Preparing, Germinating And Planting Pepper Seeds

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

There is no vegetable garden without peppers. Part 1

From a rarity, pepper has become a popular crop in the North-West of Russia. I want to share with novice gardeners my many years of experience in growing pepper - a delicious and very healthy vegetable.

This is one of my favorite cultures. While mastering her agricultural techniques, I tested many different varieties of pepper, tried various methods and technologies, experimented with the timing of sowing seeds and planting seedlings, and I think I understood many of its secrets.

Gardener's guide

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Preparing pepper seeds for sowing

The simplest way is to do nothing, sow peppers on seedlings with dry seeds. But most gardeners still carry out some preparatory work before sowing. For example, disinfection.

Disinfection of pepper seeds

Why do you have to disinfect seeds? And in order to free them from infections, so as not to bring disease into the greenhouse. More recently, a rare gardener grew peppers in the north and north-west of Russia. And now almost everyone is trying to place them on their site. There are many seed sellers, little control. There is no guarantee that they all carry out dry heating of seeds and some other types of disinfection. At home, the simplest and most reliable disinfection is to hold it in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per 100 g of water) for 20 minutes.

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First, wrap the seeds of each variety separately in a small piece of thin, soft cloth (chintz, cambric, gauze, gauze). Be sure to write its name on it. Dip these bags in warm water (+40 - + 45 ° С) in a large saucepan. Hold for 1-2 hours, maybe less. This is necessary so that the bags and seeds in them get wet. Then squeeze them out of the water and lower them in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes. Some gardeners are afraid of such a concentration, they say, the seeds turn black. But there is no need to be afraid, they germinate normally. But a weak potassium permanganate does not give an effect.

After disinfection, the seeds in the bags must be washed so that the water is clear. After that, you can put them on germination or sow, or you can additionally process them with stimulants or microelements.

Stimulation of seeds for rapid germination is not necessary if you have your own seeds, fresh. They will grow well anyway. But in the Northwest, rainy, cold summers are not uncommon, when the sun is not enough for the peppers. The seeds obtained from them can be treated with trace elements, growth stimulants (humates, epin, aloe, etc.) according to the instructions. Most often, gardeners use ash. A solution is being prepared: a) 1 tablespoon of ash per 1 liter of water, insist for a day, stirring.

Drain the infusion from the sediment and hold the seeds in bags in it after potassium permanganate for 12 hours; b) 2 tablespoons of ash per 1 liter of water insist, stirring, for a day. Drain the solution and hold the seeds in bags in this solution for three hours. After treatment with any stimulants (ash, trace elements, epin, etc.), squeeze the seeds and, without rinsing in water, sow or put on germination.

Germinating pepper seeds

If you are sure that their germination rate will be about 100%, then you can sow without germination. But there are such seeds that out of 10 pieces in a bag, only three emerge. A gardener sowing such seeds loses precious days.

And then, without waiting for shoots, begins reseeding. It happens that the gardeners themselves, during the preparation of seeds, reduce their germination. For example, having decided to carry out heating on their own, someone put them in a thermos for 20 minutes, and there was water with a temperature of + 50 ° C. As a result, the seeds "steamed up". And, of course, they didn't germinate. Therefore, if you are not sure, then for insurance it is better to check the germination of seeds.

For germination, seeds in bags after all treatments must be placed in a clay or porcelain bowl, closed with a plastic bag so that they do not dry out there, but it is important that there is an air gap between the bag and the seeds. Such "package" should be placed in a warm, not necessarily bright place with a temperature of + 25 … + 28 ° С. For example, I have a bathroom. You can put it near the battery, but you can't put it on the battery - the seeds are "steamed". It is imperative to measure the temperature in the place where the seeds will germinate.

Fresh will pick up in a day. Such seeds can be sown immediately or deposited in another bowl, covered with foil so that they do not dry out, and refrigerated at + 2 … + 5 ° C. Before that, all refrigerator shelves must be measured with a thermometer. I practice this in order to sow all varieties in one day, i.e. the seeds that hatch first lie with me at + 50 ° C for several days until the rest germinate.

One example from my practice. Sprouted seeds were kept in a refrigerator at + 5 ° С for three days. Sowing was carried out on February 17, some of the extra seeds remained, and they lay at this temperature until February 26. I had to sow, all ascended. Got up in a day or two. To soak the seeds, I select the day for the pepper according to the lunar calendar. Having done all the treatments, I place the seeds in a refrigerator at + 5 ° C and keep them there until the day required for sowing pepper according to the lunar calendar. This year I will soak them on February 11, and sow them on February 20. Or, if something gets in the way, I'll soak it on February 20, sow it on February 26.

