All about growing sweet peppers. How to grow sweet peppers

Pepper is a rather demanding crop, and it is possible to get a harvest only with appropriate care. Experienced gardeners achieve excellent results without problems, but beginners often have difficulty growing peppers. It often happens that strong healthy bushes give 2-3 fruits not of the very best quality or the ovaries fall off for no apparent reason. But you really want to collect pepper in buckets, so that it is juicy, large, fragrant! In fact, achieving a good harvest is not so difficult, you just need to carefully study a few important rules agricultural techniques of this remarkable culture.

Going to grow peppers in open field First of all, you need to choose the right variety. The growing season for pepper is very long, and even in early varieties, the first fruits ripen 100 days after germination. Therefore, in order to have time to get a crop, you need to pay attention only to early and mid-season varieties. In addition, you should take into account the climatic features of your region. For example, pepper is successfully grown in the south of the country. different terms ripening, since the conditions there are the most favorable, and in the northern and eastern regions, the best results are shown mainly by cold-resistant early ripening varieties.

The shape and size of the fruit also matter. For stuffing and canning, it is worth choosing varieties with cone-shaped small fruits; for fresh use, large thick-walled cube-shaped fruits are more suitable.

If you are going to grow peppers for sale, take a closer look at the hybrids of the Dutch selection: they are cold-resistant, ripen early and amicably, and are less likely to be affected by diseases.

It is difficult for a novice gardener to understand the abundance of varieties, so the following are the most popular and reliable:

Site preparation

Choose and prepare a site for pepper should be in the fall. Qualitatively prepared soil is a guarantee of normal growth and fruiting of plants for the next year. The ideal place is the beds on the south side of the house or outbuildings in light shade in the afternoon. This arrangement provides protection from both wind and leaf burns in the July heat. Peppers should not be planted where tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and other nightshade crops have grown in the previous three years. The best predecessors of pepper are legumes and pumpkin crops, cabbage, melons, green manure.

Pepper garden preparation

The soil for pepper should be neutral or slightly acidic. On the beds with acidic soil plants take root for a long time after transplantation, develop poorly, almost do not bloom and do not bear fruit.

Advice! It is very easy to check the acidity at home: you need to take some earth and moisten it with ordinary table vinegar. If no reaction follows, the soil is acidic and needs liming, but if bubbles appear on the surface, this indicates neutral acidity.

So, if the earth in the selected area is acidic, slaked lime is added when digging (1 cup per square meter) or wood ash (1.5-3 kg). If the soil is neutral, it is necessary to introduce rotted organic matter (from 5 to 10 kg per m2) and dig the beds to a depth of 20-25 cm. In the spring, potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are additionally added at 40 g per meter of area, the soil is well loosened and leveled.

Growing seedlings

It is not advisable to sow pepper seeds in open ground, the plants will not have time to bear fruit before the cold weather. That is why both sweet and hot varieties of pepper are grown through seedlings. Mid-season and mid-late varieties are sown around the beginning of February, early - in early March. Please note that overgrown seedlings adapt for a very long time in open ground, especially if already flowering plants are planted.

Step 1. Seeds are immersed in warm water for 5-6 hours to swell. Then they are laid out on a damp cloth, wrapped and left in a warm place for 2-3 days, until the sprouts hatch.

Step 2 Mix 1 part garden soil, 1 part sand and 2 parts rotted organics, heated in a microwave or conventional oven for disinfection. Then, a tablespoon of wood ash is added to 1 kg of the mixture and mixed thoroughly.

Step 3 They take peat pots or disposable cups with a capacity of 0.5 liters for sowing and fill them with prepared soil. You can sow the seeds in a common container, but as the seedlings grow, it will become crowded, and the pepper does not like picking.

Step 4 The hatched seeds are laid out one by one in each pot, lightly sprinkled with earth, moistened through a spray bottle. Then the containers are covered with glass or film and placed in a warm place. The temperature must be maintained within 22-24 degrees.

Sprouts appear already 2-3 days after sowing. At this time, they need to provide at least 12 hours of lighting, so prepare fitolamps in advance. The film is removed from the pots to high humidity did not destroy the tender sprouts. Pepper seedlings are watered very moderately, only when the substrate begins to dry out. Water is used only warm and settled, from cold water seedlings slow down development.

If the air in the room is too dry, the seedlings should be sprayed in the morning (also warm water). When ventilating the room, be sure to cover the seedlings from drafts, avoid sudden changes in temperature. A week after germination, the night temperature is recommended to be reduced to 15 ° C. Grown up and strengthened seedlings should be gradually hardened. On warm days, when the temperature outside the window rises to 13 ° C, the pepper should be exposed to the open air, providing protection from the wind. For the first time, half an hour is enough, then the time spent in the air is increased daily. On cold days, seedlings cannot be taken out, since already at 10 ° C the plants can be damaged.

