Planting pepper seedlings: seed preparation, auspicious days

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Today, in our country, a lot of people grow vegetables and fruits in their summer cottage. Experienced gardeners know that already in February, you can start sowing crops such as eggplant and bell pepper. If you follow the lunar calendar, then 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 seedlings will definitely give a good harvest if you follow all the recommendations and rules for its cultivation.

How to properly prepare the soil?

This process should be approached very seriously. Soil preparation is the first step in planting pepper seedlings. To do this, it is necessary to bring into the house an earthen mixture prepared in the fall. 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 itactivated. In addition, such a period of time allows you to withstand the timing of planting pepper seedlings. It is best to choose fertile soil 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 to steam the soil mixture by dousing it with boiling water. Many practice calcining the soil in the oven.

Preparing the soil with our own hands

It's quite easy to make. You can prepare nutrient soil for sowing seeds with your own hands.

If you do not trust ready-made substrates, you can choose one of the soil mix options below:

1. One part of sod land and two parts of humus.
2. Must and peat in equal amounts.
3. Two pieces of sod land and three pieces of humus.
4. 1 serving of soddy soil and 2 of nutritious peat soil.
5. 1 part of humus, 1 - rotted sawdust, 4 - peat, 2 - sod.

If you use purchased soil, then you can add a little dolomite flour or chalk to it. If possible, mix it with regular earth 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 begin pre-sowing seed treatment. How to soak peppers before planting seedlings? Seeds must first be laid out on a piece of paper. AfterIn this case, all damaged or too small specimens should be discarded. Still, they will not give full shoots. Only selected full-weight seeds are left for sowing.

Inception

How to prepare pepper for planting seedlings? Experienced gardeners recommend seed dressing. This will help to avoid the occurrence of fungal diseases in the future. This can be done with a solution of potassium permanganate, or using special fungicidal preparations. A tool called "Maxim" is excellent for this purpose. Use the drug only strictly according to the instructions. When the seed material is disinfected, it must be held for 12 hours in warm water. You can also leave it overnight. To make it more convenient to collect the seeds after soaking, they must first be set aside on a damp gauze folded in two layers. To stimulate the growth process, some special preparations can be added to the soaking water. For example, today for this purpose such means as "Zircon" and "Epin" are actively used. 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 completing the soaking procedure, it is necessary to germinate the pepper seeds. As a rule, this method is used if they are seated in different containers. In the future, this will avoid picking and thinning. It should be borne in mind that pepper seedlings are extremely sensitive totransplant. After picking, young sprouts recover for a very long time. Therefore, if you plan to grow only a small number of plants, it is best to sow in separate containers.

What container can be used for sprouting? There are no special requirements here. Experienced gardeners recommend using herring containers. Put toilet paper or cotton pads at the bottom of the container. After that, they must be moistened and put the seeds on top. The containers should be closed with lids or with a film and left for a while in a warm place. Seed containers are opened daily for airing. 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 seedling pots. This completes the preparation of pepper for planting seedlings.

Pepper Pick

Why dive seedlings at all? This procedure can significantly reduce the risk of plant damage by root rot. Picking 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, seedlings are more elongated. If you correctly observed all the terms of planting pepper for seedlings, then after 3-4 weeks the plants will have the first true leaves.

How to properly care for shoots?

This issue should be given special attention. If youIf you are interested in planting pepper for seedlings, then you should definitely know how to properly care for it. First, young plants require high-quality lighting. The matter is not limited to one natural sunlight here. It is necessary to install special phytolamps or fluorescent lamps. If the seedlings are not additionally highlighted, they will grow elongated and thin.

Young plants must be provided with high-quality watering. It must be done after the topsoil is dry. Try to avoid flooding seedlings. This can lead to mold and mildew. Water used for irrigation should be at room temperature. Melted snow water is excellent for this purpose.

When the seedlings have mastered all the soil in the containers, it will be possible to move them to a larger 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. An excellent result is also brought by top dressing with organic components. On sale today, sapropel, biohumus and humate are most often found.

How to harden off seedlings?

This is one of the main processes. Experienced gardeners know that seedlings must be hardened off. It is best to do this 2 weeks before transplantation. How it's done? Plants for the day are moved to the veranda or glazed balcony. If this is not possible, then you can simply leave the window or window open for a while.

Growing problems

We looked at how sweet peppers are planted for seedlings. However, often in the process of growing, even experienced gardeners may encounter a number of problems.

Describe them in more detail:

1. Seedlings are too elongated: the reason for this problem lies in the discrepancy between light and temperature conditions. Most likely, at high temperatures, the plants receive too much light. To correct this situation, it is necessary to lower the degrees, and place fluorescent lamps above the plants. Another reason for overgrowth of seedlings is the high nitrogen content in the soil. This happens in case of non-compliance with the application of fertilizers, as well as when a large amount of humus is introduced into the soil.
2. Yellowing and dropping of leaves in seedlings: this phenomenon can occur for several reasons. The most common is over watering. Also, a similar problem occurs if there are no holes and a drainage system in the landing tanks. Because of this, the soil may turn sour. As a result, the leaves die off small suction roots. Plants may only react by yellowing or dying off the leaves. In order to avoid this problem, it is necessary to adhere to a certain irrigation system. In addition, be sure to ensure that there are drainage holes in the planting containers. But how to help seedlings if you have already allowed 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 shared boxes,each plant should be dived into fresh nutrient soil.

Another reason for yellowing and falling leaves may be a lack of nutrients. Deficiency in key elements may occur due to delays in transshipment. Most likely, the grown seedlings have already mastered the entire volume of soil. For further development and growth, she simply does not have enough nutrition.

Seedlings have stopped growing. Experienced gardeners often face this problem. Even if you have chosen the right time for planting pepper 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, seedlings should be watered before transplanting. The earth will then soften well.

Another reason stunting can occur is inaccuracies in growing conditions. Most likely, the days for planting pepper seedlings were chosen incorrectly. It is also quite possible that there was a flood 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 seedlings, you should definitely consider such an important point as pests and parasites. Most often, spider mites appear 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. Leaves affected by these parasitesdistinguished by light spots. If you do not fight it, they can turn yellow and fall off. It is difficult to detect a spider mite: it mainly parasitizes on the underside of the leaf plate. In addition, it is so small that it can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

How to get rid of spider mites in seedlings?

The sooner you start the fight, the more successful it will be. This is important because the pest spreads very quickly. From seedlings, it can spread to indoor plants. To destroy this parasite, you can use tools such as Aktelik and Fitoverm. You can prepare the composition for processing by following the attached instructions.

Conclusion

As you can see for yourself, planting pepper seedlings is not particularly difficult. If you correctly observed all the terms and conditions of landing, then the result will be excellent. The main thing is to provide young plants with proper care. Here, the quality of the soil, and the requirements for humidity and lighting should be taken into account. It is also important to choose the right containers for growing seedlings. You can buy suitable models in specialized stores. Try to observe the temperature regime of growing seedlings. Inspect young plants regularly for pests and various diseases. With timely detection, it will be much easier to deal with such a problem.