Growing sprouts of Bulgarian pepper has some features, so that if the requirements for the frequency of irrigation or the temperature regime are reduced, the yield of future plants decreases. In this regard, you need to know all the basic rules and follow them rigorously.
When to plant the sprouts of Bulgarian pepper?
If you want to get a good harvest in a short summer period, you need to sow peppers early enough. This is the most basic feature of the cultivation of Bulgarian pepper.
Given that the ripening of pepper fruits begins 100-150 days after the first shoots, and the seedlings are planted in the open ground in the period of 60-80 days, it is time to sow the seeds in the period February 20-March 10. A more accurate calculation of the period is possible if you know the characteristics of a particular variety.
Rules for sowing Bulgarian pepper on seedlings
So, you need to start with the correct preparation of seeds for sowing. Inspect the available seeds, remove any damaged and flat ones. Remain the remaining seeds from mushroom infections, for which they need to be placed in a gauze bag and soak in a solution of fungicide - "Maxim", "Vitaros" and so on. Or you can soak seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour.
After that they need to be washed thoroughly, without taking out of the gauze. Then you need to soak them in Epin's solution for twelve hours. After that, you can take out the seeds from the gauze, spread between two layers of damp rags and put in a warm place. In a week or two weeks, the seeds will be pierced, and this moment should be caught so as not to damage the overgrown roots.
In advance, you need to prepare the soil for seeding. You can use the purchased ready-mix for pepper, adding to it washed sand (0.5: 3). But it is better to prepare the soil yourself.
To do this, mix 2 parts of humus or compost with 2 parts of peat and 1 part of washed sand. This mixture must be sifted and steamed in a steamer for an hour to protect the shoots from the fungus and weeds.
Seeding of pepper seeds for seedlings
The dishes for sowing seeds should be washed with a solution of potassium permanganate and filled with the prepared mixture, slightly compacting it. To the side should remain a couple of centimeters. Next, pincers spread the seeds of pepper at a distance of 2 cm from each other.
From the top, we fill the seeds with 1-1.5 cm of soil and compact it a little. Watering crops should be very careful not to wash them on the surface. To reduce the evaporation of moisture, place the container under polyethylene. The temperature of the content of the future seedling is + 25 ° C.
On the 5th-7th day, the first shoots will appear. At that time, you need to put the crops on the light, remove the film and lower the temperature to + 15..17 ºС. Water should be used sparingly, only with warm water. It should not collect in the pan. From time to time, you need to rotate the seedlings on the windowsill so that it does not tilt toward the light source.
At the stage of two real leaves, pepper seedlings are dived into separate pots. The root neck of them at the same depth of 0.5 cm. Preliminary, the soil in the box is well moistened, then remove the shoots for the "ears", so as not to damage the stalk. The well in the pot must be prepared in such a way that the roots of the sprout are located in it freely and without bends. Sprinkle them with earth and tighten a little.
Seedlings of Bulgarian pepper without picks
Those who have at least once cultivated sprouts of Bulgarian pepper, noticed that the picking slows down the further development of the plant. Pepper does not like very much when disturbing its root system, because it is very painful to transplant.
To get around this stage, you can use this way of growing pepper seedlings without picking: prepare polyethylene bags for mayonnaise or sour cream, cutting off the lower corner to drain water.
When the seeds germinate, the film is removed and the temperature is lowered. And as soon as the root system of seedlings fill the entire space of the bag, it must be carefully deployed and sprinkled more land. So you will avoid stresses from transplantation, providing growing seedlings with sufficient volume for development.