Landing in the ground

Before planting seedlings, the beds are weeded from weeds, loosened and leveled. Holes are made at a distance of 30 cm in a row, 60-70 cm are left between rows. Pepper should be planted in the evening or in cloudy weather, since the heat of the day is additional stress for the plant. About 5-6 hours before transplanting, seedlings are watered abundantly so that the root system can more easily adapt to new conditions. Water for irrigation is also prepared in advance: they are collected in buckets or a large container and placed in the sun to heat.

Step 1. 2-3 liters of water are poured into each well and allowed to soak a little.

Step 2 The seedlings are carefully removed from the containers so that the earthen ball does not break up. If peat pots were used, pepper is planted with them.

Step 3 Plants are lowered into the hole a little deeper than they grew in cups, sprinkled with earth on all sides, compacted with hands.

Advice! Peppers are easily pollinated, so if you plan to collect seeds, plant different varieties as far apart as possible. Additionally, you can intersperse them with tall crops, such as corn, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke and others. Hot and sweet peppers also need to be planted on maximum distance otherwise all fruits will have a sharp taste.

Outdoor Pepper Care

Watering and fertilizing

2 days after planting, water the pepper and sprinkle the ground with fine straw, dry grass or sawdust. In the future, plants should be watered once a week until ovaries form, after which watering is increased - 1 time for 5 days. In order not to water so often, you can increase the layer of mulch to 10 cm.

Plantings are fed three times:

• the first time fertilizer is applied 10 days after planting. For this, bird droppings are used, diluted in a ratio of 1:10, with the addition of 200 g of ash and 40 g of superphosphate per 10 liters of solution. The indicated volume is enough for about 10 bushes;
• the second time the pepper is fed at the beginning of fruiting with a solution of mullein in a ratio of 1:5 or diluted bird droppings (1:10);
• the third time fertilizers are applied during the mass formation of fruits, when the plants most need replenishment of nutrients.

By appearance pepper is easy to determine which substances it lacks. If the leaves dry up along the edge and then curl, this indicates a lack of potassium. The lack of nitrogen is expressed by the dullness of the leaves, the presence of a grayish tint. In addition, the leaves become small. But with an excess of nitrogen, ovaries and flowers begin to fall off. Intense purple color back side leaves indicates a lack of phosphorus, a marbled pattern occurs with a lack of magnesium. The use of mineral fertilizers helps to make up for all this, but do not forget to strictly observe the dosage, otherwise all the excess will fall into the fruits.

If the autumn turned out to be warm, with the help of one more top dressing, you can prolong the fruiting of early varieties. To do this, 50 g of superphosphate, 15 g of ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride are diluted in 10 liters of water.

loosening

The soil between the rows should be regularly loosened to a depth of 10 cm. The formation of a soil crust slows down the development of pepper, causes oxygen starvation of the root system. It is best to loosen the morning after watering, while the ground is still quite wet. If mulch was not used, loosening is carried out under the very bushes, but very carefully, since the roots are located very close to the surface. During the period of budding and flowering, it is advisable to spud each plant to a height of 10-12 cm.

Bush formation

To get large ripened fruits, excess shoots (stepchildren) should be removed from the plant. All shoots located below the first branch are removed completely, as they only draw the juices from the plant and interfere with fruiting. In addition, the crown should be thinned so that each branch receives enough air and light. Too dense bushes form few ovaries, the fruits grow on them small and thin-walled.

On average, pruning is done once every two weeks, but if the summer is rainy, stepchildren will have to be removed more often - about once every 10 days. It is advisable to combine pruning with loosening the soil in order to disturb the plant less.

Pepper shoots are quite fragile, and any careless movement can damage the stems. To avoid this, it is recommended to tie tall varieties to supports.

Diseases and pests

This culture is susceptible to late blight, white and top rot, tobacco mosaic and some other diseases. in the best way Dealing with them is prevention and proper care. Compliance with the planting pattern, timely thinning and pruning, proper watering, removing diseased plants from the garden will help you keep the planting healthy and get a full crop.

From pests, dusting the bushes with wood ash effectively works. This should be done at least 5 times per season, preferably in the morning, while the leaves are wet. From spider mites and aphids, spraying pepper with garlic infusion also helps well. Slugs that do not mind eating fresh leaves are collected using traps or repelled with salt, lime, mustard, pepper powder, scattered along the aisles.

Video - Pepper: cultivation and care in the open field

Video - Planting pepper seedlings

Video - Formation of a pepper bush

Sweet pepper is a very popular crop among vegetable growers.

And this explains a lot.

It contains a lot of useful vitamins and minerals, the amount of which exceeds tomatoes and eggplants, and in terms of the content of ascorbic acid, it has no equal at all.

Pepper will decorate any dish on your festive table, will give it an exquisite taste and aroma.

