Winter is traditionally considered a time of tranquility and rest for gardeners-truck farmers. How can you deal with a private plot if it's cold and snow outside? However, in fact, the owners of cottages and kitchen gardens rest quite a bit. After all, by the end of winter - the beginning of spring, you should start preparing for the beginning of the season, namely seedlings of vegetables, for example, sweet pepper. However, for many novice farmers, the timing of pepper planting for seedlings remains unknown. We will try to clarify this urgent issue.
When to plant pepper on seedlings?
The most effective way to grow the Bulgarian pepper is through seedlings, which are then transplanted into a greenhouse . This is especially true of the middle zone of Russia, as well as the Urals, Siberia. The fact is that the seeds of pepper sprout for a long time, namely, 15 days. In addition, the growth of seedlings at the initial stage is rather slow.
The most optimal time for planting pepper seeds for seedlings is the end of February and the beginning of March. Of course, you can plant pepper seeds earlier, provided that your greenhouse is very good. The latest date when you can plant pepper on seedlings is considered the middle of March. Thus, the stock of gardener is always available almost a month - from mid-February to mid-March. Usually tighten with the landing to the first spring month under low sunlight. If you later realized it, there's no point in doing planting, because the pepper will not bring full-fledged fruit. After all, transplanting seedlings from seedlings will be necessary already when the soil warms up well, that is, in May.
How to grow pepper seedlings?
Growing sweet peppers on seedlings is not an easy process. First you will need to prepare seeds. To do this, they are left in water, heated to 50 degrees, for 5 hours for swelling, and then in wet cloth for several days.
For the successful cultivation of pepper seedlings, we recommend immediately planting seeds of three into individual plastic cups at a distance of 3 cm from each other. The depth of sowing is 3-4 cm. Then sprinkle seeds with dry soil and compact it. All the glasses with seeds of sweet pepper are collected in a plastic bag or put in a box, which then needs to be covered with a film. Contain seeds in a warm room with a temperature of +27 + 28 degrees before the emergence of the first shoots. It will take 5-7 days. After the sprouts appeared, all the glasses should be freed from the film and put on a window, where there is always enough sunlight. Otherwise, your seedlings will need an artificial light lamp. Make sure that the seedlings do not suffer from drafts. If the window sill is cold, place a piece of polystyrene under the box with seedlings or bed the blanket. The first watering should be done 4 days after emergence of water at room temperature. Then you need to water every 5-7 days, not more often, so that the roots of the pepper do not rot.
Picks of pepper seedlings can be made when two leaves with a minimum length of 5 mm appear on the plants. As a rule, this happens one month after sowing the seeds. Dive the pepper better in cups with a diameter of 7 cm one or two.
Seedlings of sweet peppers will need top dressing complex
Before planting seedling pepper is recommended to temper: place it in a room with a temperature of 18-20 degrees. In warm, windless weather pots with seedlings can be taken out on the balcony for 1-2 hours, gradually increasing the time spent on air. The planting of sweet pepper seedlings in the open ground can be carried out in the middle of May - beginning of June, depending on the weather conditions and warming the soil.