Pepper and tomato seedlings

Secrets of growing peppers and tomato seedlings: when to plant and how to keep a good harvest?

This article touches on some of the nuances of planting, as well as common features in growing tomatoes and peppers.

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Tomato and pepper sprouts allow hobbyists to not only save money, but also gain useful skills. To deepen your knowledge of plant growing; To spend fun and leisure time; And above all, to get results.

On the Internet you will find hundreds of articles, the usual paper publications somehow or other give recommendations that are more related to each other. Don’t be fooled, you’re trying with scientific research, numbers and calculations that just magically respond to the reader – or to wrap your head around it.

Pepper seeds on bioponics. Photos used as illustration. Source: yandex.cartes

“Tell yourself – it’s not for me. I’m a proponent of pure experience.” Brunnen … means they got it right, read it, and remembered it.” Our regular reader recounted his experience in this article. From birth he lived with his parents in the countryside, where planting was commonplace.

When do you plant seeds?

Note! It is important to consider a factor without which the experience is not an experience. And the matter is the phases of the moon, in which the influence of this satellite of the earth is observed not only on plants, tides, but also on man. Therefore, it is necessary to be guided by the lunar calendar, which indicates the phases favorable for sowing.

Sowing should be carried out 2-2.5 months before planting seedlings in the open ground. In the middle belt, seeds are usually sown at the end of February.

Before sowing, it is necessary to …

Seed production

Before planting seedlings, seeds must first be selected, which involves separating healthy (high quality) from blackened, broken and empty seeds. Seeds should be sorted by hand on the table.

Pea seeds are seeds from peppers. Photos used as an illustration. Source: yandex.cartes

After they have been given seeds, break them down by laying them on a platform and spreading a cloth there, on the edge of which the seeds are laid, which covers the other. Pour warm water, about 60 ° C. This is easy to determine at home without a thermometer.

If bubbles form in the kettle when boiling, it is 70 ° C. Remove or turn it off when it becomes electric and wait 7 minutes. Reduce the temperature of the water to 58-59 °C. and leave it for 4-5 days, wetting the seeds regularly.

Making soil.

Remove 50% of the soil from the area where this vegetable is planted. Mix the remaining soil with chernozem with a small addition of humus and horse mulch. Prepare the mixture in the fall and store it in a back room or on the balcony, and about a week before sowing, bring it into the room in which you want to grow seedlings. The soil should be watered and allowed to dry naturally.

It is better to choose a container with a page height of no more than 15 centimeters. Seedlings for seedlings should meet simple requirements:

• be strong;
• the ability to pass water;
• Have a stacking shell for watering;
• Easy to lift together with the floor.

You can buy such containers in departments that specialize in related products for gardeners and gardeners.

All about sowing: How to sow to grow strong seedlings?

Filled with soil through the boxes, before planting, water with a solution of provincial potassium, but not too much. Then no more than 1.5 centimeters with one finger. The distance between the rows is about 5 centimeters. Actually all – sow.

Tomato seedlings planted in the greenhouse. Photos used as an illustration. Source: yandex.cartes

Seeds of tomato or pepper are spread at a distance of 2-3 centimeters from each other. Next, the seeds are covered with loose soil and sprayed with warm water.

It is necessary to cover the containers with plastic wrap to achieve sufficient moisture. It is also necessary to observe the temperature regime. He must meet the standard of not less than 24-26 ° C. It remains to observe the seedlings. Tomato will rise in 5-6 days, and pepper in about 7-11 days.

Tip! Include a brochure with the name of the variety and the timing of planting these plants.

How to care for and grow

A Mexican proverb says, “They bury us without knowing that we are seeds.” And we already know the seeds are buried, but in order for them to sprout and grow seedlings, we need to learn everything without missing anything:

• Lighting Features;
• Requirements for temperature and humidity;
• Nuances of watering and feeding;
• Methods of picking and hardening.

Lighting and temperature regime

Let’s start in order. After the first sprouts will emerge, it is necessary to provide them with full lighting, the foil is removed.

Install fluorescent lamps for seedlings. As an illustration, photos are used. Source: yandex.cartes

The first time to prevent unintentional design and lower room temperature.

In addition, the temperature of 16-19 ° C is sufficient for the plants. Lighting, most likely, you should use artificial, LED lamps (bright enough and less power consumption).

A few tips! Electric devices strongly heat the air near them and can simply burn the young leaves. Therefore, you need to maintain a distance of at least 60 centimeters between the boxes. In those places where there is not enough light, you need to cover them with foil.

For three days after the appearance of the first sprouts, it is not recommended to remove lighting from the seedlings.

Watering

Watering of young plants should be dosed. Seedlings can be flooded. There are three criteria for watering:

1. Abundance.
2. Frequency.
3. Quality.

Let us analyze each criterion separately. The amount of water depends on the age of the seedlings and the volume of the box. You can not water the plants excessively. To begin with, a tablespoon is enough (to better understand the volume).

