Sweet pepper is a rather whimsical plant, but this quality does not prevent hundreds of thousands of gardeners from collecting hundreds of kilograms of this amazing plant from the garden every year. In order for the sweet pepper to be juicy, ripe and not succumb to the effects of pests, you will have to study the features of planting, caring, growing seedlings and their subsequent planting!
Growing peppers is a tricky business. Nevertheless, this garden crop is considered one of the most popular. Still, because it opens up endless spaces for culinary fantasies! Juicy and fragrant sweet peppers can be added to salads, borscht, soups and sauces, stuffed, baked, marinated and used to make delicious vegetable stews!
Homeland of sweet pepper South America with its tropical climate. Today, it is grown all over the world in a variety of climates. We, in Russia, began to grow pepper for culinary purposes only in the 19th century. Prior to that, it was used exclusively in medicine. It should be noted that the content of vitamin C in this vegetable is higher than in oranges. In addition, its regular use improves the functioning of the liver and gallbladder.
Where to plant and how to care?
Pepper is extremely thermophilic and photophilous. A comfortable temperature for him is not lower than + 20-25 ° С.
Plant peppers on the south side of your garden so that other plants do not cover it from the sun's rays.
Caring for pepper when grown in a greenhouse or open ground consists in proper watering, constant feeding, weeding and loosening. Pepper bushes should be watered as the topsoil dries. At the same time, it should not be allowed to dry out completely, the plants may die. After watering, it is desirable to loosen the earth.
How to grow seedlings?
Pepper is a late ripening crop, so it is grown in seedlings. We sow seeds for seedlings in late February and early March.
Prepare the soil before planting the seeds. If it was stored in a cold place, a few days before planting we bring it into the house so that it warms up well. Previously, the day before planting, we shed the soil with a pale pink solution of hot water with potassium permanganate. This is necessary for disinfection from harmful microflora, as well as final warming up.
For better growth of pepper seedlings, we mix ordinary soil from the garden with peat-based soil in a ratio of 1: 1.
This will favorably affect the further development of plants. Add wood ash to the resulting mixture in a ratio of 1:15. Ash is an excellent source of potassium, which is so necessary for the full development of plants. Then we fill the container for seedlings with prepared soil and water it. In principle, you can plant seeds in ready-made purchased soil, if you are not afraid of additional costs.
In a container where many plants will grow, we sow the seeds at a distance of 3-5 cm from each other. Then in the future there will be no need to dive seedlings. Sprinkle the seeds with earth and again pour warm water. To speed up seedlings, we create a “greenhouse effect”: we cover our crops with a film (a regular plastic bag will do).
Immediately after the emergence of shoots, remove the film. Otherwise, the pepper sprouts will overgrow and be very weak. Containers with seedlings should be placed in a warm and bright place with an air temperature of at least + 18-20 ° C. Water the seedlings at intervals of 1-2 days so that the soil is always moist.
In the early days - necessarily warm water with a temperature not lower than + 25-30 ° C. Watering plants is best in the morning or evening hours. Before watering, periodically loosen the soil to a depth of 5-7 cm.
After our peppers get a little stronger, we raise the air temperature to + 22-27 ° С. This will help them grow better. Then, in the phase of formation of 3-4 main leaves, we maintain the following temperature: + 22-25 ° C in sunny weather, + 19-22 ° C in cloudy weather, + 16-18 ° C at night.
During the growing period, seedlings will need to be fed 3 times.
We carry out the first dressing after 2 weeks from the beginning of germination, when the plant already has 3-4 leaves. During this period, pepper must be provided with nitrogen so that it fully grows and develops. To do this, add 1 tablespoon of urea to 10 liters of water, stir and water our seedlings. Before watering, you can sprinkle the soil around the plants with ash.
We carry out the second top dressing 2-3 weeks after the first, according to the same scheme.
We do the third feeding of seedlings 4 days before planting in the ground. In 10 liters of water, add 1 tablespoon of urea and 1 tablespoon of superphosphate.
Where to grow: in a greenhouse or in the open field?
We know that pepper is a heat-loving crop. Therefore, when growing in a greenhouse, you will get a guaranteed higher yield than in open ground. Plant care is the same everywhere. But it is in the greenhouse that ideal conditions are created for the growth of pepper.
In spring or early summer, do not rush to plant pepper seedlings in a permanent place. This crop needs well-warmed soil and consistently warm weather. In addition, the threat of night frosts should be completely avoided. For areas with a warm climate, the best time for planting peppers in open ground is the end of May - the beginning of June. For cold - the middle or end of June.
2 weeks before planting in open ground or a greenhouse, start hardening your peppers. What it is? In the early days, just open the window. Then we take out the seedlings to a balcony or veranda to a place where the plants will be protected from direct sunlight. If the temperature on the balcony or veranda does not drop below +14 ° C at night, the seedlings feel quite comfortable. Then we don't bring it into the house.
We plant seedlings according to the 30x30 scheme, carefully removing them from the glass so as not to damage the roots. We plant at the same depth as in the pot! Scheme 30x30: next to a single bush there should not be another close to it at a distance of less than 30 cm; seedlings can be planted in a "line", or in a checkerboard pattern.
Bulgarian pepper is one of the most capricious garden crops. He, like a true man, loves everything to be exactly the way he wants. Therefore, planting and further caring for bell peppers is a troublesome business, but very exciting.
Bell pepper shows its character even before germination - it germinates sluggishly, and it seems that by the appearance of sprouts it is doing you a big favor. Those who have been growing bell pepper seedlings for at least a few years are well aware of this peculiarity, and therefore they sow seeds for planting very early - in the beginning, at the latest in mid-February.
