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Sweet bell peppers are not only tasty, but also very healthy vegetables. They are grown by many gardeners in open and protected ground. To obtain a high-quality harvest in large quantities even at the growing stage pepper seedlings are fertilized. For these purposes, various chemical and organic substances are used. After disembarkation Plants also need a certain amount of nutrients to grow permanently. Thus, fertilizing peppers in open ground can improve the taste of vegetables, increase their yield and extend the fruiting period. Peppers that receive the required amount of nutrients are resistant to adverse weather, various diseases and pests.
Growing seedlings
Seedlings peppers should be fed several times before planting in open ground. The first feeding should be done at the age of 2 weeks. At this time, plants need nitrogen-containing substances that will accelerate their growth and allow them to increase a sufficient amount of green mass. Also, phosphorus must be included in the fertilizer for the first feeding of seedlings, which promotes the rooting of young plants.
You can purchase a complex fertilizer containing the necessary substances or prepare it yourself.To prepare, you need to mix urea in an amount of 7 g and superphosphate in an amount of 30 g. The mixture of minerals must be dissolved in a bucket of water and used for watering pepper seedlings.
A week before the intended planting, the seedlings need to be fed again. In this case, the activity should be aimed at developing the root system of the plant. It is recommended to use phosphate and potassium fertilizers for this. A suitable fertilizer can be found in ready-made form under the name “Crystalon”. You can prepare such a fertilizer yourself by mixing 250 g of potassium salt and 70 g of superphosphate. The specified amount of microelements must be dissolved in a bucket of water.
Strong, healthy seedlings will take root well in new open ground conditions and will soon delight you with their first fruits. Fertile soil, properly prepared before planting the peppers, will also contribute to this.
Soil preparation
You can prepare the soil for growing peppers in advance in the fall or shortly before planting in the spring. Regardless of the fertility of the soil, it is necessary to add organic matter to it. This can be manure in the amount of 3-4 kg/m2, peat 8 kg/m2 or a mixture of straw with nitrogenous fertilizers. Before planting plants, it is also necessary to add fertilizers containing potassium and phosphorus to the soil, for example, superphosphate, potassium nitrate or potassium sulfate.
After planting seedlings in such fertile soil, you can be sure that the plants will soon take root and activate their growth.Additional feeding of plants after planting in the soil for 2 weeks is not required.
Root feeding of peppers
Peppers always respond gratefully to the application of fertilizers, whether organic or mineral supplements. The first fertilizing in open ground should be carried out 2-3 weeks after planting. Subsequently, during the entire growing season, it will be necessary to apply 2-3 more basic feedings. Depending on the stage of development, the plant requires different microelements, so fertilizing should be done using different substances.
Organic
For many gardeners, organic fertilizers are especially popular: they are always “at hand,” you don’t need to spend money on them, and the effect of their use is quite high. For peppers, organics are very good, but sometimes they need to be used as a base for creating complex fertilizers obtained by adding minerals.
Valuable pepper fertilizer is mullein. It is used in the early stages of growing a crop, when the main emphasis needs to be on growing leaves. A solution is prepared from cow manure to feed plants by mixing mullein with water in a ratio of 1:5. After infusion, the concentrated solution is diluted with water 1:2 and used for watering peppers.
You can also use an infusion of chicken manure as an independent fertilizer with a high nitrogen content. Dilute fresh droppings with water in a ratio of 1:20.
During flowering plants, you can use fertilizer based on organic infusions. To do this, add a spoonful of wood ash or nitrophoska to a bucket of low-concentrated infusion of manure or droppings.This will allow you to feed the peppers not only with nitrogen, but also with phosphorus and potassium.
At the stage of active fruiting, you can also resort to the use of organic matter in combination with minerals. The fertilizer can be prepared by adding 5 kg of cow manure and 250 g of nitrophoska to a 100 liter barrel. The resulting solution should be infused for at least a week, after which it should be applied to the root of each seedling in a volume of 1 liter.
Thus, you can use organic matter as an independent, the only component of feeding for peppers if it is necessary to increase the green mass of the plant and activate its growth. When applying fertilizers at the flowering and fruiting stages, the amount of nitrogen must be reduced and potassium and phosphorus added to the plants.
Minerals
For ease of use, manufacturers offer ready-made complex fertilizers with different mineral contents. For example, to feed peppers at the flowering stage, you can use the Bio-Master preparation; during the ripening of the fruits, it is recommended to use the Agricola-Vegeta fertilizer. You can also use ammophoska to feed the crop during fruit formation.
