Healthy strong seedlings are the key to a good harvest. Growing pepper seedlings has a number of features that should be taken into account in order to obtain high-quality plants capable of producing a rich harvest of pepper fruits in the current growing season.
Already at the end of winter, many gardeners are preoccupied with preparing for the next season. Pepper seeds have been purchased, the soil is ready. Some crops are sown for seedlings. Often the result is not happy already at the initial stage. Pepper seedlings stretched out. What to do? The causes should be dealt with and eliminated, taking into account the requirements of young plants for growing conditions.
Any plant for normal healthy growth needs 4 components: light, heat, water, nutrients.
World
Some gardeners plant pepper seeds already in late February – early March. It is quite understandable to want to harvest peppers as early as possible. According to calendar terms, spring is already beginning, although according to phenological terms, it can come much later. Daylight is still too short for the growing seedlings of pepper to have enough sunlight in full. And the spring weather does not always please with bright sun.
Each plant stretches towards the sun, as a result we have an elongated frail seedling. We get pepper seedlings with elongated internodes, which significantly affects the yield. With normal development, short internodes are laid in pepper seedlings and there are more of them, respectively, and there will be more brushes with fruits that develop from internodes. If the plant is stretched out, then the distance between the nodes has increased, therefore, there will be fewer pepper fruits on the plant. You can harvest almost 30% less. Conclusion: Pepper seedlings need to be illuminated so that the plants are strong, with short internodes.
The role of the screens is performed by a mirror or foil, roll insulation covered with foil, even plain white paper or fabric. Sunlight, falling on the screens, is reflected, hits the plants, thus lighting them up.
This method, no doubt, is economical, does not require large financial investments, but it will not be of any use on cloudy days or if your windows face the north side.
Then in your case you can not do without lamps for additional lighting of plants. It should be borne in mind that not all lamps are suitable for organizing additional lighting for pepper seedlings. You will need lamps whose light is as close as possible to the spectrum of sunlight. Regular incandescent bulbs will not work.
- Phytolamps “Flora” and “Reflax”. Use the Flora lamp in combination with a reflector. It is quite economical. “Reflax” is equipped with a built-in reflector and brackets for mounting. One thing: phytolamps are very expensive;
- Fluorescent lamps can be used to illuminate pepper seedlings. But they have a cold light, are poor in the red spectrum, which is so necessary for plants;
- LED lights are by far the most promising. Their advantages: LEDs are inexpensive, come in different spectrums, consume a minimum of electrical energy, and are easy to install and operate. Therefore, they won the love of many gardeners. The LED lamp “Diamond” is screwed into a regular cartridge; for it, you can use small lamps on a clothespin. “Diamond” has a blue – red spectrum, spends very little electricity.
For the proper development of seedlings, pepper requires 12-hour daylight hours.
Another mistake most often made by novice gardeners: they sow seeds in one container very often. As a result, thickened shoots of pepper seedlings are obtained. In this case, the struggle for existence among plants begins. The seedlings are stretched, trying to get the maximum amount of sunlight, while shading each other.
Exit: do not tighten with a pick. If your plants have acquired 2-3 real leaves, then get down to business. Although an earlier picking is possible, and later, when 4-5 true leaves have already appeared in the seedlings. At later dates, the picking is more difficult, since the root system of the plants is already quite large and intertwined, and the plants themselves have stretched and weakened. Therefore, pepper seedlings endure late picking extremely painfully, freeze in growth, as a result, the prospect of harvesting is postponed by more than 2 weeks.
The picking process is not difficult. Prepare in advance containers with a volume of 300-500 ml, always with drainage holes. Fill them with soil. Pour the general container with pepper seedlings well with water so that the plant can be removed without damaging it, along with a clod of earth. Transfer to a new separate container. Try to keep the pepper root upright, and not bent or wrapped, which leads to a stutter in the development of the plant.
Experienced gardeners advise immediately planting seeds in separate containers or in peat pots or in tablets. It is believed that pepper seedlings do not tolerate picking, freeze in growth and lag behind in development. Therefore, it is better not to dive the pepper, but to transfer it, that is, to move it from a smaller container to a larger one along with a clod of earth, while adding the necessary amount of soil.
Heat
Failure to comply with the temperature regime also leads to the fact that pepper seedlings are drawn out.
Most often, seedlings are grown on window sills, the window sill is usually cold. Do not be too lazy to put foam plastic or a thick layer of cardboard under the containers with seedlings of peppers. If the roots are in the cold, they will not be able to absorb nutrients. This measure is a preventive measure in the protection of pepper seedlings from the appearance of fungal and viral diseases.
There are several ways to increase the temperature on the windowsill.
