The first question that arises for most gardening beginners is when to plant pepper seeds? The optimal time to plant peppers is from early February to mid-March, depending on what variety you plan to grow. Climate and the presence of a greenhouse or greenhouse are also important factors. If it is possible to sow directly into the soil, then peppers are grown exclusively as seedlings.
When the time is right, start by preparing the seeds. First you need to select the best ones. Make a weak salt solution (approximately 30 grams per liter of water) and soak the seeds in it for a few minutes. This preparation of pepper seeds for sowing will allow you to obtain good harvest, because everyone is weak, spoiled and bad seeds will float to the surface, while healthy ones will remain at the bottom. After this, rinse the suitable ones with water and leave them on a sheet of paper to dry.
There are several ways to prepare pepper seeds for sowing seedlings. The most common is soaking. To do this, they are kept in warm water for about five hours, and then wrapped in paper napkin or a cotton cloth and place it in a bag so that the water does not evaporate. After this, the plastic bag is left in a warm place until germination, after which the seeds are sown in moist soil.
There is also more effective method– bubbling. This method consists of placing pepper seeds in a convenient container, filling them with water, and then placing a tube from an aquarium compressor there. A day later they are taken out of the water and dried. Bubbling should be done several weeks before sowing.
Preparing pepper seeds for planting also includes disinfection to prevent plant diseases. To do this, you can use a solution of potassium permanganate or low-toxic drugs (Baktofit, Albit etc.) There are also various growth stimulants on sale, with which you can significantly speed up the germination process. Treatment with growth stimulants occurs twice - at the seed stage, and when the plant has already sprouted two leaves.
Using a solution of wood ash, you can treat the seeds to prevent diseases. To do this, mix two tablespoons of ash with a liter of water and place pepper seeds there in a gauze bag for five to six hours. Preparation for sowing may also include treatment with complex microfertilizers ( Mikrovit, Tsitovit etc.) When processing your seeds for planting, do not try to try everything at once; it is better to learn the methods from the simplest.
The soil for growing seedlings must be loose and fertile. You can also use a ready-made mixture from the store, or prepare soil from compost, turf soil and river sand.
Sweet pepper is a heat-loving crop. Grow a full-fledged pepper by sowing seeds immediately open ground problematic even in the southern regions. The plant has a long growing season, so to harvest a good harvest it is necessary to grow seedlings.
We cannot control the weather outside the window, but we can create it. optimal conditions Anyone can grow seedlings. After transplanting, the peppers successfully take root in the open ground, fruiting begins a month earlier - you are guaranteed to have time to harvest.
When choosing a variety, consider a number of parameters:
To get good planting material timely is necessary . If you sow too early, the young peppers will overgrow in the pots, then the lower fruits will begin to set. This takes away the strength of the plant, they may not take root in open ground, and normal fruiting will be delayed.
Take into account the subsequent place of growth. In a heated greenhouse, young seedlings are planted by the end of April, in greenhouses and film greenhouses - throughout May, and planting in open ground should be carried out in the first ten days of June.
Also keep in mind that without picking, the peppers will be ready for planting two weeks earlier.
Can be done in early February, but sweet pepper seedlings will require additional lighting. Use LED or phytolights. Daylight hours should be 12 hours.
To soak or not to soak, to process or not to process sweet pepper seeds before planting, everyone decides for themselves. But experienced vegetable growers recommend showing a little patience to speed up germination and choose the best quality seed. Unfortunately, to increase shelf life, sweet pepper seeds are often overdried - but this must be indicated on the packaging.
To get healthy shoots, it is necessary to select and process the seeds.
Prepare a saline solution (30 g per 1 liter of water table salt), immerse the seeds there and stir well. See what happens in 5-10 minutes. Weak seeds will float to the surface, while high-quality, healthy seeds will sink to the bottom. The latter should be rinsed well with water, laid out on paper and allowed to dry.
The next stage is disinfection. You will need a weak solution of potassium permanganate (1 g of powder per 1 liter of water), in which the seeds should be kept for 15-20 minutes. Then rinse and dry slightly.
Can be used folk remedies: take 2 g of wood ash per 1 liter of water. Infuse the solution for 24 hours, then keep the bag of seeds in it for about 3 hours.
Soaking can be replaced by bubbling - treating seeds in water saturated with oxygen. For this you will need an aquarium compressor. You need to take a large glass container and fill it 2/3 with water (temperature about 20 °C). Lower the compressor so that its tip is at the bottom and turn on the device. When bubbles appear, place a bag of seeds there and leave for a day.