This plant is easy to grow and get tasty fruits if all agrotechnical measures are followed.

Features of sweet pepper that you need to know when growing it

• Pepper is negatively affected by changes in night and day temperatures, as well as changes in humidity.
• Insufficient coverage of culture, especially during the formation of buds, has a bad effect on its development.
• There are varieties and hybrids of sweet pepper. A hybrid will be your best bet, as it is more productive, more resistant to disease, and has nice, even fruit.
• For growing crops, flat, sunny, calm areas are most suitable.
• It is necessary to prepare the ground for pepper immediately after harvesting the previous crop.
• You also need to know what fertilizer and when to apply.

Peculiarities different types soil, which must be taken into account in order not to be disappointed in the harvest in the future:

• What needs to be done to improve the fertility of the land if there are loamy soils on the site?

  To do this, you will need the following components: rotted sawdust, peat or manure. All of the above must be applied in certain quantities. Manure requires one bucket, two peat, sawdust is also one.

• What needs to be done to improve the fertility of the land if there are clay soils on the site?

  To improve such lands, it is necessary to take sand of a large fraction and the same rotted sawdust, each of them in a bucket, mix and add to the soil.

• What needs to be done to improve the fertility of the land if there are peat soils on the site?

  With the predominance of such lands, it is necessary to add components such as soddy soils and humus to it. Each of them is taken in a bucket, mixed and applied to the soil.

• What needs to be done to improve the fertility of the land if there are sandy soils on the site?

  With such soils, the following substances are added: peat or clay soil, humus is added to them about two buckets and one bucket of sawdust.

  How to properly prepare the ground for sweet pepper, we list all the steps:

  

  • The first thing you need to know is that they begin to prepare the land for planting the crop immediately after harvesting the predecessor crop, that is, in the fall. The ideal ones are: cabbage, cucumber.
  • In the autumn period of soil preparation, organic fertilizers are applied along with mineral fertilizers. But before that, it is necessary to carry out harrowing or shallow plowing of the soil.
  • But if it suddenly turned out that you did not manage to fertilize the land in the fall, this can be done in the spring. In the same way and with the same fertilizers.
  • After making all the necessary fertilizers, the earth is dug up. At the same time, you need to immediately make beds on which the culture will grow. Height, which should be 25-30 cm.
  • And the last thing that is done is already ready-made beds watered with a solution prepared from the water of one bucket and 0.5 liters of mullein.

  After the measures taken to prepare the land, it can be used for planting pepper.

  And sweet pepper hybrids that you can try for planting on your site: Agapovsky, Atlant, Barguzin, Alyosha Popovich, Bogatyr, Bonus, Victoria, Vitamin, Dar Caspian Sea”, “Dobrynya”, “Yellow Bouquet”, “Green Miracle”, “Ilya Muromets”, “California Miracle”, “Bell”, “Cornet”, “Pioneer”, “Gift of Moldova” and many others.

  When choosing any of them, you must decide for yourself for what purposes you are going to use pepper.

  Seedlings of culture can be grown in three conditions, and briefly about them:

  • AT room conditions. Such seedlings are best placed on windows or balconies, if there is not enough light, then you can also artificially illuminate. Water used for irrigation should be settled for several hours. Feed indoor seedlings twice. The first time when the leaves appear, and the second time two weeks after the first feeding.
  • In greenhouses. In order to obtain high quality seedlings. It is necessary to use biofuel, that is, hot manure. Such seedlings can be grown with and without a pick. The best option for growing seedlings is to grow them in pots that are placed on the ground of the greenhouse and watered. Seedlings need to be fed at least twice.
  • In greenhouses. It is easier to grow seedlings than in a greenhouse. Under such conditions, seedlings growing in pots can be taken outside to undergo the hardening procedure. In the greenhouse, seedlings are fertilized with mineral fertilizers once or twice.

  Features of planting culture

  

  Since sweet peppers are characterized mainly by a long growing season, a suitable planting method would be seedlings.

  When planting seedlings, you need to consider the distance between them. The best option would be 45-55 cm.

  A suitable period for planting seedlings will be the last day of May or the first decade of June. Since there will already be complete confidence that the spring frosts will no longer come, and the culture will not freeze out. The best time of day for such a process would be evening time, and you can also select a cloudy day. Thus, the culture adapts better to new conditions and is less injured.

  It is generally impossible to plant seedlings during the day, especially if it is a very hot day.

  Before planting, you need to prepare small dimples with a maximum depth of 50 cm. A little ash and humus are poured into the bottom of the hole, and then the seedlings are installed and the hole is filled up.

  For faster adaptation of the plant to new conditions, they need cover with foil or other material. After the culture takes root and takes root in the ground, the shelter can be removed.