Selection and preparation of seeds
For sowing bell peppers, only whole, intact seeds are needed. You can collect them yourself from the fruits that have reached biological maturity, but it is better to purchase them in specialized stores. At home, achieving varietal purity is almost impossible. To do this, it is necessary that no other pepper bushes be planted within a radius of about a kilometer from the planted bushes, otherwise the possibility of over-pollination cannot be completely excluded.
It is best to sow seeds of pepper varieties released in your area. First, they need to be disinfected for half an hour in a 1% solution of iodine or a weak solution of manganese, and then rinsed with warm water. After disinfection, the seeds can already be sown, but it is better to germinate them, otherwise the seedlings will have to wait 1.5-2 weeks.
To germinate bell pepper seeds, they are laid out on a piece of cloth, placed in a shallow plate and covered with the same cloth on top. Then the fabric is thoroughly moistened, and left to swell for 4-5 hours in water at room temperature, after which the water is drained, the plate with seeds is wrapped with plastic wrap and placed in a warm place for 2-3 days.
This time is enough for the seeds to hatch. It is impossible to keep them wrapped in polyethylene longer, the sticks of the seeds will become long and most of them are injured when planting.
Soil preparation and seeding
While the seeds hatch, it's time to prepare the ground for planting. If you plan to sow 4-5 dozen seeds, then it is better to stock up on ready-made universal soil mixture by purchasing it at the nearest specialized store. But if you plan to get several hundred seedlings, then it will be cheaper to prepare such a soil mixture yourself.
To do this, mix humus, earth and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. It is best to take turf forest land rich in trace elements and useful substances for the mixture, but land from the garden is also suitable.
Since bell pepper seeds are usually planted in February, it is necessary to prepare the soil mixture from the fall. You can store it even outdoors, the main thing is that rain and snow do not get into the container in which the soil will be stored.
2-3 days before planting, the earth is brought into a warm room and warmed up. Wood ash is added to the warmed soil mixture (2 cups per bucket of the mixture), and containers for sowing seeds are filled with it.
Bell pepper seeds can be sown both in a common container and in separate containers: peat, plastic or paper cups. Considering that pepper does not tolerate picking very well, it is still preferable to choose the second option.
The containers are filled with prepared soil mixture. I additionally put a broken eggshell at the bottom of each container: it simultaneously serves as a kind of drainage and a good fertilizer for plants.
Then the soil mixture in containers is watered with water at room temperature. This allows not only to moisten, but also to compact the earth a little. After waiting until the water is absorbed and the soil settles, you need to top up the soil mixture and water it again. If you irrigate immediately after planting the seeds, the soil will compact and the sown seeds will be too deep from the surface.
With a wooden stick (I do it with an ordinary pencil), shallow holes are made in the soil - about 2 cm. If you sow the seeds in a common container, the holes in it should be made at a distance of 4-5 cm from each other to avoid the need to pick seedlings in the future.
Gently place the germinated seed in the hole, cover them with earth on top and irrigate the earth again. It is not necessary to water abundantly, the earth by this time is already quite wet. All watering should be done with warm water - approximately 28-30 ° C.
Seed care
Containers with sown bell pepper seeds are placed in a warm room isolated from possible drafts and covered with glass or film. As soon as the first shoots appear, it is imperative to organize supplementary lighting for seedlings using fluorescent lamps. The total length of daylight hours should be at least 12 hours.
After 5-7 days, when all the seeds have sprouted, the film or glass is removed from the containers and the first watering is carried out. It is best to water the plants with settled water at room temperature.
Watering seedlings should be carried out as needed - capricious plants react equally badly to both the lack of moisture in the soil and its excess. In both the first and second cases, the seedlings can be destroyed by a black leg. Before watering, the soil in the container must be loosened.
All the time during the growth and development of seedlings indoors, it is necessary to maintain a temperature of 22-24 ° C during the day and about 15 ° C at night. All this time, you need to regularly ventilate the premises and maintain stable air humidity in it, for which purpose a little water is periodically cut from the spray gun in the room.
If you still need to pick bell pepper, it is better to do this when 2-3 true leaves appear on the seedlings. Before picking, seedlings need to be watered abundantly. While the earth absorbs moisture, you need to prepare containers for transplanting.
The transplant itself is carried out according to the same scheme as the sowing of seeds. The containers are filled with soil mixture, and in the center of each a shallow depression is made for seedlings.
Then, with a plastic or iron teaspoon, the plant is taken out of the common container along with a lump of earth on the roots and, carefully, so as not to injure it, is transplanted into the recess made. After that, the containers with transplanted seedlings are watered and, if necessary, earth is poured into the container so that its surface is equal to the growing point of the plant.
Transplanted plants are kept indoors for 2-3 days in a semi-dark environment to give them time to adapt. For this, the windows are curtained with a loose fabric in order to create twilight in the room. In the future, caring for dived seedlings is no different from regular care.
Top dressing and hardening
Pepper seedlings are fed twice. The first dressing is carried out when the pepper has 4-5 true leaves. In time, this is approximately 2-2.5 weeks from the emergence of shoots. Peppers are fed with nitrogen fertilizers: a tablespoon of urea is dissolved in 10 liters of water, a pinch of wood ash is poured on top of the soil around the stem, and then watered with the prepared solution.
3-4 days before planting seedlings in the garden, a second top dressing is carried out. In addition to a tablespoon of urea, superphosphate is also added to the water - also a tablespoon per 10 liters of water.