The seedlings must have good immunity. Resistance to changeable weather conditions, diseases will be helped by increasing seed hardening. Keep the seeds in warm water until they swell, then move them to the bottom shelf of the refrigerator and leave for a day, then start sowing.
The soil needs to be nutritious.
The following options are suitable:
It is recommended to add a little soil from the area where the pepper will grow in the future. This contributes to the successful adaptation of seedlings after transplantation into open ground. Before adding this soil to the soil mixture, it is necessary to shed it with a solution of potassium permanganate or calcine it in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
It is best to use individual cups with a volume of about 100 ml as a container. It is advisable that they are not transparent - exposure to sunlight negatively affects the development of the root system. You can make homemade cups, as shown in the video above.
Place a drainage layer at the bottom of the container (pieces of foam, broken bricks, expanded clay).
Fill the cups ¾ full with soil, compact them a little, and water. Make a groove about 1 cm deep and place 1 seed in each cup. Cover lightly with soil.
For healthy growth, it is necessary to ensure an optimal microclimate: cover the crops with glass or film. To protect the seedlings as much as possible from drafts, place the containers in a box, install thick wire along its edges, and stretch plastic film on top so that it completely covers the soil with the crops.
The cold will destroy the plants; they vitally need direct Sun rays. Southern window sills, flooded sunlight – perfect place for growing bell pepper seedlings. When the days are warm, you can take the seedlings out onto an insulated balcony or loggia. Be sure to place insulation under the cups with seedlings.
Compliance with the correct temperature regime – important condition growing seedlings:
Due to lack of lighting, seedlings begin to reach out to look for a light source. Older specimens slow down their growth rate, and the root system may begin to rot. The optimal length of daylight for pepper is 9-10 hours. Light up in daytime(from 8.00 to 20.00).
Abundantly, but not often. The soil should be slightly moist, do not allow water to stagnate. Watering is best done in the morning. Use softened water (melt, rain, or tap water that has been standing for 24 hours), heat until room temperature.
The roots need to receive oxygen - after each watering, loosen the soil with a clove or match, only slightly disturbing the crust on the surface. Do this very carefully, since damage to the root system leads to growth inhibition and fruiting may not occur.
Strong seedlings need to be hardened off. 10-12 days before transplanting into open ground, take it out for a while Fresh air or leave it aside open window in room.
It is useful to spray the seedlings with herbal infusion (use onions, garlic, pine needles, marigolds, calendula flowers for infusion).
Thus, the seedlings will become more resistant to diseases and pests.
Immediately after spraying, the seedlings should not be taken out into the sun; let the leaves dry. Droplets of water on the leaves can cause sunburn.
Sweet peppers need to be fed. Do this twice: apply the first fertilizing at the stage of appearance of 3-4 true leaves, the second - when 5-6 leaves appear.
You can add organic matter under the root: mullein solution (1 part humus to 10 parts water) or infusion chicken manure(1 part dry litter to 20 parts water). For foliar feeding use complex mineral fertilizers.
A slowdown in growth rates is a phenomenon possible for 2 reasons:
The plant loves moisture, but do not overdo it with watering. Excessive watering leads to infection with blackleg: the root collar becomes soft, darkens, the sprout withers and falls. The causative agent of the disease may be initially infected soil.
To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to provide proper care:
To transfer to permanent place Young peppers are ready to grow in 60-80 days. Their height should be 17-20 cm. The thickness of the strong stem at the root should be 3-4 mm. A healthy plant should have 7-10 well-developed leaves, and buds may be present.
Replant in open ground once warm temperatures have established (late May-early June).
Follow the planting pattern of 40x50 cm; you can plant seedlings of two plants in one hole if you want to use the land more economically.
It is planted in greenhouse conditions in early May, when the time of frost and cold weather has passed. By this time, the plants should be strong and blooming. The seedlings must be more than 2 months old, so you need to planting sweet peppers for seedlings. If planted later, the fruits simply will not have time to grow and ripen.
Important! There is no need to plant too early, otherwise there will not be a good harvest. The best option- second half of February.
If, after all, planting is done ahead of time, prepare good greenhouse conditions to plant peppers in the ground in April.
In the north, northwest and central parts of the Russian Federation, these vegetables are planted only through seedlings. Early ripening varieties are often used.
