How to plant pepper and tomato seedlings correctly

Peppers and tomatoes have long been the two most beloved and popular crops among gardeners, without which not a single person can imagine their garden, be it in the north or in the south. And both crops, even when subsequently planted in open ground, certainly require growing seedlings so that, in the conditions of our rather short summer, truly tasty and beautiful fruits have time to ripen.

And of course, every gardener dreams that his tomato and pepper seedlings will be the best, strong and healthy. This article will help you take into account all the possible nuances in this difficult matter and will reveal some of the secrets of growing these plants. In general, you can learn everything you would like to know about tomato and pepper seedlings from this article.

General comparative characteristics of plants

Since both tomatoes and peppers belong to the same nightshade family, both plants have many similarities in growing and care requirements.Both are very thermophilic, both love good lighting very much from the very first minutes of life, both need good watering and intensive nutrition. But these are only general requirements, characteristic of the majority of native tropical plants, which, by the will of fate, were abandoned to our northern regions.

The table below summarizes the main differences in the requirements of these crops. They will be discussed in detail later in the article.

Timing for sowing seeds for seedlings

The simplest and most effective way to find out when to plant peppers and tomatoes for seedlings is the following: determine for yourself the time for planting the seedlings in the ground (for greenhouses and open ground the difference can be a month or more).

Considering that both peppers and tomatoes are heat-loving plants, all frosts in your area should be a thing of the past by this time. Subtract from this period the average age of tomato and pepper seedlings before planting in the ground and another average seed germination time. Get the same approximate deadline. But keep in mind that these figures are average and are calculated mainly for fairly good conditions for growing seedlings: a lot of light, heat, suitable containers, etc.

If exposed to at least one unfavorable factor, the delay in the development of tomato and pepper seedlings can reach from two weeks to a month. On the other side, seed preparation before sowing, germination and subsequent treatment with various stimulants, it is possible to accelerate the development of tomato and pepper seedlings by 2-3 weeks.That is why very often many manuals indicate the average time for sowing seeds:

For pepper, as a rule, the end of February is the first ten days of March. For tomatoes - usually the entire month of March and sometimes the beginning of April.

After all, late-ripening indeterminate tomatoes are sometimes sown for seedlings even earlier than some early-ripening peppers.

Selection of seeds, their preparation for sowing

The seeds that you buy in stores should ideally comply with GOST and go through the main stages pre-sowing treatment. But in reality, there is so much you won’t find in bright, colorful-looking packaging. Therefore, for the seeds of both crops, even if the seeds are your own, homemade, it is necessary to carry out a number of procedures that will help select defective ones that are obviously not germinating and enhance the energy of life in the rest.

Selection of the best seeds

Prepare a 3% solution of table salt (30 g per 1 liter of water), dip into it successively the seeds of the varieties of tomatoes and peppers that you are going to plant, shake well with a spoon and wait 5-10 minutes. All those that float up are weak and not suitable for sowing - it is better to throw them away. As a last resort, if there are few seeds and you feel sorry for them, you can make a single mixture of rejected seeds of all varieties and sow them in a separate container - maybe something will sprout after all.

After washing with water, the tomato and pepper seeds are scattered on paper and dried.

Etching

Immediately before sowing, the seeds are immersed in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate and kept there for 10-15 minutes.Be sure to wash them afterwards in running water and dry them. It is highly advisable to carry out this procedure for both pepper and tomato seeds. Since such treatment is the prevention of many diseases and infections, which can then harm the development of seedlings and especially adult plants. If you cannot find potassium permanganate, a working solution of phytosporin (dilute according to the instructions on the package) will be a good replacement. For many infections it will be even more effective than potassium permanganate.

Treatment with microelements and growth stimulants

The simplest option is to soak tomato and pepper seeds in a solution of wood ash, which contains about 30 different microelements. To do this, you need to dissolve 2 g of ash (less than a tablespoon) in a liter of water and leave the solution for a day, stirring occasionally. Then the seeds placed in gauze bags are dipped into it for 3 hours, washed with water and dried.

