to lack of oxygen, it has nothing to breathe. In addition to moisture, the soil should also contain air.
After sowing the seeds, I water only lightly (1 teaspoon per cell) so as not to overmoisten... I cover the trays with foil and put them in a warm place. Then every day I open the film, I ventilate, I follow the shoots. They appear on the fourth or fifth day. When at least one loop appears, the trays are immediately placed in the light. Otherwise, if you wait until all the loops appear, the first ones will stretch out the hypocotal knees and they will fall. I water every day with warm, settled water, 1 teaspoon per cell.
I water twice a week phytosporin(for a 3-liter jar of water - 1 teaspoon of the solution).
In the phase of 2-3 true leaves, I transplant the plant from the cells into half-liter milk cartons into a mixture of earth with vermiculite.
With such roots, seedlings grow very quickly, besides twice a month I feed her: first time - gumi, second time - "Biomaster" or "Ideal".
I buy these vermicompost fertilizers in 3-liter canisters.
I feed in two weeks with complex feeding: chicken droppings, superphosphate, "Sudarushka".
I give four dressings until July, only every time I alternate superphosphate with diammophos.
And chicken droppings and "Sudarushka" in each feeding... And I also add herbal infusion to each dressing. In addition, for two weeks between complex dressings, I also make top dressing with gumi, "Biomaster" or "Ideal", mostly foliar.
It is useless to feed in the second half of summer.
It happens that dark purple spots appear on the leaves and fruits of pepper. This means that the plant lacks phosphorus. In such cases, I do superphosphate extract: in 10 l hot water I dissolve 2 tablespoons of double or 4 tablespoons of simple superphosphate, put it on for a day. The next day I pour the clear infusion into another bucket. I pour the sediment under the bushes by adding a little water. I bring the transparent infusion to 10 liters. Then I take 1 liter of infusion for 10 liters of water and water the bushes from a watering can over the leaves.
I do 3-4 of these feedings. You can combine them with humic preparations ("Biomaster", "Ideal").
In early August, I pluck out all the color, I will leave only the ovary. If you do not remove the flowers, then the set fruits will not grow large - they already have little warmth and the sun. I cut out stepchildren who have no ovaries. The remaining fruits receive more nutrition.
From the novelties of this season, we found the early maturing varieties attractive.
Wonder Giant(fruits weighing 250-300 g, elongated-cuboid, wall thickness 8-9 mm], Bugay (yellow fruits weighing 300-400 g, wall thickness 10 mm),
Player(fruits are flat-round, intense red, weighing 200 g, wall thickness 9-10 mm],
Tenderness(fruits are red, 10x5 cm in size, wall thickness 7-8 mm. The variety impressed with high productivity and long fruiting period),
as well as mid-early varietyEgg capsule(fruits are large, weighing up to 300 g, almost square, 10x12 cm in size, wall thickness 8-10 mm)
and super early variety Morozko(simultaneously sets up to 20 dark red fruits, weighing 100-120 g, wall thickness 5-6 mm).
In the group of tall large-fruited varieties(Boatswain, Baron, Mastodon) this season is also a worthy addition -
new items of the Russian selection Tenderness, Miracle Giant, Raja.
There are favorite permanent varieties of pepper in our collection, with which we have been friends for many years.
Alone (Anastasia, Shorokshary, Triton, Bogdan, Cinderella, Stepasha, Azhur, Solnyshko, Nugget] are distinguished by long-term fruiting and tasty thick-walled juicy fruits,
other (King of the USA, Lumina, Morozko, Ivanhoe) attract with early maturity. And although their wall thickness is small (up to 6 mm), we still plant these varieties every year in order to get vitamin products early. our pride- varieties with heroic fruits weighing up to 500 g - Red Giant, Bell Goy, American crown. Pluck one such pepper - and there will be enough salad for the whole family.
For lovers of peppers with a high carotene content, we recommend orange fruit ( Orange Giant, Goby, Raja) and yellow fruit varieties (Bugai, Marimba). Their fruits are large, weighing 200-400 g, juicy, sweet, thick-walled (8-10 mm).
Tomato-shaped peppers Marisha, Golden Jubilee, Solnyshko, Gogoshary, Kolobok, Ratunda, New Russian are very good... Their nice elastic round-flattened fruits are the thickest (8-12 mm).