2 weeks before planting, hardening of seedlings begins. First, a window is opened in the room with seedlings, and after a week it is taken out of the room into the air, first for 20-30 minutes, and then gradually increasing this time.
Important points in hardening: you can not take out pepper if the temperature in the yard has dropped below 13 °. And it is impossible to expose seedlings in direct sunlight in the first 2-3 days.
Landing in open ground
Bulgarian pepper seedlings are planted in open ground when it warms up to 12 ° at a depth of the root system (5-7 cm). This happens at different times in different regions. In most southern and central regions, this is the period from May 25 to June 5. For the northern regions, these dates are even more shifted - the landing is carried out no earlier than mid-June, when there is no longer any danger of night frosts.
Under the Bulgarian pepper, it is necessary to allocate bright, sunny areas, as protected as possible from the cold wind and drafts. You need to start preparing a bed for pepper ahead of time - even in the fall.
Under autumn plowing, complex phosphorus and potash fertilizers are applied at the rate of 50 g per 1 m². You can also add organic fertilizers to the soil - well-rotted compost or crushed green manure. Fresh manure for pepper is better not to make.
If organic fertilizers were not incorporated into the soil in the fall, in the spring you need to fill the site with nitrogen fertilizers, adding 40 grams of ammonium nitrate to each square meter of the bed. 3-4 days before planting, disinfect the soil in the garden by watering it with a solution of copper sulfate (50 g of the drug per bucket of water).
By the time of planting, seedlings should be at least 90-100 days old. Most gardeners plant pepper seedlings according to the 40X40 cm scheme. I use a different scheme for planting: I form a bush of two plants with a distance of 10-12 cm between them.
The distance between such twin bushes in a row is 70-80 cm, and the distance between rows remains the same - 40 cm. This planting scheme allows you to avoid "bald patches" in the planted garden - if one plant dies in the bush, the other continues to grow and develop.
It is best to plant bell peppers in the garden, like any seedlings, on a warm evening. When growing peppers, I do not practice various tricks in the form of high beds or garter bushes.
The only thing that must be foreseen is the ability to protect the planted seedlings from the cold north wind, and even more so from night frosts. Therefore, the first 2-3 weeks after planting the seedlings, I have iron arcs on the garden bed in order to cover the garden bed with a film if necessary.
Pepper planting care
Planted bell peppers require timely watering, fertilizing, maintaining a bed free of weeds and forming a bush. At the beginning of growth, planted plants do not need abundant watering. I spend the first watering when planting seedlings, the next day in the evening I spend another watering, and a day later - the third. With this irrigation scheme, even in hot weather, the survival rate of seedlings approaches 100%.
After the seedlings have taken root, I water the plants every 7-10 days, and even then when there is no rain. Before flowering, I pour 1 liter of water under each bush, after the first fruits have set, I increase the water rate to 1.5 liters per bush.
I water after sunset with water from my own well, which in the morning I collect in an iron container so that it can stand and warm up in the sun until evening. I stop watering when the daytime temperature does not rise above 24 ° C for two weeks.
In order not to loosen the soil after each watering, many use mulch. I prefer to do it the old fashioned way, and instead of mulching the pepper bed, I loosen the soil and kill the weeds with a hand cultivator. Firstly, I am too lazy to carry so much straw to cover it with a 10-cm ball with an area of 3-4 acres. And secondly, the mulch not only retains moisture in the soil, but also serves as a good shelter for various pests, primarily the bear.
In the process of growth, bell pepper consumes a lot of nitrogen, and during the formation of fruits - also potassium. Therefore, the pepper in the garden is fed three times. The first top dressing is carried out 2 weeks after planting seedlings. They are fed with urea diluted in water (a teaspoon per bucket of water) or a mixture of carbamide and superphosphate (a tablespoon per bucket of water), pouring 10 liters of solution under each plant.
During flowering, Bulgarian pepper is fed a second time, making wood ash, and then watering the ground with a solution of urea. The third top dressing is carried out after the beginning of fruit formation. For top dressing, a mixture of potassium salt and superphosphate is used (2 tablespoons of each fertilizer per bucket of water).
To get a good harvest, you need to pay close attention to the formation of the bush. To do this, it is cut and stepson. When the bushes reach a height of 25-30 cm, their tops are cut off so that the plants grow in breadth, forming many new shoots and increasing yields. 4-5 of the strongest stepchildren are left on the bush, the rest are removed, carrying out such a procedure every 10-12 days.
I’ll say right away that I don’t cut my peppers and don’t spend their stepsoning. Today there are quite a few bushes that can be grown without these procedures, without endangering the plants. And the danger is quite real: if you miscalculate a little and remove more than necessary, the plant will stop its growth and drop the entire ovary, or it may even die.
If you decide to strictly follow the agrotechnical recommendations, then keep in mind that it is far from always possible to pinch peppers. In dry, hot weather, a branched kut creates a shadow for itself, keeping moisture in the soil.
If you notice any changes in the appearance of plants, it is also better to refuse pinching. It is possible that such changes are a visible sign of plant disease, and in this case, pinching will only aggravate the situation.
If you do not have experience in pruning and pinching, then do not rush to cut all the planted bushes in one fell swoop. Better for the first time, take a few training sessions, practice on them, be sure to notice what and how you are doing, and look at the result.
Tall varieties of pepper, in addition to pinching and pinching, also require mandatory garters, otherwise they may break under the weight of ripening fruits.
Protecting bell pepper from diseases and pests
Pepper is good because pests and diseases do not particularly annoy its plantings. But, nevertheless, it is necessary to constantly monitor the condition of plants.
