Pepper fruits are like the sun. They are especially encouraging in the winter, when they have already tortured vitamin deficiency and depression. Sweet pepper is a heat-loving plant, and growing it in a temperate climate is not so simple. But every winter after the New Year, thousands of gardeners begin to look forward to the hour when pepper seeds can already be sown .
The benefits of pepper
Sweet pepper contains many vitamins and minerals, sugars.
Regular use:
- helps to lower blood pressure;
- improves eyesight;
- lowers cholesterol;
- removes carcinogens;
- improves the gastrointestinal tract;
- makes hair and nails stronger.
Homeland of pepper
The name of this culture has some features. Sweet pepper is also called Bulgarian. From this we can conclude that Bulgaria is its homeland. But this is not at all true. In fact, pepper came to us from Central America. There it grows in the wild, and its fruits are a little like modern pepper. And in Europe, he got only in the 16th century. It quickly spread across all continents and everywhere found true admirers. Now in the Mediterranean countries, sweet varieties of pepper called paprika are grown. Many of them were created by Bulgarian breeders.
Pests and diseases
Pepper is a plant in the nightshade family. But fortunately, he is not eaten by the Colorado potato beetle, which is very fond of other species of this family. But he eats a tomato and cotton scoop, spoils the nematodes (you can scare them away by casing a patch of marigold with pepper).
Varieties
They are divided into early, middle and late. There are still intermediate, very early, mid early, very late.
The early ones are those that ripen in 75-78 days. Medium varieties reach biological maturity in approximately 120 days. Late varieties bear fruit until mid-autumn. But not all gardeners grow them. Many people want to grow crops early and guarantee themselves winter supplies. Therefore, preference is given to early and medium grades. One of the beloved and revered is Atlant pepper. Reviews, photos of consumers indicate that its fruits are truly gigantic.
Appearance
Hybrid Atlant F1 has huge cone-shaped fruits.
Inside are two or three chambers with seeds. The fruits are very juicy, fragrant and sweet. Color when fully ripened red. This is biological ripeness. The condition of a plant that has reached its maximum size, but not reddened, is called technical ripeness. Such fruits are salad color. It is quite possible to eat them, they are suitable for processing. So you can safely pluck salad-colored pepper sweet Atlant.
Grade description
Mid-season hybrid. Yes, this is not surprising. After all, while Atlant will increase its sides, the early varieties will have time to ripen. But itβs worth waiting until Atlas is ready to understand the difference between him and the early peppers. The length of the fruit often reaches 20 cm. And this is not the largest pepper Atlas. Reviews of gardeners indicate that sometimes it can reach 26 cm! The diameter is 14 cm. In this case, the wall thickness can be from 8 to 11 millimeters. The mass of such a fruit is from 110 to 160 grams.
The period from the appearance of sprouts to full ripeness is from 130 to 140 days. Technical comes on the 110th day.
The bush has a half-stem, powerful. Not very branched, medium height. There are not many leaves on it. During the ripening period, the bush should be tied to a support.
From a field of 1 ha, you can collect from 40 to 60 tons of this pepper. The variety is resistant to the main diseases of the species: it is not affected by the tobacco mosaic virus and potato virus. Because many gardeners believe that sweet pepper Atlant is the best variety.
A variety of universal use. Atlant peppers lend themselves well to transportation. Reviews indicate that the fruits can be stored for several weeks.
You can get a crop in regions with any climate. It grows in greenhouses and without them. But nowhere can one do without growing seedlings in an apartment or warm room.
Sowing seeds
Pepper is sown the first of all vegetables. In this case, great attention must be paid to the quality of the seeds. Many well-known companies are engaged in their sale. Among them are Gavrish, Monsanto, and Syngenta. Selling sweet pepper Atlant F1 βAltai Seedsβ is an agricultural company specializing in the sale of zoned varieties for Siberia and the Far East. Seeds can be ordered in the online store of the agricultural company. True, reviews of his work are not very encouraging. There are complaints about the discrepancy between the seeds received ordered. Customers do not like the negligence of store employees.
You can try to order sweet pepper Atlant F1 in other online stores. Reviews NK "Russian Garden" collected mostly negative. Some consumers report that company employees send seeds out of time or in full. Money for goods not received is not returned. Others complain of poor seed germination.
But finally, the seeds are bought. Please note that Atlant F1 is a hybrid. Therefore, it is not worth collecting seeds from the pepper you have grown. Harvest is unlikely to please. Hybrid seeds do not preserve the properties of parents.
Sowing is carried out in early February. The long growing season does not allow much delay. And although pepper is planted late, by this time its plants should be strong enough.
Sowing time depends on the variety: early - two months before planting, late - 75 days.
If you are not going to dive seedlings, then you need to sow a week later. This must be taken into account because the seedlings that are sown too early outgrow. She is sick for a long time and later bears fruit.
Seeds are disinfected before planting, placed for several hours in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. You can use an aloe leaf for this purpose by placing pieces of the leaf in water with seeds. It also acts as a biostimulant.
If it is written on the bag with seeds that you do not need to soak them, then they do not. These are, as a rule, seeds of Dutch selection.
Soil for sowing is prepared from peat, turf land, rotted sawdust and humus with the addition of sand and ash. You can disinfect it with a solution of potassium permanganate.
Sown in prepared soil, in dishes where water will not stagnate, to a depth of 1 cm. Cover with a film from drying out and put in a warm place (temperature 25 Β° C). Do not constantly look under the film. Pepper seeds will sprout no earlier than 7 days later. Sometimes the process drags on for two weeks.
