Healthy strong seedlings are the key to a good harvest. Growing pepper seedlings has a number of features that should be taken into account in order to obtain high-quality plants that can give a rich harvest of pepper fruits in the current growing season.
Already at the end of winter, many gardeners are preoccupied with preparing for the next season. Pepper seeds have been purchased, the soil is ready. Some crops are sown for seedlings. Often, the result is not encouraging already at the initial stage. Pepper seedlings stretched out. What to do? It is necessary to understand the reasons and eliminate, taking into account the requirements of young plants to growing conditions.
Any plant needs 4 components for normal healthy growth: light, heat, water, nutrients.
Shine
Some gardeners plant pepper seeds as early as late February - early March. The desire to harvest the pepper as early as possible is understandable. According to the calendar dates, spring is already beginning, although according to phenological dates, it can come much later. The daylight hours are still too short for the growing pepper seedlings to have enough sunlight in full. And spring weather is not always happy with the bright sun.
Each plant reaches for the sun, as a result we have elongated frail seedlings. We get pepper seedlings with elongated internodes, which significantly affects the yield. With normal development, pepper seedlings develop short internodes and there are more of them, respectively, and there will be more brushes with fruits that will develop from internodes. If the plant is elongated, then the distance between the nodes has increased, therefore, there will be fewer pepper fruits on the plant. You can harvest almost 30% less harvest. Conclusion: Pepper seedlings must be supplemented so that the plants are strong, with short internodes.
The role of screens is played by a mirror or foil, roll insulation covered with foil, even plain white paper or fabric. Sunlight, falling on the screens, is reflected, hits the plants, thus illuminating them.
This method, without a doubt, is economical, does not require large financial investments, but it will not be of any use on cloudy days or if your windows face the north side.
Then, in your case, you cannot do without lamps for supplementary lighting plants. It should be borne in mind that not all lamps are suitable for organizing additional lighting for pepper seedlings. You will need lamps that are as close as possible to the spectrum of sunlight. Regular incandescent bulbs will not work.
- Phytolamps "Flora" and "Reflax"... Use the Flora lamp in combination with a reflector. It is quite economical. Reflax is equipped with a built-in reflector and mounting brackets. One thing: phytolamps are very expensive;
- Fluorescent lamps can be used for supplementary lighting of pepper seedlings. But they have a cold light, are poor in the red spectrum, which is so necessary for plants;
- LED lights today they are the most promising. Their advantages: LEDs are inexpensive, come in a different spectrum, consume a minimum of electrical energy, are easy to install and operate. Therefore, they won the love of many gardeners. The LED lamp "Almaz" is screwed into a regular holder, you can use small lamps on a clothespin for it. Almaz has a blue - red spectrum and consumes very little electricity.
For the proper development of seedlings, peppers need 12 hours of daylight.
Another mistake that novice gardeners make most often: they sow seeds in one container very often. As a result, thickened seedlings of pepper seedlings are obtained. In this case, the struggle for existence among plants begins. The seedlings stretch out, trying to get the maximum amount of sunlight, while shading each other.
Exit: do not tighten with a dive. If your plants have got 2-3 real leaves, then get down to business. Although an earlier pick is possible, and a later one, when 4-5 true leaves have already appeared in the seedlings. At later dates, picking is more difficult, since the root system of the plants is already large enough and intertwined, and the plants themselves are stretched out and weakened. Therefore, the late picking pepper seedlings tolerates extremely painful, freezes in growth, as a result, the prospect of obtaining a harvest is postponed by more than 2 weeks.
The picking process is not difficult. Prepare in advance containers with a volume of 300-500 ml, always with drainage holes. Fill them with soil. Spill the common container with pepper seedlings well with water so that you can remove the plant without damaging it, along with a lump of earth. Transfer to a new, separate container. Try to keep the root of the pepper upright, and not bend or curl up, which leads to fading in the development of the plant.
Experienced gardeners are advised to immediately plant seeds in separate containers or in peat pots or tablets. It is believed that pepper seedlings do not tolerate picking well, freeze in growth and lag behind in development. Therefore, it is better not to dive the pepper, but to transfer it, that is, move it from a smaller container to a larger one together with a lump of earth, while adding the required amount of soil.
Warmly
Failure to comply with the temperature regime also leads to the fact that pepper seedlings are drawn out.
Most often, seedlings are grown on windowsills, the windowsill is usually cold. Do not be too lazy to put foam or a thick layer of cardboard under the containers with pepper seedlings. If the roots are in the cold, they will not be able to absorb nutrients. This measure is preventive in protecting pepper seedlings from the appearance of fungal and viral diseases.
There are several ways to increase the temperature on the windowsill.
