Today in our country, a lot of people grow vegetables and fruits at their summer cottage. Experienced gardeners know that in February you can start sowing crops such as eggplant and bell pepper. If you follow the lunar calendar, then the favorable days for planting pepper seedlings at this time are 16, 17, 18, 22, 23, 28. It is at this moment that the moon will be in the signs of Capricorn and Scorpio.
Planting pepper for seedlings will definitely give a good harvest, if you follow all the recommendations and the rules for its cultivation.
How to prepare the soil?
This process should be approached very seriously. Soil preparation is the first stage in the planting of pepper on seedlings. To do this, it is necessary to bring into the house an earthen mix prepared from autumn. You can also purchase ready-made peat substrate for this purpose. This is done approximately 7-10 days before the intended sowing. This time will be quite enough for the soil to warm up, and the beneficial microflora in it will become more active. Moreover, this period of time allows you to withstand the timing of planting pepper seedlings. It is best to choose fertile land with a neutral reaction for cultivation. Before sowing the soil should be disinfected. For this purpose, a solution of fungicide and potassium permanganate is perfect. Some gardeners prefer steaming the soil mixture, sprinkling it with boiling water. Many practice soil calcination in the oven.
Do-it-yourself soil preparation
To do this is quite simple. You can prepare your own nutrient soil for sowing seeds.
If you do not trust ready-made substrates, then you can choose one of the following options for the soil mixture:
- One part of sod land and two parts of humus.
- Humus and peat in equal amounts.
- Two parts of sod land and three are humus.
- 1 portion of turf land and 2 - nutritious peat soil.
- 1 part of humus, 1 - rotted sawdust, 4 - peat, 2 - turf.
If you use purchased soil, you can add a little dolomite flour or chalk to it. If possible, mix it with ordinary soil in equal amounts.
How to prepare seeds for seedlings?
Before proceeding to this process, it is better to consult with experienced gardeners. When the preliminary preparation of the soil is completed, you can start pre-sowing seed treatment. How to soak peppers before planting on seedlings? Seeds must first be laid out on a piece of paper. After that, all damaged or too small specimens should be discarded. All the same, they will not give full germination. For sowing leave only selected full-weighted seeds.
First stage
How to prepare pepper for planting on seedlings? Experienced gardeners recommend seed dressing. This will help to avoid the occurrence of fungal diseases in the future. This can be done using a solution of potassium permanganate, or using special fungicidal preparations. Great for this purpose is a tool called "Maxim". Use the drug only strictly according to the instructions. When the seed material is disinfected, it must be kept for 12 hours in warm water. You can leave it at night. To make it easier to collect the seeds after soaking, they must first be deposited on wet gauze, folded in two layers. To stimulate the growth process, a little special preparations can be added to the soaking water. For example, today such means as Zircon and Epin are actively used for this purpose. As for natural remedies, succinic acid, aloe juice and honey are best suited for this purpose.
Sprouting seeds
Features of this process. How to prepare pepper seeds for planting seedlings? After the soaking procedure is completed, it is necessary to sprout the seeds of pepper. As a rule, this method is used if they are seated in different containers. In the future, this will avoid picking and thinning. It is worth considering that pepper seedlings are extremely sensitive to transplants. After a dive, young sprouts recover for a very long time. Therefore, if you plan to grow only a small number of plants, then sowing is best done in separate containers.
What containers can be used for germination? There are no special requirements. Experienced gardeners recommend using herring containers. Toilet paper or cotton pads should be placed on the bottom of the container. After that, they need to be moistened and laid on top of the seeds. The containers should be closed with lids or with a film and left for a while in a warm place. Seed containers open daily for ventilation. After a few days (4-5), white roots should appear on the seeds. This is a clear sign that they are ready to be transplanted into boxes or seedlings. This completes the preparation of pepper for planting seedlings.
Pepper pick
Why dive seedlings at all? This procedure can significantly reduce the risk of damage to plants by root rot. The pick is carried out at the stage when several leaves appear on the sprout. The seedlings most easily tolerate this process at the cotyledon stage. In this case, it is necessary to deepen to the leaflets. In any case, at home, the seedlings are more elongated. If you correctly observed all the dates for planting pepper for seedlings, then after 3-4 weeks the first real leaves will appear in the plants.
How to care for the processes?