Most often, bell peppers are annoyed by aphids. To get rid of it, spray the plants with a whey solution: dissolve 1.5 liters of whey in a bucket of water. After treatment with a solution of whey, the plants need to be crushed with wood ash. For preventive purposes, you can file a bed with peppers 3-4 times during the growing season. Pollination must be done in the early morning, by dew.
Medvedka can be fought with onion water. To obtain it, 0.5 kg. onion peels need to pour 10 liters of water and insist 3 days. When planting pepper in each well, pour 0.5 liters of onion water.
I use special poisoned baits to fight the bear, throwing several of them into each hole when landing. Their smell attracts pests, the bears eat the bait and die, not having time to gnaw the roots of plants.
Although pepper pollinates itself, but with the help of insects, pollination can be significantly improved, laying the foundation for a future rich harvest. To attract more insects to the pepper, it is useful to spray the bushes with sugar syrup during flowering. To do this, dissolve 100 grams of sugar and 2 grams of boric acid in 1 liter of water.
Growing bell pepper is not easy, time-consuming, but fascinating work. But, if everything, starting from the planting of seeds in February, is done correctly, then from August until the very frosts you can enjoy juicy, tasty and tender fruits.
"Sweet" is what Bulgarians call peppers. And it is also a juicy, fleshy, colorful, fragrant and healthy vegetable. It contains few calories and many vitamins, such as A, C, E, PP, B9, H, as well as carbohydrates, fiber and proteins. With proper care, growing bell pepper seedlings is not difficult.
What harm or benefit a vegetable brings, useful properties and contraindications - you need to know this only when you can grow and get a good harvest.
Growing a plant is quite laborious. It's a culture thermophilic and demanding on the composition and structure of the soil.
Peppers love soil with neutral acidity and high moisture capacity. The land should be fed with manure or ammonia-potassium fertilizers, clean from weeds, you need to take care of it in advance.
The ripening of the fruits of this crop is long, so the seeds are planted in pots at home. It does not make sense to plant and plant seeds immediately in open ground because of this feature.
In the northern regions, cultivation is preferred in greenhouses, because here the necessary temperature conditions are observed around the clock so that the vegetable can grow well.
The complexity of growing does not scare summer residents, however, they reap the harvest of a whimsical crop.
Sweet peppers - popular types
There are many varieties of sweet vegetables. By planting type subdivided into greenhouse and open field, and also divided according to the fruit ripening period into early ripening, medium early, late and hybrid.
The most popular variety for open ground, which is very fond of novice gardeners "", as it is unpretentious in care, resistant to numerous diseases and bears fruit early. Variety "" is also early ripe, its bushes are low, so pinching and tying the stems is not required.
Bulgarian pepper "" ripens by 110 days from the date of planting the seeds, compact, well resists verticillosis and can be grown both in open and protected ground.
From mid-season beginners in vegetable growing, the disease-resistant variety "" is suitable, the harvest from small bushes is obtained on day 130, making little effort to water and feed.
Of the hybrids, gardeners distinguish a red high-yielding variety "", requiring a minimum of labor costs and a large-fruited hybrid " Atlantic F1”, yielding a crop even in adverse weather conditions.
How to start landing at home
Peppers are planted on seedlings in February or March depending on location and weather conditions. The first step of planting is to check the seeds by sampling in salt water (per liter 30 grams of salt).
In salted water, weak and damaged seeds will float, while heavy ones capable of germination will remain at the bottom.
After drying, the seeds are soaked for several hours in plain water, then placed in a moist environment, such as a wet napkin or plastic bag until germination.
Also, to accelerate the ripening of fruits and prevent diseases, the seeds must be treated with a disinfecting solution of potassium permanganate, and then with a growth stimulator. Since the culture does not like transplants, it is better to immediately place the seeds in large 500 gram plastic cups, in loose, moist soil to a depth of 1-2 cm, 2 pieces per cell.
When several shoots appear, the weak one is removed. Cups with seedlings are placed in a bright and warm place, regularly moistened and heated if necessary.
Transplanting seedlings and timing of planting in the soil
On the stage 3-4 leaves pepper is transplanted into open ground. For landing, the earth must warm up to +15 degrees. Planting seedlings occurs in May, after the end of frost.
Before planting, loosen the soil, shed and fertilize with 1 tablespoon of potassium. The distance between the bushes is left equal 30 cm.
The level of the planted sprout should correspond to the depth of the seedling material.
Care after planting for a good harvest
When planted correctly, the first new leaf appears approximately on day 10. If the plant has many leaves and stems, then a crown is formed by pinching, and each stem is tied to a peg. The main thing during flowering is to remove the first flower, this will increase flowering, pollination and fruiting in the future.
During the growth period, you need to mulch the soil under the pepper, weeding in order to ensure oxygen access to the roots of the plant. Watering 1-2 times a week, depending on the weather, the water consumption per bush is 1.5 liters for planted seedlings, and for fruit-bearing bushes 2.5 liters.
During flowering and 2 more times during the fruiting period, top dressing is carried out with a solution of manure (1:5) or chicken manure (1:10), as well as mineral fertilizers.
bell pepper doesn't like cold, therefore, when the air temperature drops, they must be covered with a film, rags, and during the period of frost they are fumigated with smoke.
Pest and disease control
Pepper often wilts outdoors. The reason for this disease and insects that feed on vegetable crops.