Soaking seeds in various growth stimulants is often used. You can use both home remedies: honey, aloe juice, and store-bought ones: epin, zircon, energen, HB-101, humates, Baikal-EM and others.

You can simply buy a ready-made set of microelements, dilute it according to the instructions and soak the seeds in it for 12-24 hours. It is not necessary to wash the seeds after this procedure; you can either dry them for sowing dry (possibly for tomato seeds), or start germination (preferably for pepper seeds).

Soaking and germination

This method is only necessary if you are somewhat late with the sowing time and want to speed up the emergence of seedlings. In other cases, there is no need for germination for tomato seeds.For pepper seeds, especially if they are not the freshest (they are more than 2 years old), sprouting them can help.

To do this, pepper seeds, pickled and soaked in various solutions, are placed in a humid environment. You can use damp cotton swabs, between which the seeds are laid out, and placed in any plastic container with a lid or simply in a plastic bag. The temperature for germination should be at least +25°C. Pepper seeds can begin to germinate within a day. The sprouted seeds are sown only in a moist substrate.

Hardening

This procedure makes sense mainly for northern regions with unstable weather conditions. However, if you have a lot of free time and want to experiment, then you can harden the seeds even in more southern regions, so that you can then plant tomato and pepper seedlings at an earlier date and in open ground. It is carried out in two ways.

1. After dressing, the seeds are soaked in warm water, and after swelling for 3-6 hours, they are placed in a cold place (+1°+2°C) for 24 - 36 hours. After drying, the seeds are sown.
2. A more complex method is when swollen tomato and pepper seeds are exposed to variable temperatures for a week: 12 hours are kept at a temperature of +20°+24°C, and the next 12 hours – at +2°+6°C.

When choosing the latter method, you need to remember that hardening cannot be delayed because of the possible overgrowth of the sprouts.

Preparing the substrate and containers for sowing seeds

Deciding on the question of which soil mixture and in which containers to grow pepper and tomato seedlings is equally important both for the seedlings themselves and for the gardener, who may have limited space on the windowsills.

If you are a beginner gardener and you don’t have a lot of seedlings, then we can confidently recommend using peat tablets for the first time.

When using them, the problem with both containers and soil is solved at the first stage. It is especially important to use peat tablets for planting pepper seedlings, since this crop does not like picking.

Tomatoes can be sown first in any flat containers, so that after the first two or three true leaves appear, they can be planted into separate pots. You can also use any cardboard and plastic containers with a volume of 500 ml or more as pots. Before filling, it must be rinsed well and disinfected for 15-30 minutes in a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate. You can use peat tablets for sowing tomatoes, but it only makes sense for some particularly valuable varieties, the seeds of which you literally have several of.

The tablets must be placed in a tray container, gradually moistened to 5-6 times the height, sow the prepared seeds in the recesses, cover with substrate and, closing the container with a lid, place in a warm place.

If you have a large number of seedlings and enough experience, you can sow peppers and in special plastic cassettes for seedlings and in separate cups, including even those made independently from paper or polyethylene.

In this case, you will need soil. Of course, you can buy any specialized soil for seedlings or for peppers and tomatoes in the store. But even this must first be calcined in the oven before use, and then sprinkled with Baikal EM to restore soil microflora.

If you want to make the soil yourself, then a substrate of the following composition is quite suitable for both tomatoes and peppers: turf soil (soil from the garden) - 1 part, leaf soil (taken in a park or forest from under any trees, except oak and willow) – 1 part, humus – 1 part, sand (perlite, vermiculite) – 1 part. You can add a little wood ash and crushed eggshells. Before use, this soil mixture must also be processed in the oven.