  In the first days of the plant's life, it will look lifeless and lethargic, even if you water it often, but you should not worry, this is quite normal. After ten days, the culture will come to life and begin to grow rapidly. In order for the seedlings to take root better, it is necessary to carry out daily loosening of the soil.

  When planting a crop, you need to immediately install pegs so that you do not injure it later. This is necessary in order to tie up the culture in the future and ensure its normal growth without breaking.

  An important role in the life of a culture is played by the pinching of a plant. To form a stronger and more branched bush, you need to pinch the top. This process is carried out when the plant has reached a height of at least 30 cm.

  If you decide to plant several varieties of pepper. It is better to do this at a certain distance from each other. Because cross-pollination of crops among themselves may occur, which in the future will not greatly affect the taste of pepper.

  What should be observed when caring for sweet peppers?

  

  There are many diseases and pests that can harm a plant. To prevent this from happening, you need to take preventive measures. In the fight against them can help as folk remedies, and means which are on sale in the market.

  Also, crops growing in the neighborhood can provide protection to their neighbors. For prevention, every two weeks, plants can be watered with a solution, but the main thing is not to overdo it.

  You also need to pay attention to the timely watering of the crop, to tying it up from unnecessary damage, to weeding and removing weeds, as well as to making various kinds of plant nutrition for better development.

  Watering the culture is very important. With proper moisture, the plant will grow and develop well. The soil must be constantly moist. But Precipitation should also be monitored if they are abundant watering should be completely excluded, and if not very much, then from time to time it is necessary to water the culture.

  It is best to moisten the soil in the morning, during cold nights. And if not, it is fashionable to water during the day. The temperature of the water should not be cold, so as not to harm the plant. Before watering, you need to carry out a slight loosening of the soil, this is done so that there is no bark around the crop.

  feed the plant is needed in several stages:

  • The first stage must be carried out after two weeks of planting the crop in an open area. For this event, you need to prepare special solution, consisting of urea, superphosphate and water. Having combined all these components, they are thoroughly mixed and poured 1 liter into each bush.
  • The second stage must be carried out during the flowering of the plant. For this event, you need to prepare the following solution, consisting of urea, superphosphate and potassium sulfate and water. All components are mixed and applied under each bush.
  • The third stage must be carried out during the appearance of the initial fruits. For this event, you need to prepare the following solution, consisting of potassium salt, water and superphosphate. All components are mixed and poured under each bush, in two doses.

  Loosen the ground under the planted plant must be carried out with extreme caution. The root systems of sweet peppers are close to the surface. In order not to harm the roots of pepper, loosening is carried out not to a great depth.

  The fruits of the culture can be removed unripe and ripe. But when removed unripe, you can get a larger harvest.

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AT greenhouse conditions it is planted in early May, when the time of frost and cold weather passes. By this time, the plants should be strong, flowering. The age of the seedlings should be more than 2 months, so you need to carry out planting sweet pepper seedlings. With a later planting, the fruits simply do not have time to grow and ripen.

Important! It is not necessary to plant too early, otherwise there will be no good harvest. The best option- second half of February.

If, nevertheless, the planting was done ahead of time, prepare good greenhouse conditions to plant pepper in the ground in April.

In the north, northwest and central part of the Russian Federation, these vegetables are planted only through seedlings. Early maturing varieties are often used.

In Ukraine and the southern regions of the Russian Federation, seeds for seedlings are planted at the end of January or immediately into the greenhouse at the beginning of April.

Moon calendar

Many gardeners rely on the lunar calendar when planting crops.

The best time to land is to the growing moon. Many use clarifications - the growing moon should be in the sign of Scorpio, Aries and Sagittarius.

Auspicious days for planting peppers will be from 15 to 20 January, from 11 to 16 February and from 9 to 17 March.

Further care is carried out in the same way lunar calendar- watering, picking, planting in a greenhouse.

Sowing sweet pepper seedlings

Here we’ll talk about how to plant bell peppers from seeds?

Sowing sweet pepper seeds for seedlings. Seeds must be prepared to landing. Some germinate seeds in moist material, but this can be dispensed with. .

better to buy in specialized stores, packages already contain all the necessary components in the right proportions.

If you use the land from the site, it must be disinfected (potassium permanganate solution) and steamed in the oven. Then the soil follows (ash, potassium sulfate and liquid sodium humate).

How to plant bell pepper for seedlings? It is better to immediately plant peppers in separate containers about 5-6 cm in diameter. This way you will avoid picking and initially strengthen root system plants.

Reference! It is good to use containers that decompose in the ground (paper and peat cups) for convenient planting in permanent soil. Several seeds should be placed in cups at once, peppers are difficult to germinate.

There is an opinion that when peppers lose special hairs with which they absorb nutrients.

If planted in a common container, then the distance between the sprouts should be more than 2 cm.

