After planting pepper seedlings in the ground, the next milestone for growing this vegetable crop. Pepper care when grown in a greenhouse and in open ground differs in some respects. Many people think that a good crop of pepper, since it is a heat-loving crop, can only be grown in a greenhouse or in southern regions, where the summer is long, but many years of experience have shown that in the open field you can also get high results pepper productivity. It is important to know all the pros and cons of different ways of growing peppers in the open field and in the greenhouse, as well as the differences in care.

Planting peppers in open ground.

For growing peppers outdoors buy pepper seeds early ripe varieties, in which the period from germination to the first harvest is no more than 120 days. The time for planting pepper in open ground without shelter falls on the first days of June, usually by this time stable warm weather is already established with an average daily temperature of about +18 degrees. For planting in open ground, pepper seedlings should reach the age of 55-60 days by the beginning of May, the plants have 8-12 leaves, the first buds and flowers.

When growing seedlings in open ground, it is important to take the most favorable place for this garden crop. Pepper loves heat and sun, so best site for the beds will be with south side buildings. If the bed is located on open space, then with north side it is desirable to create protection from cold winds, for this you need to plant a number of tall vegetables on the windward side - corn, beans, peas.

You can not grow pepper in the garden, where last season vegetables related to it grew - tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes. It is good to grow pepper after root crops - carrots, beets or cabbage, pumpkins, beans.

Pepper planting should be carried out carefully so that the seedlings do not experience stress, it should be planted in cloudy weather or in the evening when the sun's activity is reduced. When planting pepper on a sunny day, the plants need to be shaded and the holes should be shed abundantly so that the seedlings do not fade.

Pepper seedlings quickly adapt and grow when transplanted by transshipment from pots, when the earth clod does not collapse and the roots are not damaged.

Pepper care in the open field.

Pepper grows well if, after planting, the surface of the soil in the garden is mulched with peat, humus, or when the earth is covered with dark plastic wrap. To do this, before planting seedlings, the bed is covered with a dark film, cuts are made in the places of the holes, and then seedlings are planted in these holes and the plants are watered. With this method of covering the earth with a film in the care of pepper, there is no need to weed and loosen the ridges, since weeds do not germinate through the film, moisture is retained in the soil longer, a crust does not form on the surface, and the temperature in the soil will be a couple of degrees higher, which is very fond of pepper.

Without mulching, the soil must be regularly weeded, loosened so that the roots vegetable plants get enough air. Loosening the ridges of pepper is done superficially, by about 5 cm, using a tool similar to a fork, since the numerous roots of the pepper are shallow.

In open ground, they mainly grow low varieties of pepper that do not require a garter, and the crown of plants is formed according to the rules of a fork. The top of the peppers is pinched when the plants reach a height of 20-25 cm, when it gives side shoots, leave only the two strongest, they, in turn, also leave two shoots each, in the end you should get 8-10 branches. Pepper shoots growing inside the bush are recommended to be removed.

When forming pepper, it is planted according to the scheme 45 x 50 cm, i.e. rows are made every 50 cm, and in a row, holes for planting seedlings are dug every 45 cm.

How to properly water peppers:

The quantity and quality of the crop depends on the watering of the pepper. If there is not enough moisture for plants, their stems become stiff, buds and leaves fall off, and the set fruits form thin-walled and hard. Before flowering, pepper should be watered abundantly once a week so that the soil in the beds gets wet to a depth of at least 20 cm. After flowering, during the period of growth of pepper fruits in dry weather, abundant watering is required every 3-4 days.

Peppers should not be watered cold tap water from a hose by sprinkling over the leaves, while you make two mistakes at once. Peppers need to be watered only with warm water settled in the tank under the root.

Additional top dressing of pepper when grown in open ground and in a greenhouse is done in the same way. The first time the pepper is fertilized 2 weeks after planting. When the plants are still actively growing green mass, it is good to feed them organic fertilizer- infusion of mullein or chicken manure, diluted in a ratio of 1:10 and 1:15. The following top dressing is carried out every 2-3 weeks, using a complex mineral fertilizer. It is better to exclude organic matter so that the forces of the plant are directed to flowering and the formation of fruits.

Pepper care in the greenhouse.

In greenhouses, you can grow all varieties of pepper from early ripening to late ripening, in which the first crop of fruits ripens 135 days after germination.

Pepper seedlings can be planted in the greenhouse in the first decade of May, as the plants are protected from short-term frosts and cold nights. By this time, pepper seedlings should have reached the age of 60 days, so pepper seeds for greenhouses are sown almost a month earlier than those intended for open ground.