This issue should be given special attention. If you are interested in planting pepper for seedlings, then you should definitely know how to properly care for it. Firstly, young plants need quality lighting. Here, the matter is not limited to natural sunlight. It is necessary to install special phytolamps or fluorescent lamps. If the seedlings are not additionally highlighted, it will grow elongated and thin.
Young plants need to provide quality watering. It must be done after the topsoil has dried. Try not to allow gulf seedlings. This can lead to mold and mildew. Water used for irrigation must have room temperature. Great snow melt water is suitable for this purpose.
When the seedlings have mastered all the soil in containers, it will be possible to move them to a more spacious container. A few days later, it is worth feeding them with a special fertilizer for seedlings. It is better to use complexes designed for this purpose. Fertilizing with organic components also bring excellent results. Sapropel, vermicompost and humate are most often found on sale today.
How to harden seedlings?
This is one of the main processes. Experienced gardeners know that seedlings must be hardened. This is best done 2 weeks before the transplant. How it's done? Plants are moved to the veranda or glazed balcony for a day. If this is not possible, then you can simply leave the window or window open for a while.
Growing problems
We examined how the planting of sweet pepper on seedlings is carried out. However, often in the growing process, even experienced gardeners can face a number of problems.
Let us describe them in more detail:
- Seedlings are too long: the cause of this problem lies in the inconsistency of light and temperature conditions. Most likely, plants get too much light at high temperatures. To correct this situation, it is necessary to lower the degrees, and place fluorescent lamps above the plants. Another reason that excessive seedling growth can be observed is the high nitrogen content in the soil. This occurs in case of non-compliance with fertilizer application, as well as when applying a large amount of humus in the soil.
- Yellowing and falling of leaves in seedlings: this phenomenon can occur for several reasons. The most common is excessive watering. Also, a similar problem arises in the absence of holes and a drainage system in the landing tanks. Because of this, the soil may become acidic. As a result, small suction roots die off on the leaves. Plants can only respond by yellowing or dying of leaves. In order to avoid this problem, you must adhere to a specific irrigation system. In addition, be sure to ensure that drainage holes are present in the landing containers. But how to help seedlings if you have already allowed an overflow? If it was grown in glasses, then it must be transferred to fresh soil and not watered for a couple of days. When using common boxes, each plant should be dived into fresh nutrient soil.
Another reason for yellowing and falling leaves may be a lack of nutrients. Deficit in the main elements may occur due to delayed transshipment. Most likely, the grown seedlings have already mastered the entire volume of soil. She simply does not have enough nutrition for further development and growth.
Seedlings have stopped growing. Experienced gardeners can often face this problem. Even if you chose the right time for planting pepper for seedlings and created all the necessary conditions, this can happen. Most likely, the pick was incorrectly carried out. The sensitive root system of young plants was damaged. To reduce the risk of such damage, water the seedlings before transplanting. The earth will then soften well.
Another reason that stunting may be observed is the error in growing conditions. Most likely, the days for planting pepper on seedlings were chosen incorrectly. It is also possible that there was a bay of culture. The reason may lie in the presence of pests and fungal diseases.
Pests and parasites
So what to expect? If you are interested in planting pepper for seedlings, you should definitely consider such an important point as pests and parasites. Most often, a spider mite appears on plants. It is quite easy to distinguish it from other pests - when it appears, you can notice a characteristic sticky coating on the surface of the leaves. The leaves affected by these parasites are distinguished by bright spots. If you do not fight it, they may turn yellow and fall. It is difficult to detect a spider mite: it mainly parasitizes on the underside of a leaf plate. In addition, it is so small that it can only be examined with a magnifying glass.
How to get rid of a spider mite on seedlings?
The sooner you start a fight, the more successful it will be. This is important because the pest spreads very quickly. From seedlings, he can spread to indoor plants. To destroy this parasite, you can use tools such as Actelik and Fitoverm. You can prepare the composition for processing by following the attached instructions.
Conclusion
As you can see for yourself, planting pepper on seedlings is not particularly difficult. If you correctly observed all terms and conditions of landing, the result will be excellent. The main thing is to provide young plants with proper care. Here you should take into account the quality of the soil, and the requirements for humidity and lighting. It is also important to choose the right containers for growing seedlings. You can purchase suitable models in specialized stores. Try to observe the temperature regime of seedling cultivation. Regularly inspect young plants for pests and various diseases. With timely detection, it will be much easier to deal with such a problem.