Growing And Planting Seedlings Of Tomatoes And Peppers

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Cooking seedlings of peppers and tomatoes

The seedling period in the life of all the plants that we grow on our site completely falls on the female shoulders. And the gardening season begins with the February-March sowing of seeds.

Before telling how I do it, I mentally leafed through all my knowledge accumulated over the past ten years in order to objectively present the whole picture. Why did you take such a long period? I explain: at the end of the 90s of the last century, we grew such a large number of seedlings annually that only now it became clear to us how inexperienced we were then. Let me give you one example: by the 1997 season we have grown seedlings: tomatoes - 116 cups, sweet peppers - 76 cups, eggplants - 40 cups.

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And here is the indicator of the past year: tomatoes - 45 cups, sweet peppers - 18 cups, eggplant - 14 cups. And despite the fact that the number of seedlings in our country has decreased almost three times, we have harvested a much larger crop for these crops, and maybe even better in quality.

Now how to determine the time when you need to start sowing seeds for seedlings. This also needs to be approached individually. Everyone knows that the best seedling age for peppers, eggplants and tomatoes is 55-70 days. I will tell you how we determine the timing of sowing seeds. According to my many years of observations, seeds germinate from 5 to 10 days.

We must also take into account the factor that transplanting seedlings (picking) inhibits the seedling period of plant development by about two weeks: the damaged roots are being restored. In addition, the plant receives stress at the same time, which also reduces the rate of its development. When determining the sowing time, it is necessary to take into account the time when we will be able to plant these seedlings in the greenhouse (the readiness of the greenhouse itself and the ridges for planting). And only taking into account all these factors can you correctly determine the time of sowing seeds.

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Over the years, we have developed such terms: sow seeds of peppers, eggplants for seedlings until mid-February, indeterminate (vigorous) tomatoes - in the last decade of February, and determinant (low-growing) varieties of tomatoes - in the first decade of March. We also use the lunar calendar when sowing seeds for seedlings.

It so happens that we do not meet these deadlines. And last season we did not get the harvest of eggplants and peppers (with good quality of grown seedlings) due to the fact that these crops were sown only in March. However, one should not rush to sow seeds for seedlings, since overgrown seedlings also lead to crop losses. Therefore, keep records every year, decide on the timing based on your capabilities and conditions, and do not look at anyone, because personal experience is the most reliable.

I usually sow seeds in separate containers first, and in recent years I have tried to place one variety in each container, since the germination of seeds is different. Previously, I made up the soil mixture for planting myself, tried various compositions, but now I do it easier: I take a high-quality soil mixture for flowers in the store, add coconut substrate to it, mix everything thoroughly, spill it well with warm water with potassium permanganate. And I fill the landing containers with this mixture. Before sowing, I pickle the seeds for 20 minutes in a pink solution of potassium permanganate, then rinse them under running water, dry them and sow them.

I used to treat seeds with microelements or keep them in ash infusion, now I don't. I never sow seeds thickly, the distance in a row is 2 cm, between rows is 3 cm. I sow seeds in well-spilled soil to a depth of 1-1.5 cm. I used to germinate them in a humid environment, but now I also refused this operation. I put the containers in a box, on which I put on a large plastic bag so that from the plastic film to the soil surface in the containers it is from 5 to 10 cm.

I put the bag with the box in a warm place so that the temperature in it is about 28C. Every day I inspect the plantings, if the package is fogged up, I turn it out, I follow the surface of the soil mixture in containers, I moisten the drying surfaces from the sprayer. As soon as shoots appear in the box, I put these containers on the windowsill, but not very close to the glass, I lower the growing temperature. The soil in which the seedlings grow should be in a moderately moist state.

I illuminate the seedlings with fluorescent lamps, maintain a ten-centimeter distance from the lamps to the grown seedlings. I dive seedlings when the first true leaf appears. I noticed that at this time they take root better after the transplant. I make a pick so that each plant on the roots has a small lump of earth, I try not to damage any root. It seems to me that in this case the plants tolerate the stress of transplantation more easily, take root faster in a new place and start growing. I dive them into half-liter containers.

Usually I take cups of sour cream or yogurt, fill them with the same soil mixture that I used to sow the seeds. I deepen the seedlings to the cotyledon leaves. In the first two to three days after transplanting, I shade all the seedlings and maintain a temperature of 18 … 20 ° C. I place the seedlings on the windowsill so that the plants do not shade each other, I regularly water them with warm water and loosen the soil in cups. During the nursing period, I turn the cups with seedlings to evenly illuminate the plants.