The land in the greenhouse must be renewed or fertilized annually, for this 1 sq.m. bring up to two buckets of humus and about 50 grams of complex mineral fertilizer. Peppers do not like acidic soil, therefore, it is limed in advance or, when planted, 1-2 tablespoons of wood ash are poured into each hole.

Planting pepper in a greenhouse is usually carried out more densely, trying to fit as much as possible more plants, for this, a 30x40 cm scheme is used. With this planting, the plants are formed into one stem and tall varieties are used that need to be tied up, like tomatoes.

Temperature regime when growing pepper in a greenhouse.

Pepper can be planted in a greenhouse when it average daily temperature will be 20 degrees, and at night it will not fall below +12 degrees. A thermometer in the greenhouse must be hung up, since temperature control is needed not only in spring, but also in summer to prevent overheating.

In a greenhouse there is a danger of an excessive increase in temperature and humidity, in such an atmosphere, as in a bathhouse, pepper will grow and bloom, but not set fruits, since high humidity causes sticking of pollen, and air temperatures above +28 degrees make pollen sterile.

Pepper is well pollinated in the open ground with the help of wind and insects, but bees rarely fly into the greenhouse and the plants are reliably protected from the wind, so they need to be helped to pollinate by shaking the flowering bushes every 3-4 days or brushing the flowers with a brush.

Peppers do not like sudden changes in temperature in the greenhouse, so it must be regulated by airing on hot days and closing on cool nights.

In the greenhouse, the first pepper crop ripens a month earlier than in the open field, and due to the longer growth period in the warmth, the crop will grow more.

Watering peppers in the greenhouse

Peppers are watered in the greenhouse regularly 1-2 times a week, since atmospheric precipitation is not available to the plants, the time between waterings can only change due to changes in temperature in the greenhouse. On hot days, the soil dries out faster and the plants need to be watered more often. Violation of the rules of watering - prolonged overdrying, followed by abundant watering of the soil, leads to cracking of the fruit.

In order for peppers to ripen sweet, with a high content of vitamins, plants need to be fed with phosphorus-potassium fertilizer, but not more than 1 time in two weeks.

Mistakes in the care of peppers lead to a decrease in the quality of the crop. If the peppercorns grow small and ugly, then the soil is too acidic or the plants are over-fertilized with nitrogen, there is not enough sunlight, it also causes over-watering and fruit set in high humidity conditions.

Every gardener strives to get a good harvest. fresh vegetables on their beds. And the main place in this list is occupied by southern plants: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants. Caring for outdoor peppers is the same as caring for the rest thermophilic crops, is to create a certain microclimate in which it will be comfortable to grow.

The secrets of growing peppers in the open field are to follow the proven technology and observe the development of plants. Cover an additional bed with peppers or ventilate the greenhouse, feed with fertilizer or spud plantings - the appearance of the plant will unmistakably tell you what it lacks.

Biological features

Agrotechnology for growing seedlings

Earth

seeds

Seedling

Outdoor care

Watering

Fertilization

Conclusion

Biological features

To harvest a good crop of sweet pepper in Russian conditions, you need to know the features of its growth and development. It became possible to grow pepper in open ground only after breeding resistant varieties and hybrids that tolerate low temperatures, fluctuations and insufficient heat without loss of yield.

Such varieties appeared in Russia in the early 70s. There were few of them, but they were universal, they grew well in all climatic regions: from Moldova to Siberia.

Important! Active promotion pepper to the north and east contributes to the emergence of new covering materials, the availability of a variety of greenhouses and greenhouses, the breeding of resistant varieties and hybrids.

Pepper is perennial shrub with pungent or sweet fruits. In the harsh conditions of our climate, this crop is grown as an annual. In terms of fruit ripening, it has early, medium and late varieties.

How to properly care for pepper plantings, you can find out by studying biological features and developed agricultural technology.

The plant is thermophilic, good yields are obtained if peppers are grown in a greenhouse or on a bed with a temporary film cover. During the entire period of growth, pepper requires a temperature of +20 ° C to +30 ° C.

This is a short day culture. With a ten-hour light day, the fruits ripen two weeks earlier than with 14-hour light.

The development of flowers and ovaries is affected by the dryness of the air; in the heat they fall off. At high humidity on pepper quickly begin to develop fungal diseases. The optimum air humidity for plant development is 50%.

The popularity of pepper can be determined by looking at the list of varieties in the state register of plants of the Russian Federation. There are already more than 700 of them and about half are hybrids.

