Seedlings of pepper grows for a long time, and by the time it is planted in the ground, the habit of the Bush reaches an impressive size. This imposes a certain responsibility on the gardener: it is necessary to keep the plants so that they do not need anything.
Picking and transshipment
In the seedling period, the peppers did not experience any “discomfort,” we need to hold the pick in the tank larger. If small plants in one and a half months old enough Cup of 250-300 ml, for further organic development will require a much larger amount of substrate. It is for this that a pick is needed, which is carried out somewhere halfway through the seedling period. Depending on the varietal characteristics, planting capacities of 0.35 l for dwarf and 0.5-0.8 l for medium-sized and tall varieties and hybrids are selected.
If the seeds of peppers were sown in a common bowl, then plant the plants in separate containers is permissible until the 4th sheet. The roots of the more Mature peppers are suffer from damage, which can permanently inhibit the development of up to delay the onset of fruiting.
Transplanting seedlings is a dangerous procedure. It involves the careful movement of plants in larger containers and unwittingly allows injury, because the root system we dig not seeing, but only assuming its location. The substrate is showered, the roots are bare, and when planting they break easily and often bend upwards, which is unacceptable. It happens that the roots are entangled in a braid, a horse’s tail and then a long time to get out of this position.
Wounds, spots breaking – the gateway for many diseases, so be sure (sooner the better) should be used fungicides. When more dangerous diseases are detected, more serious chemicals have to be used.
If at the first dive large capacities are used at once, it is possible to reduce their volume at the expense of increase in thickness of walls from within. The easiest way to do this is with wet sand or even expanded clay. They can also be laid out from the inside “tiles” foam, which in the future is easy to pull out, and fill the void substrate. This method I often use in indoor floriculture, whereby handling and transplanting do less and do not spend a lot of money on new pots.
At a young age, plants tend to live. Some of them seem to know about their happy fate, others — on the contrary. In order not to overshadow the life path of seedlings, it is more correct to use transshipment – the most harmless way to improve the conditions of development. It is carried out without coma, and therefore without injury to the root system.
The basic rules of growing seedlings
It is very important to learn to feel and understand plants. Be careful and try to take certain measures logically. Be sure to record all your observations, mark the days, dates, temperatures in the open and protected ground. In “unemployed” time to compare, analyze the situation and make sure their findings in field notebooks or notebooks in bold and bright color.
Any change in the color of the leaves should alert you and encourage you to refer to the directory. Many symptoms give a blurred picture, so it is better to use systemic drugs from a complex of diseases or pests, as well as complex fertilizers for seedlings of nightshade crops with a large and diverse content of trace elements. Mechanical damage is no less dangerous, they also need to be treated carefully.
If you observe too active (undesirable) growth of seedlings, then in any case do not lower the temperature with highly moistened soil. First, get rid of excess moisture.
Dry, deprive the substrate of excessive humidity can be as follows. Spread a pack of Newspapers on the table, cover the top 3-4 layers of toilet paper. Arrange the containers with seedlings and after 15-20 minutes, replace the toilet paper, and put the former on the battery to dry. If the drainage holes of the pots will not touch the paper, then insert cotton swabs into them, which will play the role of wicks. Two-fourfold replacement of napkins saturated with water will help to get rid of excess moisture in the substrate. And only after drying, reduce the overall and night temperature to inhibit growth.
Tip
So that you make fewer mistakes, I want to remind you of some simple truths.
- The acidity of the substrate for peppers, as for most other nightshade cultures, should be slightly acidic — pH from 5.5 to 6.5.
- After transplantation or transshipment, cover the plants with plastic wrap for 3-5 days to maintain high humidity and avoid burns.
- If the seedlings develop well, forget about fertilizing and growth stimulants, and watering spend carefully and only warm water.
- If the substrate at the depth of one finger phalanx wet, staining – watering is not needed. And when you need it, use water heated to about +25°C.
- Water is desirable to use rain, “snow”, river or pond. Chlorinated should stand for 2-3 days, and cooled boiled will not benefit plants at all.
- If the landing tanks used as drainage expanded clay, gravel, nut shells and similar materials, all the water from the pallets can not be drained. If you took the material fine as sand, or drainage layer does not exist, then do not allow the accumulation of water in the pallet.
- Peppers like fresh air, but not hard cold airing from an open window in February-March. When growing seedlings, daily fluctuations in air temperature within +15 are allowed…+25°C. In too warm a room plants are oppressed, in too cool their development slows down and even stops. A critical temperature can be +2…+5°C and +35…+40°C.
- At all stages of seedling development night oscillations are very useful (+14…+16°C) and daytime temperatures (+22…+24°C). This corresponds to the physiological needs of young plants.
Before planting
Seedlings of medium-tall and tall peppers at the time of planting in a permanent place is usually decorated with 8-12 beautiful, large enough, elastic, richly colored leaves. At this age, the main stem can already develop a lateral shoot and several strong buds. Three days before planting, it is desirable to remove 3-4 lower leaves. This operation is necessary for easy adaptation of plants in a new place, while the root system will be able to quickly establish a normal juice supply of the ground part.
By increasing the height of the trunk, we eliminate the dangerous contact of leaves with the soil. The bare, bald stalk should not tempt you to deepen when planting, as, for example, it is permissible and useful in tomatoes. The largest deepening can be up to the node of the cotyledons, and it is better to do this when growing seedlings (transplanting, transshipment, filling the substrate or mulching material).
In conclusion, I want to remind you that you should carefully consider the peculiarities of pre-sowing preparation of their seeds and ensure a competent temperature regime for growing seedlings, especially at the initial stage.
Dear readers! I hope many of you will find my advice useful. I sincerely wish you a good season, a large, delicious harvest, creative influence on the plants in the garden and, of course, in the garden.