Planting depth - about 3-4 cm. It is better to warm the top layer of the earth with warm water, sow the seedlings and sprinkle the earth with a layer of 3-4 cm on top. So the soil will be more air-saturated.

Then you should cover the crops with polyethylene to form the desired humidity, when open.

It is better to put seedlings on the south side, in a bright place, optimum temperature air for shoot should be about 25 degrees. then it can be reduced to 20. If the growth is weak, the temperature must be increased again.

Important! Plants stretch towards the sun, bending. It is necessary to turn the seedlings to straighten the stems. Seedlings are afraid of drafts!

Water as the soil dries out. Initially - once a week, otherwise the appearance ("black leg") is likely, then watering is carried out more often.

Picks are carried out when two well-developed leaves appear. A few hours before you need to water well.

Then you can feed every 5 days. For this use mixture of urea and saltpeter(1 tablespoon) per bucket of water. Many use a glass of mullein per bucket.

A month before planting in the greenhouse, plants are hardened- open the window or take it out to the veranda or balcony.

After a period of 60 - 80 days and with good flowering plants should be transplanted into a greenhouse. Plants should have 10 leaves.

The soil in the greenhouse must also be disinfected and warmed up.

Properly grown seedlings are the key to a good harvest. All efforts will not be in vain. We told how to sow sweet pepper for seedlings, gave the rules for sowing bell pepper for seedlings, planting dates.

Useful materials

Read other articles on pepper seedlings:

• and do you need them?
• how to grow,

Sweet or bell pepper is a heat-loving and rather capricious plant, but it also has many advantages. In addition to the bright colors of fruits that can easily decorate a festive dish, pepper boasts the presence of vitamins, which it contains a lot.

Pepper seed selection and sowing

To grow pepper and get a good harvest, you need to properly care for it. But, first of all, when choosing seeds of a particular variety, it is necessary focus on growing conditions. It could be:

• open ground;
• Stationary greenhouse;
• temporary shelter;

Growing pepper in a greenhouse is a good option in protected ground, he is comfortable. Although it grows well in open soil.

When the variety is selected, you can begin to germinate the seeds. Due to thermophilicity, sweet peppers are grown only in seedlings. Seeds for seedlings must be processed before sowing. Them soak for a few hours in warm water. When they swell, they are transferred to a moistened cloth for 3 days. Such processing helps to get shoots very quickly.

They are also disinfected by keeping in a solution of manganese for half an hour and washing after that running water. It is also useful to treat them with growth stimulants. Prevention of seedlings from the fungus will be useful. For this, apply special means. Pepper seeds are sown in February, so that in May they can already be transplanted into the ground. Suitable for growing seedlings:

1. coconut substrate;
2. Peat tablets, they are convenient in that when picking, the seedlings, along with the tablet, are simply transferred to another container;
3. Soil with hydrogel, which retains moisture well.

But the substrate can really be prepared independently from humus, earth and sand in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. This mixture will be light and fluffy. Per kilogram of the composition, you can add Art. lies of ash. Before sowing seeds, it is good to shed the soil with a solution of manganese.

You can use boxes for growing seedlings. But pepper does not tolerate transplanting very well. Therefore, many prefer growing seedlings in small pots or cups to avoid picking seedlings. Both methods are quite applicable. When the seeds are sown, they must be properly moistened and covered with glass or polyethylene.

Temperature plays an important role in the care of seedlings. Optimum temperature parameters for normal seedling growth:

• Daytime t - 25-27 ° C;
• Night t - 10-15 ° C;

It is important to provide seedlings with a good drainage layer. For this, small pebbles or sand are suitable, they are added to the substrate. Moisturizing it should be moderate. Excess moisture can lead to various diseases, but the drying of the soil should also not be allowed. Water seedlings with warm water because they can die from the cold. What else is needed for the normal cultivation of seedlings:

1. Provide humidity in the room. This is easy to achieve by spraying or purchasing a special humidifier;
2. Ventilation is necessary, but careful so that the seedlings are protected from drafts. Therefore, it is better to cover them for this time;
3. Additional lighting is also needed for care. It is created using phytolamps, LED or fluorescent lamps.

At first backlight used around the clock, but as the seedlings grow, they are illuminated only in the morning and in the evening, providing about 12 hours of daylight.

For the cultivation of seedlings and their development, plants begin to fertilize even in seedlings. When 3 leaves appear on the seedlings, you can start feeding. For this, ammonium nitrate diluted in water, mixed with potassium compounds and superphosphate, is suitable. 2 weeks later, a second top dressing is carried out. After fertilizing, the seedlings must be watered. From vegetable fertilizers for seedlings, nettle infusion is good. A mixture is prepared at the rate of 10 parts of water per 1 part of nettle, insist it for 2 days.