In Ukraine and the southern regions of the Russian Federation, seeds for seedlings are planted at the end of January or immediately in a greenhouse at the beginning of April.
Many gardeners rely on the lunar calendar when planting crops.
Best time to plant - to the waxing moon. Many people use clarifications - the waxing moon must be in the sign of Scorpio, Aries and Sagittarius.
Favorable days for planting peppers will be from January 15 to 20, from February 11 to 16 and from March 9 to 17.
Further care is also carried out according to the lunar calendar - watering, picking, planting in a greenhouse.
Here we will talk about how to plant bell pepper from seeds?
Sowing sweet pepper seeds for seedlings. Seeds must be prepared for landing. Some people germinate seeds in damp material, but you can do without this. .
It is better to purchase in specialized stores, the packages already contain all the necessary components in the required proportions.
If you use soil from the site, it must be disinfected (potassium permanganate solution) and steamed in the oven. Then the soil follows (ash, potassium sulfate and liquid sodium humate).
How to plant bell pepper for seedlings? It is better to immediately plant peppers in separate containers about 5-6 cm in diameter. This way you will avoid picking and initially strengthen the root system of the plants.
Reference! It is good to use containers that decompose in the ground (paper and peat cups) for convenient planting in permanent soil. Several seeds should be placed in cups at once; peppers have difficulty germinating.
There is an opinion that when peppers lose special hairs with which they absorb nutrients.
If you plant in a common container, then the distance between sprouts should be more than 2 cm.
Planting depth - about 3-4 cm. Better upper layer land warm water, sow seedlings and sprinkle a 3-4 cm layer of soil on top. This way the soil will be more saturated with air.
Then you should cover the crops with polyethylene to create the required humidity, and then open them.
It is better to place the seedlings on the south side, in a bright place, optimal temperature air for germination should be about 25 degrees. then you can reduce it to 20. If growth is weak, the temperature must be increased again.
Important! Plants reach for the sun, bending. It is necessary to turn the seedlings to straighten the stems. Seedlings are afraid of drafts!
Water as the soil dries out. Initially - once a week, otherwise the appearance of (“black leg”) is likely, then watering is carried out more often.
Picks are made when well-developed two leaves appear. A few hours before you need to water well.
Then you can fertilize once every 5 days. For this they use mixture of urea and saltpeter(1 tablespoon) per bucket of water. Many people use a glass of mullein per bucket.
A month before planting in the greenhouse, the plants are hardened- open the window or take it out onto the veranda or balcony.
After a period of 60 - 80 days and when good flowering plants should be transplanted into a greenhouse. Plants should have 10 leaves.
The soil in the greenhouse must also be disinfected and warmed up.
Properly grown seedlings are the key to a good harvest. All efforts will not be in vain. We told you how to properly sow sweet peppers for seedlings, gave the rules for sowing bell peppers for seedlings, and planting dates.
Read other articles on the topic of pepper seedlings:
I love you very much Bell pepper! Every day I mix it into salads, eat it twice a day, at lunch and in the evening, as dinner. Considering that I need a fair amount of peppers, my mother created a corner in her garden for me with this sweet delicacy. Next, read her experience of sowing sweet pepper seeds for seedlings and further growing seedlings.
Optimally from February 1 to February 15, but not later, pepper is sown on seedlings. Also at this time, if you are growing, it is recommended to sow eggplant seeds. We limit ourselves to pepper only.
Soak the seeds for a day between two layers of fabric at room temperature. You can etch it before soaking it in a dark pink solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour - for disinfection.
You can sow pepper seedlings in boxes, or you can separately in pots or seedling cassettes. Mom noticed that the seeds in the box germinate faster and the seedlings grow better than individual plants in pots.
However, when transplanting plants from a box into open ground, the roots are damaged, the plants get sick and lag slightly behind their counterparts grown in pots.
How does mom get out of this situation? Sows seeds in a box, and when the first two true leaves appear a seedling dives into peat pots , together with which he then plants each plant in open ground.
Before filling the box or pots with soil, drainage should be placed at the bottom 2-3 cm thick, and then pour soil (earth mixture) on top in a layer of 7-8 cm.
Mix humus and garden soil 1:1, or mix 2 parts of humus with 2 parts of peat and 1 part sawdust. You can do it even simpler - buy ready-made soil for pepper seedlings. As you prefer. My mother does not buy land from me, but prepares the mixture herself.
