Content
Pepper is one of the most common garden crops. This is quite justified, it is tasty, it can be canned, dried, frozen. Pepper is very healthy - it contains a lot of potassium, and in vitamin C content it surpasses all vegetables and even citrus fruits.
Pepper is cultivated exclusively through seedlings; they are often grown independently. This is not to say that this is a complicated matter, but if certain rules are not followed, you can lose the seedlings even before they are planted in the ground. In this article we will look at why pepper seedlings fall and how to avoid this trouble.
What you need to successfully grow pepper seedlings
Each plant has its own requirements for living conditions, lighting, temperature, and humidity. Pepper is no exception; its seedlings are especially vulnerable. To avoid problems when growing it, let's see what pepper loves:
- Uniform warm temperature throughout the day;
- Daylight hours no more than 8 hours;
- Watering with warm, about 25 degrees, water;
- Uniform hydration;
- Drained fertile soil with a neutral reaction;
- Increased doses of potassium.
Pepper does not tolerate:
- Hot weather exceeding 35 degrees;
- Watering with water below 20 degrees;
- Traumatic root transplants;
- Deep landing;
- High soil acidity;
- Increased doses of nitrogen fertilizers and fresh manure;
- Direct sunlight.
Reasons why pepper seedlings fall
It is very unpleasant when carefully planted pepper seedlings fall. There may be several reasons for this:
- Errors during landing;
- Care errors;
- Unsuitable conditions of detention;
- Blackleg;
- Fusarium.
All this can be avoided. Let's see what to do now and how to avoid mistakes in the future.
Mistakes when planting peppers
Pests and pathogens live in open ground; they often cause the death of adult plants, but for delicate seedlings with thin roots and weak stems, it is much more difficult to deal with them. Prepare your own soil using the following ingredients:
- Peat – 10 l;
- Sand – 5 l;
- Wood ash – 1 l;
- "Fitosporin" or "Agrovit" - according to the instructions.
Sand must first be calcined in the oven before use. Mix all ingredients and use when growing seedlings. In no case exceed the recommended dose of Fitosporin or Agrovit; it is better to use a smaller amount.
If you use purchased soil, do not take the one left after planting indoor plants - fertilizers are added to it in a concentration suitable for growing an adult plant with certain needs; only special soil for seedlings is suitable. But it also needs to be prepared as follows:
- Without opening it, place the bag with the substrate in a galvanized bucket;
- Carefully, so as not to melt the bag, pour boiling water over the side of the bucket;
- Cover the bucket with a lid;
- Leave the bag of soil in the bucket until the water cools completely.
This way you will destroy all possible pests and pathogens that can cause seedlings to fall.
Whether you collect your seeds from a pepper that appears healthy or buy seeds from a reputable grower, there is no guarantee that they are free of pathogens.
This will destroy possible pathogens of the disease, but the seeds themselves will not have time to suffer. Pre-sowing preparation of seeds covered with a colored shell is not necessary.
Plant pepper seeds correctly - to a depth of 3-4 cm, and be sure to compact the soil so that they do not fall through. Seeds planted too deep or shallow will not develop normally, and a weakened plant is more likely to get sick and die.
You can’t sow the seeds too thickly; spend a little time and spread them out. Then you will have fewer problems - they will not stretch out, will not bend, and there will be less trauma to the roots during picking.
Mistakes in caring for seedlings
Excessive doses of fertilizer will certainly cause the pepper seedlings to stretch out, and this, in turn, may cause them to fall. Excess nitrogen is especially dangerous.
Water the pepper seedlings evenly. From frequent spraying, the soil becomes black and it seems that there is enough moisture in it.In fact, it may turn out that the soil is too dry and the seedlings are dead because they have nothing to drink. If you doubt whether watering is needed, take a match and pierce the soil away from the plant. Water immediately if necessary.
Overfilling is no less dangerous. The root can very easily rot from excess moisture and watering with cold water and the plant will die; overwatering also blocks the access of oxygen to the roots. The drain hole may be clogged. If this happens, urgently save healthy plants - transplant them into another soil. It is better not to use an old pot, if there is nothing more suitable, wash it with a brush and pour boiling water over it. After transplanting, treat the peppers with a solution foundationazole, moisten the soil with it.
Too dry air can also cause lodging of seedlings. If, after picking, you bury the pepper seedlings, some of the plants will probably collapse and die - do not do this.
Unsuitable conditions of detention
High temperature is necessary for seed germination. For seedlings, it can be destructive. As soon as the first loop of seedlings appears, the temperature is immediately reduced, and the plant begins to receive additional light.
And although pepper is a short-day plant, it cannot live without light at all; light is necessary for photosynthesis, which is the basis of life for almost all plants (with the exception of insectivorous species). The seedling reaches out to the light source, expending all its strength, stretches out, falls and dies.
Excess light, as well as cold temperature, also do not benefit the seedlings. Low temperatures coupled with overwatering are especially dangerous - this is a direct path to the death of a small plant.
Black leg peppers
Blackleg is one of the most common causes of lodging of pepper seedlings. This disease causes several types of fungal pathogens. They are always present in the soil, but only attack weakened plants. Fungi pose a particular danger to seedlings - they always die - first the subcotyledon knee rots, turns brown and thins, then the tissues soften and become watery.
The disease is promoted by the use of contaminated soil, poor ventilation, overwatering, poor-quality planting material, thickened plantings and improper care of seedlings, which causes weakening of the plant. Often the cause of blackleg is that the soil is constantly crusted over.
We offer you to watch a video about a folk method of combating black leg on tomatoes. This method also works for peppers.
Fusarium blight on peppers
The disease mainly manifests itself in mature plants. But it happens that seedlings get sick with it - they simply wither and fall. There is no cure for it; the plant must be destroyed.
Treatment of lodging of pepper seedlings
What to do if pepper seedlings fall? If the cause is blackleg or fusarium, diseased plants must be immediately destroyed, and the surviving ones must be immediately planted in separate cups in new soil. This way, if one or more plants become sick, the rest will be less likely to become infected.
If the reason for lodging of seedlings is different and only a few plants are affected, find the source of the trouble and create the conditions necessary for normal development of the pepper. When overwatering, if the soil has not yet become sour, sometimes it is enough to reduce watering and sprinkle the soil with wood ash.
If pepper seedlings have just begun to develop blackleg disease, treat the plants and the soil underneath them with a 1% solution of copper sulfate or a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Prevention of lodging of pepper seedlings
It is easier to prevent any disease than to deal with its consequences. Healthy, well-groomed seedlings are less likely to get sick than those whose development was left to chance. You need to start taking care of it before planting - be sure to soak the seeds in an epin solution before planting. Epin is an adaptogen and a broad-spectrum regulator; plants grown from seeds treated with it tolerate overwatering and drought more easily, are less stretched and are more resistant to diseases. In addition, this is a drug of natural origin and does not pose a danger to humans. You can also treat seedlings with it, but not more than once every two weeks.
To prevent fungal diseases and blackleg, which cause lodging of pepper seedlings, the seedlings and the soil underneath them are treated twice with an interval of two weeks with a solution of any copper-containing drug in a concentration two times lower than what is written in the instructions. These treatments will subsequently make the pepper more resistant to fungal and viral diseases.
It costs more, but the result of its use is much better - powdered metal oxides, unlike emulsions, are poorly soluble in water. This is easy to see after spraying - a large amount of the drug remains at the bottom of the vessel in which the solution was prepared, and accordingly the effectiveness of the treatment decreases.
