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Sweet pepper, a heat-loving plant of South American origin, has taken root well in areas near Moscow. Through much effort, breeders long ago “adjusted” this crop to the harsh climate of central Russia and developed a large number of pepper varieties that not only grow well in heated greenhouses, but bear fruit abundantly in home gardens.
The best varieties of pepper for open ground
Before you start growing peppers in your garden, you need to choose the right variety. In harsh climates, early-ripening or mid-ripening pepper varieties are best suited for open ground.
Kolobok
Early ripening pepper variety with good survival rate ideal for growing in a plot near Moscow. An unpretentious plant that is resistant to temperature changes.With good care, peppers begin to bear fruit 2 months after the seedlings are transferred to the garden bed.
The bright red pepper fruits are spherical in shape with thick flesh and are suitable for canning and making salads. The recommended planting density is no more than 5 bushes per 1 square meter. m. A low-growing plant does not need a garter.
Montero F1
A productive hybrid of early ripening. Seedlings are planted in the garden at the age of 52-65 days. It is recommended to plant seedlings in the ground by mid-April in order to harvest the first harvest in June. Subject to planting density of no more than 4 plants per 1 sq. m, from this area you can collect up to 10 kg of sweet pepper.
A low plant with very large fruits (up to 300 g), prism-shaped, bright red in color, needs a garter. The thickness of the walls of a mature fruit is more than 7 mm.
United F1
Yield hybrid early maturation. Pepper pleases with stable fruiting under unfavorable conditions. After transferring two-month-old seedlings to the garden bed, the first fruits will appear in 40-50 days. This pepper tolerates low temperatures well. The bushes are not tall, but need staking, since the fruiting is abundant, and the peppers themselves are very large (up to 350 g). Up to 4 kg of fruits are harvested from one bush per season. The plant is compact, the bushes are planted quite densely (at a distance of 40-45 cm).
Topolin
The mid-season Topolin variety, with good care, will give a bountiful harvest 100 days after transplanting the seedlings into the ground. Productivity – more than 5 kg of pepper per 1 sq. m (with a planting density of 60x40). The fruits are elongated, cone-shaped, bright red. Topolin pepper is suitable for pickling, canning and preparing salads.The plant is not tall (50-55cm) and needs to be tied to a trellis - the thin stem cannot withstand the weight of the fruit.
Victoria
The variety is of medium maturity, grows well and bears fruit in garden beds near Moscow. Pepper seeds are sown at the end of February. In May, the plants can be taken out into the open ground, and at the end of July, the first fruits can be tasted. They are sweet, fleshy and large in this variety. On one low bush you can pick 6-7 bright red fruits at a time, each of which will weigh from 150 to 250 g.
Gift from Moldova
The mid-early pepper variety produces a harvest 120 (maximum 140) days after mass seed germination. Fruits well under unfavorable conditions - up to 5 kg per 1 sq. m. The fruits are red, smooth, cone-shaped, suitable for canning. The bush is low (up to 50 cm). The plant needs shaping and staking. During the flowering period, the lower shoots are removed up to the first fork. This pepper variety is disease resistant.
Growing pepper seedlings for open ground
A good pepper harvest begins with strong, healthy seeds, from which you must first grow seedlings. Seeds are sown in February so that the seedlings have time to mature for open ground. Detailed information about growing pepper seedlings you can learn from this video:
Caring for peppers outdoors
After transplanting pepper seedlings, you need to ensure that the young plants take root well. And for further growth and fruiting, it is necessary to create conditions in which a heat-loving plant will give a good harvest in an unfavorable climate. Sweet peppers for open ground in the climate near Moscow require appropriate care.
Temperature compliance
Pepper seedlings develop well and bear fruit at temperatures above 20 degrees.
In open ground, you can create an optimal climate with the help of temporary film shelters. Metal arcs are stuck into the ground on both sides of the bed and covered with film so that a tunnel is formed. In the evening, as soon as the thermometer drops below 15 degrees, the plants are closed. At the beginning of June, the shelter can be removed completely.
Watering
Watering the plants is carried out in the morning or evening. Before flowers appear on the peppers, the seedlings are watered once a week. During the fruiting period, plants need more moisture and are watered every other day.
Feeding
Before flowering, plants are fed once - 10 days after transplantation. To do this you need to prepare the following solution:
Chopped leaves and stems of nettle and plantain are mixed in a barrel with rotted manure and ash is added. The barrel is filled with water. After 5 days, you can water the soil around the bushes with this solution.
After the fruits appear, another composition is prepared to feed the pepper: bird droppings are mixed with cow manure, water is poured in and left to infuse for a week.
Plants are fed every 10 days after the flowers appear. Organic fertilizer for peppers can be used throughout the growing season - this will not affect the taste of the fruit in any way.
Pepper diseases, pests and ways to combat them
Two problems that can arise when growing peppers outdoors are diseases and insect pests. A vegetable garden on a personal plot limits the gardener from taking timely preventive measures to prevent these misfortunes. Indeed, in greenhouse conditions it is much easier to plant seedlings in disinfected soil or to protect plants from pests by treating the walls of the greenhouse. In open ground, an unprotected plant becomes a real bait for insects, and in moist soil there are ideal conditions for the proliferation of pathogenic microorganisms.
Verticillium
The causative agent of this disease is a fungus. It penetrates the plant through the roots. When pepper is infected, the leaf vessels are affected, making the plant unable to absorb moisture. There are several forms of this disease. With brown verticillium, the leaves become gray in color. With regular watering, the plant almost does not lag behind in growth, but looks wrinkled and drooping. Flowers and ovaries do not form on a diseased pepper bush, and the plant dies.
