In Russia, sweet pepper is gaining more and more popularity . Growing and caring for it begins with the preparation of seeds. It is sown in mid-February (for the middle lane) or in the second decade of March (for the southern regions).
Seeds
Before sowing, the seeds are soaked in a raspberry-colored potassium permanganate solution for disinfection and swelling for several hours. Then they need to be dried to flowability.
Priming
Before you grow sweet peppers through seedlings, you need to properly prepare the soil. To do this, take 5 liters of turf land, the same amount of humus, add two glasses of sand and 1-2 glasses of ash. Of mineral fertilizers you will need: 2 tbsp. l nitrofoski or other complex fertilizer consisting of nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Boxes or seedlings for 8-10 cm to fill with warm prepared soil, which must be slightly compacted and pour a pink solution of potassium permanganate. As containers for plants, you can use packets cut across (tetrapacks) from juice or milk with a volume of 1-1.5 liters with holes made (1 cm from the bottom) on the side faces.
Sowing
So that sweet pepper feels at ease , the cultivation and care of which requires some painstaking work, especially at the initial stage of the growing season, the seeds are placed in boxes at a distance of 7-8 cm from each other. In seedlings, one thing at a time. Spread the seeds to be sprinkled with soil (1 cm) and compacted, moisten the ground with water from a spray bottle. To prevent evaporation of moisture, cover containers with glass or polyethylene until seedlings appear (5-7 days). The temperature is maintained within + 23 ... +26 degrees. When the first shoots appear, the coating is removed.
Seedlings
All seedlings at the beginning of the growing season suffer from a lack of sunlight, including sweet peppers. Growing and caring for it comes down to maintaining a certain temperature regime (day +25, night +20) and highlighting with fluorescent lamps. And also to irrigation with warm water as the soil dries (once every 5-7 days).
Transplanting
The soil for planting pepper is seasoned with humus and mineral fertilizer consisting of phosphorus and potassium (according to instructions).
When plants have 10-12 leaves and the first buds, they are planted in the ground. Sweet pepper is placed in the greenhouse in early May, and in open ground in late May - early June.
Peppers in the open ground
In open ground, sweet pepper is planted in the place where last year cabbage, onions or carrots grew. Cultivation and care consists in regular watering, timely loosening of the soil between the aisles and weeding as needed.
The first top dressing in June is done with potassium and phosphorus, the second in July with potassium, phosphorus and nitrogen, and the third in August with nitrogen and phosphorus (according to instructions).
Sweet pepper in the greenhouse
Soil refueling and top dressing are the same as for open ground. In the greenhouse, you need to ensure that the condensate does not settle on the leaves of the plants and ventilate in sufficient quantities. To do this, it is advisable to mulch the soil (with stale sawdust, straw, perforated paper, etc.) and close the vents only at night. The distance between plants in the greenhouse should be 50 - 100 cm, depending on varietal characteristics.
Have a good harvest!