Planting and caring for seedlings of sweet pepper are not very complicated processes, but they require certain knowledge to obtain a healthy and strong planting material.
Preparing pepper seeds for planting
Seeds of bell pepper begin to plant from February to mid-May. It all depends on the place of growing seedlings. In a heated greenhouse and on a windowsill, seeds are sown in mid-February, and in an unheated greenhouse, sowing is best done in mid-March. Three years later, germination is lost in sweet pepper seeds, which is why they are pre-sorted and spoiled ones removed. In order for pepper seedlings to be strong and viable, seed and soil preparation should be carried out in advance.
There are many ways to improve seed germination. First of all, calibration is carried out, during which the largest and highest quality seeds are selected, which contain more nutritional reserves. To do this, they must be soaked for several minutes in a solution of sodium chloride, which is prepared by diluting 1 teaspoon of salt in 1 cup of water. Everything is thoroughly mixed, and then settles. For sowing, only settled seeds are used, which are washed with clean water and dried.
To disinfect and stimulate germination, the seeds are soaked for 7 minutes in a warm 3% hydrogen peroxide solution or for 30 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate, which is prepared by dissolving 1 g of potassium permanganate in 100 ml of room temperature water, or in a special preparation, for example, Ecosile .
To improve germination, you can just soak the seeds in warm water for a couple of days, the temperature of which is from +25 to +30 degrees Celsius. To do this, it is enough to lay gauze or filter paper in the container, on top of which put the planting material moistened with water. Keep an eye on constant moisture; there should be little water so that the seeds do not rot. After they hatch, they should be dried a little and immediately sown in glasses or a greenhouse.
Some amateur gardeners experiment with seed hardening. This is necessary so that in the future, the seedlings are adapted to the temperature difference. Sprouted seeds are placed in the refrigerator for 60 minutes, then taken out and kept at room temperature for 2 hours. Such manipulations are carried out 3 more times.
The choice of soil and capacity for seedlings
Proper care of pepper seedlings largely depends on the quality of the chosen soil, which should be loose, well absorbing moisture. For self-preparation of the mixture, you can use a combination of light brown peat containing undecomposed plant residues, leaf, greenhouse, turf, soil, fine sawdust, coarse sand, perlite, humus, garden compost and vermicompost. An important point is the ban on the use of land from the site where plants of the Solanaceae family were previously grown in order to avoid infection of seedlings by pathogens of tomato and pepper diseases. After preparing the mixture, it is necessary to disinfect it with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
There are various proportions for soil collection:
- The ratio of 5: 1: 4 is humus, peat, garden or sod soil. You can use some river sand.
- The ratio is 1: 3: 1 turf land, peat and humus. It is recommended to add mineral fertilizers to such a mixture: superphosphate 10 g, ammonium nitrate 1 g, potassium salt 5 g per 1 kg of soil.
It will grow well on coconut substrate seedlings. Peppers, planting and caring for seedlings of which are no different from caring for plants sown in a regular soil mixture, will feel great.
You can add a hydrogel to the soil, which will allow you to better retain moisture. To this end, the balls, previously swollen in water, are mixed with the soil. If you use granules dry, during swelling they will displace the soil from the tank.
For planting seedlings, small boxes, plastic cups or jars, cells with a pallet, peat tablets, pots with openings on the bottom are suitable.
Peat tablets are a very convenient option for sowing seeds, from which it is easy to transfer seedlings during transplanting or picking.
Sowing pepper seeds for seedlings
The containers are filled with earthen mixture so that 2 cm remains to the upper edge of the pot. When planting seedlings in boxes, they make grooves with a wooden stick to a depth of 1 cm, with rows between rows of 5 cm. The distance between the seeds in the groove is 2 cm. After sowing, they are sprinkled with a small amount of earth.
In order not to waste time transplanting young sprouts, the seeds are placed in cups or individual cells.
A container with seeds sown in the ground for a while until the seedlings have ascended, put in a warm place near the battery, covered with thin polyethylene or glass to reduce moisture evaporation. Every day you need to check the soil in the box so that there is no drying out.
If a preliminary treatment of pepper seeds was carried out, then the first seedlings appear after a week.
After that, the protective cover is removed to avoid overheating and damage to the sprouts.
Optimum temperature and light
Proper care of pepper seedlings is to maintain an air temperature favorable for this culture, which is +24 to +26 degrees Celsius during the day and +15 to +17 degrees Celsius at night.
For pepper, sunlight is very important, in contrast to artificial lighting. Before planting seedlings, you need to determine which window has more light, and plants should be grown on it. Peppers grow best on the south side.
Additional lighting
But not always receives enough natural light seedlings. Tomatoes, peppers require similar care, so in cloudy weather you can highlight the plants with fluorescent lamps. The distance from the top of the seedling to the lighting device should be at least 15 cm. Over time, the lamp must be raised from the grown seedlings. The plant needs up to 20 hours of such artificial lighting.
Picking seedlings
Further care for pepper seedlings is associated with the selection of the strongest and largest seedlings, which are planted in separate pots. This gives plants more room for development and prepares them for subsequent planting in open ground.
Seedlings dive when they have grown 2 small cotyledon leaves, this happens after 2-3 weeks from planting seeds. To carry out this manipulation, the earth is watered and after 2 hours sprouts are taken out, from which the main root is then trimmed by a third. Each such plant is planted in a separate pot or other container.
Watering
After emergence, the first three days, the soil is not moistened. Pepper seedlings care at this stage consists in timely watering, using a simple sprayer. With the advent of cotyledon leaves, the seedlings are watered with water, the temperature of which is about +30 degrees Celsius.
Do not moisten the soil too much so that excessive moisture does not provoke the defeat of the seedlings with a black leg when the root part of the stem rots. At the slightest sign, peppers seedling care is reduced to stopping watering, then the ground is sprinkled with wood ash or calcined sand. Also, regular ventilation is needed so that the soil has time to dry.
At the bottom of each pot or drawer there should be holes for excess moisture to flow out.
Feeding seedlings
For normal development, you need to feed bell pepper. Seedlings of fertilizer-related care require at least 4 times. When two of these leaves appear, they are fed with a solution obtained by dissolving in 10 liters of warm water 15 g of potassium salt, 10 g of urea, 40 g of superphosphate. One liter of such fertilizing is enough for 10 seedlings.
The second fertilizer application is carried out after 2 weeks, only when preparing the solution add 2 times more superphosphate.
For better development of the root system, seedlings are added with a potassium humate preparation, 25 ml of this product are diluted in 10 liters of water.
When 6 leaves appear during budding, micronutrient dressing is carried out, which includes copper,
iron sulfate, orthoboric acid, manganese sulfate, zinc.
It is important to prevent seedlings from overgrowing and plant them in open ground on time.