Juicy and aromatic sweet peppers can be consumed as a separate dish or used in preparing fresh salads, stewing, canning.
This vegetable crop can produce high yields if it is based on strong and healthy seedlings. Every novice gardener can grow it. You just need to decide on the growing place (in a greenhouse or on open beds) and be patient.
Preparing the soil for growing peppers
To grow sweet peppers, you need to prepare a special soil mixture in the fall season. To prepare it, you will need: one ten-liter bucket of garden soil and humus, as well as two glasses of wood ash. You can also use the second option: two buckets of garden soil, a little less than one and a half buckets of small sawdust, three glasses of wood ash and eight tablespoons of superphosphate.
To destroy harmful insects and dangerous microorganisms in the soil, it is recommended to store the prepared soil mixture on the balcony. At low temperatures, the soil is frozen, and all pests die.
On the twentieth of January, the soil must be brought into a warm room and filled with water (or a weak manganese solution) with a temperature of about 70 degrees. Immediately after watering, the soil mixture must be covered with any dense film and left to cool completely. The cooled soil should dry out well. It is recommended to loosen it thoroughly before use..
Preparing seeds for planting seedlings
Seed preparation for planting should begin with a disinfection process. This requires a saturated manganese solution. It is necessary to soak the seeds in it and leave for twenty minutes. After soaking, the seeds must be thoroughly rinsed under running water..
After that, the seeds will need a nutrient solution made from natural ingredients. For example, you can soak them in potato juice (made from frozen tubers) for at least eight hours..
The next step is hardening. After the potato juice, the seeds are washed, poured onto a damp cloth, rolled up and placed in a half-liter jar. The container with seeds is stored in a warm room during the daytime, and in the refrigerator at night. The fabric should not dry out; it is necessary to moisten it in time. This process continues for 6 days. Seeds prepared in this way will grow healthy and strong seedlings, and in the future – a big harvest..
Sowing pepper seeds for seedlings
Pepper is a delicate plant, especially young seedlings. They react negatively to the transplant. Therefore, it is advisable to immediately sow seeds not in a common box, but in separate small containers. As containers, you can use not only special pots for seedlings, but also household materials at hand (for example, cups and boxes for dairy products, juices, drinks and desserts). The main thing is that there is a drainage hole in each container..
The potting mix should fill the containers to about seventy percent. 2-3 seeds are sown in each of them. Planting depth is small – no more than 2 centimeters. All small pots, bags or jars can be placed in a large box for easy transportation, then covered with thick film and transferred to a warm room with high humidity.
Seedling care rules: watering and feeding
After about a week, the first shoots will begin to appear. This means that it is time to remove the film cover. Young seedlings need light and warmth, so you need to transfer them to a warm and well-lit place..
At this stage of development, plants need feeding. They are brought in during watering. Wood ash is of great benefit to seedlings. It is recommended to add the ash solution to the irrigation water. It is prepared from three liters of water and three tablespoons of ash. Also during this period, plants need manganese. Young peppers can be watered with a weak solution of this drug, alternating with ash infusion.
Watering is carried out directly under the plant and in small quantities.
As the seedlings grow, strong representatives of this vegetable crop will stand out more and more, weak plants will have to be removed from the container. After the sixth leaf appears on the seedlings, experienced gardeners recommend pinching the top. This will contribute to the formation of lateral stems, on which fruits will form in the future..
When growing seedlings of peppers, it is recommended to feed it with a superphosphate solution (2 tablespoons of the drug per 2 liters of hot water). The prepared solution is added to the water during irrigation. This fertilization stimulates the formation of ovaries and fruits..
Transplanting pepper seedlings into the ground and caring for it
Pepper seedlings can be grown in greenhouse conditions or in ordinary open beds. Before planting seedlings, it is necessary to prepare the holes and fill them with a special nutrient mixture of humus, wood ash, one spoon of superphosphate and a small amount of bird droppings. After thoroughly mixing all the components, the wells are watered abundantly with water.
The distance between the seedlings is at least 30 centimeters, and the row spacing is about 70 centimeters. Plants are transferred from individual containers to the beds along with an earthen clod, without separating them.
The main rules for caring for plants are: regular and abundant watering, constant loosening of the soil and timely feeding.
Super peppers in a greenhouse on 6 acres (video)
Super peppers in a greenhouse on 6 acres !. Site "Garden world"