Spraying of tomato assemblies of adult seedlings. Photos used as an illustration. Source: yandex.cartes

In a transparent container, you can clearly see where the moisture has gone, and in an opaque container, you need to squeeze the walls a little. That way you can feel the soft or wet ground, maybe there’s a piece of the Sahara Desert in there. With experience will come an understanding, and you will be able, as if by eye, to determine how much water is needed for seedlings.

The frequency should be as follows: water the seedlings 100% every 3 days, then daily. A couple of weeks before planting in the ground no more than 3 times a week. The main task is not to let the ground turn into a Gobi desert. Until the first sprouts appear, you can water from a spray bottle. Plants should be watered in the morning to prevent the development of blackleg.

The quality of the water used for watering must be carefully monitored. Do not water the plants immediately with tap water, but let it soak so that the chlorine, which is so dangerous for the young shoots, evaporates. The water temperature should be approx. 30 °C plus/minus 2-3 °C. Cold water can also cause root rot.

Important: Water peppers far from the ground and keep the stems and leaves moist to prevent fungal diseases.

Feeding

Pepper and tomato seedlings actively grow from the fertilizer “Humate”. Instructions for use can be found on the package. You can make a watering can by taking a plastic bottle and drilling a hole in the cork. The most effective preparation for fertilizing vegetables.

Pinching, hardening and pruning.

Did you know that the size of your fish in an aquarium depends on the size of the aquarium itself? The same applies to your plants. Once the seedlings have started to grow vigorously, they need to be pricked. Nesting plants allows each plant to develop more individually before being planted outdoors.

Seedlings placed on the balcony. Photo used as an illustration. Source: Yandex.Images

Pickling is carried out with a spatula or spoon, picking up the plants along with the soil and placing them in a cup. The cup should be filled with soil by about a third. After filling the empty spaces, but not above the lump of the growing seedling. Then warm water is poured around the rim of the cup. The conditions of care after picking do not change.

Hardening of young seedlings should be carried out gradually. Usually, seedlings are transferred to a cool room, but after preliminary airing. After two times, you can safely leave the seedlings on the loggia or veranda. A few days before planting in the open ground, the seedlings are taken outdoors, so she got used to the local weather conditions.

Caution! If the plants are drooping during the hardening period, stop the process for 2-3 days and water the seedlings with warm water.

Shaping bushes of tomatoes and peppers is necessary even from sprouts. Usually pinch the plant over the fifth or sixth leaf. This procedure is aimed at forming lateral branches, on which fruits will later be set.

disease prevention

Seedlings are most often exposed to such diseases as blackleg and mold. Sometimes damage is caused by parasites – aphids and whiteflies. Therefore, it is necessary to avoid disinfection and observe all the above conditions of care.

Tomato seedlings in the frozen state. The photo is used as an illustration. Source: Yandex.Photos

There are disputes about the peculiarities of care of pepper sprouts separately from tomatoes, but there is no fundamental difference. All disputes on websites and forums arise from a lack of practical knowledge.

planting in the ground

After your seedlings are hardened, they are planted in the ground. In April – in the greenhouse, in May (taking into account the age of the plants and the optimal temperature) – already on a separate plot. The main condition, as mentioned above, by the time of the second planting should be at least 2 months. To avoid overcooling in the first week after planting in an open area, the work should be covered with a film at night.

Useful video

We recommend watching a practical video on the nuances of care for peppers and tomatoes:

As the Scripture says, “He who toils should earn his food. This refers to those who spend this life doing good. Nature generously rewards the laborer for his labors. Follow these requirements and you will always have peppers and tomatoes on your table without much expense.

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What does it take to grow healthy and strong tomato and pepper seedlings?

Will you be sowing tomatoes and peppers for the first time this year? And don’t know how to handle it yet? No problem! We will tell you what you need to do and how to act so that your seedlings are not worse, but better than those of your more experienced neighbors at the cottage. Not only is it very simple, but it’s elementary!

To grow tomato and pepper seeds, you only need 5 things:

1. Pepper and tomato seeds

We have already talked in detail about the choice of varieties of peppers and tomatoes more than once. You can read our materials on this topic.

Here we will simply say:

Если хотите вырастить томаты в теплице , то выбирайте высокорослые (индетерминантные сорта и гибриды высотой до 1,2-2 м) ранние и среднеранние сорта и гибриды помидор. Хотите крупные и мясистые помидоры, смотрите подборку подходящих сортов, хотите мелкие, то смотрите подборку черри-томатов. Если же вы планируете выращивать томаты на огороде в откртытом грунте, то выберите скорсопелые детерминантные сорта и гибриды томатов. При этом гибриды, как правило, устойчивее и реже болеют, поэтому лучше подходят (Чем отличаются сорта от гибридов подробнее разобрано здесь>>>).

