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Many gardeners and gardeners, having only managed to harvest the ripe harvest, already begin to wait for the beginning of spring to sow new seedlings. After all, for people who zealously love their garden, there is nothing better than watching new young shoots emerge from small seeds. Unfortunately, sometimes the process of growing seedlings does not go the way we want it to. In order to avoid such troubles, you need to know all the features of the vegetable crops whose seedlings are planned to be prepared. In this article we will talk about seedlings of both hot and sweet peppers.
Hot pepper and sweet pepper
Sweet and hot peppers are not just members of the same nightshade family. They are also the sole representatives of a species of herbaceous annual plants of the genus Capsicum. The historical homeland of peppers was South America. In its tropical latitudes you can still find these wild crops.
Sweet and hot peppers are not just a tasty vegetable and a spicy seasoning for dishes. They contain enormous benefits for the body.Sweet pepper, otherwise called bell or vegetable pepper, surpasses all citrus crops in terms of vitamin C content. In addition, it is a very low-calorie vegetable and can be successfully used as an ingredient for dietary dishes. Hot peppers, also called red peppers, contain a valuable natural alkaloid – capsaicin, which has an inhibitory effect on cancer cells. It also helps with various inflammatory processes in the body and can significantly improve immunity. Like its sweet brother, red pepper contains virtually no calories. But this is not so important, because you won’t be able to eat a lot of hot pepper anyway.
Unlike its sweet relative, hot peppers can also be indoor. At the same time, it not only fully preserves the beneficial properties of red pepper grown in the garden, but also performs a decorative function.
Of course, compared to store-bought vegetables, peppers grown by yourself will be more beneficial. Only in this case can you be sure that the crop has grown without the use of all kinds of stimulants and harmful drugs. But even on peppers grown by yourself, you shouldn’t put too much effort on them. Especially for those who have various diseases of the digestive system.
Benefits of seedlings grown at home
Before we talk about how to plant pepper seedlings at home, let's consider why, in general, do this. After all, at the beginning of the planting season, you can always buy ready-made plants and plant them.Let us highlight several advantages of self-grown seedlings:
- Savings - when buying pepper seedlings from hand or in specialized stores, you can leave more than one thousand rubles there. While bags of seeds will not require such investments.
- Proper preparation of seeds - when planting seeds on their own, each gardener tries to process them as well as possible in order to increase their germination and strengthen the future immunity of the plants. Seeds for seedlings for sale, as a rule, do not undergo such treatment.
- Proper care of seedlings - when pepper seedlings are grown with your own hands, they turn out healthier and stronger. After all, every sprout is important for a gardener. Purchased seedlings are very often deprived of attention, and this affects its future growth.
But growing pepper seedlings at home also has one disadvantage - it takes up a fairly large area, especially if seedlings of other crops are growing next to it.
Growing sweet and hot pepper seedlings
Healthy and strong seedlings are not fairy tales for gardeners. Many people think that it is quite difficult to get strong young pepper plants, but this is not so. To do this, you just need to follow some simple care conditions. Moreover, for seedlings of sweet pepper and its hot counterpart, these conditions will be the same.
Deadlines
Peppers are distinguished by their delicate and heat-loving character. Therefore, compared to other crops, pepper seedlings need to start preparing a little earlier. If you delay planting seeds for seedlings, the young pepper plants will not be ready for planting in a permanent place. Their stress can result in weakened immunity or the death of the seedling.
In our latitudes the terms planting pepper seedlings will depend on the specific variety:
- early varieties can be planted from the second half of February until the end;
- medium varieties it is worth planting in the first half of March;
- late varieties – in mid-March.
Land preparation
In order to grow ordinary pepper seedlings, universal purchased or garden soil may be enough. But if the goal of planting seeds is to obtain strong pepper seedlings, then it is better to prepare the soil yourself. To do this you will need the following components:
- peat;
- humus;
- leavening agents such as sand or sawdust;
- turf soil or leaf soil;
- superphosphate;
- wood ash.
The soil underneath contains a large amount of tannins, which can negatively affect the root system of young pepper plants.
Soil for peppers can be mixed according to any of the following compositions:
- One part each of turf soil, river sand and peat. All components must be mixed well and poured with a solution of superphosphate, potassium sulfate and urea. When using chemicals, you should always follow only the dosages indicated on their packaging or in the annotation.
- One part each of turf soil, humus and peat. After mixing all the components, you can add superphosphate and wood ash.
The prepared soil must be disinfected. This is done in order to kill all possible harmful bacteria and microorganisms. The soil must be disinfected immediately before planting seeds or a couple of days before. You can do this in the following ways:
- freeze;
- spill with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or antifungal drugs;
- hold over steam;
- bake in the oven.
You can learn more about how to disinfect soil by watching the video:
Seed preparation
Before growing pepper seedlings, you need to prepare its seeds. After all, the future harvest of pepper crops is laid precisely during the preparation of pepper seeds at home. Therefore, you should not skip this procedure. In addition, pre-sowing preparation allows you to increase the germination of pepper seeds, as well as the speed of their germination.