From seedling boxes 20 days after the emergence of their seedlings dive into separate pots. It is undesirable to use too large containers for picking seedlings. In them, the seedlings may rot the root or they will build up excess green mass.

Before transplanting into open soil, seedlings are hardened. To do this, it must be taken to Fresh air, with each time increasing the exposure time. The main thing here is to monitor the air temperature. For pepper, its minimum value is 13 ° C. So it gradually adapts to sunlight, wind and rain. Such procedures make pepper more resistant to temperature changes.

After 60 days, the seedlings are ready to move the open ground or greenhouse to a permanent place. But in seedlings of 80 days of age, the yield is usually higher. It is important that the plants have 10-12 leaves, and height about 30cm. A day before moving to open ground or a greenhouse, you can spray them with a solution of a growth stimulator. It also increases resistance to diseases.

preparing the ground

The soil for growing sweet pepper, as well as for seedlings, is light, permeable, moist and fertile. The soil should be neutral in acidity, if it has a high pH, ​​it needs liming. It is useful to add rotted peat and sand to loams. Peat soil is mixed with humus and soddy soil. In sandy soil contribute sawdust, humus.

The soil for pepper is prepared in advance. In about a year, it is good to add the following compositions to the garden where pepper is planned to be planted:

• Organic fertilizers are added directly below the pepper precursor;
• In autumn, when digging, mineral potash and phosphorus top dressings are introduced;
• In spring, ammonium nitrate is added to the topsoil.

After fertilizing the soil, it must be dug up, freed from weeds and leveled. Then pour dissolved in hot water potassium humate or mullein.

A few days before planting pepper seedlings, it is good to disinfect the soil with this composition: st. lies of copper sulphate. So, the soil is ready and you can move the sweet pepper seedlings into it.

We plant seedlings

Pepper should be transplanted carefully, without damaging its roots. From separate containers, seedlings are transferred along with a clod of earth. This method minimizes the risk of injury to the roots. Pepper is planted in open ground when all frosts have passed in late May and early June. In a temporary greenhouse in mid-May, and in a stationary greenhouse in the beginning of May. When planting sweet peppers, one must take into account what grew in the beds before it. It will develop well on the soil where there were:

1. Pumpkin;
2. cucumbers;
3. Carrot;
4. Zucchini.

But after potatoes, peppers, tomatoes or eggplants, it is better not to plant pepper, finding another place for it. Necessary take care of the soil temperature. Sweet pepper does not like cold soil, and good option for its cultivation there will be high beds.

It is better to plant different varieties of pepper as far apart as possible. After all, the culture is prone to pollination. If possible, it is better to plant tall crops between them. When planting pepper, it is necessary to maintain a distance between the bushes of 25 cm, and between rows of 50 cm. When the seedlings take root, it must be watered more often. After planting, a humus or peat mulch is well suited, which retains moisture in the soil.

Immediately after transplantation, young peppers can be cover with polyethylene or lutrasil on the frame, making them a greenhouse. This will create favorable conditions for their rapid development. If a film is used, then the landings must be ventilated. It is better to choose a non-woven fabric that allows air to pass through. Spread well in a greenhouse plastic bottles with water. Warming up during the day, at night they will give off heat to the pepper. This will smooth out daily temperature fluctuations. When the weather becomes consistently warm, the shelter can be removed.

Subtleties of care

Caring for sweet peppers is not very difficult. All procedures are quite simple:

• Watering;
• Fertilizer;
• Weeding;
• Garter;

During the growing season carry out pruning activities. Long shoots are shortened, processes located below the main fork of the stem are removed. The procedure also includes the removal of diseased leaves, barren shoots. This is done to form a branched bush and improve yields.

Of the developing stepson shoots, 4-5 are left, on which the fruits will develop. Removing side branches, especially from below, is relevant if the weather outside is hot and humid. But during dry periods, this procedure is not recommended, because the lower leaves retain moisture in the soil. After harvesting, pruning is carried out again. The central flower, which grows from the first branch, is pinched by many gardeners to increase productivity.

High varieties of pepper must be tied up. It is better to put pegs for this immediately when planting its seedlings. Pepper must be weeded and loosened, but very carefully without harming its roots. This makes the soil more breathable. During the season, 3-4 procedures are carried out, and during the second loosening, peppers can be spudded.

In the open field, sweet pepper should choose a sunny place and protect it from drafts and wind. In hot weather, it is shaded from direct sun. It is good to mulch the soil with a thin layer of rotted straw. This will keep the soil moisture at the right level and help reduce watering. For pepper, the length of daylight hours is also important. It refers to plants that, with a light day of less than 12 hours, begin to bear fruit earlier. This gives a more stable and higher yield.

Watering and fertilizing

Watering should be regular, because pepper is moisture-loving. Too long a dry period can cause the ovaries to fall off. Irrigation scheme:

During the fruiting period, watering is needed 2 times a week. It is important that the water is not cold, room temperature is acceptable.

