Content
Sweet peppers (and hot ones too) in all climatic regions of our country can only be grown using seedlings. Although it is precisely the spicy varieties that can be grown in the very south of Russia by direct sowing of seeds in priming. Many novice gardeners, encountering problems for the first time growing pepper seedlings, are somewhat lost from the abundance of products designed to help in such a difficult task. First of all, this concerns the choice of containers in which these seedlings will be grown.
Peat pots and tablets - what are they?
The first thing that beginners become familiar with when trying to delve into the rather complex process of choosing where, how and in what to grow peppers is the existence of peat pots and tablets. At the moment, they are sold in every specialized gardening store, and are actively offered and advertised on the Internet and in markets. Moreover, growing pepper seedlings in peat tablets is a real guarantee that the plants will not die in the first stages of their existence.
What are the pros and cons of this technology?
Peat containers
Peat pots have been on the market for horticultural products for quite some time, but opinions differ greatly regarding the effectiveness of their use. They can have a wide variety of shapes (round, square) and sizes, sold individually or in blocks, and even in the form of ready-made cassettes. The wall thickness can also vary from 1.5 to 2.5 mm.
Peat pots have many undeniable advantages:
- They are made from environmentally friendly peat material and, accordingly, do not contain harmful chemicals and bacteria;
- Porous, breathable wall material gives the roots the opportunity to breathe and develop well;
- Easy to use - no need to wash, disinfect, or make additional holes for drainage;
- Finally, and most importantly, when replanting, there is minimal risk of injuring the delicate roots of the pepper, since the plant along with the pot is simply placed in the next largest container or directly into the soil of the future bed;
- As a consequence of the above argument, pepper seedlings do not receive stress, take root faster and produce an earlier and more abundant harvest.
With all this, many summer residents and gardeners who tried to plant pepper seedlings in peat pots were not very happy with the results obtained. Moreover, some enthusiasts even conducted a series of experiments on growing half of the pepper seedlings in ordinary plastic pots, and half in peat. And the part that was grown in peat pots looked and developed worse. Why could this happen?
First of all, it is necessary to note the fact that in recent years many manufacturers have been making peat pots from pressed cardboard.And such products can no longer compare their properties with peat ones.
In addition, in peat containers, the soil, on the one hand, dries out much faster, and on the other hand, the pots themselves, having a tendency to get wet, can become moldy. Thus, when planting peppers in peat pots, it is necessary to constantly monitor the level of soil moisture, which can be a problem when you are busy with other things and lack time.
Peat tablets
Peat tablets are cylindrical discs pressed from various types of peat, enriched with microelements and growth stimulants. On the outside, each tablet is covered with the finest paper mesh impregnated with antibacterial agents. It helps protect the seeds from infection and maintains their shape when moistened.
Thus, a peat tablet is both a container for seedling growth and a ready-made sterile soil mixture, and even with various additives beneficial to plants. An important positive point, as in the case of peat pots, is that there is no stress on the roots when transplanting pepper seedlings. Using peat tablets is also very simple and saves a lot of time.
But when planting especially valuable varieties of pepper or when growing a small number of seedlings for a family, the use of peat tablets is more than justified.Moreover, pepper is a crop that is quite sensitive to transplanting and picking, and the use of peat tablets will eliminate this stress.
Growing in peat tablets
To begin with, when choosing tablets, you need to carefully study the information on the packaging and choose those made from low-acidity peat. Do not take peat tablets without packaging or, especially without protective nets.
Peat tablets come in different sizes - from 24 to 44 mm, sometimes larger sizes -70 and 90 mm are also found.
Which ones to use for planting peppers depends partly on your financial capabilities and desire to make your life easier. If you want to save money, you can initially take 33 mm peat tablets, grow pepper seedlings in them up to the third or fourth leaf without any problems, and then, together with the tablet, move the plants into larger containers.
You can do this - initially plant pepper seeds in peat tablets measuring 70 or 90 mm. If you are going to plant pepper seedlings in a greenhouse, then they will survive wonderfully in these tablets until planted in the ground. For planting in open ground, most likely, another transfer to a larger pot will be required, but this is ideal. Most often, it happens that there is simply not enough space in the house to accommodate such large pots.
Naturally, the larger the diameter of the peat tablet, the higher its price.And significantly. So the choice is yours.
Landing technology
The timing of sowing seeds in peat tablets can be shifted a week or two to a later time, due to the lack of picking and the associated delay in the growth of pepper seedlings.
To plant pepper seeds in peat tablets, it is not even necessary to soak and germinate them. But if you have a lot of time and you want to experiment, then, of course, you can do the entire standard range of work to prepare seeds for sowing.
Then you need to take some deep and voluminous container (plastic boxes for cakes or other culinary products are often used) and place peat tablets in it so that the small indentations are on top. Recently, special cassettes for the size of tablets with trays and suitable lids have appeared on sale. Such kits make life even easier and initially create ideal greenhouse conditions for seed germination.
The surface of the peat tablets is moistened gradually over 20-30 minutes. You can use regular settled warm water, or you can add Baikal EM or Zircon to it to further increase the energy of seed germination. The tablets will swell and gradually increase several times in size, but their diameter will remain almost the same. Excess water must be carefully drained.