Dwarf verticillium
The disease manifests itself 30-40 days after planting the seedlings. The pepper seedling stops growing and drops its flowers and leaves. The main stem remains alive and forms new shoots, which soon fall off. The plant can live in this state for several months, but the infected pepper will no longer bear fruit.
Green verticillium
This disease can destroy a healthy plant in a few days. When affected by this form of the disease, a green pepper seedling with a large number of ovaries rapidly sheds its leaves and dries up.
Alternaria blight
This fungal disease is popularly called “dry spotting.”Pepper bushes planted in a bed where tomatoes grew last year are especially often infected. The disease is characterized by the appearance of dry brown areas on the leaves, trunks and fruits of the plant. After rain, these spots become covered with a black coating. The plant lags behind in growth, stops blooming and bearing fruit.
Septoria
The septoria fungus spreads in rainy weather. Gray-white spots with a rim appear on the plants. On the surface of these spots you can see frequent black dots - these are the spores of the fungus, which first infects the leaves and then moves to the trunk and fruits of the pepper.
Methods of control and prevention
To prevent the appearance pepper diseases Prevention is carried out even before sowing seeds. To do this, they are pickled in a disinfectant solution, dried and planted in treated soil.
The crops that grew in the garden last year are of great importance. Fungal spores can remain in the soil after other nightshade plants - tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes. Root vegetables, greens and legumes are not susceptible to fungal infection. Alternating plantings and mulching the soil around peppers straw and ash will help prevent the development of diseases.
When the first signs of infection appear (spots, wilting, dropping leaves and flowers) on one plant, it is immediately removed, and the remaining bushes are treated with fungicides. It is recommended to sprinkle the soil around the plants with ash or water with a solution of ammonia.
Pests
Pepper is one of the favorite foods of insects.Pests attack the leaves, stems and roots of plants, causing them to stop growing and die.
melon aphid
Despite the name, the insect feeds not only on melons and melons. This parasite can be seen on tomatoes, cucumbers, greens, root vegetables and other plants. Aphids do not disdain and weeds. Colonies of these insects are located on the underside of the leaf, gradually migrating to the stems and sepals. Leaves and flowers fall off, and the affected plant quickly dries out.
When aphids appear, the plants are treated with chemicals (fufanon, karbofos, etc.). If the attack of parasites occurred during the flowering or fruit setting stage of the pepper, then it is better to use folk remedies. Spraying peppers with decoctions of fragrant plants will repel insects from the garden for a long time. To prepare them, use potato or tomato tops, shag, garlic, and onion peels. Fumigation of plants with tobacco smoke is also effective. This treatment can be carried out after each rain - it will not cause harm to the plants, and will not affect the quality of the fruit in any way. It is also necessary to regularly get rid of weeds.
Spider mite
It is impossible to see this insect with the naked eye. Its appearance is eloquently indicated by the presence of a thin web on the underside of the leaf. The pest feeds on plant sap. The affected leaves turn yellow and fall off, and the mite moves to the stems and stalks. As a result of the spider mite attack, the pepper becomes deformed and soon dies.
To prevent the appearance of spider mites, it is necessary to clear the soil of previous plants before planting.This pest especially often settles on cucumbers, and if last year this crop grew in place of pepper, then it is advisable to treat the soil with fungicides or dig it up along with the ash. Spider mite larvae overwinter not only in the soil, so it is necessary to completely remove grass, fallen leaves and remains of cultivated plants from the area.
If pepper infection does occur, then you need to get rid of severely affected plants, thoroughly clean the ground of weeds and debris, and treat the remaining bushes with a solution of wood ash, infusions of onion and garlic.
Slugs
Naked slugs live and breed in moist soil. At night they come to the surface and feed on the green mass of plants. The stems and leaves of sweet peppers are severely damaged by slugs. This pest is a permanent resident of areas near Moscow, where all conditions are created for it - humidity and cool air.
Unfortunately, it is impossible to rid your garden of slug infestations forever. But it is quite possible to destroy most of them or create conditions on your site that are unsuitable for pests. There are many effective folk methods for this. Preventive measures to prevent the appearance of slugs in your area should begin at the end of May, when pests begin to be born from eggs in the soil.
- Sprinkling the soil around the plants with spices. Hot pepper, dill, cilantro or a kitchen set of dry seasonings repel slugs with their smell. Pests are forced to change their location.
- If you find slugs in your area, you need to do beer traps. To do this, pour a little beer into a bottle or jar and drop it on the site. The level of the neck should be flush with the surface of the ground.At night, slugs crawl towards the smell of beer and, once trapped, can no longer get to the surface.
- Salt effectively acts against naked slugs - when it gets on the body of the parasite, it literally eats it away. But this method must be used every day, since the salt dissolved in the soil becomes harmless to the slug. Every evening, sprinkle the ground around the pepper with a mixture of table salt and ash so that it (the mixture) does not touch the plants.
Plants in open ground require special care. It is necessary to constantly inspect each pepper bush for diseases in order to have time to take the necessary measures. Preventative work consists of thoroughly preparing the site for wintering. All foliage, debris, and dry plants must be removed - this is an ideal wintering environment for pests, fungi and harmful bacteria.
Autumn harvesting will not only help protect future pepper plantings from diseases, but will also facilitate spring work, when sowing, transplanting and care for plants.
