There are plants that just love stress. Replant them until you drop, throw earth on the very crown - they are only better off. But pepper is not one of those.
He loves warmth, light, peace. Simple picking, and that hurts this gentle creature. So let's try to grow seedlings of pepper without picking. Peppers, which have not dived, have a root system that is significantly larger than that of a pickled plant.
Seed preparation
Even in the most elegant bag, the seeds are not necessarily the same as picking.
- Choose the most filled ones and soak them for an hour in very clean water - thawed or distilled..
- Then for another twenty minutes, put it in a very weak, slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate.
- Finally, wrap the seeds in a rag and soak the cloth in water and honey..
- Put a rag with seeds in a warm place and leave for a day.
Unfold carefully - after such careful processing, the seeds release the root very quickly. Try not to damage it.
Land preparation
Pepper loves earth loose, breathing, nutrient-rich.
Therefore, it makes sense to immediately add to the soil mixture peat and vermicompost, but put the drainage on the bottom of the pots. Prepare plastic containers for seedlings 7x7x8 centimeters.
Why should containers be plastic? Because ceramics, pressed paper and peat pots are too moisture permeable and dry quickly. Choose plastic - let the water get to the seedlings, not the surrounding air!
When to plant?
Pepper that will grow in the greenhouse, planted in early March, pepper for open ground - at the end. Consider: a plant that grew without a pick, stronger fellows and will be ready for transfer to the ground a week earlier.
Planting seeds
And now an important point: in order for the pepper not to need a pick and grow as long as possible in one place, in each container we plant exactly two seeds (and cover them with a centimeter-thick layer of soil).
Exactly two seeds. And not at all to sprout at least one. After we selected the best seeds, and then carefully processed them before planting, you can safely expect one hundred percent germination. Planting two seeds is just one more, final selection stage.
Almost immediately after the seeds sprout from the seeds, it will be possible to determine which sprout is stronger. Here we leave him. BUT the weaker one, just pull it out. And then we will have only the best of the best!
First days
First 7-12 days watching the growth of pepper is very boring: all the most interesting things happen underground. Easiest cover the pots with polyethylene and take them out of sight to some warm place. Dark, light - it does not matter. Now pepper only needs moisture and heat. Light, he will require later.
Sprouts appeared
With the advent of sprouts Immediately transfer the pepper to a bright place., but do not rush to remove polyethylene. Pepper does not like a sharp temperature drop, and on the window (you, most likely, put the seedlings on the windowsill) and so it is cooler than in the warm place where the pots have stood up to now.
Two days later, you can gently open the film and gradually remove it. Just look - no drafts! 20 degrees during the day, 18 at night, plenty of light and complete rest.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to highlight the seedlings. Even with ordinary white light bulbs, seedlings are much stronger and more stocky than with no light at all. Well, and it is not necessary to speak about fitolamps - with them it turns out not a seedling, but a lovely sight.
And yet it's time to move
But here on each plant appeared four true leaves. By this time the pot becomes small to him - it's time to move.
But it will not be a picking, but transshipment - gently tapping on the pot, remove from it the whole clod of earth and transfer it to a larger pot, about 10x10x15. If you cross the plant carefully, the roots will not be affected, but it is still worth supporting the plant: spray it with water or honey or an EM fertilizer solution.
The next two weeks - just watering with clean water., but then you can start every two weeks to feed with liquid organic fertilizers and infusion of ash.
Do not feed the pepper, otherwise the plant will begin to fatten. And it is also useful to turn the pot to the light, then one, then another side, so that all the leaves are equally large, and the plant itself does not lean on its side.
Life on the garden
Thermophilous pepper transplanted to the garden in late May-early June, and for the first time he will not interfere with film cover. In prepared for pepper wells put on handfuls of humus and ash.
Pepper has to work hard, so he cannot starve! The seedlings themselves before the transplant are watered with EM preparations, for example, "Baikal" or "Fitosporin".
On the window
If you decide to leave the pepper to grow on the windowsill, then know: this is a long time. Pepper can grow and bear fruit for years.
Just pour it constantly fresh biohumus and do not forget about complex fertilizers. And to keep the bush decorative, once a year make it a light pruning, removing old and ugly branches.
Light, warmth, peace - remember? Take care of the adult shrub just as you took care of the seedlings, and you will be happy and have many, many tasty peppers.
- And let's immediately plant the seeds in large containers - then you don’t have to pass!
- I have a seedling stretched out - what if, during a transshipment, I take it and fill it with earth higher? With tomatoes it turns out!
- Growing pepper is great! I want to grow every-different, and sweet, and bitter, I just have a window to the south!
It is possible, but not necessary. In a large pot, the soil starts to sour., and the first weak pepper roots will only feel worse. And this will certainly affect the yield of the plant, and not for the better.
With tomatoes it turns out, and with pepper - it will not work, because pepper does not know how to form additional roots directly on the stem. Therefore, no matter how much you bury it, it will not be better for him, but the pepper can easily get sick from such strange living conditions.
With all sorts of different, be careful. Within the same room, peppers wonderfully pollinate each other. (You can arrange them for different window sills, but it will not hurt them!) As a result, instead of a bush of sweet and a bush of bitter pepper, you will get two bushes of bitter. Maybe one is better, but sweet?
Useful materials
Read other articles on pepper seedlings:
- Proper cultivation of seeds and whether to soak them before sowing?
- How to grow black pepper peas, chili, bitter or sweet at home?
- What are growth promoters and how to use them?
- The main reasons why the leaves are twisted at the shoots, the seedlings fall or are pulled out, and also why the shoots die?
- Terms of planting in the regions of Russia and especially the cultivation in the Urals, in Siberia and the Moscow region.
- Learn yeast based fertilizer recipes.
- Learn the rules of planting Bulgarian and hot peppers, as well as dive sweet?
In conclusion, we offer you a video about growing seedlings of pepper without picking: