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Sweet bell peppers are not only delicious, but also very healthy vegetables. They are grown by many gardeners in open and protected ground. To obtain a high-quality crop in a large volume, peppers are fertilized even at the stage of growing seedlings. For these purposes, various chemical and organic substances are used. After planting in a permanent place of growth, plants also need a certain amount of nutrients. So, top dressing of pepper in the open field can improve the taste of vegetables, increase their yield and extend the fruiting period. Peppers that receive the right amount of nutrients are resistant to adverse weather, various diseases and pests.
Growing seedlings
Seedlings of peppers should be fed several times before planting in open ground. The first feeding should be carried out at the age of 2 weeks. At this time, plants need nitrogen-containing substances that will accelerate their growth and allow them to grow a sufficient amount of green mass. Also, phosphorus, which promotes the rooting of young plants, must be included in the composition of the fertilizer for the first feeding of seedlings.
A complex fertilizer containing the necessary substances can be purchased or prepared independently. For preparation, it is necessary to mix carbamide in an amount of 7 g and superphosphate in an amount of 30 g. A mixture of minerals must be dissolved in a bucket of water and used for watering pepper seedlings.
A week before the proposed planting, the seedlings must be fed again. In this case, the event should be aimed at the development of the root system of the plant. It is recommended to use phosphate and potash fertilizers for this. In finished form, a suitable top dressing can be found under the name “Crystal”. You can prepare such a fertilizer yourself by mixing 250 g of potassium salt and 70 g of superphosphate. The indicated amount of trace elements must be dissolved in a bucket of water.
Strong, healthy seedlings will take root well in the new open ground conditions and will soon please with the first fruits. Fertile soil, properly prepared before planting 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, organic matter must be added to it. It 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 top dressing of peppers
Peppers always respond gratefully to fertilizers, whether organic or mineral supplements. The first top dressing in open ground should be carried out 2-3 weeks after planting. Subsequently, for the entire growing season, it will be necessary to make 2-3 more basic top dressings. Depending on the stage of development, the plant requires different trace elements, so top dressing should be carried out using different substances.
Organic
For many gardeners, it is organic fertilizers that are especially popular: they are always “at hand”, you do not need to spend money on them, and at the same time, the effect of their use is quite high. For peppers, organic is very good, but sometimes it needs to be used as a base for creating complex dressings obtained by adding minerals.
A valuable fertilizer for pepper is mullein. It is used in the early stages of growing a crop, when the main focus should be on growing leaves. A solution is prepared from cow manure for feeding 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 to water the peppers.
You can also use an infusion of chicken manure as an independent fertilizer, with a high nitrogen content. Dilute fresh manure with water in a ratio of 1:20.
During the flowering of plants, fertilizer based on organic infusions can be used. To do this, add a spoonful of wood ash or nitrophoska to a bucket of low concentrated infusion of manure or litter. 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. Fertilizer can be prepared by adding 100 kg of cow manure and 5 g of nitrophoska to a 250 l barrel. The resulting solution should be insisted for at least a week, after which it should be added under the root of each seedling in a volume of 1 liter.
Thus, it is possible to use organic matter as an independent, the only component of top dressing for peppers if it is necessary to increase the green mass of the plant and activate its growth. When fertilizing 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 top dressings with different mineral content. For example, to feed peppers at the flowering stage, you can use the Bio-Master preparation; during fruit ripening, it is recommended to use the Agricola-Vegeta fertilizer. Also, ammophoska can be used to feed the crop during the period of fruit formation.
All complex, ready-made fertilizers contain nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and some other trace elements. 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, a compound of urea and superphosphate can be used. These substances are added to a bucket of water in the amount of 10 and 5 g, respectively. Water the peppers with a solution under the root in the amount of 1 liter per seedling.
- The second feeding of peppers – during flowering, should be carried out with a whole range of substances. For 10 liters of water, you need to add a small spoonful of potassium nitrate and superphosphate, as well as 2 tablespoons of urea. The resulting solution is used for root feeding of peppers.
- During fruiting, the use of fertilizers containing nitrogen should be abandoned. During this period, plants should be fed with a solution of potassium salt and superphosphate. These substances are added to a bucket of water in 1 tablespoon.
It is necessary to make mineral substances 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 medium fertility, 2-3 top dressings are enough.
Yeast
Many gardeners have heard about the use of yeast as a fertilizer. This baking ingredient is a beneficial fungus that contains a lot of nutrients and vitamins. They are able to activate the growth of plants. During fermentation, yeast saturates the soil with oxygen and makes other beneficial microorganisms in the soil work.
Under the influence of yeast top dressing, peppers grow quickly, take root well and form ovaries abundantly. Yeast-fed pepper seedlings are highly resistant to adverse weather and diseases.
You can feed peppers with yeast at various stages of cultivation, from the appearance of leaves on seedlings to the end of the growing season. Yeast top dressing is prepared by adding briquettes of this product to warm water at the rate of 1 kg per 5 liters. The resulting concentrate during active fermentation must be diluted with warm water and used for irrigation under the root.
For feeding peppers, you can also use a 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. In the resulting solution, add wood ash and chicken droppings in a volume of half a liter. Before use, I insist the fertilizer, and dilute it with water in a ratio of 1:10.
Nettle infusion
Infusion of nettle with the addition of minerals is a valuable fertilizer for peppers in the open field. To prepare a complex fertilizer, it is necessary to grind the nettle and put it in a container, then pour it with water and leave it under pressure. Nettle will begin to ferment over time, foam can be observed on the surface of the container. At the end of fermentation, the nettle will sink to the bottom of the container. The solution at this time must 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 the use of nettle fertilizer for peppers from the video:
Foliar top dressing
The use of foliar dressings allows you to urgently fertilize peppers. Through the surface of the leaf, the plant perfectly absorbs the necessary substances and synthesizes them very quickly. After a day, you can observe a positive result of foliar top dressing.
Foliar top dressing can be done by watering or spraying pepper leaves. You can resort to such measures in 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. In the case when peppers in insufficient quantities form fruits, it is worth suspecting a lack of potassium and phosphorus. So, for spraying peppers, the following solutions are prepared:
- foliar top dressing 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 solution of superphosphate prepared by adding 1 teaspoon of the substance to 5 liters of water;
- in the case when 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 trace elements, but also protects peppers from diseases and pests.
Foliar top dressing of peppers should be carried out in the evening or morning, since direct sunlight can dry out the solution that has fallen on the leaves before it has time to be absorbed. Particular attention when carrying out foliar dressings should also be paid to the presence of wind. Ideally, the weather should be calm.
For spraying young peppers, solutions of low concentrations should be used, while adult plants successfully absorb an increased concentration of substances.
To summarize
Peppers cannot grow without fertilizing. They respond favorably to the introduction of organic matter and mineral fertilizers. Only by using various root and foliar feeds throughout the growing season, it will be possible to get a good harvest of vegetables. In the article, the gardener is offered various recipes for preparing fertilizers, which are not at all difficult to use.