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Sweet pepper is one of the gardeners’ favorite vegetables. Today, choosing the right seeds is difficult, because there are many varieties and hybrids. Pepper Lesya is an amazing plant with a lot of advantages. The features of the variety, the rules of cultivation and care will be discussed in the article.
Description
The variety was created by Ukrainian breeders. Pepper Lesya can be grown throughout Our Country and in the CIS countries due to the unpretentiousness of the plant. Differs in ultra-early ripeness, the first fruits are harvested after 4 months from the moment of sowing the seeds for seedlings.
Bushes
Pepper bushes of the Lesya variety are low, grow up to 60 cm, very sprawling. There are many smooth leaves, they are the same size as peppercorns. Plants are high-yielding, each bush is able to produce up to 35 fruits with appropriate care.
Attention! So that the stems do not break, the Lesya variety must be tied to a support.
Fruit
From the description of the Lesya variety on the package, and also, according to the reviews of gardeners, it is clear that the peppers are not too large, up to 10 cm in length, heart-shaped. Each of them has a long nose, sometimes it curves. Fruits with a smooth and shiny surface, no ribs.
It is clearly seen on the cut that Les’ peppers have thick fleshy walls within 8-10 mm. The mass of one fruit is about 160 grams, and each has up to 30 fruits. Here is your yield! This characteristic is perfectly confirmed by the photo of the Lesya variety.
Pepper Lesya conquers with its sweet taste, juicy and fragrant pulp. In technical ripeness, the fruits are dark green, when ripe they become dark red. The color is so saturated that it paints the hands.
According to the description and, according to the reviews of gardeners, Lesya pepper is a universal purpose. Suitable for consumption:
- fresh;
- for stuffing and baking;
- for frying and freezing;
- for preservation and drying.
Characterization
To better understand the features of Lesya pepper, let’s dwell on some of the characteristic features:
- Peppers are early ripe and productive.
- The fruits do not crack on the bushes and during storage.
- Keeping quality is high, peppers do not rot.
- Can be grown outdoors or in a greenhouse.
- Dense fruits of the variety are not damaged during transportation even over long distances.
- Seeds can be collected from ripened fruits, because this is a variety, not a hybrid.
- Weather conditions practically do not affect the yield, especially since Lesya peppers are drought-resistant varieties.
- Plants are resistant to many diseases, although preventive measures should not be abandoned.
What to do before sowing
The sweetest and most delicious peppers of the Lesya variety are obtained by seedlings. For an early harvest, seeds are sown in late February or early March. Sowing dates can be moved to mid-March, then the peppers will begin to ripen later.
Seed preparation
To get a good harvest, you need to specially prepare the seeds:
- Calibration. Dilute the stimulant in a glass and pour out the seeds of sweet pepper Lesya. Viable seed will fall to the bottom, and puny seeds will float on the surface, unable to give a full harvest. Unusable seeds are removed, and the rest are left in solution for 6 hours. Instead of a stimulant, you can use aloe juice, it contains trace elements necessary to stimulate growth.
- Soaking and germination. The seeds of peppers, including the Lesya variety, are arranged in such a way that they are difficult to germinate. Therefore, it is necessary to stimulate this process.
Pour the seeds with clean warm water for half an hour, then put them in a linen cloth for germination. Keep the seed in a warm place in the light.
After 5-10 days, tender white dots will appear from the swollen seeds. But it is undesirable to wait for the appearance of roots. Such seeds are inconvenient to sow, and it is very easy to injure the roots.
Soil preparation and containers
Sweet pepper varieties Lesya loves fertile soil. If it is not possible to purchase a ready-made substrate, the mixture is prepared independently:
- humus or compost – 2 parts;
- garden soil – 1 part;
- river sand – 1 part.
In addition, for every kilogram of soil, one tablespoon of wood ash is added.
As for mineral fertilizers, they are not applied when preparing the soil for sowing seeds. They will be required for feeding.
The soil must be disinfected. There are different ways, each gardener chooses the most convenient for him. Here are some options:
- Steaming the soil in an oven for an hour at a temperature of 100-150 degrees.