From sowing seeds to emergence of seedlings

So, you have decided on the timing of sowing, even figured out the appropriate day according to the lunar calendar, prepared the seeds for sowing, as well as the soil and appropriate containers. You can start sowing. There is nothing complicated about this procedure. Sowing in peat tablets was discussed above. When using soil, it is also advisable to water it a day before sowing to ensure uniform moisture. Fill all containers with soil and, having made holes, sow the seeds to the depth indicated in the table above, respectively for tomatoes and peppers. Compact the soil on top a little.

After this, the containers must be covered with polyethylene on top to create greenhouse conditions and placed in a warm place. Warmth for the sown seeds is now the most important thing. They don't need light yet.

After a few days, it is advisable to place the tomatoes closer to the light so as not to miss the long-awaited sprouts. When the first loops of seedlings appear, the containers with tomato seedlings must be placed in the brightest place and it is advisable to illuminate them around the clock even in the first few days.

WITH pepper seedlings also arrive 5-6 days after sowing. But compared to tomatoes, peppers do not need sun so badly at the first stage, and therefore their sprouts can even stand second row on the windowsill. True, they will also react favorably to additional lighting.

A small difference between day and night temperatures is also necessary.

Reducing the temperature during the first two weeks of seedling development until the first true leaf opens allows tomato and pepper seedlings to grow stronger, harden and not stretch out. See the table above for specific values.

Sometimes it happens that the seed coat remains on the sprouts that emerge from the ground. This usually occurs due to insufficient seed penetration. It must be regularly and carefully moistened with a spray bottle until it softens and bounces off on its own. It is undesirable to help her; you can destroy the sprout.

From germination to planting in the ground

Additionally, it is undesirable to water the soil before the first leaf opens; at the cool temperature in which the seedlings should be during this period, the substrate should not dry out. But if it seems to you that it is completely dry, you can lightly spray it on the sides of the planting container.

In general, watering seedlings in the first weeks of life is a very delicate matter. This is especially true for tomatoes, which are often flooded.The frequency of watering should depend entirely on the temperature at which the seedlings are kept. In the future, on hot and sunny days, the frequency of watering can reach up to 2 times a day; on cloudy and cold days, you can limit yourself to watering 2-3 times a week. Peppers also need to be watered only when the top layer of soil dries out.

When the tomato seedlings produce 2-3 true leaves, they must be transplanted into separate containers. Land for replanting can be taken with a high content of humus. Tomato seedlings are planted deep down to the cotyledon leaves and even deeper if they do stretch out. It is only important to remove the lowest leaves so that they do not touch the ground.

Pepper does not like picking and transplanting, but even if you grow pepper for seedlings in peat tablets, then when 2-3 true leaves appear (or even better, when the roots appear from the tablet), it needs to be transferred to large containers.

When installing a tablet with a plant in a new pot, practically do not cover the seedlings with soil.

You can take liter pots at once, or you can take half-liter pots, so that after three weeks you can transfer them to even larger pots. Only in this case will the seedlings of tomatoes and peppers develop fully and be able to subsequently produce a good harvest.

After picking, it is advisable to shade the tomato and pepper seedlings from direct sun for several days. Two weeks after transplanting, the seedlings can be fed with any complex fertilizer, preferably with a full set of microelements. Before planting in the ground, you can feed 2-3 more times.

A few weeks before the date when we want to plant tomato seedlings and pepper in open ground, be sure to start hardening off the seedlings. On warm sunny days, take containers with seedlings outside, or at least onto the balcony. You can start with 20-30 minutes a day at a temperature of +15°C, then increasing the time the tomato and pepper seedlings spend in the fresh air up to the whole day, bringing them into the house only at night.

To plant seedlings in the ground, it is better to choose a cloudy, warm day. As with transplanting, tomato seedlings are buried to the bottom leaf, and pepper seedlings are planted without deepening at all. It is best to immediately tie the planted plants to a suitable support.

With planting in the ground, the seedling stage of growing tomatoes and peppers ends and another story begins.

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