Damage to the plant is caused by:
- colorado potato beetle; the spread of the beetle can be avoided by collecting the larvae and destroying
- aphid; destroyed by chemical attack
- naked slugs who are afraid of dry mustard, tobacco or lime dust
- spider mite loves the juice of the leaves, so the affected plants are burned, and the untouched ones are sprayed with an alcohol solution, soapy water, garlic or onion infusion.
Diseases also often affect peppers:
- fungal disease in a humid environment, affecting stems and leaves in the form of brown spots with a pale green zone late blight; 1% solution of Bordeaux liquid can save pepper
- the most common is verticillium wilt, appearing due to the penetration of the virus into the damaged roots, the leaves fall off and as a result the plant dries up. It is necessary to burn diseased parts to stop the spread of the fungus.
- among diseases are white, gray and top rot. White appears on the stems in the root part from a lack of fertilizers, gray occurs against the background of an incorrect water balance and affects the entire fruit, and the apical one often affects the tip of the pepper with spots and occurs both from bacteria and from planting conditions. To avoid exposure to rot, plantings are fertilized with calcium and watered abundantly.
Difficulties of growing bell pepper
To obtain a large harvest of bell pepper, you need to regularly loosen and water the soil.
You also need to know that fertilizers are the main part of nutrition, the lack of vitamins immediately affects the appearance of leaves, stems and fruits. When planting seedlings, it is important to try avoid windy areas, plant a bed with tall, wind-protecting crops.
Choose Your Neighbors Carefully for culture: the neighborhood with fennel, beets is unfavorable, and tomatoes, lettuce, onions, carrots will have a positive effect, repelling pests.
After the end of the summer season, plant barley in place of pepper and dig up the ground after the grown cereal, get the humus rich in vitamins, necessary for growing the next season's crop.
Pepper is a southern plant, and in our climate, it requires an attentive attitude. Abundant watering, creating soil favorable for plant growth and protection from the cold contribute to a deservedly high yield. And this means that you will provide yourself with vitamins and macronutrients of sweet bell pepper until next year!
Capsicum or Paprika, which is a member of the Solanaceae family, is known to us as sweet pepper.
Despite the name, this vegetable has nothing to do with black hot pepper.
Pepper is a very heat-loving crop, which is considered to be the birthplace of America.
This vegetable loves moisture and warmth, but these obstacles do not prevent domestic gardeners from planting more and more seedlings of various varieties of pepper in their greenhouses and greenhouses.
Precisely because of its whimsicality, growing pepper seedlings can be a stumbling block, especially for beginner gardeners.
You must calculate the time for planting seeds in the ground yourself, since it all depends on the variety.
If the peppers you have chosen are early, then the seedlings should stay in pots for 65 days. In the case of mid-early or mid-ripening varieties, the "seedling" time increases to 65 - 70 days.
If the peppers are late, then before planting, the seedlings must reach 75 days of age.
A sure sign that it's time to transplant bushes is the formation of flowers and even ovaries. There is a chance that you will dig in the seeds too late. In this case, the seedlings will have to wait longer.
When the seeds germinate, then for 3-4 weeks it will be necessary to keep the seedlings under phytolamps, which must be used for 10-12 hours a day.
In order for the seeds to germinate quickly and accurately, you need ensure them comfortable surroundings. For this it is necessary control the temperature, that is, at + 28-32 ° C, the first sprouts will appear in 4-7 days after sowing.
If it is impossible to adhere to such a hot temperature regime, then 24-26 ° C will be enough to get shoots after 14-15 days.
As for the amount of sunlight, it is better to do additional lighting for any seedlings. Only in the case of late sowings, the period of such additional illumination is 3-4 weeks, and for seeds planted on time - 2-3 weeks.
Good, high-quality seeds are the key to the strength and health of future seedlings. Therefore, the choice of this material must be taken very seriously.
In order to remove all bad seeds, you need make saline solution by adding 30-40 g of salt to 1 liter of water. All the seeds will need to be placed in this solution, mixed and left alone for 7-10 minutes.
After this time, it will be necessary to remove those seeds that float, and those that remain at the bottom are to be sown. For disinfection of planting material and treatment from the fungus, for 10-15 minutes, gauze bags from the seed must be dipped in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate.
After disinfection, the seeds directly in the bags should be rinsed well with water. When processing is completed, all seeds must be evenly spread between two layers of cloth, which should be pre-wetted.
There is a list of the best varieties that will not disappoint you with their harvests.
Variety "Bogatyr"
Mid-season variety, the fruits will be ready in 125-160 days after the emergence of seedlings.
Designed for cultivation in greenhouse conditions.
The bushes are very powerful, gaining a height of 55-60 cm, sprawling.
The fruits are very large, weigh an average of 150-160 g, are formed in the shape of a cone, with a ribbed surface and with walls of average thickness (5 - 5.5 mm).
Unripe fruits are green, mature ones are red. This variety is resistant to verticillium wilt, blossom end rot and mosaic.
The pulp contains an increased amount of ascorbic acid, so the fruits of this particular pepper are of particular value to humans.
The fruits can easily withstand transportation, and also ripen in the garden very amicably. Suitable for eating both fresh and processed.
Variety "Big dad"
Early variety.
Plants are very compact, not sprawling.
The fruits are very fleshy, with thick pulp, cylindrical in shape, weighing 90 - 100 g, beautiful purple color.
When biological maturity occurs, the peppers are colored brown-red.
The yields of this variety are stable, despite the fact that it can be grown both in open ground and in a greenhouse.
Variety "Bugai"
A very early variety, it is considered the most precocious among the entire list of varieties of large peppers.
Plants grow up to 60 cm in height.
