Picking peppers in 2022

Ways to pick peppers

In general, picking is a completely clear term, but in everyday life this word is called three different agricultural practices. Therefore, first of all, let’s figure out what is what.

Picks – transplanting a seedling into another pot. As a rule, from a common box to individual cups. As an option – from a smaller glass to a larger glass. And now the key point – with pinching the tip of the main root! This is necessary in order for the roots to branch better, because the more of them, the more successfully the plant extracts water and nutrients from the soil.

Transfer – moving a seedling from one container to another without pinching the root. Most often it is from a box to a pot, although it can also be from a glass to a glass. In this case, the roots are usually exposed and damaged, because the seedlings grow tightly in the box, in the process of growth, the roots are intertwined with each other. It is simply impossible not to break them. Even if the seedlings are very small, and the roots have not yet become entangled with their neighbors, they are still often damaged.

It is the transplant that summer residents most often call picking. So they say: they dived the seedlings from the box into pots. But if the root was not pinched, then this is not a pick, but an ordinary transplant.

Transshipment – transplanting a seedling from a small container into a larger pot. At the same time, the lump of earth is completely preserved, the roots are not damaged.

But, sometimes, this process is also called picking: “They were pickled into larger cups.” This is also incorrect.

Caring for peppers after picking

In the process of picking and transplanting, the roots are damaged, the plants need time to recover, top dressing during this period is unacceptable. But watering is needed.

Watering. Seedlings are watered once a week (if more often, they can get sick with a blackleg). The water temperature should be 25 – 28 °C. And it’s better to take a settled one. It is advisable to water the seedlings in the morning. If you do this in the evening, fungal diseases can overcome it.

Feeding. Before planting in open ground, seedlings of peppers need to be fed twice.

The first top dressing is given 10-15 days after picking (1) or transplanting: for 10 liters of water, 1 teaspoon of urea and 2 tbsp. spoons of double superphosphate.

The second is carried out 3 – 4 days before planting seedlings in open ground: for 10 liters of water 3 tbsp. spoons of double superphosphate and 1 tbsp. a spoonful of potassium sulfate.

Favorable days for picking according to the lunar calendar: March 4 – 5, 14 – 15, 19 – 22.

Benefits of Picking Peppers

It is only one – saving space. This is the case if the seeds are sown in boxes or rolls (the so-called seedlings in Moscow). They take up much less space on the windowsill than cups. However, the benefit is doubtful, because after 2-3 weeks after germination, the seedlings will still have to be seated in cups.

Transplanting from a box into pots makes sense in industrial greenhouses – there, saving space for this time will give a tangible profit, since in 20 days you can grow greens, radishes or root cuttings for sale. At home on the windowsill, this will not work.

Cons of picking peppers

But there are many downsides to picking. Peppers do not even like a transplant, in which the roots are torn – after that they take root for a long time, do not grow, which means that the crop will be given later. In professional reference books, for example, they always write: without a pick, seedlings are grown for 45 – 50 days, with a pick – 60 days (2). That is, the difference is already 10 – 15 days. And taking into account the fact that they will then need to be planted in open ground, as a result of which the roots will again be damaged, the ripening of the fruits can shift as much as a month. In addition, there is a high risk that an infection will get into the wounds on the roots – peppers are very susceptible to it. And then you can be completely left without seedlings.

But then again, we are talking about a transplant. But picking with root pinching is generally contraindicated for them!

For peppers, only transshipment is allowed. It is even better to sow them immediately in separate cups.

Popular questions and answers

We talked about picking with agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Sources of

1. Shuin K.A., Zakraevskaya N.K., Ippolitova N.Ya. Garden from spring to autumn // Minsk, Uradzhay, 1990 – 256 p.
2. Fisenko A.N., Serpukhovitina K.A., Stolyarov A.I. Garden. Handbook // Rostov-on-Don, Rostov University Press, 1994 – 416 p.