Pepper is not the most capricious plant, but it requires a lot of care. Sowing pepper seeds for seedlings makes it possible to get a large crop with excellent taste and vitamin composition. In order to grow hardy and strong plants for planting in a permanent place, it is important to properly and timely prepare the soil and seeds, sow the crop, and take care of the sprouts.
Dates of sowing seeds for seedlings
Pepper is sown in open ground only in the south of Russia. Summer residents living in other regions of the country grow vegetables in greenhouses and under film shelter. Soil temperature suitable for planting is 15 to 16 degrees with a plus sign.
When planting seeds in heated and unheated greenhouses, the precocity of the selected bell pepper should be taken into account. When determining the timing of sowing, focus on the days when you want to collect the first fruits. They ripen on seedlings in a heated greenhouse after 100 days, in unheated - 120 days after the appearance of sprouts. Add time for emergence to this.
It is easy to calculate that, for example, wanting to get a vegetable in August, planting pepper for seedlings for subsequent transplantation into the protected ground is necessary in the final days of February. The deadline for crops is mid-March.
Preparing seeds for sowing
Expect a high percentage of germination of all seeds of pepper is not worth it. Despite the well-known manufacturer, in each pack there is substandard, and possibly re-sorting. That is why it is important to properly prepare the seeds for planting.
Remember that seeds must be taken with a shelf life of not more than 4 years. Checking pepper for germination involves placing seeds in a glass of water. Floated grains are laid aside, you will not need them. For sowing seedlings, only those seeds are left that have sunk to the bottom.
Presowing treatment of planting material involves soaking, it allows you to disinfect the seeds. The best composition is considered potassium permanganate. Protein substances, due to potassium permanganate, are destroyed, and the seeds themselves remain unharmed.
Use the following recipe for disinfecting pepper:
- Dissolve 1 gram of manganese in 100 ml of cold tap water.
- Set aside the solution until the substances have completely penetrated for half an hour.
Another recipe involves preparing a solution without accurately measuring the components. You should focus on the result - the solution should turn out a light pink hue.
Such effective compositions will help stimulate the rapid development and hatching of the shell of seeds of sweet pepper:
- Growth stimulants that are bought in a special store.
- You can process planting material with mineral fertilizers. The seeds are left in the fertilizer for 4-5 hours.
- Infusion with the addition of ash. 30 grams of ash is diluted in ½ liter of water and the seeds are immersed in the resulting solution for 3 hours.
After the procedure, in order to stimulate the growth of grains, they are washed several times with running water, and then soaked for germination. Soaking softens the shell of the planting material, so they peck faster.
It does not hurt to carry out bubbling - the saturation of pepper with oxygen. Manipulation consists of successive stages:
- Arrange the seeds in a jar.
- Blow air using a compressor.
- The duration of the sparge is at least 5 hours.
To germinate planting material, it is wrapped in a wet piece of cloth or gauze. Then the seeds are left in a warm room. Drying of gauze should not be allowed.
To avoid the rapid evaporation of moisture, gauze with grains is laid out on a saucer and wrapped in a plastic bag.
Some summer residents use the old-fashioned method of germination in the old fashioned way - they soak peppers in water. At the same time, no one thinks about the fact that for development the embryo needs not only liquid, but also air. Despite the swelling of the seeds, without oxygen, the embryo is not able to develop, so it quickly dies.
The best temperature for seed germination is more than 20 degrees with a plus sign. If the room is cooler, planting material is left on the cabinet. Under the ceiling, the temperature rises by a couple of degrees.
How to prepare the soil mixture?
The soil in which pepper seedlings are well grown is drained, with humus and a nutrient medium, without larvae of insects and other pathogens of vegetable crop diseases. It is necessary to choose a soil with a neutral pH, in extreme cases slightly acidic.
There are several options for preparing the required soil mixture:
- Mix 1 part of leaf soil and sand, 2 parts of peat. For such a composition, the acidity is too high, so it is lowered by adding slaked lime or other fertilizers containing lime.
- Add 1 part of compost and washed river sand to 2 parts of peat.
- Measure out 2 parts of sandy loam soil taken from the meadow and peat, and 1 part humus. Also take superphosphate in the amount of 2 matchboxes and 1 box of potassium sulfate. These fertilizers are mixed with 10 l of soil mixture.
If you do not want to prepare the substrate for seedlings yourself, buy ready-made land for vegetable crops in the store. Peppers suitable soil for tomato, eggplant.
If 100% peat is available, it is recommended to add mineral fertilizers at each watering, the main thing is that the concentration of fertilizing is low.
Sowing pepper in separate containers and one container
If the pepper is planted in a common box, wooden or plastic, after sprouts and a pair of real leaves appear, seedlings are dived. However, experts noticed that after a dive in separate glasses, the pepper gets sick and becomes frail. This is due to damage to the roots during a dive, which is difficult to avoid.
That is why it is better to sow the seeds in separate pots right away. If there are not enough glasses for each grain, take a spacious common container. Count so that the sprouts with lumps of soil mix can later be easily transferred to glasses. The optimal landing scheme is 5x6. The depth of the container should be from 5 to 6 cm. Individual pots are bought with a size of 10x10 cm each. Their depth should be from 10 to 12 cm.
Some mistakenly consider the most comfortable glasses made from pressed cardboard. The fact is that cardboard is fixed with glue, harmful and destructive for seedlings. Therefore, seedlings are weak and susceptible to disease.
Some summer residents advise making cups for sowing pepper seeds with their own hands. To do this, cut a piece of dense plastic film and give it the desired shape. Fixing glasses is carried out using office gum.
Rapid germination of the seeds ensures that the seeds are buried in dense soil so that loose soil remains at the top. A well-drained soil mix perfectly transmits oxygen, and the shoots grow up unhindered. The best way to plant bell pepper is to press the seeds into the soil placed in a 1 cm container. After the seeds are inside, they are lightly sprayed with water and covered with loose, dry soil. Having sown seeds, the containers are covered with plastic wrap.
Conditions for sprouting sweet pepper seeds
Conditions under which the seeds planted in the ground for seedlings will germinate faster and will please with fleshy and strong shoots:
- Air temperature should be between 25 and 28 degrees with a plus sign. As soon as the stems appear above the surface of the earth, a box with seedlings for 4 days is transferred to a place with an air temperature of 14 to 16 degrees. Thanks to this simple method, the root system will become more powerful and stronger. After 4 days, the peppers are returned to a warm place.
- Peppers also like plenty of light.. Therefore, the box is often placed on the windowsill. But make sure that the window does not blow in the wind. Seedlings are afraid of drafts, because of this, it can get sick and the abyss. If the window is not insulated, artificial lighting will help to solve the problem. Use a phytolamp with a capacity of 40 to 60 watts.
- Moisturize the soil regularly. It should not be dry. Watering is carried out so that the seeds do not appear on the surface and do not get out of the soil mixture. You can use a spray gun. To increase the intervals between waterings, cover the pots with a film cover or cotton. You can’t put glasses on radiators; the heater gives up too much heat. Tender seedlings can dry out and die.
- If the air is too dry, turn on the humidifier or irrigate the room from the spray gun yourself.
Details on how to properly prepare the soil and sow pepper seeds for seedlings are described in the video below:
Approaching the sowing of seeds of bell pepper for seedlings responsibly, you can grow tasty and juicy fruits. Plant the seeds in a pre-prepared substrate and pre-test them for germination. It is better to plant peppers in separate containers. Then the seedlings will be strong, healthy and give a great harvest.