Pepper, like most southern vegetables, is grown only through seedlings in conditions of our climate. The period of time from the first shoots to the beginning of fruiting takes 120-150 days. And otherwise, if you plant the seeds immediately in the open ground, the fruits simply will not have time to ripen before the end of the season. Therefore, in order to plant peppers on seedlings at home, you need to know how to do it right. Numerous nuances of germination of sprouts from seeds will come in handy, so as to experience their own useful and very tasty vegetables by their own experience.
How best to plant pepper on seedlings?
Plant pepper on seedlings regardless of its type (sweet or spicy ) can, as a rule, in several ways.
The usual, traditional way of planting does not involve any preseeding preparation. You just take the seeds of pepper and plant them in prepared containers with ground. However, there are some peculiarities here.
So, for example, as a soil mixture for seedling peppers, the usual garden land is best mixed with the purchased universal soil in equal parts, and if desired, you can also add perlite. The latter contributes to the preservation of moisture, which will save your time - you will need to water the seedlings a little less often.
Another feature of pepper is that this culture is very thermophilic and requires heat much more than tomatoes or, say, cucumbers . Therefore, it is desirable to contain seedlings on the warmest window sill - south or west. Note also that peppers are cross-pollinated plants. This means that to land, or rather, to dive them better in pairs.
Somewhat different from the traditional way of planting, presupposing the preliminary preparation of seeds. It can include soaking or germination of the inoculum before direct planting in the soil, as well as calibration in saline solution, treatment with microelements or biologically active components, bubbling, heating in the sun. Such methods will help you to select the best, healthy, strong and fast germinating seeds and to reject poor-quality material.
Many plant pepper seedlings on toilet paper. This method is called "Moscow" and has its undeniable advantages: first of all, it protects young plants from damage with a black leg, as well as the ease of picking, the simplicity of technology and the availability of materials. To plant pepper seedlings, cheap toilet paper, on which seeds are placed, the plastic cup and usual polyethylene film, can be used.
Lay out on the table a long piece of film, equal in width to the toilet paper, and on top - the unfolded paper roll. Lightly moisten it with water from an atomizer, spread the seeds with tweezers at equal distances from each other. It remains to cover them with a second layer of film and roll into a free roll. Put the roll into a glass, pouring water on the bottom, and cover with a plastic bag, creating a miniature
Seedling should be done not only to adapt it to the temperature conditions of the open ground, but also to accustom the plants to direct sunlight, which will be very important after planting on the bed. Without carrying out such a solar hardening, your peppers will "burn" and will have to recover from the roots for several weeks.