The fruits are very large, weighing up to 0.5 kg, with thick walls of 1 cm, cubic in shape, sunny yellow in color.
The taste of these peppers is neutral, but this vegetable is perfect for assembling dishes.
Variety "California Miracle"
Mid-early pepper, the fruits of which can be tasted 73-75 days after transplanting seedlings into the ground.
The bushes are quite high, up to 70-80 cm.
The fruits are red, weighing up to 250 g, thick-skinned - the fleshy layer forms up to 7 - 8 mm in thickness.
Will take root in any soil.
Variety "Atlant"
Medium-early variety of pepper, which begins to bear fruit 70 - 75 days after seedlings are added.
The fruits of this type of pepper are very large, red, 18-20 cm long, 13-14 cm in diameter, with thick fleshy walls 8-10 mm thick, the taste of which is simply amazing.
The bushes of this pepper are also large, about 70 - 75 cm in height, which will take root both in open and in greenhouse soil.
While you've left the seeds to swell, it's time to prepare the soil. It, of course, can be purchased, and especially now, when the shelves of agricultural stores are full of various packages with a wide variety of soils.
But if you do not trust such manufacturers, then you can make your own soil for your pepper. The most important thing is not to overweight the earth, to make it so that it is light.
The most classic version is a mixture of peat, humus and sod land, where the proportion of substances is 3:2:1. Instead of sod land, you can take forest land. When you mix these components, then in a bucket with this mixture you need to add another 0.5 kg of sand, 3 - 4 tablespoons of wood ash, 1 teaspoon of urea, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of superphosphate and mix everything very well.
To disinfect such soil, it must be poured with a hot solution of potassium permanganate with an approximate concentration of the substance of 1%.
As containers for seedlings, you can use peat pots, plastic cassettes, as well as ordinary cups or trays. Before sowing, it is necessary to pour the prepared or purchased soil into the container and compact the soil.
After compaction, the ground level should be about 2 cm below the side of the container. Seeds that are swollen or pecked should be spread out in containers with an interval of 1.5 - 2 cm using tweezers.
If you work with cassettes, then in each cell you need to add 1 seed. Next, the seeds need to be covered with soil with a layer of up to 1.5 cm and compacted a little.
Before the seeds germinate, it is better to put the containers with them in a greenhouse or in a plastic bag. So the water will not evaporate too quickly. Water the seeds very carefully, as they can wash to the surface.
Optimal would be weekly watering with water at room temperature, which has settled. It is important that the water does not stagnate in the bottom of the pots or trays, so this must be monitored carefully.
Before shoots appear, the air temperature should be at least + 25 ° C. When the seeds have germinated, the temperature will need to be lowered to + 15-17 ° C. Containers with seeds must be rotated on the windowsill so that the light evenly hits all the seedlings.
Seedling care rules
- picking
- top dressing
- Watering
- hardening
When the seedlings have already formed and grown 2 true leaves, then it is time for picking, that is, transplanting, plants.
In the case of pepper, picking is aimed not only at increasing the space for the root system of seedlings, but also at preventing the occurrence of root rot.
Pepper seedlings are very delicate, so damage to the root system must be minimized. It is better to transplant into small pots, as pepper roots grow slowly.
In small containers, the roots will quickly master the earthen ball, so neither the earth nor the water will stagnate. Seedlings need to be taken on the leaves so as not to damage the stem.
In each larger container, you need to make a hole, moreover, of such a size that the roots of the seedlings do not bend.
The root neck can be immersed no more than half a centimeter into the ground, therefore, each seedling should be sprinkled with the appropriate amount of earth, slightly compacting it.
After picking, the seedlings need to be watered, and very carefully. When the water is completely absorbed, it will be possible to rearrange it on the windowsill, and for the first few days it is better for the seedlings to provide shade so that burns do not appear on the leaves.
The main thing is to monitor the temperature of the soil so that it does not fall below + 15 ° C. When the end of May is approaching, many seedlings of other crops will already need to be dug in. In this case, there will be more space on the windowsill. Therefore, each pepper seedling can, in the truest sense of the word, be thrown into liter pots. Moreover, you need to transfer it along with an earthen clod into the old soil, but with the addition of double superphosphate and wood ash.
Before transplanting pepper seedlings to a “permanent place of residence”, you will need to feed the seedlings at least 2 times.
The first time fertilizers will need to be applied 2 weeks after picking, and the second such procedure will need to be done 2 weeks after the first feeding.
Fertilizers should be applied in liquid form so that they penetrate the soil more easily.
To date, there are many fertilizer complexes that have been developed specifically for seedlings.
That's it with them you can feed pepper seedlings.
The watering regimen before seed germination and adult seedlings will not change, that is, once every 5-6 days, each seedling will need to be watered with water at room temperature, and it will need to be watered under the root so that the entire earthen lump on the roots gets wet.
You can not use cold water for irrigation, as it simply injures the root system of young peppers.
It is simply necessary to harden seedlings before planting in the ground, otherwise the plants will not withstand sudden changes in environmental conditions.
Approximately 2 weeks before transplantation, you need to start accustom seedlings to the sun, gusts of wind, temperature fluctuations.
To do this, you can take the boxes with seedlings to the balcony or simply open the window.
It is important in this situation not to freeze the seedlings.
This will happen if the temperature drops below +15°C.
Also, drafts should not be allowed to form, which can also harm young bushes.
Planting seedlings in the ground
When the first buds begin to form in the seedlings, and the average temperature per day is within +15 ... + 17 ° C, then it will be possible to transplant the seedlings into the ground.