Needs pepper and in periodic top dressing. The very first is carried out 2 weeks after transplanting the seedlings, the next one occurs during the flowering period of the pepper and then when the fruits appear.

From fertilizers, it is good to apply organic matter, alternating it with mineral compounds that can be used to process the plant in a foliar way. Potash fertilizers are very useful, but they must be used with caution so as not to overfeed the plant.

Liquid organic compounds are also effective, but fresh manure is not suitable for top dressing. It can provoke the fall of flowers on pepper. From organic compounds it is better to use humus, compost. They are brought in a bucket per 1 sq. m.

Foliar top dressing with growth stimulants is done only in warm weather. The preparations are diluted in water and pepper is sprayed with it. These procedures can take place every 2 weeks.

Vegetable fertilizers are also applicable for the care of peppers. You can prepare such a composition in 100 liter barrel with water, place 5 kg of dandelion, nettle, chickweed, add half a glass of ash and a bucket of mullein. The composition is insisted for a week. It must be strained before use.

What causes pepper

The most common pepper diseases are white and top rot, late blight, macrosporiosis, septoria. There is different ways fight them. Every 2 weeks it is useful to treat the plant for prophylactic purposes with antifungal drugs "Trichodermin", "Alirin".

Helps with late blight proper pre-sowing seed treatment. An infusion of onion peel, which is sprayed on plants, is also effective. Soil moisture needs to be monitored. With insufficient watering, gray rot may develop.

Of the pests, sweet peppers are most annoyed by the scoop, slugs, whitefly, Colorado potato beetle, aphids, bears, and spider mites. Against pests, the plant is pollinated with a solution of wood ash. From aphids, pepper treatment with whey will help well, after which it is sprinkled with wood ash. With spider mite spraying plants with infusions of tansy, garlic, wormwood yarrow will help to cope. To combat it, keltan, karbofos are also suitable.

Finally

The pepper is harvested by cutting it as it ripens, so that the ripened fruits do not interfere with the development of others. Its usually stacked in boxes where it matures.

When choosing varieties for planting, you need to decide what the pepper is grown for. If you intend to use it fresh, then large-fruited varieties with thick pulp would be a good option. For conservation, varieties with small fruits are also suitable.

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in growing sweet peppers. The main concerns fall on the period of caring for seedlings. But the harvest will pay back all the hard work.

Despite the fact that sweet pepper is a southern crop, our gardeners grow it very successfully in conditions middle lane and more northern regions. More recently, I was convinced of this personally, having come to the plot of land to my friend.

There was no limit to my surprise when I saw a bed with peppers, completely strewn with large, almost half a liter jar, fruits. Peppers grew in open ground and were only covered with lutrasil. According to a friend, she gets the same result every year and always the results exceed expectations.

We used to think that in order to get a super crop, vegetables need super conditions: soil fertility and, of course, greenhouse conditions. The example of my friend proves the opposite: it is enough to observe the agrotechnical conditions and the effect will be the same.

Let's take a closer look at the rules for planting pepper and preparing seed material allowing for unprecedented yields.

Everyone knows that sweet pepper enjoys unprecedented popularity and is grown almost a line in every garden. The reason for such popular love is the merits of this healthy vegetable:

• Pepper is universal, it is good both fresh and in homemade winter preparations, it is added to a variety of dishes and eaten as a separate element.
• Growing this crop does not require any extra effort, and if you follow some rules, you can get a very good result.

This southern culture came to us from distant South America, therefore, for the growth and fruiting of pepper, heat and moisture are needed. The main thing is not to overdo it with soil moisture, and the airing of plantings should be constant. Peppers really don't like cool temperatures, so they will still need shelter, especially at the beginning of the season.

If you live in the southern regions of the country, then additional shelter is not necessary, the vegetable needs natural heat and moisture.

What you need to do for a good harvest in the open field

It's no secret that half the success depends on the right variety, so this item should be given the maximum value. Varietal characteristics include ripening time, seed planting time, fruiting period, and many factors on which the success of an enterprise depends.

You can conditionally divide the whole process into several episodes:

• Selection of seed material and its preparation for sowing.
• Formation of soil for planting.
• Plant care.
• Possible diseases and harmful insects, and their control.

Let's get acquainted with each of the episodes in more detail and find out all the agrotechnical secrets for growing sweet peppers.

Episode one - seed preparation

Choose only early-ripening varieties and hybrids, you should not delay the growing season if the weather conditions of the middle lane are very capricious. After all, when growing a vegetable in open ground, a lot depends on temperature and humidity.

Before planting, the seeds need to be processed or "wake up", this is necessary for a friendly and quick spitting of the sprouts from the seed box. The faster the process takes place, the more forces will remain for further development.