- Warming up in the microwave oven at the maximum mode of 5-6 minutes.
- Spilling boiling water with crystals of potassium permanganate.
Some gardeners treat the soil for sowing seedlings of sweet peppers of any variety with a solution of boric acid. Do not forget about containers, especially if they have been used for more than a year. They can be doused with boiling water, a solution of boric acid. Plastic seedling boxes are washed with hot water and laundry soap or other detergent.
Growing seedlings
Sowing of Lesya pepper is done with dry or germinated seeds. It depends on the time of the shoots. Seedlings can be grown with subsequent picking or do without this operation.
To do this, use ordinary plastic cups or peat pots, the volume of which is not less than about 5 liters. It must be remembered that pepper of any variety does not tolerate picking, slows down its development.
Seed sowing
Lesya sweet pepper seeds are laid out in prepared containers in moist soil to a depth of no more than 1 cm, so as not to impede germination. The step when sowing in a common container is at least 3 cm. It is more convenient to take swollen or germinated seed with tweezers so as not to damage the seeds.
After planting, the soil is carefully watered so as not to wash the seeds, covered with a film and placed in a warm, well-lit place. Every day the film is lifted for ventilation. Watering before the appearance of the first hooks is not necessary.
When shoots appear, the shelter is removed. Further care consists in moderate watering, so as not to provoke plant disease with a black leg.
Picks
When 2-3 true leaves appear on the peppers, the plants planted in a common container are seated in cups with a volume of at least 500 ml. The soil used is the same as when sowing seeds. Plants planted with seeds immediately in cups are thinned out, leaving one, the strongest sprout in each vessel.
After watering with warm water, the seedlings of sweet pepper Lesya are removed to a lighted window and the temperature is slightly reduced. Two days later, they are again placed in comfortable conditions, at a temperature of at least 20 degrees. With a lack of light, seedlings are highlighted artificially.
Care of seedlings
It is necessary to monitor the top layer of the earth so that it does not dry out. Abundant watering is not allowed. Two weeks later, seedlings of Lesya pepper are fed. You can use special mineral fertilizers for seedlings or pour wood ash dissolved in water. 1 tablespoon of sifted ash is poured into a liter jar, poured with hot water and insisted for two hours. With the same solution, foliar top dressing can be carried out as aphid prevention. Only the solution is made twice as weak.
14 days before planting in a permanent place (in a greenhouse or soil), peppers are hardened, gradually accustoming to new growing conditions. By the time of planting, the Lesya variety has from 10 to 16 leaves.
Sweet pepper Lesya, reviews of gardeners:
In-ground care
Planting seedlings of sweet pepper Les is timed to coincide with the weather conditions of the region, the main thing is the establishment of positive temperatures at night. You can plant in the greenhouse earlier. When growing peppers in the open field, at first it is desirable to use a shelter.
Planting seedlings
Since peppers love nutritious soil, peat, compost or humus and wood ash are added before digging. Each hole is filled with two liters of boiling water. You can add potassium permanganate.
Holes are made at a distance of 40×40 or 35×45 cm. For early sweet peppers of the Lesya variety, this is enough. When the soil cools down, seedlings are planted. It is advisable to take them with a good clod of earth, in which case the seedlings take root better.
Bury the plants to the first true leaves and compress the soil well. Landings are immediately watered with warm water.
In the future, peppers are watered in a timely manner only with warm water, the soil is loosened, weeds are removed, and they are fed.
For top dressing, you can use mineral fertilizers or organics: infusion of mullein, bird droppings, green grass. From time to time, peppers are dusted with dry wood ash.
Diseases and pests
Despite the resistance of the Lesya variety to many diseases, it is not always possible to avoid them. The fact is that there may be plants nearby that are easily affected by various viruses. For prevention, use special tools that can be purchased at the store. They are used strictly according to the instructions.
Combined landings help to avoid diseases. Onions, garlic, parsley, marigolds and other plants with a strong smell repel not only diseases, but also pests.
The most ardent enemies of pepper are aphids, slugs, the Colorado potato beetle. A good effect is given by spraying plants with a solution of ash (1 kg of ash per 5 liters of water) or soapy water.