- The first method: lay the bars on the windowsill, on top of them put plywood of such a size that part of it protrudes beyond the windowsill. This will lead to the fact that the warm air from the battery, which rises up, will meet the plywood on its way and go under it, thus heating it and your seedlings;
- Alternatively, use foil-covered foam insulation. Sold in hardware stores. Bend the insulation strip with the letter P. Make one side longer. Put on the windowsill, cut holes on top for containers with pepper seedlings. The strip will lie on the windowsill with one side, containers will stand in the holes on it, and the long part will go down to the battery, directing warm air to the seedlings.
After the first shoots have appeared, a decrease in temperature is required. + 17 + 18 degrees during the day and +15 degrees at night. At higher temperatures, the plant begins to stretch and the roots stop developing.
After 3-4 days, the temperature regime should be slightly adjusted. +25 degrees during the day, +16 degrees at night. In cloudy weather +18 degrees.
Temper the plants. Starting from April, containers with pepper seedlings can be taken out onto the balcony, gradually increasing the time from 1 hour to 8. And then you can go to the round-the-clock stay of seedlings on the balcony.Gradually, the plant should get used to the abundance of sunlight. It is not recommended to expose plants directly to the sun. Thus, pepper seedlings will get used to temperature changes and will transfer future transplantation into the ground without complications.
To make pepper seedlings easier to tolerate adverse conditions, treat them with Epin every 10 days. "Epin" increases the defenses of plants against temperature extremes, drought, low light and other negative environmental influences.
Moisture
Further regular care of pepper seedlings consists in watering and feeding. Here we act on the basis of the principle: “do no harm”.
The first 3-4 days after the emergence of seedlings, it is not recommended to water the seedlings at all. Then the seedlings are watered with warm water + 25 + 30 degrees. Very carefully, using a tablespoon or rubber syringe, as the seedlings are easily washed out of the soil.
In our apartments, the air is very warm and, more often than not, very dry. The soil dries up quickly. The desire of gardeners to water more often is understandable. But everything is good in moderation. Eliminate dry air by ventilating the room, but avoid drafts. Use a device such as a humidifier. Or just place a container of water near the seedlings.
Prevent plants from wilting due to lack of moisture. But also do not overmoisten. Waterlogging is the other extreme that can happen to plants because of your generosity. High humidity, thickened plantings, stagnant air lead to the development of a disease such as black leg, which can destroy your seedlings in full. Other equally dangerous diseases caused by fungi, viruses and bacteria are activated against a background of high humidity.
Watering pepper seedlings should be consistently moderate, without excessive waterlogging and without overdrying the earthy coma.
Top dressing
If the conditions are met, and the seedlings continue to stretch, then, most likely, they do not have enough nutrition.
Not worth it at the very beginning feed pepper seedlings, there are enough nutrients in the soil.
The first feeding can be done when the plants develop 2-3 true leaves. Fertilizer "Agricola - Forward" works well, it strengthens the seedlings and promotes the development of the root system.
You can use such preparations for pepper seedlings: "HB - 101" and "Shine - 2", alternating them. These are natural growth biostimulants. "Shining - 2" is a microbiological fertilizer, when it is introduced into the soil, the amount of useful microflora increases. In the absence of such microorganisms, various pathogens begin to predominate in the soil.
Based on these preparations, you can prepare a kind of cocktail for pepper seedlings. To do this, prepare a solution from "Shining - 2": take 1 hour for 0.3 liters of water. l. preparation and granulated sugar, dissolve, leave for a day. Then, to prepare a bio cocktail for 1 liter of water, add: 1 tsp. prepared in advance solution "Shining - 2", 2 drops of "HB - 101", 2 granules of the preparations "Healthy Garden" and "Ecoberin".
There are other stimulants: "Epin", "Zircon", "Immunocytofit".
Combine treatment with stimulants with fertilization. Use: "Ideal", "Orton - Fe", "Aquadon - micro".
The second feeding should be carried out 10 days after the first or in the phase when 5 true leaves appear in pepper seedlings. You can feed with urea and superphosphate (5 and 30 g, respectively, per bucket of water - 10 liters).
Plants react well to the introduction of ash, as well as to watering with nettle infusion.
The final feeding of pepper seedlings is carried out immediately before planting the plants in the ground in about 3 days. Feed the seedlings with superphosphate and potassium sulfate (50 and 30 g per bucket of water - 10 liters).
Experienced gardeners advise to treat pepper seedlings in the phase of 3-4 true leaves with the "Athlete" preparation.This drug regulates the growth of seedlings, young plants do not outgrow even in the absence of good lighting. Do not abuse the drug, you can add it once, diluting the contents of 1 ampoule per 1 liter of water. Plants can be sprayed or watered. Still, it will be much more correct to comply with the conditions for the growth of seedlings.
Conclusion
When analyzing actions in the process of growing pepper seedlings, most gardeners always have certain errors or their entire list. The main thing is to understand the mistake and correct it, which will lead to healthy strong pepper seedlings, and in the end you will get a guaranteed good harvest result.