Important! All F1 hybrids differ from varieties in having a shorter period before harvest, accelerated maturation yield, high adaptability to adverse climate.

Agrotechnology for growing seedlings

Before you start planting seeds, you need to decide on the variety. In addition to maturation, they are characterized by many parameters:

• height and branching of the bush;
• resistance to diseases and weather changes;
• productivity;
• fruit color and weight;
• wall thickness and juiciness.

When choosing peppers, carrying out cultivation and care in the open field, preference should be given to zoned varieties of early and medium ripening.

Pepper farming consists of the usual steps:

• preparation and planting of seeds for seedlings;
• seedling care;
• planting in open ground;
• watering, fertilizing and loosening;
• pest protection;
• collection and processing of crops.

Earth

You have to choose in the store suitable land for planting seeds. You can also prepare it yourself. A prerequisite is a loose, breathable and moisture-permeable structure.

There must be a baking powder in the ground:

• sand;
• peat;
• sawdust.

A mixture of soddy land, peat and sand is being prepared in a ratio of 1: 2: 1.

seeds

To obtain strong and stable seedlings, seeds must be prepared before planting. In strongly salted water, viable seeds are selected, which sink to the bottom. Then they are soaked for an hour in a raspberry solution of potassium permanganate, killing the fungal infection that affects adult plants.

Before planting in the soil, the seeds are dipped for 12 hours in a solution of microelements and growth stimulants, for example, Epin Extra. Germination of pepper seeds is 60-70%.

Seeds should be planted in individual cups or in cassette cells. Pepper roots do not recover well after damage and do not like transplants. Seeds are planted at a depth of 1 cm, between plants - 2 cm, between rows - 3 cm.

They are planted in necessarily moist soil in mid-February for greenhouses and in mid-March for greenhouses. The earth is covered with a film and shoots appear after 3 days. The temperature for seed germination should be + 25-28 ° C.

Seedling

AT middle lane Russian pepper is grown only through seedlings. This is due to the long growing season. Even early varieties You need at least 90 days to set fruit. In addition, the earlier the peppers begin to yield, the more fruit can be harvested. how perennial culture, pepper bears fruit without stopping until frost.

Basic seedling requirements:

• high temperature + 20-25 ° С;
• adequate illumination for short day. Seedlings are covered with a lid from 19 pm to 7 am, creating desired length daylight hours artificially;
• timely watering when the soil dries up, which must always be wet. Pepper recovers very poorly after drying the soil, it is delayed in development and fruiting;
• sufficient top dressing with a weak solution complex fertilizer with trace elements;
• hardening before planting in the ground.

Without picking, seedlings are ready for transshipment into the ground in 45-50 days, with picking - after 60 days.

Harden seedlings begin 10-14 days before planting in the ground, gradually accustoming to the temperature outside the window. Seedlings grown in optimal conditions and passed the hardening, perfectly takes root in a new place. The day before transplantation, seedlings are sprayed with Epin Extra or Zircon to relieve stress from transplantation, enhance protective properties and increase yields.

How to grow viable, healthy and strong seedlings of pepper, today, is not a secret. We grow it mainly at home, on window sills and loggias. The main thing is attention to the plant, its appearance and speed of development.

Outdoor care

Pepper is transplanted to beds in a greenhouse in mid-April, under film shelters - in mid-May.

How to care for outdoor peppers is detailed in many manuals, magazines and websites. In addition to standard care, there is care, which consists of procedures:

• glaze;
• top dressing;
• weeding and loosening;
• protection from diseases and pests;
• planting taking into account crop rotation;
• caring for peppers in the open field has several features.

At big green In the mass of the bush, the pepper has weak, fibrous roots. Therefore, planting peppers should be located in a place protected from strong winds otherwise the plants will die.

Be sure to tie up the pepper high grades, plant it with tall plants: corn, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke. Tie each shoot with a fan to a trellis or peg.

Pepper is a self-pollinating plant, it does not need insects to form ovaries. However, during mass flowering in dry weather, it is worth shaking the bushes for better pollination.

Pepper bushes form in 1-3 stems. By pinching the side shoots, you can form a sprawling bush. Be sure to remove the crown flower, which is formed first in the center of the plant. The formation of a pepper bush is not a prerequisite, but it gives an increase in yield by 30%, and the number of fruits increases by 2 times. A spreading bush shade the soil and protect it from overheating.

Most best seeds collected from the crown flower, it is left if they want to grow their seeds. The largest and juiciest peppers grow on the four lower tiers of the bush.

