Content
Pepper has taken one of the leading places in our diet. This is not surprising, it is very tasty, it has no equal in the content of vitamin C among vegetables. Anyone who has at least a piece of land can successfully grow this wonderful vegetable on their site. In this publication, we will analyze in detail the diving of pepper seedlings, how to sow correctly and grow seedlings without picking, we will offer you a video on this topic.
What peppers love and dislike
Peppers and tomatoes are close relatives, but it would be wrong to grow both crops in the same way - their needs are very different. Their requirements for the place of growth, moisture, illumination are different, they need different amounts of nutrients.
So, pepper loves:
- Light fertile loams with a neutral reaction;
- Short daylight hours (no more than 8 hours per day);
- Not plentiful, but frequent watering with warm water (about 24-25 degrees);
- Potassium fertilizers in high doses;
- Evenly warm weather.
Peppers don't like:
- Transplants;
- Deep landing;
- Acidic soil;
- Midday direct sunlight;
- The difference between day and night temperatures exceeding 15 degrees;
- Fresh manure, excess nitrogen fertilizers;
- Water for irrigation with a temperature of less than 20 degrees;
- Ambient temperature exceeding 35 degrees.
The choice of pepper variety and the timing of its sowing
First of all, hybrids and varieties of peppers are chosen in accordance with climatic conditions. The inhabitants of the southern regions, it would seem, have the largest selection, but they need to choose heat-resistant varieties. For northern regions with cool, short summers, hybrids and early maturing, low varieties are suitable. Here sweet peppers of Bulgarian selection will come to our aid. In order to grow late varieties, it takes about 7 months, in the Northwest they simply do not have time to ripen even when grown through seedlings.
But if you have a good greenhouse, you can plant more varieties. Pepper is loved not only by us, consumers, but also by breeders - many varieties and hybrids have been bred, just when buying seeds you need to pay attention to which climatic zone they are intended for.
First of all, seeds of late thick-walled varieties and hybrids are sown on seedlings, which take 150 days to ripen.
In the south, for planting peppers for seedlings, this is about mid-January, in the Middle Lane and for the North-West - mid-late February.
Sowing pepper for seedlings
In this chapter, we will look at the rules of seeding for pepper seedlings with the subsequent picking, we will offer you to watch the video.
Seed preparation
Unlike tomatoes, pepper seeds swell badly and do not germinate well, they need help. To this end, soak the seeds for 20 minutes in a thermos with water heated to about 53 degrees. During this time, pathogens will die, and the seeds themselves will not have time to suffer.
Wrap the seeds in a damp cloth, place them on a saucer, and soak on a refrigerator shelf under the freezer for several hours. Then immerse them in a solution of Epin or a similar preparation for 20 minutes, and then immediately plant them on seedlings.
Such seeds are sown dry for seedlings - the manufacturer has done all the preparatory measures for you.
Selection and preparation of soil
Prepare the soil yourself:
- 1 bucket of peat;
- 0.5 buckets of sand;
- 1 liter can of wood ash;
- "Fitosporin" or "Agrovit" according to the instructions.
If you take purchased soil for seedlings, do the following manipulations with it before sowing seeds:
- Place the primer bag in a galvanized bucket.
- Pour boiling water over the side of the bucket.
- Cover the bucket with a lid.
- Soak the bag with soil there until it cools completely.
Sowing pepper seeds for seedlings, followed by picking
For planting peppers on seedlings with subsequent picking, the depth of the dishes must be at least 12 centimeters. Fill it with a damp substrate to a height of 6-7 cm, gently compact. Spread the seeds every 2-3 cm, sprinkle with soil about 5 cm and tamp again lightly. It turns out that the seeds are covered with a layer of earth 3-4 cm.
Cover crops with glass or transparent film, moisten and ventilate the soil from time to time.
Although some experts still advise germinating seeds, watch the video:
Try to sow some of the seeds as we advised, and germinate some of the seeds, see what you get better. Each gardener has his own little secrets and all deviate slightly from the generally accepted methods of growing seedlings (of which, by the way, there are also several options).
Depending on the temperature of the soil, the pepper emerges:
- 28-32 degrees - a week;
- 25-27 degrees - two weeks;
- 22 degrees - three weeks;
- Above 36 degrees - most likely the seeds will lose their germination;
- Below 20 degrees - the seeds will rot.
