Content
Any gardener sooner or later faces various problems when growing pepper seedlings. It’s a shame to lose the harvest into which you invested your strength, soul and time. The villagers have a good saying: a summer day feeds the year. The same can be said about spring and seedlings. A slight growth retardation reduces the future harvest significantly. Having found the reason why pepper seedlings do not grow, you can try to correct the problem.
Unsuitable soil for peppers
The most common mistake made by amateur gardeners is using ordinary garden soil for pepper seedlings. Such soil is completely unsuitable because it does not have the necessary characteristics and composition.
What soil is suitable for pepper seedlings:
- Light, permeable, air-saturated soil. For these purposes, sand, vermiculite or sawdust (preferably from deciduous trees) is added to its composition;
- The soil must have a neutral pH. Alkaline or very acidic soil is not suitable for pepper seedlings. In the first case, good growth is hampered by difficult absorption of nutrients.In the case of acidic soil, pathogenic microorganisms are activated;
- The soil must be “living”, that is, contain beneficial microflora. Some gardeners sin by steaming the soil or frying it in the oven, killing all living things in it. If this is still necessary due to the risk of infection, then after heat treatment the soil for pepper seedlings can be “revitalized” with special preparations containing beneficial flora. For example, "Baikal";
- The composition of the soil must meet all the needs of pepper seedlings; it must contain micro and macroelements in the required proportion. The nitrogen content increases humus or compost, and microelements can be added specially purchased. Ash can be a substitute for purchased mineral fertilizers;
- Do not use soil with unrotted, rotting plant debris, fresh manure or mold;
- Do not use soil with a noticeable admixture of clay.
The soil for pepper seedlings must be prepared in advance, but if the job has already been done, then it is better to change the soil when transshipping the plant.
Lack of preparation of seeds for planting
Unprepared pepper seeds have low germination and slow development. There are many preparation techniques. The simplest and most popular method of preparing pepper seeds is soaking them in a solution of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate).
The solution is deep pink in color, soaking time is 20-30 minutes. This event disinfects the seed material. After processing, the pepper seeds are washed with clean water.
The next stage of preparation will be soaking the pepper seeds in a growth stimulator. You can take a store-bought preparation or prepare it yourself: pour 1 tablespoon of dried nettle with a glass of boiling water and leave until it cools. Keep the pepper seeds in this infusion until they swell, for several hours.
Germination is not necessary; everyone has their own choice. Either plant the swollen seeds or wait for sprouts to appear.
Incorrect landing time
Early planting of pepper seeds for seedlings leads to stretching of plants, poor growth, flowering and appearance of fruits before transplanting to a permanent place. To avoid such mistakes, you should carefully study the recommendations for the variety. The optimal time from sowing to planting in the ground is 2-2.5 months, depending on the variety.
It is important to observe the sowing dates according to the lunar calendar. Lunar gravity affects all the water on the planet (the ebb and flow of the tides depend on the moon) - this is a scientifically proven fact. This means that it affects all living organisms. Depending on the cycle of the moon, processes in the plant’s body slow down or speed up. Therefore, this sowing calendar should not be relegated to the realm of folk legends, and it is better to sow pepper seeds during the waxing moon.
Errors in temperature conditions
Pepper seedlings love warm air, soil and water. Drafts lead to putrefactive and fungal diseases, slower growth. Too hot an atmosphere with a lack of light makes the seedlings weak and elongated.
Cold soil can cause root rot, poor nutrition, and slow growth of pepper seedlings. The heat in the house leads to the misconception that the soil in the nursery is at normal temperature.The soil from a container on a windowsill often has a temperature much lower than recommended.
There is another extreme - placing boxes with sown seeds on heating radiators. This technique can destroy all the pepper seeds.
Watering should be done with water at a temperature of 30 degrees. Cold water acts similarly to cold soil.