Watering

The main condition for a plentiful harvest is sufficient watering. Under the pepper should be constantly moist and loose soil. The roots are located superficially, so it is necessary to loosen shallowly. Pepper responds well to hilling with moist soil. Additional roots grow from the stem, which not only increase the feeding area, but also strengthen the bush in the ground.

After planting, the seedlings are watered daily. warm water. After rooting the plant three times a week, 2 liters under the bush.

The ovary on the pepper grows first in length, then in width, and at the end the walls of the fruit thicken. With insufficient watering, peppers remain thin.

When waterlogged, the roots will lack oxygen. In this case, peppers can get a fungal infection or rot. Loose earth, which provides oxygen to the roots, is very important condition normal growth for the plant. Mulching, loosening and hilling with moist soil are mandatory methods in vegetable farming.

Fertilization

Watering is followed by top dressing. Three main top dressings are carried out after the rooting of seedlings: during flowering and with the onset of fruiting. If this is enough, the plant develops normally, it is not necessary to pour excess fertilizer under the plants. For fertilizer, an infusion of litter, manure, ash and a solution of mineral fertilizers are also suitable.

If the summer turned out to be cold and cloudy, the roots of the pepper cannot provide it with sufficient nutrition. Weak, yellow, spotted leaves will tell you that the plant is not getting enough nutrition. In such cases, foliar top dressing should be applied.

Important! Foliar feeding is able to very quickly deliver nutrition for the development of a plant in an unfavorable climate.

Spray the leaves on a warm but cloudy day with a solution of trace elements, boric acid, ash, superphosphate, urea.

Caring for pepper in open ground conditions is not difficult. The return of the crop goes until the frost, until the plant dies from low temperatures.

Conclusion

Growing pepper in the open field brings not only the benefits of obtaining a long-awaited harvest, but also the pleasure of growing amazing plant that accompanies man on all continents. This piggy bank of vitamins, thanks to the efforts of breeders, has greatly changed its appearance.

Instead of red 50g fruits, we can pick purple, orange, yellow and chocolate giants weighing up to 400g. However, no one seeks to change the taste and smell of a vegetable. Bright sweet-spicy taste and harmonious aroma have been satisfying pepper lovers for more than 500 years.

Many people spend summer months in the dachas, growing the most different cultures. Fruits and vegetables grown on your own are completely natural, they will only benefit your health and help you prepare for a long winter. One of the most common crops is sweet pepper. This vegetable is a source of a huge amount of vitamins, it can be used to prepare the most different dishes and preparations for the winter. It is especially useful when growing it with your own hands. Let's remember, and if you don't know, then find out how to breed such a crop as sweet pepper on your "plot of land", we will consider growing and caring for it for this.

Seedling

Seeds of sweet pepper must be sown to obtain seedlings. They germinate within one and a half to two weeks, and fifty-five to sixty-five days are considered the optimal age for planting young plants in the ground. It is necessary to prepare seeds for planting in early dates, somewhere from the twenty-fifth of January to the tenth of February. First, they are pickled in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, then washed and kept for eleven hours in a growth stimulator. Further planting material should be rinsed and kept damp for a couple of days.

Planting sweet pepper seeds for seedlings

Seeds for seedlings are planted in one box, deepening by a centimeter, with an interval of a couple of centimeters from each other. The container should be covered with polyethylene or glass and put away in warm place. The soil should be fairly moist, but not soggy.

best temperature for growing seedlings - twenty-five degrees during the day and twenty-two to twenty-four at night. On cloudy days, in the evenings and mornings, it should be illuminated using LED or fluorescent bulbs. Watering is carried out with warm water.
After a couple of leaves appear on the seedlings, transplant them into separate containers.

Landing in open ground

In May, the grown seedlings can be taken out to the greenhouse for hardening. Plants are planted outdoors after the danger of frost has completely passed. Planting is carried out at intervals of twenty to thirty centimeters between individual plants, and sixty to seventy centimeters between rows. Water the seedlings abundantly shortly before planting so that they do not wither. It is advisable, before planting, to shed the prepared holes with water heated in the sun - a liter or two for each hole. Carefully freeing the seedlings from the pot, place them vertically in the hole and deepen them a little more than they were placed in the pot. After all, adventitious roots will form on the stem, which will be underground, which can provide pepper with an additional supply. nutrients.

