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Many gardeners and gardeners, having only managed to harvest the ripe crop, are already beginning to wait for the beginning of spring to sow new seedlings. Indeed, for people who zealously love their garden, there is nothing better than watching new young shoots emerge from small seeds. Unfortunately, sometimes the process of growing seedlings does not go our way. In order to avoid such troubles, you need to know all the features of vegetable crops, the seedlings of which are planned to be prepared. In this article, we will talk about seedlings of both hot and sweet peppers.
Hot peppers and sweet peppers
Sweet and hot peppers are not just members of the same nightshade family. They are also the sole representatives of the species of herbaceous annuals of the genus Capsicum. The historical homeland of peppers was South America. In its tropical latitudes, you can still find these wild crops.
Sweet and hot peppers are more than just a delicious vegetable and a savory dressing. They contain tremendous benefits for the body. Bell peppers, otherwise called bell peppers or vegetable peppers, overtake all citrus crops in vitamin C. In addition, it is a very low-calorie vegetable and can be successfully used as an ingredient in dietary dishes. Hot pepper, also called red pepper, contains a valuable natural alkaloid - capsaicin, which has a suppressive effect on cancer cells. It also helps with various inflammatory processes in the body and is able to significantly boost immunity. Like its sweet cousin, red peppers are virtually calorie-free. But this is not so important, because you still won't be able to eat a lot of hot peppers.
Unlike its sweet cousin, hot peppers can be indoor... At the same time, it not only fully retains the beneficial properties of red pepper grown in the garden, but also performs a decorative function.
Of course, hand-grown peppers will be more beneficial compared to purchased vegetables. Only in this case, you can be sure that the harvest has grown without the use of all kinds of stimulants and harmful drugs. But even self-grown peppers should not be overloaded. Especially for those who have various diseases of the digestive system.
Benefits of home-grown seedlings
Before talking about how to plant pepper seedlings at home, consider why, in general, do it. Indeed, at the beginning of the planting season, you can always buy ready-made plants and plant them. Let's highlight several advantages of self-grown seedlings:
- Savings - buying pepper seedlings from your hands or in specialized stores, you can leave more than one thousand rubles there. While bags of seeds will not require such an investment.
- Proper seed preparation - when planting seeds on their own, each gardener tries to process them as well as possible, in order to increase their germination and strengthen the future immunity of plants. Seeds for seedlings for sale, as a rule, do not undergo this treatment.
- Proper care of seedlings - when pepper seedlings are grown with their own hands, they turn out to be healthier and stronger. After all, every sprout is important for the gardener. Purchased seedlings are often neglected, and this affects their future growth.
But growing pepper seedlings at home also has one drawback - it occupies a rather large area, especially if seedlings of other crops are growing next to it.
Growing seedlings of sweet and hot peppers
Healthy and robust seedlings are not fairy tales for gardeners. Many people think that getting strong young pepper plants is difficult, but this is not the case. To do this, you just need to follow some simple conditions of care. Moreover, these conditions will be the same for seedlings of sweet pepper and its hot fellow.
Timing
Peppers are distinguished by their gentle and warmth-loving character. Therefore, in comparison with other crops, pepper seedlings should be cooked a little earlier. If you tighten up with planting seeds for seedlings, then young pepper plants will not be ready for planting in a permanent place. Their stress can result in a weakened immune system or the death of a seedling.
In our latitudes, the timing planting pepper for seedlings will depend on the specific variety taken:
- early varieties can be planted from the second half of February until the end of it;
- medium grades should be planted in the first half of March;
- late varieties - in mid-March.
Land preparation
In order to grow ordinary pepper seedlings, universal purchased or garden land may be enough. But if the purpose of planting seeds is to get strong pepper seedlings, then it is better to prepare the land yourself. This will require the following components:
- peat;
- humus;
- leavening agents such as sand or sawdust;
- turf or leafy land;
- superphosphate;
- wood ash.
The soil beneath them contains a large amount of tannins, which can negatively affect the root system of young pepper plants.
The soil for the peppers can be mixed according to any of the following formulations:
- One part of sod land, river sand and peat. All components must be mixed well and poured with a solution of superphosphate, potassium sulfate and urea. When using chemicals, you should always observe only those dosages that are indicated on their packaging or in the annotation.
- One part of sod land, humus and peat. After mixing all the components, you can add superphosphate and wood ash.
The prepared soil must be disinfected. This is done in order to kill all possible harmful bacteria and microorganisms. It is necessary to disinfect the soil immediately before planting seeds or a couple of days before it. This can be done in the following ways:
- freeze;
- spill with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or antifungal drugs;
- hold over steam;
- bake in the oven.
You can learn more about how to disinfect the ground by watching the video:
Seed preparation
Before growing pepper seedlings, you need to prepare its seeds. After all, the future harvest of pepper crops is laid precisely during the preparation of pepper seeds at home. Therefore, you should not skip this procedure. In addition, pre-sowing preparation allows to increase the germination of pepper seeds, as well as the speed of their germination.