Also, choose peppers early and medium-sized. Peppers come into fruiting and ripen later than tomatoes, which means that peppers are sown in seedlings before tomatoes.

• So, seed peppers seedlings sown on 10-20 February;
• Tomato seeds are sown in seedlings from February 20 to March 10.

These data are for the middle zone and Moscow region, varies depending on your place of residence, in the south earlier, in the north later. In addition, in the southern regions you can sow medium early varieties and late, and in the north only early varieties and hybrids.

2. Container for sowing seeds for seedlings

Initially you will need a container for sowing seeds. These can be ready made plastic containers with a transparent cover, which are sold at any gardening store for 30-60 rubles apiece. Or a plastic container left over from previously bought vegetables or meat. It does not matter, the main thing is to be able to pour soil into it and cover the top with film, a can or a lid.

3. Fertile soil, soil additives

In every garden store you can buy soil designed for seedlings. However, usually this soil is not fertile, but almost pure peat. So buy additional soil additives: Perlite, Vermiculite or River sand. Mix them before sowing in a 1 to 3 ratio (3 parts chaff and 1 part additive). Fill the seeds into a container and sow. Sow pepper and tomato seeds in about the same way: spread the seeds along the floor with about 2 cm between the seeds. Pepper and tomato seeds are quite sharp and clearly visible, they are slightly separated from each other. Sprinkle the bottom, water gently, being careful not to erode the seeds, and cover with foil/glass or a podo lid. Water, ventilate, and keep warm until sprouts appear. After sprouting, remove protection and place the seedlings closer to light. It is advisable to use a special hood.

3.1 Peat boards

As an option, you can sow not in the ground, but in peat tablets. By the way, while tomato seedlings respond very well to transplanting, picking and other manipulations, peppers do not. The less they tear their roots, the better. Therefore, peppers respond well to seeding in peat tablets.

4. Growth capacity after transplanting and picking tomato and pepper seeds

A few weeks after the emergence of seedlings (3-4 weeks after sowing the seeds of peppers and tomatoes) it is necessary to plant seedlings in separate pots. For this purpose, you can use purchased pots or homemade containers: milk bags, scraps of 1.5-liter and 2-liter bottles, 0.5-liter plastic slides, etc.

Take soil for both transplanting and sowing.

• With tomato seedlings, you can not be ceremonious: only transplanting, deepening to a sieve of measured leaves, watering and everything.
• With seedlings of peppers be careful: do not try to disturb the roots and trunk when transplanting.

One-month-old potted tomato seedlings

5. Fertilizer for sprouts and peppers

For this purpose, you can buy any universal fertilizer for seedlings in liquid form. The first application according to the instructions 2 weeks after transplanting. Then every 2 weeks and so on until planting in the ground. A total of 3-4 watering with the fertilizer.

You can also fertilize the foliage between waterings with the fertilizer. There are no less wonderful fertilizers for this treatment, which are sold as sprays. In addition, feeding can be carried out and on the leaf itself, for which you can use a small concentration of the usual fertilizer for seedlings or special solutions of epin and zirconal.

Spraying of seedlings with a fertilizer solution

+ Useful little things in growing seedlings and peppers

There are a few useful little things that will help you make it easier to grow cuffs. They are not necessary, seedlings can grow without them, but they can be helpful. SO:

1. Phytolamp

If you sow seeds for seedlings early (early harvest or late, super hungry varieties (and there are many under late varieties).

2. lake with a thin spout.

Convenient not only for watering young sprouts (allows you not to wash out young roots), but also adults. As it can be watered by removing pots with sprouts, if it has already grown up and the whole window sill is occupied. In this case, you can not spend money on watering, and water from an ordinary plastic bottle.

Watering young seedlings of Vadora after picking (transplanting in separate pots)

3. Seedling Labels

If you want to follow the growth and further future of your seedlings, it does not hurt to sign the varieties. You can do this by writing the name of the variety or hybrid on the pot, or you can use small plastic markers. They are freely available in the spring and vary in price, color, and size. Thin plastic markers are most convenient. But there may be variations as well.

Order of sowing tomatoes for seedlings: sow 4 different varieties of cherry tomatoes in a purchased plastic container with purchased soil mixed with vermiculite

Sprayer or sprinkler.

A thing in the household is useful, especially if you also have indoor plants at home.

5. A wedding rug for your sprouts.

You may need it only if you have a very cold window sill. In any other case, simply raise the sprouts higher. Anything from old boxes to unwanted books will do for this.

6. The meadowsweet for sprouts.

You only need it if you plan to sow a lot of seedlings. Or you are catastrophically short of space.

7. A truck or car

You have to take the seedlings to the plot. It is better to think in advance how to get your wealth to the garden or greenhouse.