Repeated treatment of such seeds is not only not necessary, but can also be harmful to them.
Some gardeners do not carry out pre-sowing seed treatment, believing that it will take a lot of time. In fact, it will not take much time, and the benefits from it will be enormous. Seed preparation includes:
- Selection of live seeds. This is a very important and necessary procedure, which will allow you to discard all empty and dead seeds in advance. To do this, you need to dilute a little salt in water - a small pinch will be enough for one glass. Soak the seeds in this salty solution for 5–10 minutes. Under the influence of salt, all damaged and light seeds will appear on the surface of the water, and heavy seeds with the embryo inside will sink to the bottom of the glass. All that remains to be done is to catch and discard the seeds floating on the surface, and rinse the high-quality seed material over running water and dry it.
- Hardening. It is not necessary to harden the seeds, but it is very advisable.Seedlings grown from hardened seeds will have increased immunity and will more easily tolerate transplantation to a permanent location. Only dry seeds should be hardened. To do this, they must be placed in the refrigerator overnight for 3–6 days, on the lowest shelf, where the temperature does not drop below +2 degrees. In this case, the daytime temperature should be from +20 to +24 degrees.
- Seed disinfection. As in the case of soil disinfection, this procedure is necessary to ensure that young plants do not become ill with bacterial or putrefactive diseases. To do this, the seeds must be soaked for 15–20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. After this, they must be washed. Biofungicidal preparations, for example, Fitosporin, can also be used for disinfection. But after treatment with these drugs, there is no need to wash the seeds.
- Germination. Peppers can be classified as “garden slow-witted”. Their seeds can germinate within 20 days. Therefore, it is better to plant slightly sprouted seeds. This will significantly reduce the time it takes for the first shoots to appear. You can learn more about this procedure from the video:
Seeds that have undergone this treatment will produce exceptionally strong and healthy seedlings.
Planting seeds
When all the preparatory stages have been completed, you can plant the pepper seeds in the ground. Since all nightshade crops tolerate transplanting and picking very poorly, it is better to sow the seeds immediately in separate containers of 2 pieces.
Pepper seeds planted in prepared containers with soil to a depth of 1 to 1.5 centimeters.Before full-fledged shoots appear, containers with seeds should be covered with glass or film. In addition, temperature is of great importance:
- before the first shoots appear, the planted seeds must be provided with a temperature range of +20 to +28 degrees;
- after emergence, the daytime temperature should be between +20 and +22 degrees, and the night temperature should be between +15 and +17 degrees.
Caring for sweet and hot pepper seedlings
Care pepper seedlings at home is mainly to prevent excessive stretching of young plants. After all, pepper plants that are growing rapidly spend all their energy on the formation of foliage, rather than flowers and fruits. To avoid this, you need to properly care for the seedlings, namely, provide them with:
- optimal watering;
- feeding;
- hardening
But given the delicate root system of pepper seedlings, they should be grown in separate containers or peat pots.
Watering
Pepper seedlings at home should not experience moisture deficiency. But excessive hydration will not do her any good either. For newly emerging pepper sprouts, the most optimal method is to water as the top layer of soil dries out, but not more than once every 2-3 days. Daily watering should begin only when the seedlings have the 4th pair of leaves.
Water for irrigation should be warm, but not more than +25 degrees. At the same time, you should water the pepper seedlings only at the root, trying not to get it on the leaves.
In addition to basic watering, you can carry out preventive watering against fungal diseases with solutions based on biofungidicides.Such watering should be done no more than once every 2 weeks.
Top dressing
Feeding pepper seedlings at home is a very important step. But here you need to have a very good sense of proportion. After all, the root system of young pepper plants is very delicate and is easily subject to chemical burns.
Before I tell you how feed pepper seedlings, let’s look at what you can feed and what you shouldn’t. To fertilize pepper seedlings you can use:
- mineral fertilizers with a high content of phosphorus and potassium;
- organic fertilizers;
- wood ash.
As for restrictions, you should not use fertilizer that contains a lot of nitrogen for pepper seedlings. Fed with such fertilizer, young plants will actively grow leaves to the detriment of flowers and fruits.
Fertilizing pepper seedlings at home should be done twice:
- The plants should be fertilized for the first time when the second pair of leaves appears;
- The second feeding is carried out a week before planting in a permanent place.
You should not alternate different fertilizers. Both feedings should be carried out with the same composition. For example, if the seedlings were watered with mineral fertilizers for the first time, then the second feeding should be carried out with the same fertilizers.
Hardening
It is necessary to harden pepper seedlings so that they adapt better and faster after planting in a permanent place. You need to start hardening off the seedlings 2 weeks before the intended planting in the beds or in the greenhouse.
It is very important to carry out hardening gradually, starting from 4 hours and ending with a round-the-clock stay at a temperature no higher than +16 degrees.
Conclusion
Pepper seedlings grown according to these recommendations will turn out strong and healthy. It can be planted in a permanent place at the end of May - beginning of June, when the frosts have passed. All that remains for the gardener is regular watering, fertilizing and waiting for an excellent harvest.