In the first weeks after the dive, the aerial part of the plants grows very slowly (this is especially noticeable in eggplant seedlings). At this time, the root system develops. I usually water seedlings in the morning. First, there is an interval of 2-3 days between waterings, and then, as it grows, daily watering. Throughout the cultivation of seedlings, the vents are open. I feed all the seedlings with Kemira-Lux fertilizer twice. In the last decade of April, I already take out all the seedlings on a glazed loggia.

3-4 days before planting the plants in the greenhouse, I transfer all the seedlings into reliable male hands. The husband hardens the seedlings in the air, taking them outside and protecting them from the wind with shields. Every year, accepting young plants, he gives me marks for the grown seedlings. Last spring, I got excellent marks for seedlings of watermelons and melons, but tomato seedlings were overgrown. The seedlings of sweet peppers and eggplants, although they were strong and healthy, turned out to be young, which later led to a lack of harvest.

Planting seedlings in the beds

As the ridges were prepared for planting, seedlings were planted on them. On May 15, tomato seedlings were planted in a greenhouse on rows 1 and 5. Melon seedlings were planted on ridge 6 on May 18. We do not remove the "warming up" film on this ridge. And a mini-frame was made above ridge No. 6, on which an old film was thrown over at night (to keep the heat in the ridge and better survival of melon seedlings).

On May 18, melon seedlings were also planted on ridges 3 and 2, as well as one watermelon plant on ridge 3. On ridges No. 2 and No. 3, the "warming up" film was removed. On the same day, we planted seedlings of sweet peppers and eggplants on ridge 4. The film on the bed number 4 remained. At the end of the season, we concluded: where the "warming" film was not removed from the ridges, the seedling survival rate was better, the plants developed faster, and melons on ridge No. 6 began to bear fruit earlier than on ridges 2 and 3. The "warming" film held well moisture in the ridges, less watering was required.

On ridge 6 on June 12-14, melons began to be tied, and on June 22 there were already a lot of them. On May 24, seedlings of tomatoes, hot peppers and cucumbers were planted on ridge No. 7. The cold nights ended, the plants began to grow rapidly, and on June 15, a "warming" film was removed from all the ridges in the greenhouse. At this time, all the plants planted in the greenhouse began to bloom profusely, there was a need for watering the ridges on all surfaces and loosening them, so the "warming" film was no longer needed, it had already fulfilled its protective function.

Plant care

Indeterminate large-fruited tomatoes - 16 plants were planted on ridge No. 1: Giant Lemon, Eagle's Beak, Giant King (IX), Wonder of the Earth, Stresa. The size of the ridges is 5x1 m. All tomatoes were formed into two stems. Of course, these plants required support poles, as for all tall tomatoes. Gradually, as they grew, the stems were tied to them with a strong twine. Above, elements of the construction of the greenhouse served for this purpose. I also had to tie up separate large brushes. The plant itself cannot keep them.

The rate of development of different varieties of tomatoes coincided, and only the Wonder of the Earth variety at the initial stage after planting on the ridge began to "fatten" - he did not want to set the fruits, but he then, as it were, caught up with the development of the other varieties and went out together with everyone in the fruiting phase.

At the beginning of August, the following picture began to emerge on this ridge: after the first abundant layer of fruiting of all the bushes, some varieties began to lag behind, as it were, and stronger varieties occupied their space with branches at the top of the greenhouse. This speaks of the difficulty of growing different varieties on the same bed. At the end of August, the height of the three-meter greenhouse was completely occupied by tomato tops with pouring fruits. By this time, the first three or four brushes on each plant were removed, which means that the lower tops of the tomatoes, which had fulfilled their role, were also removed.

Tomatoes bore fruit on this ridge until the end of September. The total yield from each plant is from 8 to 10 kg. But we were especially pleased with the Miracle of the Earth tomatoes: the weight of individual fruits was more than 1 kg, and the rest of the fruits on this plant weighed from 400 to 800 grams. Large in size and very tasty were the fruits of the Giant Lemon, as well as tomatoes of the Eagle's Beak variety. But now we believe that for this ridge less seedlings are needed, only 12 pieces are enough. Individual tomato varieties can be formed here into three stems. Then the fruits will be of higher quality and larger.

Read the next part. The experience of growing watermelons and melons in a greenhouse →