Features of growing in open ground

Peppers do best in areas sheltered from the wind and covered with fertile soil. Do not grow it several years in a row in the same place. Tall crops that you plant a little earlier in a neighboring garden bed can be excellent protection from the wind. It is worth remembering that pepper is a light-loving crop. It should be placed on well-drained soil that is able to retain moisture.
It is better to prepare a plot for planting pepper since autumn.

Caring for sweet peppers outdoors

Watering

Of course, in order to get decent harvest Peppers need to be watered regularly. After planting, the soil should be moistened every two to three days, using a liter of water for each plant. If the weather is hot, then watering can be carried out every day. Keep in mind that excessive moisture can harm plants and cause their death.
Over time, watering is reduced and carried out only when necessary. When harvesting, watering should be done more frequently.

loosening

Bulgarian pepper especially loves loose soil, in no case should you allow the formation of a crust on the surface of the soil. Systematic loosening will help provide water access to the roots of plants, prevent the emergence of weeds and increase yields.
However, keep in mind that in the first couple of weeks after planting, the pepper almost does not grow, at this time it is not necessary to loosen it.

top dressing

For the entire growing season, pepper can be fed three or four times. The first time such a manipulation is carried out in parallel with the first loosening (one and a half to two weeks after planting). To do this, you can use a solution of slurry or bird droppings in combination with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers or wood ash. Also, top dressing is necessary immediately before the start of fruiting and at its peak. Sprinkling the soil with ash will also benefit: one or two glasses of ash per square meter soil.

To get a really beautiful bush with strong side shoots, you should pinch off the top from the main stem. Carry out such a manipulation when the height of the pepper reaches twenty to twenty-five centimeters. After that, the plant will begin to actively branch, but it is worth leaving only four or five upper stepchildren, they will give you a crop. Each bush can produce about twenty to twenty-five fruits.

If you are growing high varieties of sweet peppers, you should definitely tie them up. Therefore, even during the planting of seedlings, install near each bush special support and fix the stem to it.

Thus, growing sweet peppers in the open field is not so difficult task for the responsible and patient gardener. If desired, even a novice lover of his vegetables and fruits without special skills can handle it.

Ekaterina, www.site

P.S. The text uses some forms characteristic of oral speech.

In nature, there are more than 2,000 species, and their homeland is Central America. In this article I will talk about sweet pepper, which is also called Bulgarian. The "Mexican" came to Europe in the 15th century and in a roundabout way, through Spain, Turkey, Iran, eventually penetrated into our region. Here he seriously took root, despite the thermophilicity and capricious disposition - after all, pepper has more than enough virtues! It is not only rich in bright colors that give the dish holiday look, not only tasty and juicy, but also an invaluable storehouse of vitamins. In this part, a rare vegetable or fruit can be compared with it.

Pepper seeds need pre-planting treatment - they need to be kept until swollen for five hours in water, the temperature of which is about + 50 ° C. After that, they must be placed for pecking in a damp cloth for 2-3 days, the temperature in the room is about +20°C. Having carried out such a simple preplant preparation of seeds, you will receive seedlings literally the next day after sowing.

Sown pepper seeds must be thoroughly watered, and immediately after that, cover with plastic wrap or glass. Before germination, they can be in any warm (about + 22 ° C) place, while lighting does not matter, it is possible in the dark. After emergence optimum temperature for growing seedlings during the day about +26...+28°С, at night about +10...+15°С.

Do not indulge in excess peppers, this can only damage them - cause a disease with a black leg. But try not to let the substrate dry out. Water for irrigation should be warm - about + 30 ° C, from excessively cold seedlings will be frail, get sick and may even die. Do not forget to monitor the air in the room in which the seedlings are grown, it should not be too dry. Spray the plants, and the room itself is well ventilated, not forgetting to protect it from drafts.

Pepper seedlings require additional lighting. During the month of February, it must be illuminated from 7 am to 9 pm. Before planting, seedlings need hardening, gradual accustoming to the rays of the sun, more low temperatures, wind and rain. For this, the plant is taken out to Fresh air, gradually increasing the time of his stay there. During hardening, keep an eye on weather conditions, pepper seedlings should not be allowed to fall under frost or low temperature- for pepper it is below +13°С.

Pepper planting

The best predecessors for pepper:, after, and. Bad predecessors:, pepper, and.

Light soils are best for growing. It is better to prepare the soil for pepper in advance - a year in advance, adding 5 kg per square meter for the predecessor, and in the fall, 50 g each and fertilizer for deep digging. In the spring on the site - in upper layer soil, add 40 g of ammonium nitrate. Five days before transplanting pepper seedlings on permanent place, take care of the disinfection of the soil, this must be done with the help of a solution - add a tablespoon to a bucket of water.