- The first way: lay the bars on the windowsill, put plywood on top of them of such a size that part of it protrudes beyond the windowsill. This will cause the warm air from the battery, which rises up, to meet the plywood on its way and go under it, thus warming it and your seedlings;
- Another way: use foam insulation covered with foil. Sold in hardware stores. Bend the insulation strip with the letter P. Make one side longer. Put on the windowsill, cut holes on top for containers with seedlings of pepper. The strip will lie on the windowsill on one side, there will be containers in the holes on it, and the long part will go down to the battery, directing warm air to the seedlings.
After the first shoots have appeared, a decrease in temperature is required. +17+18 degrees during the day and +15 degrees at night. At higher temperatures, the plant begins to stretch, and the roots stop developing.
After 3-4 days, the temperature regime should be slightly adjusted. +25 degrees during the day, +16 degrees at night. In cloudy weather +18 degrees.
Harden off plants. Starting from April, containers with pepper seedlings can be taken out to the balcony, gradually increasing the time from 1 hour to 8. And then you can switch to a round-the-clock stay of seedlings on the balcony. Gradually, the plant should get used to the abundance of sunlight. It is not recommended to expose plants directly to the sun. Thus, pepper seedlings will get used to temperature changes and will transfer the future transplant into the ground without complications.
To make pepper seedlings easier to tolerate adverse conditions, treat it with Epin every 10 days. “Epin” increases the defenses of plants against temperature extremes, drought, low light and other negative environmental influences.
moisture
Further regular care for pepper seedlings is watering and fertilizing. Here we act on the basis of the principle: “do no harm.”
The first 3-4 days after the emergence of seedlings, seedlings are not recommended to be watered at all. Then the seedlings are watered with warm water + 25 + 30 degrees. Very carefully, using a tablespoon or rubber syringe, as the seedlings are easily washed out of the soil.
In our apartments, the air is very warm and, most often, very dry. The soil dries out quickly. It is clear the desire of gardeners to water more often. But everything is good in moderation. Eliminate dry air by ventilating the room, but avoid drafts. Use a device such as a humidifier. Or just place a container of water near the seedlings.
Avoid wilting plants due to lack of moisture. But don’t over-moisturize. Waterlogging is another extreme that can happen to plants due to your “generosity”. High humidity, dense plantings, stagnation of air leads to the development of such a disease as a black leg, which can destroy your seedlings in full. Other, no less dangerous diseases caused by fungus, viruses and bacteria are activated against the background of high humidity.
Watering pepper seedlings should be consistently moderate, without excessive waterlogging and without overdrying the earthy coma.
Feeding
If the conditions are met, and the seedlings continue to stretch, then, most likely, she does not have enough nutrition.
At the very beginning, you should not feed the seedlings of pepper, there are enough nutrients in the soil.
The first feeding can be carried out when the plants develop 2-3 true leaves. Fertilizer “Agricola – Forward” works well, it strengthens seedlings and promotes the development of the root system.
You can use such preparations for seedlings of pepper: “NV – 101” and “Shine – 2”, alternating them. These are natural growth stimulants. “Siyaniye – 2” is a microbiological fertilizer, when it is applied to the soil, the amount of beneficial microflora increases. In the absence of such microorganisms, various pathogens begin to predominate in the soil.
Based on these preparations, you can prepare a kind of cocktail for pepper seedlings. To do this, prepare a solution from Shining – 2: take 0,3 hour for 1 liters of water. l. preparation and granulated sugar, dissolve, leave for a day. Then, to prepare a bio-cocktail for 1 liter of water, add: 1 tsp. prepared in advance solution “Shine – 2”, 2 drops of “NV – 101”, 2 granules of the preparations “Healthy Garden” and “Ecoberin”.
There are other stimulants: “Epin”, “Zircon”, “Immunocytophyte”.
Combine treatment with stimulants with fertilization. Use: “Ideal”, “Orton – Fe”, “Aquadon – micro”.
The second top dressing should be carried out 10 days after the first or in the phase of the appearance of 5 true leaves in pepper seedlings. You can feed with urea and superphosphate (5 and 30 g, respectively, per bucket of water – 10 liters).
Plants respond well to the introduction of ash, as well as to watering with nettle infusion.
The final dressing of pepper seedlings is carried out immediately before planting the plants in the ground in about 3 days. Feed the seedlings with superphosphate and potassium sulfate (50 and 30 g per bucket of water – 10 liters).
Experienced gardeners advise treating pepper seedlings in the phase of 3-4 true leaves with the Athlete preparation. This drug regulates the growth of seedlings, young plants do not outgrow even in the absence of good lighting. Do not abuse the drug, you can make it once, diluting the contents of 1 ampoule in 1 liter of water. Plants can be sprayed or watered. Still, it will be much more correct to observe the conditions for the growth of seedlings.
Conclusion
When analyzing actions in the process of growing pepper seedlings, most gardeners always have certain errors or their entire list. The main thing is to understand the mistake and correct it, which will lead to healthy, strong pepper seedlings, and in the end you will get a guaranteed good harvest result.