For peppers, the composition of the soil is important, that is, the earth should in no case be heavy. The soil needs to be well dug up and levelled.
Between adjacent holes, you need to make an interval of at least 50 cm, and between adjacent beds - at least 60 cm.
In each hole, which needs to be dug so that the root neck of the seedling remains at ground level, you need to add 1 tablespoon of complex fertilizer and mix. Then you need to carefully remove each seedling from the container, while you can not violate the integrity of the earthen coma.
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Sweet pepper for open ground: in order to get a good harvest of large, fleshy, juicy fruits, you should correctly approach all methods of cultivating this crop and know their features.
- Pepper gives the highest yields on light loamy chernozems and sandy loams.
- It is also demanding on crop rotation: it is desirable to grow it in one place for 1 year. Legumes and early vegetable plants should be chosen as predecessors.
- The soil for sweet pepper is prepared at the end of the gardening season, loosening the soil to a depth of 30 cm, followed by the introduction of 3 - 4 kg / m² of rotted manure.
- The landing site is prepared taking into account its placement in the wings of tall crops. This makes it possible to reduce the negative impact of sharp temperature fluctuations on the growth of pepper, and also protects from the wind.
Growing bell pepper seedling method
How to grow bell pepper?
The most common cultivation of culture seedling method. It is recommended to grow seedlings in humus - earthen pots in order to avoid damage to the fragile root system of the plant.
The mixture for them is prepared as follows: for 8 parts of humus, 2 parts of turf and 1 part of mullein are taken, with the addition of 40 g of superphosphate, 10 g of urea and 5 g of potassium sulfate per bucket of the resulting mixture. The optimal dimensions of each pot are 60x60 mm.
Seed preparation
By the time of laying in the mixture, the seed material must be prepared.
- First of all, the most filled seeds are selected: they are poured into a container with water, stirred, allowed to settle, the floating seeds are removed, the water is drained through a fine-mesh sieve.
- The remaining material is dried, disinfected in a weak manganese solution, germinated on a periodically moistened tissue until pecking.
- Prepared seeds of 3-4 pieces are placed in moistened pots, after which they are sprinkled with a layer of earth 10-20 mm.
On the right in the photo are the seeds of sweet pepper.
seedling care
For faster seed germination, boxes with future seedlings are placed in a well-lit place with a temperature of:
- 25 - 30°C(this can be a window sill in a house or a greenhouse room) before germination;
- after their appearance 10 - 15°С during the week;
- 20 - 25°C until the seedlings are planted in the ground.
Water the seedlings at least every 2 days, while at the same time avoiding moisture stagnation in the soil. Daily watering is required already when four to five true leaves appear.
Seedlings need to be fed. 50 g of superphosphate, 20 g of urea and 15 g of potassium sulfate are taken per bucket of water. From organic fertilizers, fermented bird droppings or slurry are used. The introduction of organic and mineral fertilizers alternate. The first top dressing is carried out in the phase of the appearance of the first true leaf, re-fertilized in the phase of four to five leaves.
Planting seedlings in the ground, watering and fertilizing
A very important agrotechnical technique in the cultivation of pepper is planting seedlings in the ground.
- One to two weeks before planting seedlings start hardening it: reduce the temperature, limit watering, in order to improve illumination; in the absence of a threat of frost, plants are taken out into the open air.
- 5 - 10 days before planting peppers in the ground they are sprayed with a 0.5% solution of copper sulfate to protect against fungal diseases.
- Peppers suitable for planting in the ground have 5-6 true leaves, a strong stem, and a developed root system.
- Water the seedlings well before planting.
It is planted in the southern regions in the last days of April. In areas with lower average temperatures for this period, it is advisable to choose the beginning of June for planting time.
In general, the entire cycle from the moment the seeds are prepared to the planting of peppers in the ground takes 45 - 55 days. while ensuring the correct temperature regime, compliance with the frequency, as well as the quality of watering and top dressing. Planting is carried out in an ordinary way with a feeding area of 70x15 cm for one plant or 70x30 cm for two plants in the holes.
In pre-watered holes, plants are placed together with an earthen clod 1–1.5 cm deeper than the root neck, then sprinkled with dry earth. The next day after planting the peppers in the ground, they need to be watered again. Throughout the entire growing period until harvest, watering is regularly repeated, preventing the soil from drying out.
Important! The lack of moisture in the soil leads to:
- to abscission of flowers and ovaries;
- stop the growth of plants;
- violations of fruit formation;
- significant reduction in yield.
After watering, the soil is loosened, and this must be done carefully, deepening no more than 5 cm, paying special attention to the space near the stem.
Important! Fertilizers are applied throughout the growing season, depending on the condition of the plants, avoiding nitrogen fertilizers, which cause the growth of vegetative shoots and delay the formation of fruits.
But the first top dressing is obligatory in 10 - 15 days after disembarkation: a mixture of 15 g of ammonium nitrate, 20 g of superphosphate and 5 g of potassium salt is added per 1 m².
Such seedlings take root faster and better, give a better and earlier harvest.
You can learn more about how to properly plant sweet pepper seedlings in open ground in the video below:
Growing peppers from seeds in the ground
When growing sweet peppers in the open ground in a seedless way, first of all requires carefully leveled and crushed soil for sweet pepper.
Bell pepper seeds for open ground are disinfected, but not germinated. The optimal time for planting seed is the second decade of April.
In unfriendly, late spring, when the timing of planting work is shifted, the seeds are pre-sprouted before pecking.
How to plant bell peppers from seeds?