Seedlings are planted in open ground at the end of May - mid-June, according to the scheme 40x40 cm. Pepper seedlings are planted in an unheated film greenhouse in early April, and in tunnel shelters - at the end of May.

Try to place seedlings in the holes at the same depth at which the plants grew in the seedling box, without exposing the roots and without digging its basal neck. Pepper does not like cold soil, and if you want to get a serious harvest, arrange for it to be raised by 25-55 centimeters.

Remember, pepper is highly susceptible to pollination, so if you plant several of its varieties on your site, try to place them at the maximum distance from each other and, if possible, separate them from each other using plantings of tall tomatoes, and.

Growing pepper by planting seeds in open ground is impractical even in the southern regions. It will still be necessary to sow late, when the soil warms up, the plant will develop more slowly, the first fruits will ripen later, and the fruiting period of the pepper will be significantly shorter.

Pepper Care

Pepper care consists of timely watering, garters, weeding and top dressing. The first feeding of pepper seedlings must be carried out in the phase of 1-2 true leaves, for which 0.5 g of ammonium nitrate, 1 g of potassium fertilizers and 3 g of superphosphate are mixed in 1 liter of water. The second top dressing 2 weeks after the first, the dose of mineral fertilizers for it must be doubled.

Feeding pepper seedlings is effective with a special infusion, for the preparation of which it is necessary to take 1 part of nettle and 10 parts of water - we insist 2 days. The last top dressing should be carried out 2 days before you intend to plant seedlings in a permanent place, while increasing the dose of potash fertilizers to 7 g per 1 liter of water. During the season, you need to make about 3-4 top dressings of pepper - 1:10, alternating such top dressings with foliar ones, for which you need to use mineral fertilizers, for example, nitrophoska (a tablespoon in a bucket of water).

With a lack of potassium, pepper leaves curl and a drying border appears on them. But with potassium, you need to be careful - pepper does not tolerate an abundance of potassium chloride. If the plant lacks nitrogen, its leaves become dull and, acquiring a grayish tint, gradually become smaller. When there is a lack of phosphorus, the underside of the pepper leaves turns deep purple, and the leaves themselves are pressed closer to the stem of the plant and rise up. If there is a lack of magnesium, the leaves become marbled, and an excess of nitrogen in the soil leads to the dropping of ovaries and pepper flowers.

In hot and humid weather, it is imperative to carry out pinching (removal of lateral shoots), especially for the lower stepchildren, and vice versa, if the weather is hot but dry, the plants do not pinch, since the leaf mass perfectly protects soil moisture from evaporation. Experienced vegetable growers advise removing the central flower on the plant growing from the first branch, this will help increase the yield.

During the growing season, peppers must be cut several times, trying to shorten the longest shoots and ensure the absence of shaded branches. Be sure to remove all shoots of pepper below the main fork of its stem, as well as branches inside the crown. Pruning must be done every ten days and after harvesting. Simultaneously with pruning, soil cultivation is also carried out.

Try to draw in the vegetable garden

sweet or bell pepper- the plant is thermophilic and rather capricious, but it also has many advantages. In addition to the bright colors of the fruits, which can easily be decorated holiday dish, pepper boasts the presence of vitamins, of which it contains a lot.

Pepper seed selection and sowing

For growing pepper and obtaining good harvest you need to take good care of it. But, first of all, when choosing seeds of a particular variety, it is necessary focus on growing conditions. It could be:

• open ground;
• Stationary greenhouse;
• temporary shelter;

Growing pepper in a greenhouse is a good option in protected ground, he is comfortable. Although it grows well in open soil.

When the variety is selected, you can begin to germinate the seeds. Due to thermophilicity, sweet pepper is grown only seedling way. Seeds for seedlings must be processed before sowing. Them soak for a few hours in warm water. When they swell, they are transferred to a moistened cloth for 3 days. Such processing helps to get shoots very quickly.

They are also disinfected by keeping in a solution of manganese for half an hour and washing after that running water. It is also useful to treat them with growth stimulants. Prevention of seedlings from the fungus will be useful. For this, apply special means. Pepper seeds are sown in February, so that in May they can already be transplanted into the ground. Suitable for growing seedlings:

1. coconut substrate;
2. Peat tablets, they are convenient in that when picking, the seedlings, along with the tablet, are simply transferred to another container;
3. Soil with hydrogel, which retains moisture well.