For growing pepper seedlings need a rich one nutrients earth mixture. And later, when planted in open ground, the seedlings will happily grow in less nitrogenous soil, but enriched with other mineral fertilizers and more loose.
Add 1 tbsp to a bucket of soil mixed according to the first and second options. a spoonful of superphosphate and 1 tbsp. spoon of ash.
So, after filling the drainage, place 7-8 cm of soil in each pot or cup (more will not fit there). Make a hole and place 1 prepared swollen seed in it, lightly sprinkle with soil. Water from a watering can.
Place the pots on a tray. Cover the top with polyethylene and place in a warm place until shoots appear. For good seed germination, temperatures above +21 are needed..
When planting in a box, level the soil. Make grooves at a distance of 5 cm and manually place the seeds into the grooves one at a time every 1-2 cm. Cover the top with a layer of soil or sand no more than 0.5 cm thick.
Gently pour water from a small watering can so that the seeds are not washed out of the grooves. Cover with film or glass and place in a warm place. No need to put it in the light yet! Seeds will sprout 5-6 days after planting.
As soon as the shoots appear, transfer the box or pots with seedlings to the light and maintain the temperature +14 +16 degrees within 6-7 days for good rooting.
Then you can place the seedlings on a warm windowsill and maintain the temperature during the day +20 +23, at night +16 +17 degrees. It is better if you have for seedlings additional lighting with lamps daylight ! They need to be turned on taking into account the natural length of daylight, giving the seedlings “sun” in cloudy weather. There is no need to add additional lighting at night.
Rotate the box every 2-3 days or a tray with pots different sides to the light for uniform illumination of all plants.
The main enemy of growing seedlings is drafts! From them she begins to waste away and get sick. This often happens when growing on a windowsill. apartment building with leaky windows. Protect your peppers from drafts!
An important condition for growing high-quality seedlings is timely and abundant watering. Peppers love water even more than tomatoes. In the first days of seedling growth (from the first leaves), more water is required than later.
You can check if watering is correct: the soil under the seedlings should always be moist. Not wet, but damp enough. Do not allow the soil to dry out! Water the pepper seedlings with water at room temperature. When watering cold water the seedlings begin to hurt and may die. Closer to flowering, less water is required.
The air in the room with seedlings should be humid. Spray the seedlings every day!
When the first two true leaves appear (30-35 days after germination), plant the seedlings from the box into pots measuring 10x10 cm or 10 cm in diameter. Use the same soil.
Feed the seedlings for the first time before picking calcium nitrate solution (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of water) Fertilizing consists of watering with water and fertilizer. Fertilize the second time when 3-4 leaves appear. One more time you can spray the peppers with fertilizer - do foliar feeding.
To fertilize, use the same fertilizers that you used to prepare the soil mixture. But make sure that there is 3 times more phosphorus fertilizer (for example, superphosphate) than nitrogen fertilizer.
For fertilizing you can make the following mixture - 1 tbsp. spoon of fertilizer solution “Leaf” plus 2 tbsp. spoons of “Effecton” per 10 liters of water.
To successfully plant seedlings in open ground, they need to be hardened off. To do this, boxes or pots are taken out into the open air, for example, onto a balcony. First, in the daytime in the sun, then sometimes left overnight. The hardening period is 7-14 days before planting in open ground.
Before disembarking, two conditions must be met:
1. seedlings must be ready for planting each plant should have a minimum of 7-8 leaves, up to 10, the height of each plant from 20 to 30 cm (for sweet peppers), and a minimum of 5-6 leaves and a height of 15-16 cm (for bitter peppers).
2. soil temperature will steadily exceed +15 degrees. This usually occurs at least 60 days after sowing the seeds for seedlings. Do not rush to plant pepper seedlings in open ground! For example, 80-day-old seedlings produce more bountiful harvest than 60 days.
In the photo: sweet pepper variety “Chocolate Handsome”
Pepper loves sunny, windless places. Create such conditions for it and the plant will be very grateful to you. If everything is blown through, then you can do protective screens on the northern, western and eastern sides of the bed. Thanks to this technique, my mother’s peppers turn out to be simply fabulously tasty! I told you the technology, now it’s up to you! Happy growing!
By the way, look at how to most optimally place the beds on the cardinal points in this post of mine -
Sweet peppers are often called bell peppers. This heat-loving crop has become so popular that many amateur gardeners grow it on their plots. The yield of peppers can be significantly increased if you start sowing seeds for seedlings in winter.