In carefully leveled and crushed soil, 8 - 10 holes are made per 1 m². In each of them, for faster germination, 4-5 seeds are sown in heaps with a embedment depth of 3-4 cm and subsequent mulching.
After the emergence of shoots in the holes, as a rule, 1-2 plants are left. With this method of growing, further care of the plants consists in watering, loosening, weeding with the same rules and frequency as with the method of growing pepper seedlings.
Diseases and pests
Disease and pest control also plays a big role in pepper cultivation. Proper diagnosis of the disease and timely action will help preserve the crop and even prevent its death.
- Pathogen verticillium wilt is a fungus that lives in the soil. It penetrates into the wounds of the root system of the plant during careless planting or excessive loosening.
Wilting disease manifests itself in spotted lesions, wilting, leaf fall and deformation of internodes. At an early stage of the disease, the plant does not form ovaries, if the infection occurred in the fruiting phase, the fruits wrinkle and do not pour. Prevention measures- soil disinfection, careful planting of seedlings together with an earthen clod, accurate loosening of the soil.
- late blight also caused by a fungus. Affected areas in the form of brown spots with a pale green halo rot in wet weather. Prevention methods- timely planting of seedlings in the period of settled weather without the risk of a significant difference in day and night temperatures with the formation of strong condensate and its fall on the plants.
- White rot (scleroteniosis). A fungal disease that develops in the basal part of the pepper. Symptoms are a white coating on the surface of the stem, and inside it are solid black formations that prevent the absorption of moisture and minerals from the soil.
White rot leads to the death of the plant. Preventive and therapeutic measures: timely cleaning of dead plants, moderate watering, dusting with ash or chalk for minor lesions, thermal disinfection of the soil.
- Gray rot. Plants cultivated in greenhouses are mainly affected. Brown weeping spots with a gray coating appear on the stem and leaves at high humidity and when the temperature drops to 10 ° C. Prevention measures- compliance with the ratio of temperature and humidity, crop rotation requirements, weeding.
If gray rot has already appeared, remove all affected fruits. You can remove gray rot by spraying with an infusion of garlic: 30 g of crushed garlic for two days to insist on a bucket of water. Spraying with industrial preparations of the corresponding spectrum of action is also used.
- Top rot. Also a disease of greenhouse plants, bacterial or non-infectious origin. The first type of the disease is characterized by the appearance of gray spots, the second type is manifested in the form of watery green spots on the fruit. When affected, the resulting fruits do not ripen, but rot. With initial symptoms, spraying with calcium nitrate helps well. Affected fruits are collected and destroyed.
- Blackleg. Damage to the basal part of the stem in seedlings at low temperature and high humidity. The reasons are the failed disinfection of seeds and non-compliance with the rules for sowing them for seedlings. Diseased plants are culled, the soil is treated with copper sulphate. As a preventive measure, seedlings can be sprayed with Phytodoctor.
Pepper pest control is usually effective with the use of insecticides.
- Aphid, accumulating on all organs of the plant, sucks nutrients and moisture from the tissues. A good result is sprayed with a daily infusion of ash with the addition of soap based on 10 liters of water, 1 glass of ash and 30 g of soap. Instead of ash, you can use smoking tobacco - 100 g per 10 liters of water. Pepper plantations are treated with such solutions several times in the morning.
- spider mite forms colonies on the underside of the plant leaf. The defeat of the tick leads to a violation of vital and fruitful functions. To kill the tick, spray the leaves from below with soapy water.
- Slugs cause great damage to the fruits, climbing inside them. The mechanical way to deal with slugs is to manually collect and destroy. The soil should be pollinated periodically with ash, slaked lime or mustard powder. As a means of repelling these pests, parsley can be sown next to the pepper.
- Colorado beetle. Larvae laid by adult insects eat the leaves. With a massive pest attack, this can lead to the complete destruction of the crown and the death of the plant. Beetles, larvae and eggs are harvested by hand. A pepper plantation can be treated with insecticides or celandine tincture.
You can find out more information about possible diseases and pests of sweet pepper in the video below:
Harvest and storage
Harvest when the fruit reaches ripeness: they are poured, acquire color and size, conditioned for a particular variety.
Ripeness can also be judged by the characteristic sound when touching the fruit. The first collection is carried out already in mid-July - early August depending on the climatic zone of cultivation.
It is important to take into account that it is best to harvest the fruit in dry weather so that the moisture on the harvested peppers does not lead to rotting during storage. Peppers are removed without cutting the stalk, which increases its shelf life without loss of taste.
Up to five training camps are held for the entire season. When forecasting frosts, they collect all the fruits remaining on the bushes for their ripening indoors.
It is recommended to store the collected pepper at a relative humidity of 80 - 90% and a temperature of 8 - 10°C. The absence of defects and damage on the fruits increases their shelf life. In refrigerators and cellars, ripe peppers can be stored for up to a month. It is possible to freeze peppers as a way of preservation.
Getting seeds
When harvesting, it is necessary to take care of the gene pool for the next season, because the germination of seeds grown by oneself, in compliance with all the rules of plants, reaches almost 100%. From the selected, most beautiful and large pepper, the core is removed, the seeds are separated from it. Seeds are dried naturally and stored in cotton bags for three to four years.
And a little more about selection.
Important! Although pepper is a self-pollinating plant, cross-pollination is not ruled out. Therefore, when growing various plants, it is necessary to isolate the plants left for seeds.
Useful video
Here he is, bell pepper - whimsical, capricious, time-consuming. But subject to all the rules, grown with care and love, it will certainly give beautiful, juicy and sweet fruits.
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