All complex, ready-made fertilizers contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and some other microelements. However, you can prepare similar compositions yourself. This will allow you to regulate the amount of substances in the fertilizer and at the same time save money.
- For the first feeding of plants at the stage of active growth, even before flowering, you can use a compound of urea and superphosphate.These substances are added to a bucket of water in quantities of 10 and 5 g, respectively. Water the peppers with a solution at the root in an amount of 1 liter per seedling.
- The second feeding of peppers - during flowering, should be carried out with a whole complex of substances. For 10 liters of water you need to add a small spoon of potassium nitrate and superphosphate, as well as 2 tablespoons of urea. The resulting solution is used for root feeding of peppers.
- During fruiting, you should avoid using nitrogen-containing fertilizers. During this period, the plants should be fed with a solution of potassium salt and superphosphate. These substances are added to a bucket of water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
It is necessary to add minerals depending on the condition of the soil. On depleted soils, mineral fertilizers can be used to feed peppers 4-5 times per season. When growing peppers on soils of average fertility, 2-3 feedings are sufficient.
Yeast
Many gardeners have heard about using yeast as a fertilizer. This baking ingredient is a healthy fungus that contains a ton of nutrients and vitamins. They are able to stimulate plant growth. During fermentation, yeast saturates the soil with oxygen and forces other beneficial microorganisms in the soil to work.
Under the influence of yeast supplements, peppers grow quickly, take root well and form abundant ovaries. Pepper seedlings fed with yeast are highly resistant to adverse weather and diseases.
Feed peppers with yeast possible at various stages of cultivation, starting from the appearance of leaves on seedlings until the end of the growing season.Yeast feeding is prepared by adding briquettes of this product to warm water at the rate of 1 kg per 5 liters. During active fermentation, the resulting concentrate must be diluted with warm water and used for watering at the root.
To feed peppers, you can also use fertilizer prepared using yeast according to the following recipe: add 10 g of granulated, dry yeast and 5 tablespoons of sugar or jam to a bucket of warm water. Add half a liter of wood ash and chicken droppings to the resulting solution. Before use, infuse the fertilizer and dilute it with water in a ratio of 1:10.
Nettle infusion
Nettle infusion with added minerals is a valuable fertilizer for peppers in open ground. To prepare a complex fertilizer, you need to chop the nettles and put them in a container, then fill them with water and leave them under pressure. Over time, the nettle will begin to ferment, and foam will be visible on the surface of the container. At the end of fermentation, the nettle will sink to the bottom of the container. At this time, the solution needs to be filtered and ammophoska added to it.
It is worth noting that the nettle infusion itself is a fertilizer for peppers; it can be used every 10 days without harming the plants. You can learn more about using nettle fertilizer for peppers from the video:
Foliar feeding
The use of foliar fertilizers allows you to urgently fertilize peppers. Through the surface of the leaf, the plant perfectly absorbs the necessary substances and synthesizes them very quickly. Within a day, you can observe the positive results of applying foliar fertilizing.
Foliar feeding can be done by watering or spraying pepper leaves. You can resort to such measures as preventive measures or when a deficiency of certain nutrients occurs. For example, if a pepper grows slowly, its leaves turn yellow, and the plant itself withers, then we can talk about a lack of nitrogen. If peppers produce fruits in insufficient quantities, it is worth suspecting a lack of potassium and phosphorus. So, the following solutions are prepared for spraying peppers:
- foliar feeding with a high nitrogen content can be prepared by adding 1 tablespoon of urea per 10 liters of water;
- You can compensate for the lack of phosphorus by spraying peppers with a superphosphate solution prepared by adding 1 teaspoon of the substance to 5 liters of water;
- in the case when the peppers shed their leaves, it is necessary to prepare a solution of boric acid by adding 1 teaspoon of the substance to a bucket of water. Boric acid not only nourishes plants with essential microelements, but also protects peppers from diseases and pests.
Foliar feeding of peppers should be done in the evening or morning, since direct sunlight can dry out the solution that gets on the leaves before it has time to be absorbed. When carrying out foliar feeding, special attention should also be paid to the presence of wind. Ideally, the weather should be calm.
To spray young peppers, solutions of weak concentrations should be used, but adult plants successfully absorb increased concentrations of substances.
Let's sum it up
Peppers cannot grow without fertilizing. They respond favorably to the application of organic matter and mineral fertilizers.Only by using various root and foliar fertilizers throughout the growing season will it be possible to obtain a good harvest of vegetables. The article offers the gardener various recipes for preparing fertilizers, which are not at all difficult to use.