• Soaking the seed material is done for a couple of days.
• Next, a special solution is prepared from quite warm water and potassium permanganate and seeds are re-soaked, but for a short time, no more than 15 minutes.
• The next treatment is done in a stimulating preparation and lasts up to 12 hours.

After that, the seeds are ready for sowing.

Episode two - soil preparation

Preparing the soil for seedlings is an important preparatory moment. The earth must be loose and fertile. It is good if the soil consists of sand and humus, with the obligatory addition of ash.

The garden also requires special preparation, the soil is filled with superphosphate, manure, wood ash and must be moistened.

Episode three - growing seedlings and adult plants

Experienced gardeners know that it takes a long time to sprout sweet peppers, it can take two weeks, or even more time, before the first sprouts appear above the soil surface.

It is for this reason that pepper seeds are planted very early - at the end of January or early February. Here great importance have varietal characteristics.

• To prepare the soil, a weak solution of potassium permanganate is required, which is used to irrigate the soil and thereby disinfect it from fungi and pathogenic bacteria.
• Containers must have holes for water drainage.
• When planting seeds, a distance of at least 2 cm between seeds should be observed.
• After sowing, the boxes are covered with foil or glass, thus creating a greenhouse effect.
• The boxes are placed in a dark and warm place until shoots appear.
• After pecking the first shoots, the containers are put on a warm windowsill.
• Watering is done only as the soil dries out and only with warm settled water.
• Before the appearance of the first two true leaves, do not pick.
• In the process of growing seedlings, top dressing is carried out with a complex mineral fertilizer, which is prepared according to the instructions. The frequency of top dressing is about once every two weeks.

Pepper tolerates picking well, but some vegetable growers prefer to plant seeds immediately in a separate container so as not to injure the root system once again and not bother themselves.

After about 100 days, seedlings can be moved to a prepared garden bed in open ground. Here are some tips to keep in mind:

The end of May is suitable for planting peppers in open ground, but here the dates may shift due to the weather in one direction or another. When the soil is well warmed up, plants adapt faster and are less susceptible to disease. In this case, high or warm beds, which are prepared in advance, will be appropriate.

In them, warming up occurs much faster, and warm fertile layers allow the plant to be heated from below. It was these beds that my friend had built, so the vegetables looked healthy and strong.

Seedlings are planted at a distance of 50-60 cm between the bushes. The holes are plentifully watered and removed from the seedlings by the method of transshipment. You should not deepen the pepper, he does not like this, you can plant two bushes in one hole, they are favorable to this.

Next, you should use the well-known rule, which is called the "four "P". It consists of four main actions: weeding, tying, feeding, watering. If you remember them constantly, a good harvest is guaranteed to you.

Separately, I would like to dwell on the feeding of adult plants, during the entire vegetative period, there should be at least three top dressings:

• The first - two weeks after landing on the garden. Usually, a kilogram of rotted manure is taken for one bucket of water, infused for two days and poured under each plant up to 1-2 liters.
• The second is during flowering. It requires support with potassium humate (according to the instructions) and superphosphate (2 tablespoons).
• The third - two weeks after the last feeding, the plants should be fed with ash or Kemira, since the plants need potassium during this period. You can insist nettles and pour the bushes with the resulting mixture.

Waterlogging the soil can provoke the appearance of fungal diseases, so you should know the measure in watering.

Weeding is an essential element of care, as is a garter. Thin slats can be used as supports, but it is best to stick them into the ground when planting plants, so the roots will be less injured.

After planting pepper on the ridge, cover the bushes with a film or covering material, but be sure to ventilate the plantings.

In spring and early summer, the sun is very active, so make sure that the leaves do not get burned under the scorching rays through the film cover. This happens quite often, so experienced vegetable growers throw lutrasil on the film to slightly shade the area.

Despite this danger, the site should be well lit, you should not form a bed next to trees or bushes, you will lose crops, since sweet pepper does not like to grow in shady places.

Episode four - diseases and insects

Sweet pepper most often suffers from late blight, white rot, black leg, black bacterial spot. In order to secure landings, they should be ventilated, not allowed to stagnate with moist air. You can use anti-disease drugs at the first sign of illness, such as Fitosporin, as well as folk remedies in the form of a solution of milk and greens.

Pests can also spoil the crop. Aphids, bears, slugs, whiteflies and others love to feast on the juicy pulp of a vegetable, frequent guests in the garden.

Against uninvited guests, you can use special ready-made remedies, and herbal infusions of garlic, yarrow, wormwood. Aphids can disappear after spraying plants with serum or soapy water based on any detergent.

Sweet pepper is an essential element of any garden and personal plot, vegetable growers grow it both in greenhouses and in open ground, it is quite unpretentious and, as a rule, very productive. Its cultivation is an interesting and exciting activity, which gives a lot of pleasure, especially when you see the results of your work.

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