Repeated processing of such seeds is not only unnecessary, but can be harmful to them.
Some gardeners do not carry out pre-sowing seed treatment, considering that it will take a long time. In fact, it will not take long, and the benefits will be enormous. Seed preparation includes:
- Selection of live seeds... This is a very important and necessary procedure that will allow you to reject all empty and dead seeds in advance. To do this, you need to dilute a little salt in water - a small pinch will be enough for one glass. Soak the seeds in this salty solution for 5-10 minutes. Under the influence of salt, all damaged and light seeds will be on the surface of the water, and heavy seeds with an embryo inside will sink to the bottom of the glass. All that remains to be done is to catch and discard the seeds floating on the surface, and rinse high-quality seed over running water and dry.
- Hardening... It is not necessary to harden the seeds, but it is very desirable. Seedlings grown from hardened seeds will have increased immunity and will more easily transfer the transplant to a permanent place. Only dry seeds should be hardened. To do this, they must be put in the refrigerator overnight for 3–6 days, on the lowest shelf, where the temperature does not drop below +2 degrees. In this case, the daytime temperature should be from +20 to +24 degrees.
- Disinfection of seeds... As in the case of soil disinfection, this procedure is necessary so that young plants do not get sick with bacterial or putrefactive diseases. To do this, the seeds must be soaked for 15–20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. After that, they must be rinsed. Also, biofungicidal preparations, for example, "Fitosporin", can be used for disinfection. But after treatment with these preparations, it is no longer necessary to rinse the seeds.
- Germination... Peppers can be attributed to "garden dumb." Their seeds can germinate within 20 days. Therefore, it is better to plant slightly hatched seeds. This will significantly reduce the appearance of the first shoots. You can learn more about this procedure from the video:
From seeds that have undergone this treatment, exceptionally strong and healthy seedlings will grow.
Planting seeds
When all the preparatory steps have been passed, you can plant pepper seeds in the ground. Since all nightshade crops tolerate transplanting and picking very poorly, it is better to sow seeds immediately in separate containers of 2 things.
Pepper seeds planted in prepared containers with earth to a depth of 1 to 1.5 centimeters. Until full-fledged shoots appear, containers with seeds should be covered with glass or film. In addition, the temperature regime is of great importance:
- before the first shoots appear, the planted seeds must be provided with a temperature regime of +20 to +28 degrees;
- after emergence, the daytime temperature should be in the range from +20 to +22 degrees, and the nighttime temperature should be between +15 and +17 degrees.
Caring for seedlings of sweet and hot peppers
Care pepper seedlings at home is mainly to prevent over-stretching of young plants. Indeed, strongly growing pepper plants spend all their energy on the formation of foliage, and not flowers and fruits. To avoid this, it is necessary to properly care for the seedlings, namely to provide it with:
- optimal watering;
- top dressing;
- hardening.
But given the delicate root system of pepper seedlings, it should be grown in separate containers or peat pots.
Watering
Pepper seedlings at home should not feel moisture deficiency. But too much moisture will not do her good either. For the sprouts of pepper that have just appeared, watering will be most optimal as the topsoil dries out, but not more often than once every 2-3 days. Daily watering should be started only when the 4th pair of leaves appears on the seedlings.
Water for irrigation should be warm, but not more than +25 degrees.In this case, watering pepper seedlings should only be at the root, trying not to fall on the leaves.
In addition to the main watering, you can carry out preventive watering against fungal diseases with solutions based on biofungidicides. Such watering should be done no more than once every 2 weeks.
Top dressing
Feeding pepper seedlings at home is a very important step. But here you have to feel very well when to stop. After all, the root system of young pepper plants is very delicate and easily exposed to chemical burns.
Before I tell you how feed pepper seedlings, consider what you can feed and what you shouldn't. To fertilize pepper seedlings, you can use:
- mineral fertilizers with a high content of phosphorus and potassium;
- organic fertilizers;
- wood ash.
As for the restrictions, you should not use a fertilizer that contains a lot of nitrogen for pepper seedlings. Fed with this fertilizer, young plants will actively grow leaves to the detriment of flowers and fruits.
Feeding pepper seedlings at home should be done twice:
- the first time the plants need to be fertilized when the second pair of leaves appears;
- the second feeding is carried out a week before planting in a permanent place.
Do not alternate between different fertilizers. Both dressings should be carried out with the same composition. For example, if for the first time the seedlings were watered with mineral fertilizers, then the second feeding should be carried out with them.
Hardening
It is necessary to harden pepper seedlings so that they adapt better and faster after planting in a permanent place. It is necessary to start hardening the seedlings 2 weeks before the intended planting in the beds or in the greenhouse.
It is very important to carry out hardening gradually, starting from 4 hours and ending with a round-the-clock stay at a temperature not higher than +16 degrees.
Conclusion
Pepper seedlings grown according to these recommendations will turn out to be strong and healthy. It will be possible to plant it in a permanent place in late May - early June, when frosts pass. All that will be left for the gardener is regular watering, feeding and waiting for an excellent harvest.