But the substrate can really be prepared independently from humus, earth and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. This mixture will be light and fluffy. Per kilogram of the composition, you can add Art. lies of ash. Before sowing seeds, it is good to shed the soil with a solution of manganese.

You can use boxes for growing seedlings. But pepper does not tolerate transplanting very well. Therefore, many prefer growing seedlings in small pots or cups to avoid picking seedlings. Both methods are quite applicable. When the seeds are sown, they must be properly moistened and covered with glass or polyethylene.

Temperature plays an important role in the care of seedlings. Optimal temperature parameters for normal seedling growth:

• Daytime t - 25-27 ° C;
• Night t - 10-15 ° C;

It is important to provide seedlings with a good drainage layer. For this, small pebbles or sand are suitable, they are added to the substrate. Moisturizing it should be moderate. Excess moisture can lead to various diseases, but the drying of the soil should also not be allowed. Water seedlings with warm water because they can die from the cold. What else is needed for the normal cultivation of seedlings:

1. Provide humidity in the room. This is easy to achieve by spraying or purchasing a special humidifier;
2. Ventilation is necessary, but careful so that the seedlings are protected from drafts. Therefore, it is better to cover them for this time;
3. Additional lighting is also needed for care. It is created using phytolamps, LED or fluorescent lamps.

At first backlight used around the clock, but as the seedlings grow, they are illuminated only in the morning and in the evening, providing about 12 hours of daylight.

For the cultivation of seedlings and their development, plants begin to fertilize even in seedlings. When 3 leaves appear on the seedlings, you can start feeding. For this, ammonium nitrate diluted in water, mixed with potassium compounds and superphosphate. 2 weeks later, a second top dressing is carried out. After fertilizing, the seedlings must be watered. From vegetable fertilizers for seedlings, nettle infusion is good. A mixture is prepared at the rate of 10 parts of water per 1 part of nettle, insist it for 2 days.

From seedling boxes 20 days after germination of their dive into separate pots. It is undesirable to use too large containers for picking seedlings. In them, the seedlings may rot the root or they will build up excess green mass.

Before transferring to open ground seedlings are hardened off. To do this, it must be taken out to fresh air, each time increasing the exposure time. The main thing here is to monitor the air temperature. For pepper, its minimum value is 13 ° C. So it gradually adapts to sunlight, wind and rain. Such procedures make pepper more resistant to temperature changes.

After 60 days, the seedlings are ready to move the open ground or greenhouse to a permanent place. But in seedlings of 80 days of age, the yield is usually higher. It is important that the plants have 10-12 leaves, and height about 30cm. A day before moving to open ground or a greenhouse, you can spray them with a solution of a growth stimulator. It also increases resistance to diseases.

preparing the ground

The soil for growing sweet pepper, as well as for seedlings, is light, permeable, moist and fertile. The soil should be neutral in acidity, if it has a high pH, ​​it needs liming. It is useful to add rotted peat and sand to loams. peat soil mixed with humus and soddy soil. In sandy soil make sawdust, humus.

The soil for pepper is prepared in advance. In about a year, it is good to add the following compositions to the garden where pepper is planned to be planted:

• Organic fertilizers are added directly below the pepper precursor;
• In autumn, when digging, mineral potash and phosphorus top dressings are introduced;
• In spring, ammonium nitrate is added to the topsoil.

After fertilizing the soil, it must be dug up, freed from weeds and leveled. Then pour dissolved in hot water potassium humate or mullein.

A few days before planting pepper seedlings, it is good to disinfect the soil with this composition: st. lodges blue vitriol. So, the soil is ready and you can move the sweet pepper seedlings into it.

We plant seedlings

Pepper should be transplanted carefully, without damaging its roots. From separate containers, seedlings are transferred along with a clod of earth. This method minimizes the risk of injury to the roots. Pepper is planted in open ground when all frosts have passed in late May and early June. In a temporary greenhouse in mid-May, and in a stationary greenhouse in the beginning of May. When planting sweet peppers, one must take into account what grew in the beds before it. It will develop well on the soil where there were:

1. Pumpkin;
2. cucumbers;
3. Carrot;
4. Zucchini.

But after potatoes, peppers, tomatoes or eggplants, it is better not to plant pepper, finding another place for it. Necessary take care of the soil temperature. Bell pepper does not like cold soil, and good option for its cultivation there will be high beds.

It is better to plant different varieties of pepper as far apart as possible. After all, the culture is prone to pollination. If possible, it is better to plant tall crops between them. When planting pepper, it is necessary to maintain a distance between the bushes of 25 cm, and between rows of 50 cm. When the seedlings take root, it must be watered more often. After planting, a humus or peat mulch is well suited, which retains moisture in the soil.