Seedling care after germination
When the first shoots appear, remove the glass, lower the temperature to 18 degrees and place the seedlings under the phytolamp, without waiting for the rest of the plants to sprout. After about five days, you need to raise the temperature to 22-25 degrees and feed the pepper for the first time.
How to dive peppers for seedlings
The most important thing when picking pepper seedlings is not to damage the fragile root.
Dive container
First, prepare a container into which you will dive pepper seedlings. Let's make a reservation right away that peat pots are poorly suited for pepper. This is due to the fact that their walls do not retain constant moisture well - they take moisture from the soil, and then dry out quickly. And the advantage that we plant a plant in the ground together with a glass, without injuring the root, turns out to be ghostly in practice.
Practice has shown that plants from peat cups develop worse than peppers grown in other containers. If you dig up such a bush, it turns out that the roots grow very poorly through the peat walls, which greatly inhibits development.
Pots or cups for picking pepper seedlings should contain drainage holes and holes in the lower side surface so that the roots receive not only moisture, but also air.
It is even easier to make pots from newspaper:
- Fold the newspaper in 3-4 layers;
- Wrap it around a half liter bottle;
- Secure the top and bottom of the resulting tube with an elastic band or paper clips;
- Arrange newspaper cylinders close to each other in a shallow container;
- Fill them with soil and water.
Subsequently, the peppers will be planted directly with the newspaper - it will simply get wet and creep into the ground. The newspaper should be made of plain paper, not colored or glossy.
You can dive seedlings on peat blocks, when they are planted in the ground, the roots are not damaged. You can use an iron, a soldering iron or the same hot nail to make a pipe about 12 cm wide from a film, cut it into pieces 10 cm long, and set it close to each other. When planting in a permanent place, you will need to install the film pots in the hole and cut right there.
Picking pepper seedlings
Before diving the pepper, first water it well so as not to damage the root and discard weak or deformed plants - there will still be no sense from them. Fill containers with soil, compact and water. Then make a depression, gently take out the young plant with a spoon and place it in the hole, being careful not to bend or injure the root.
It is undesirable to deepen the pepper, it must be planted in the same way as it grew earlier, at the same depth. If the seedlings are very elongated, it is permissible to deepen the stem by a maximum of a couple of centimeters. Now it remains only to crush the soil around the seedlings and carefully pour from a spoon. The first three days the pepper needs shading, then we highlight it up to 8 hours a day, no more, since it is a short day plant. Take a look video about picking seedlings pepper:
Picking seedlings according to the lunar calendar
Those who are guided in gardening by the phases of the moon argue that it is best to pick pepper seedlings on the growing moon when it arrives in Taurus, Libra or Scorpio. You can dive pepper seedlings during the waning moon and in no case dive in the new moon and full moon, especially when the moon is in Pisces, Sagittarius, Aries, Gemini and Virgo.
Everyone can believe in anything, the main thing is that it does not interfere with anyone. But it would be useful to note that if everyone plants food plants in accordance with the phases of the moon, we will die of hunger.
Sowing peppers for seedlings without picking
Picking peppers seedlings is a responsible matter, damage to the roots must not be allowed, because then all our work will be lost. Often gardeners ask the question: "Do I need to dive pepper seedlings?" If we raised it, as indicated above, then a pick is needed. But it is possible to sow seedlings so that a pick is not required.
One of the options for how to grow good pepper seedlings without picking, see the video:
Let's prepare the pepper seeds as mentioned above. A glass or pot for planting should be at least 0.5 liters in volume, it is even better to take a liter container. So, the root system will develop freely and will grow well by the time it is planted in a permanent place. In a small volume, it will twist and after transplantation it will take a lot of time to grow as expected. And the time for pepper, especially in the northern regions, is very important.
If the containers do not have a drainage hole, we will make it with a hot nail, and we will also make holes in the lower lateral plane with it. Fill them with soil, spill them well with warm water and lightly tamp them with a spoon.
We plant three pepper seeds in each vessel in a triangle at a distance of about 2 cm from each other as indicated above.The seeds do not germinate very well, and if more than one seed has sprouted, the strongest pepper is left, the rest are cut off at the surface of the soil. But it happens that not a single plant has sprung up in the container, or one plant has sprung up, obviously weak and unviable.
The question arises, is it possible to plant pepper there from a pot, where several good plants have appeared? Don't do it however much you like! When transplanting, both the plant that you transplant and what remains will be damaged. Better to get one healthy plant than two oppressed ones.
As you can see, it is not only possible to grow seedlings without picking, but also easy, besides, you save time on picking peppers.