Of course, everyone has different tastes, everyone has their own favorite varieties. [\ More]
The topic of today's article is planting peppers for seedlings: when to sow, how to properly plant peppers for seedlings in an apartment, advice for novice gardeners.
Peppers belong to crops with a long germination period... From sowing seeds to planting young plants in the ground or greenhouse, it takes from 90 to 100 days. Seedlings of early maturing varieties reach the right size after 3 months, they can be planted when the soil warms up to 16-18 degrees.
The seedlings are moved to the greenhouse for more early dates, it is planted in the ground under the film a little later. Much depends on the region and specific weather conditions.
Knowing when to land in the ground, you can accurately calculate the timing of planting peppers for seedlings... In central Russia, it is better to sow seeds or early March. In warmer regions, seeds are sown starting in January and seedlings are planted at the end of April.
In areas with cold climates, seeds are planted in mid or even late March... Late sown plants are best planted in a heated greenhouse so that all the set fruits have time to ripen. For transplanting into a year-round greenhouse, peppers are sown twice a year, in January-February and at the end of September.
Many vegetable growers check the landing dates with lunar calendar ... The optimal time for sowing pepper is the time when the moon in the first phase is under the influence of Libra, Scorpio, Aries or Sagittarius. Depending on the year, the dates are shifted, you can see the current days in a special calendar. It lists the most suitable dates, as well as the days on which plantings should be avoided.
Appropriate planting time is also indicated on the seed packages... Early maturing varieties with a shortened growing season can be sown at the end of February, late maturing varieties are sown as early as possible. Seedlings sown in January will have to be, since the daylight hours at this time are too short for the normal development of young peppers.
Before sowing pepper seeds for seedlings, you need sort out full-weight seeds... You can check them by soaking in 3% saline... For sowing, seeds that have sunk to the bottom are suitable. Before planting, it is recommended to soak them in or freshly squeezed aloe juice for 10-12 hours.
Individual containers should not be too spacious.
Most often, pepper seeds are sown in convenient plastic containers. They are densely filled with soil so that about 2 cm remains to the sides. With this filling, there will be no soil leaching. The soil must be tamped and spilled with a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection.
How to sow peppers for seedlings? After 12 hours, grooves are made on the soil surface with a depth of about 1 cm. The seeds are sown at a distance of 2 cm from each other, the space between the grooves is 4-5 cm. From above, the crops are sprinkled with earth, lightly compacted and sprayed with warm, settled water.
To accelerate germination, the container can be covered with foil, glass or a damp cloth.
Sowing peppers for seedlings can be done in a spacious container or in separate containers: cups, rolled pieces of dense film. Landing in individual containers excludes subsequent picking. It is important to choose high quality hatched seeds. to avoid rejection.
How to plant peppers for seedlings in separate containers? When planted in cups, the soil is moistened with warm water, a hole 1-1.5 cm deep is made in it. The seed is carefully laid out and sprinkled with earth. The cups fit tightly onto the pallet.
How to sow pepper for seedlings in peat tablets? Before sowing, tablets with a diameter of 3 cm are folded into a deep container and filled with warm water. After a few hours, the peat will swell greatly and increase in size, the tablets will turn into neat columns. Excess fluid is drained off.
In the upper part of the posts there are small holes that need to be deepened and the seeds that have hatched are laid out in them. The holes are filled with crushed soil and slightly crushed. There is no need to water the planted seeds... Peat posts are installed in Plastic container... They need to be placed tightly to prevent overturning. From above, the tray is covered with a lid or foil.
How to plant peppers for seedlings correctly, photo:
Immediately after sowing containers or pots are placed in a warm place. Optimum temperature for germination - 27-28 degrees. Some gardeners specifically warm up the soil before planting, placing it closer to the battery. A decrease in temperature delays germination and often causes seed death.
When shoots appear on the surface of the soil, the seedlings are placed in the brightest place. It is good if a lamp for additional lighting is mounted above the plantings. The ideal daylight hours for peppers are 12 hours. Overnight planting can be covered with an opaque cloth.
After germination, the room temperature drops to 20-25 degrees. Watering pepper seedlings should be 1 time in 5-6 days, first from a spray bottle, and then from a watering can. The seedling container is rotated periodically so that the seedlings grow evenly. After the appearance of the first 2 leaves, the plants are ready for picking.
Peppers planted in peat tablets must be transferred to pre-prepared pots filled with a nutrient substrate.
Seedlings planted on time grows well, do not
