Growing Healthy Seedlings Of Peppers And Tomatoes

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

Secrets of getting strong and healthy seedlings

Sowing campaign will begin very soon on the window sills of gardeners - sowing seeds of various vegetables for seedlings. Only this way helps to get harvests of heat-loving crops in our climate.

I observe interesting phenomena when sowing seeds. For example, she sowed root celery seeds last January. The seeds were preliminarily washed from essential oils, as always.

I put the crops in an ordinary warm place, did not hide from the light, did not cover the seeds with earth. A month passed, but the seeds did not sprout. I took out a new portion of seeds from the same bag, did the same operations with them, i.e. washed, sowed in the same glass as the previous batch, only made rows across the first crops. I put it in the same place. A week later, the seeds sprouted, but at the same time the seeds of the first sowing rose. I can't explain why.

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The same thing happened with the peppers. Sowed - did not ascend. Sowed again - both of them rose at the same time. The same miracles happened with the sowing of schizanthus. Some kind of riddle. Everything would be understandable if the seeds were from different batches - they have different germination times.

There is some explanation here: germination may depend on the conditions of seed ripening, on the time and conditions of their storage. But when seeds from the same bag, grown under the same conditions, give different results, and, most importantly, they germinate later on the same day, as if someone had given them an order, it is amazing.

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The middle of March is a very suitable time for sowing different onions - leeks, slimes, onions for sets and turnips. Before sowing, I usually fill black onions with very hot water - 70-80 degrees. During the day, I change the water several times, I fill it with warm water, not hot. Then, without drying, I sow the seeds - I spread them with tweezers on the soil surface. For onions, 0.5 liter bags of dairy products are suitable. I sow 80 seeds in them - 9 rows of 9 seeds each. It turns out that the distance between the seedlings is about 1 cm. This volume of dishes is enough until the seedlings are planted in the ground without picking.

When sowing nigella, I also often observed strange things. Seedlings usually appear 7-10 days after sowing. However, sometimes seedlings can appear in a day or two after sowing, i.e. the seeds hatch literally while they are soaking. However, here you can give the same explanation as the peppers. Apparently, the seeds ripened well, they were harvested on time, without allowing them to overripe or underripe.

It is very difficult to germinate eggplant seeds. They can rise in a few days, or they can persist for three weeks. Although I provide them with the same soil composition and moisture, temperature.

Now I'll tell you about my observations of the volume of soil in which seedlings grow. Seeds can be sown in the total volume of soil, and then the seedlings can be sown - each plant in its own vessel. You can immediately sow each seed in your vessel. It turned out that the volume of this personal vessel greatly affects the yield of some crops.

Peppers

Seedlings were grown in 200 and 500 ml cups. In small volumes, it noticeably lagged behind in growth from seedlings from large containers. For example, plants from 200 ml cups at the time of planting in the greenhouse had a height of no more than 40 cm, they even showed signs of starvation, despite feeding. When landing in the ground, it was clear that the roots were completely entwined with an earthen lump.

Plants from small volumes took a long time to take root, grew worse all summer, the yield was 3-4 times less than that of plants from 500 ml glasses. In the fall, when I removed the plants from the ground, it was clear that their roots practically did not grow beyond the previously mastered glass. And only two bushes, which grew from late sown seeds, had grown by autumn, bloomed profusely, but did not have time to give a full harvest. Their roots have grown powerful.

Plants from 500 ml vessels before planting in the greenhouse had a height of at least 60 cm, they branched more, their leaves were larger and greener. The roots have not completely mastered the earthen lump. Plants in the ground grew and developed well, gave good yields. In the fall, when these plants were pulled out of the ground, it turned out that the roots had grown beyond the original vessel.

What's the conclusion? Pepper seedlings must be grown in the ground with a volume of at least half a liter.

I saw the same result when growing eggplant. Here, the volume of the pot influenced even more than when growing peppers. Large plants could not be made from a small glass. Not having time to grow and accumulate a large green mass, they bloomed and began to bear fruit. The fruits were small and few. Therefore, eggplant seedlings should not be grown in containers less than half a liter in volume.

Tomatoes

I grew them in 100, 200 and 500 ml cups, and even in "diapers" (in small polyethylene bags). The result was as follows. Plants grown in "nappies" quickly and vigorously began to grow when they were planted in the soil of a greenhouse or on beds. However, they spent some time on this growth and the formation of additional roots. As a result, there was a significant delay in the full formation of the crop, and in general the yield was not high.

At the same time, the seedlings grown in 500 ml glasses were strong, they quickly, without delay, began to grow and bear fruit. Seedlings from smaller cups gave almost the same yield as from 500 ml, but often they had the first cluster with one or two fruits. The first brush had to be removed so that it would not hinder further full fruit setting. The root system grew almost the same for any cup volume.

And here the conclusion is similar: it is also better to grow tomatoes in larger containers, but smaller volumes are acceptable.

Read part 2. Root rot or "black leg"