Usually peat tablets already have small holes in the center; it is advisable to deepen them a little, literally half a centimeter, with some blunt object.Prepared pepper seeds are placed one at a time in these holes and covered with a small amount of peat to level the soil surface. If you did not germinate the seeds in advance, you can place two seeds in one hole, so that later, if both germinate, carefully cut off the weaker one at the level of the substrate.
There is no need to water the crops at this stage; the moisture content of the tablets is more than enough. The sown seeds are covered with a transparent lid to create a greenhouse effect and placed in a warm place (+23°C-+25°C). The lid must be opened every day to ventilate and wipe off any condensation that has accumulated on it.
Pepper seedlings usually appear within 7-12 days. After the first shoots appear, the lid must be removed and the tray with peat tablets placed in a bright place. However, this can be done in advance so as not to miss the moment of seed germination. The main thing is that the tray with pepper seedlings does not stand in the sun, otherwise the seeds run the risk of being cooked.
Another advantage of using peat tablets is the fact that seedlings may appear unevenly, and during the growth process, small peppers can be easily grouped by degree of development by moving them to different trays.
Further caring for pepper seedlings It comes down only to controlling the moisture content of the peat and watering. This can be easily done by pouring a little water into the pan - the tablets themselves will draw in as much liquid as they need. It is easy to determine the watering time by the state of the tablets - they begin to shrink slightly. If you poured too much water, it is better to drain the excess after a while so that the roots can breathe freely. There is no need to feed the seedlings - everything you need is already in the tablets.
If roots begin to appear from the bottom of the peat tablets, then the period of development of the pepper seedlings in them has come to an end and it must be moved along with the tablets to a large container.
Variety of containers
Well, what if you grow pepper seedlings in large volumes (more than 100 bushes) for yourself and relatives or for sale? Or you don’t have extra money to buy tablets, but you have extra time to tinker with seedlings. In these cases, the choice of container for pepper seedlings remains very wide. The only thing you need to remember, especially if you are a novice gardener, is that pepper really does not like disturbing the root system, so it is better to plant it immediately in separate, albeit small, containers.
Plastic cassettes
The ideal option in this case would be plastic cassettes. Currently, they are presented on the market in a wide variety of sizes, both the cells themselves for planting and the number of cells in the cassette. In addition, they are easy to cut, which means you can easily adjust their dimensions to suit your needs. Each cell is perforated, which has a beneficial effect on the ventilation of the roots.
Thus, seedling cassettes have many advantages:
- They are durable in operation - with careful use - more than 10 years;
- They are light and compact, they can be stacked;
- They are inexpensive and available;
- Seedlings in them are quite easy to transport;
- The seedlings are quite easily removed from the cells with slight pressure from below; the earthen lump is preserved, making it easier to take root.
The following options are available for pepper:
- using cassettes with small cells (40x40, 50x50) for sowing with further transplanting and transshipment of pepper seedlings into larger ones;
- planting seeds directly into cassettes with large cells (75x75 or even 90x90) and growing seedlings in them before planting in the ground.
Which option you choose is up to you. In the latter case, you just need to be very careful with watering in the first month of growth of pepper seedlings, since in large containers there is a possibility of soil acidification. It is better to water little by little, but often.
In any case, as mentioned above, to grow ideal pepper seedlings, three weeks before planting in open ground, the plants must be planted in even larger pots with a volume of more than one liter.
Cassettes are often sold separately, without pallets, and if you want to save on buying them, you can easily make the pallets yourself. To do this, a sheet of dense polyethylene is cut out, each side of which should be 5 cm larger than the similar side of the prepared cassette. Then place the cassette in the center of the sheet and bend all the edges up. Fasten them with a stapler or tape. Carefully trim off the excess. The pallet is ready.
Disposable tableware
The simplest option is to use ordinary disposable cups.
Even small cups with a volume of 100-150 ml are suitable for initial sowing of seeds. But after the seedlings develop 3-4 leaves, it is imperative to transfer each plant into larger cups for seedlings, about 500 ml in volume. If there is extra space on the windowsill, you can immediately take containers of one liter or more for transshipment.
Homemade containers
To grow pepper seedlings, you can use almost any cardboard containers for juices and dairy products. You just need to wash them thoroughly before using, trim them and pierce a lot of drainage holes with an awl. The convenience of such containers for growing pepper seedlings is that before planting in the ground, the cardboard is simply cut and the earthen ball remains intact.
Often, to grow pepper seedlings in large quantities, homemade cups are made from dark polyethylene, paper or even newspaper. The technology is very simple. First there is a wooden or plastic fruit box. Then a base is taken and wrapped in paper or polyethylene of the required height. As a base, you can take a large plastic bottle or, even better, a piece of square metal profile. After one turn, all excess is cut off, the parts are fastened with tape, and the bottom is bent inward. The finished cups are filled with fertile soil and placed in a box for stability. When planting in the ground, it is enough to simply cut them along one side.
Conclusion
As you can see, the choice of containers in which you can grow strong and healthy pepper seedlings is very extensive. It all depends only on your capabilities and desires.