But after the shoots appear, you need to look at them more often. The film is removed and put on boxes in a bright and warm place. Constantly monitor the moisture in the soil in which pepper sweet Atlant F1 grows. Reviews say that you need to determine the middle ground: pepper does not like drying out or waterlogging. Watered with settled water. Better do it in the morning. The soil is loosened so that a crust does not form.
It is advisable to illuminate the seedlings during the day so that it does not stretch. The temperature at this time should be lowered to 23 Λ during the day and not lower than 16 at night. If it is below 12 Β° C, the seedlings will drop leaves and may die.
Dive
Does not like contact with neighbors pepper Atlant F1. Reviews gardeners say that in this case, he begins to quickly reach up. Therefore, as soon as the first true leaves appear, peppers are dived. It is better to place it in pots of two plants, but it is also possible in spacious boxes. Although after this procedure, the plants slow down growth a little, but soon they will delight you with new leaves.
If bell peppers are grown in a greenhouse, then seedlings are planted in early May. It will bloom soon.
Seedlings, which will grow in open ground, must first be well hardened. To do this, you can keep it in April on a cold veranda or a glazed balcony. If this is not done, then immediately after landing in the ground, it will die from the cold or wind. In May, you need to take out the seedlings into the air, but close at night. This can be done in the greenhouse.
Greenhouse cultivation
Seedlings are planted with a height of 15 cm. The plant should have several leaves and buds formed. Planted according to the scheme 50 Γ 50. Before this, they prepare the soil by depositing a bucket of rotted manure for each square meter of area.
Wells are abundantly watered and, without waiting until the moisture is completely absorbed, plants are planted. The roots of the plant themselves will be straightened out. A week is not watered. Pepper will take root during this time. Feed infusion of weeds.
In the afternoon, with a strong increase in temperature, the plants need to be aired. To do this, open the greenhouse. And if the nights are cold, then inside you can put a metal container with water. During the day, she will rub herself, and at night she will give off heat to the air. This will help plants survive the cold.
Landing
Pepper grows well in bright, sheltered from the wind places. Shaded areas do not like pepper Atlas. Reviews gardeners, however, argue that in conditions with a hot climate, it gives good yields in the shade. At least it does not need to be watered there often.
The soil should be fertile and at the same time well-drained so that moisture does not stagnate near the roots of plants. If the area is not southern, then before disembarking over the site, it is better to stretch the film on arcs so that the soil warms up.
To warm the pepper Atlant F1, reviews of gardeners recommend building a warm garden for him. To do this, dig a ditch in the ground, put straw or hay in a thick layer there, and fill it with compost. From above they fall asleep with soil into which seedlings are planted. Organics, overheating, will release heat, which will warm the plants. It is better to fertilize the soil in advance. If this is not done, each plant needs to be given a mixture of humus and ash.
Pepper seedlings are planted in the first half of June. The planting pattern of pepper is 60 Γ 45 cm. After planting, plants should have only real leaves outside. So Atlant pepper will take root faster. Reviews gardeners recommend installing a support to which it can be tied. The first two weeks, the pepper takes root and practically does not grow. This time he should spend under the film (if not very hot). To make it easier for him to survive this period, he must carefully loosen the earth around for better aeration.
Watering
Pepper is very picky about soil moisture. If it is dry, the ovary falls off. Pepper responds well to irrigation with warm water. Cold will delay the development of the plant. You need to water once or twice a week.
Top dressing
The first time the pepper is fed during the flowering period with a warm solution of manure or chicken droppings. Before this, plants need to be watered so as not to burn the roots.
The second time - when the fruits begin to be tied. Good results are obtained by adding soil around the bush with ash (a glass per square meter).
Formation
When the height of the plant is 20 cm, you can begin to form a bush. To do this, pinch the top. Of the shoots that form after this, leave no more than the top five. The rest are deleted. This is enough for sweet Atlant pepper to give excellent fruits. Reviews gardeners advised not to stepchild it if the summer turned out to be dry. Leaves in this case obscure the soil.
Harvesting
Fruits in a state of technical ripeness can be picked once a week.
During this time, young peppers will have time to grow up. For long-term storage, it is better to cut them with a stalk. This should be done with extreme caution, because the stems of the pepper are very fragile and easily break off.
Timely harvesting will accelerate the ripening of the following fruits. Therefore, during the season it is carried out 4-5 times.
The remainder of the crop is collected before freezing and ripened indoors.
Storage
Pepper fruits do not differ in good keeping quality. Yes, and absorb various odors. Therefore, they are stored in basements or refrigerators separately from other products.
The whole fruits of peppers of technical ripeness are taken, the sharp edge of the legs is cut and stacked in rows in a dense plastic bag with perforation on the side. Store in the refrigerator. You can wrap each pepper with paper first. The temperature must be maintained within 8-10 degrees with low humidity (up to 90%). The fruits of thin-walled varieties are stored for one and a half months. But you can lay and thick-walled sweet pepper Atlas. Reviews say that in such conditions he will last a couple of weeks.
Using
The fruits of Atlant pepper are very useful fresh. You can them:
- preserve whole or slices with the addition of various products;
- salt whole for further stuffing;
- dry;
- to freeze.
This is perhaps the fastest and most efficient way to store. Maybe vitamins will become smaller, but the taste will not change much.
Reviews
Pepper Atlant amazes buyers with its gigantic size. He likes his taste. Many consumers believe that sweet pepper Atlant is the best hybrid.
Consumers are going to grow Atlant pepper variety next year. Reviews indicate that one fruit is enough to feed a medium-sized family with salad.