Immediately after transplantation, young peppers can be cover with polyethylene or lutrasil on the frame, making them a greenhouse. This will create favorable conditions for their rapid development. If a film is used, then the landings must be ventilated. Better choose nonwoven fabric, passing air. Spread well in a greenhouse plastic bottles with water. Warming up during the day, at night they will give off heat to the pepper. This will smooth out daily temperature fluctuations. When the weather becomes consistently warm, the shelter can be removed.

Subtleties of care

Caring for sweet peppers is not very difficult. All procedures are quite simple:

• Watering;
• Fertilizer;
• Weeding;
• Garter;

AT growing season carry out pruning activities. Long shoots are shortened, processes located below the main fork of the stem are removed. The procedure includes the removal of diseased leaves, fruitless shoots. This is done to form a branched bush and improve yields.

Of the developing stepson shoots, 4-5 are left, on which the fruits will develop. Removing side branches, especially from below, is relevant if the weather outside is hot and humid. But during dry periods, this procedure is not recommended, because the lower leaves retain moisture in the soil. After harvesting, pruning is carried out again. central flower, which grows from the first branch, many gardeners pinch to increase productivity.

High varieties of pepper must be tied up. It is better to put pegs for this immediately when planting its seedlings. Pepper must be weeded and loosened, but very carefully without harming its roots. This makes the soil more breathable. During the season, 3-4 procedures are carried out, and during the second loosening, peppers can be spudded.

In the open field, sweet pepper should be selected sunny place and protect it from drafts and wind. In hot weather, it is shaded from direct sun. Well mulch the soil thin layer rotted straw. This will keep the soil moisture at the right level and help reduce watering. For pepper, the length of daylight hours is also important. It refers to plants that, with a light day of less than 12 hours, begin to bear fruit earlier. This gives a more stable and higher yield.

Watering and fertilizing

Watering should be regular, because pepper is moisture-loving. Too long a dry period can cause the ovaries to fall off. Irrigation scheme:

During the fruiting period, watering is needed 2 times a week. It is important that the water is not cold, room temperature is acceptable.

Needs pepper and in periodic top dressing. The very first one is carried out 2 weeks after transplanting the seedlings, the next one occurs during the flowering period of the pepper and then when the fruits appear.

From fertilizers, it is good to apply organic matter, alternating it with mineral compositions, which can be used to process the plant in a foliar way. Potash fertilizers are very useful, but they must be used with caution so as not to overfeed the plant.

Liquid organic compounds are also effective, but fresh manure not suitable for feeding. It can provoke the fall of flowers on pepper. From organic compounds it is better to use humus, compost. They are brought in a bucket per 1 sq. m.

Foliar top dressing with growth stimulants is done only in warm weather. The preparations are diluted in water and pepper is sprayed with it. These procedures can take place every 2 weeks.

Vegetable fertilizers are also applicable for the care of peppers. You can prepare such a composition in 100 liter barrel with water, place 5 kg of dandelion, nettle, chickweed, add half a glass of ash and a bucket of mullein. The composition is insisted for a week. It must be strained before use.

What causes pepper

The most common pepper diseases are white and top rot, late blight, macrosporiosis, septoria. There is different ways fight them. Every 2 weeks it is useful to treat the plant for preventive purposes. antifungal drugs Trichodermin, Alirin.

Helps with late blight proper pre-sowing seed treatment. Also effective infusion onion peel with which plants are sprayed. Soil moisture needs to be monitored. With insufficient watering, gray rot may develop.

Of the pests, sweet peppers are most annoyed by the scoop, slugs, whitefly, Colorado beetle, aphid, bear, spider mite. Against pests, the plant is pollinated with a solution of wood ash. From aphids, pepper treatment with whey will help well, after which it is sprinkled with wood ash. With spider mite spraying plants with infusions of tansy, garlic, wormwood yarrow will help to cope. To combat it, keltan, karbofos are also suitable.

Finally

The pepper is harvested by cutting it as it ripens, so that the ripened fruits do not interfere with the development of others. Its usually stacked in boxes where it matures.

When choosing varieties for planting, you need to decide what the pepper is grown for. If you intend to use it fresh, then a good option would be large-fruited varieties with thick flesh. For conservation, varieties with small fruits are also suitable.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in growing sweet peppers. The main concerns fall on the period of caring for seedlings. But the harvest will pay back all the hard work.