The need for picking
The need for pickling of pepper seedlings has not been proven at all. After picking, the plant takes a long time to regain its strength and grows poorly. This procedure is justified only if there is a long warm season. In mid-latitudes, a loss of half a month in time can threaten unripe harvests. You should not try to revive weak pepper seedlings with the help of picking; damage to the roots can completely destroy it.
Lack of light
Poor growth and weak plants can be a consequence of insufficient lighting. This reason can be easily corrected with the help of backlighting. Anyone who hangs a lamp over pepper seedlings for an experiment will never part with it. Plants that stretch towards the window become elongated and weak. Those specimens that were unable to receive even this share of light stop their growth altogether.
Illumination with a special lamp or a fluorescent lamp with suitable characteristics will change the pepper seedlings beyond recognition. The fluorescent lamp should be as long as the entire window sill. The height of its installation is constantly adjusted so that the tops of the plant are 20-25 cm. Additional lighting can be provided by a foil screen from the side of the room. It will reflect light from the lamp and window towards the plants, preventing it from scattering.
Incorrect feeding
Given the small volume of land, mineral reserves are quickly depleted, even when the soil is well prepared. With a lack of nitrogen, the plant grows poorly, the leaves are pale, the stem is thin. A lack of phosphorus can lead to both poor growth and malformed pepper seedlings. Potassium is needed for a high-quality and tasty harvest, so if it is deficient, few flowers will be produced. Therefore, it is recommended to fertilize seedlings with nitrogen and minerals. Pepper seedlings require 2 feedings before planting in a permanent place.
A deficiency of other less important microelements, such as iron, boron, copper and others, can manifest itself as characteristic diseases in which pepper seedlings grow poorly. By describing the condition of the plant, you can easily determine what it lacks.
Improper watering
Watering pepper seedlings is not as simple as it seems. A flooded plant grows poorly, just like a dried one. There are recommendations for proper watering:
- Water quality. It should be soft, clean, but not boiled. Melt and rain water perform best;
- The amount of water should be such as to moisten the soil to the depth of the roots. The soil in the container should always be moist. It is usually enough to water the pepper seedlings every other day or two;
- The water temperature was mentioned above, +30 degrees;
- Watering should be done in the morning;
- Do not wet the leaves and stem of the plant.
Diseases and pests
Poor plant growth and development can cause disease in pepper seedlings. Diseases of this crop can be bacterial, fungal and viral. Favorable conditions for their development: excessive watering and cold soil.
First, you should separate diseased plants from healthy ones, remove affected leaves, and create normal conditions for the plant. There are drugs that successfully fight diseases of various origins, if the disease has not yet spread much.
If the pepper gets worse, it is better to get rid of it altogether to prevent it from infecting the rest of the seedlings. Throw away the soil from it and disinfect the container.
It is also worth checking for pests on pepper seedlings. These voracious bugs and midges suck all the juices out of the plant, so it grows poorly. Carefully examine the leaves for signs of the presence of pests themselves and their metabolic products. If an enemy is detected, the plant must be treated with insecticides. These are toxic substances, so all safety precautions must be taken.
Traditional methods of helping weak pepper seedlings
People have their own time-tested ways to bring weakened pepper seedlings back to life.
Watering tea leaves with infusion
Instead of ordinary water, infuse 1 glass of drunken tea in 3 liters of water for 5 days. Then water as usual.
Yeast feeding
Yeast contains many useful substances, and it also feeds soil microorganisms. After such fertilizer, the result is visible within 3 days: plants that grow poorly become strong and tall.
It’s very simple to prepare: dilute 1 tbsp in a three-liter jar. a spoonful of dry yeast and 2-3 tbsp. l. granulated sugar. Leave in a warm place until it starts to ferment. Dilute with water, proportion 1:10.
Ash
Ash normalizes soil pH, softens water, and contains potassium and phosphorus needed by pepper seedlings. You can sprinkle it on the surface of the soil, this will not only be a long-lasting top dressing, but also mulch, repel pests and have a suppressive effect on harmful microorganisms.