Pepper has a long development period, which is why early sowing of seeds is so important. I start sowing with . The specific timing depends on the variety and the place where the bell pepper will grow and bear fruit in the future. I sow hot peppers at the same time as sweet peppers, observing an important condition: there must be different containers. I have three options further cultivation peppers This is an unheated greenhouse (with), a greenhouse (with lutrasil and plastic film) and flower pots, which I place in sunny places protected from the wind near the house. Some peppers (for example,) can grow and bear fruit well on balconies and window sills.
Problems with growing sweets and hot pepper There are none for seedlings. Especially if additional illumination with phytolamps is possible. You can find it on sale budget options lamps with various fastenings. Convenient “clothespins” are attached on both sides above the window sill. Some are also suitable table lamps with fastenings. I turn on the backlight only in the evenings.
Most of my February seedlings does not suffer from a lack of light, because the planting containers with it are located on a high table under the southwestern side of the house. The only difficulty is in regularly cleaning the glass from snow.
I do not use ready-made lunar calendars for gardeners. They are often compiled very superficially and often contradict each other. If I have time, I do the calculations myself. However, I think the most important thing is the desire and attitude to start sowing. Several times I conducted experiments related to sowing seeds of tomatoes and peppers on forbidden days in absolutely all areas. lunar calendars for gardeners. They did not confirm the significant influence of the Moon and the Sun on the development of crops, their fruiting and the quality of the harvest. Even planting on eclipse, new and full moon days was successful if I wanted to tinker with the soil. But this does not prevent me from sometimes checking the planting dates with astrology. Most likely for insurance purposes.
Now about specific deadlines. Some years I started sowing peppers at the end of January, although I usually start sowing on February 7th. Such early dates allow the first peppers to be harvested in early July. The total harvest over the summer is much greater than with later planting. Especially when it comes to mid-season and late-ripening varieties. My many years of experience confirms: peppers and eggplants need to extend their growing season. It’s good when they begin to bear fruit in our homes at the stage of growing seedlings.
An important condition for this is a sufficient volume of landing tanks and nutritious soil. Then the gardener will be pleased not only with the first buds and flowers, but also with the ovaries. Even fruit-bearing seedlings, carefully transplanted into a garden bed without damaging the earthen ball, tolerate this without any problems. Especially when a little soil, to which the peppers are accustomed, is poured into the planting hole. Perhaps this is unnecessary, but I consider this technique as a kind of amulet for peppers.
In many printed publications are given optimal timing sowing pepper seeds for seedlings. It is believed that early varieties It only takes 60 days from the moment of germination for the seedlings to be considered “standard”. Mid-season and late varieties About 75 days is enough. Picks add another ten days to these periods. This means that when planting seedlings at the end of May - beginning of June, they begin sowing seedlings at.
With this approach, we are unable to obtain the harvest that can be harvested with more early stages sowing seeds for seedlings.
Pre-sowing seed treatment slightly speeds up the appearance of “loops”. To grow seedlings, I select large seeds without obvious damage. They can be sown dry if you are sure of safety.
Pepper seeds are well disinfected with potassium permanganate solution purple. I keep the gauze bag with seeds in it for about 20 minutes, after which I rinse it in running water. I don’t dry it out, I put it in for germination or sow it wet.
Some gardeners keep seeds in other solutions, believing that they not only disinfect them, but also activate growth energy. To do this, take a very weak solution of hydrogen peroxide (a teaspoon per glass of water), aloe juice diluted with water, a daily infusion and soaking agents such as a growth stimulator " Energen", microbiological preparation " Fitosporin-M", fertilizers " Raikat Start" And " Ideal».
A gardener I know who has an aquarium advises keeping a gauze bag of pepper seeds and fish in air bubbles under an aerator for at least a few hours. Most likely, he is right, because his peppers grow excellent.
The issue of picking is related to the timing of sowing seeds for seedlings, because transplanting seedlings slows down their growth for some time. Peppers do not really like various interventions. Proponents of growing seedlings without picking recommend sowing two or three seeds in one pot at once, and then removing the weak ones, leaving only one seedling.
I sow peppers in common planting containers. At the stage of two true leaves, I select the required number of the strongest seedlings. After about a month, I carefully, without damaging the root ball, dive them into fairly voluminous (about 500 ml) individual pots. In them, pepper seedlings develop well until they are planted on the site.
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