And the last, April sowing, I will spend like this: I will soak the seeds on March 29, sow them on April 5, I dive the plants of this sowing on the site for planting in a greenhouse in late May - early June. Seed hardening. If the seeds have sprouted, then we will harden them at a temperature of + 2 … + 5 ° С for 2-3 days. At a temperature of 1-2 ° C, only swollen seeds are kept for 1-1.5 days. The second option is that swollen seeds are exposed to variable temperatures for 10-12 days: they are kept for 12 hours at + 20 … + 24 ° C and 12 hours at + 2 … + 6 ° C. But this is very laborious, and with such hardening, some of the seeds (weak) lose their germination. Those gardeners who are late planting seedlings in the greenhouse, i.e. after the end of June frosts, hardening of seeds and plants can be omitted. Quenching can be skipped for those who have a heated greenhouse

Sowing pepper seeds

Sowing dates

Each gardener selects his own term. It depends on the variety, on when it can plant the peppers in the ground, on the light when growing seedlings. In high light conditions of 300-400 W / m², seedlings of early and mid-season peppers can pick up buds after 8-9 leaves, i.e. after 45-50 days from germination. With a weak illumination, the seedlings are gaining buds after 12 leaves, i.e. after 60-70 days. Seedlings of late varieties and hybrids can be planted when branching begins, i.e. it can grow up to 90 days, but the clod of earth, accordingly, must be large. Let's take this example: we know that in our area the soil in the greenhouse will warm up to + 16 ° C by May 1. This means that the seedlings can already be planted. We count back 70 days if the backlight is weak, like mine. It turns out that the peppers should rise around February 20th.

In the North-West and North, some gardeners have greenhouses with electric and stove heating, so they boldly plant seedlings in the third decade of April, and the first peppers are received in the third decade of June. Such peppers bear fruit until October inclusive, i.e. four months. And do not be ironic over them that they sow seeds in January. There are gardeners who sow peppers for seedlings in January, and plant them in a greenhouse on biofuel in early May.

But these plants are already with ovaries. Many "horror stories" have been written about this, that it is impossible either way, they say, the ovaries will fall off. The ovaries will not fall off if the plant has a clod of earth that matches the age of the seedlings, if it is not a jar of yogurt. There is also pepper as an indoor culture, the ovaries do not fall off there. You need to know the requirements of this culture for light, feeding, watering, airing, and then everything will work out.

Pepper is a perennial crop, for those who sow seeds in the third decade of March and plant seedlings in the ground after June 10, the harvest is late, small. Such gardeners have to harvest in quantity, i.e. occupy a large area, which means more seedlings are required.

Preparing the soil for sowing peppers

I will not write about the preparation of soils for growing seedlings. I have my own approach (I use three-year compost, add superphosphate, complex mineral fertilizer), I've tried a lot of options. From practice, I concluded that the richer the soil in humus, the easier the seedlings grow, the leaves are large, shine, the plant is powerful, beautiful. But the more difficult it is for him to take root in a greenhouse if the soil there is sharply different. Plants do not take root for a long time, the leaves wither, as if curling up.

In my greenhouse, a three-year compost also serves as a soil, so for seedlings I make a soil close to a greenhouse one. The soil must be prepared in advance, many make the soil mixture in 5-6 days - this is the minimum, it is necessary to keep it warm in order to "come to life". Then fill any containers with soil mixture, spill it well with warm, hot water, but not boiling water. My compost is clean, not sour - pH 7, so I don't spill potassium permanganate, I don't pour lime, sometimes I add 2-3 tablespoons of ash to a bucket of soil.

Sowing seeds

Seeds can be sown in a "school" with subsequent picking. For this, a wooden box or plastic dishes 7-8 cm high will do. The distance between the seeds is 2x5 cm, or better - 3x5 cm. Do not be afraid of picking. It is often frightened that the pepper does not tolerate a pick. She does not succeed well in cold apartments, in such conditions, when diving, it is impossible to deepen the pepper. And if the room is warm, then you will deepen the seedlings or not, the pepper will not notice it. After picking for several days, create greenhouse conditions for the pepper, i.e. so that the soil does not cool down.

In the past and the year before last, I have already tried sowing pepper in plastic cassettes. Each of them consists of cells filled with soil. First I tried cassettes with 35x35 mm cells, in 2004 I tried them with 45x45 mm cells. Each plant sits in its own separate cell, so the distance between them is 50 mm. Soil in the cell in a special wrapper that does not interfere with the roots. I grew the pepper in such cassette cells up to four leaves and transferred it to a large container. I just took the plant by the stem, it was freely removed from the cell, and put it in a plastic pot with soil. The peppers grew great.