A source of vitamins, an indispensable component of summer salads, a spicy seasoning without which we cannot imagine a single meat dish, a drug that helps with sciatica and colds - and this is not a complete list of properties inherent in such a plant as pepper.
A Brief History
It is believed that pepper has been grown in the Americas for over 6,000 years. Even at the dawn of agriculture, the Aztec tribes, worshiping the gods of the Moon and the Sun, knew the secrets of its cultivation - they chose a favorable day for planting pepper, focusing on the location of the heavenly bodies. The Aztecs called the beautiful pepper, which later spread throughout the world, the word "chile", and used it as a seasoning for unleavened food.
Pepper came to Europe in the 15th century, where it was brought by the Spanish conquistadors. In Russia, they learned about this wonderful plant at the beginning of the 17th century, but they began to plant it as a garden crop only a century and a half later.
Now we have no idea how we could do without this vegetable. pepper fruitare used not only in cooking, but also in medicine.
Scientists say that each person to maintain their he alth in perfect condition should eat up to 7 kg of sweet peppers and up to 0.5 kg of hot peppers. No matter how large the figure of 0.5 kg may seem at first glance, lovers of spicy cuisine manage to eat hot pepper 3 times more - up to 1.5 kg per year.
Biological features of pepper
The annual planting of pepper seeds for seedlings has become so commonplace that many gardeners do not even know that pepper is a perennial crop. If you dig and transplant in the fall, and then create all the necessary conditions, then the pepper will continue to develop and will bear fruit for several years.
During the growing season, the pepper appears from 15 to 100 bisexual flowers. This plant can self-pollinate. But often it is cross-pollinated by insects. Therefore, in order to match the taste of the fruit with its varietal qualities, it is not recommended to plant its bitter and sweet varieties at too close a distance.
Pepper fruits of various shapes and colors can reach 11 cm in diameter and weigh over 200 g. In elite varieties, the wall thickness of the fruit is over 10 mm.
Pepper seeds can remain viable for 2-3 years.
Seed preparation
To improve the germination of seeds, they are placed in a 5% solution of table s alt. Floating seeds are discarded, while sunken ones are taken away for planting.
Selected seeds are washed well and placed in a damptissue for further germination. After a few days, the seeds should hatch, and they can be planted in prepared containers with earthen mixture.
Auspicious days for planting peppers
It is believed that the growing moon gives the seed material an impetus to the growth of green mass. Given this fact, it is necessary to plant pepper seeds to obtain seedlings by choosing the most favorable day. For planting pepper, like any other aboveground plant, from which the crop will be harvested “from the tops”, and not “from the roots”, we select the day when the Moon will be in the growth phase. It is necessary to guess so that the necessary seed material has already been prepared by this moment.
Peppers are no exception to the general rule. Planting pepper seedlings in February is recommended mainly for the southern regions, where spring comes relatively early. In such regions, many gardeners grow seedlings not on the windowsills, but by building a kind of mini-greenhouse over the bed.
In other, more northern regions, the timing of planting pepper for seedlings is shifted by several weeks and is calculated in such a way that about 60 days pass from the moment the seeds are planted to the moment the grown seedlings are planted in open ground. If the seedlings are kept in temporary containers, they can stretch out and get sick for a long time when transplanted into open ground, which will reduce the yield and ripening time of the crop as a whole.
So landingpepper seeds for seedlings for the middle lane falls on the period from February 25 and ends somewhere around March 5.
Many gardeners, in order not to miss the right planting time, prefer to use the ready-made "Sowing Calendar".
It is impossible to give a specific recommendation about the timing of planting pepper for seedlings on a strictly defined day. On the same day of the year, the Moon can be in both a waxing and a waning phase.
If you remember (and numerous observations of experienced gardeners fully confirm this) that favorable days for planting pepper seeds come with a growing moon, then you will no longer need the “Sowing Calendar”, and the harvest will be an order of magnitude higher than neighbors who do not adhere to these recommendations.
How to plant seeds
Planting sweet pepper seedlings occurs in the following sequence. The soil mixture is poured into the prepared containers, the aisles are marked with a width of at least 6 cm, the ground is moistened and pepper seeds are laid out at a distance of 3 cm. From above, the container is covered with a centimeter layer of earthen mixture, consisting of humus and light soddy soil, and watered again. Before emergence, the container is covered with glass or polyethylene film and kept at a temperature ranging from 25-30 ° С.
After the sprouts appear, the seedlings are kept for about 4 days at a lower temperature, about 15 °. After this period, you need to raise the air temperature in the room with seedlings again to + 18-25 ° C during the day and up to + 13 ° C at night.
Water seedlingscarried out every 6 days, as soon as the top layer of soil dries out slightly.
Two weeks before planting, seedlings are hardened by placing containers with plants in an open and wind-protected space.
To prevent cross-pollination, planting sweet pepper seedlings and bitter varieties of this plant should be done in separate containers.
Planting seedlings in open ground
In order to get a high yield that will retain its presentation for a long time, it is also advisable to choose the most favorable day for planting seedlings. For planting peppers in open ground, this will be the period when the moon will be in its waning phase. It's easy to find out - take a look at the night sky. If the moon resembles a sickle or the letter "C", then you can start landing.
It is believed that when the moon is waning, the plant tolerates transplanting more easily, so this time of planting pepper was not chosen in vain - seedlings get sick less and quickly adapt to new conditions.
The bed is placed in a sunny place. The land is preliminarily prepared - loosened and mineral fertilizers are applied.
In the prepared holes, carefully, so as not to damage the root system, without deepening, lower one plant at a time. The distance between plants is about 20 cm, and between rows - 70 cm. The space around the trunk is well watered and mulched.
Pepper has a powerful and spreading root, thanks to which it is relatively drought-resistant. But to abuse this quality and allowdrying of the soil should not be. To obtain a quality crop, the plant needs regular watering, especially during flowering and ovary formation.
By the way, it is believed that if the very first ovary is removed from a pepper, then much more new ones will form.
From the moment of planting the seeds to the flowering phase, depending on the variety, an average of about 80-100 days pass. The final ripening of pepper fruits occurs 140-180 days after planting the seeds for seedlings.
Why do you need and how to properly mulch the soil under seedlings
The benefits of growing plants with soil mulched underneath are obvious.
Firstly, it allows you to increase the watering interval, and therefore reduce water consumption.
Secondly, the earth does not warm up so much, which also has a beneficial effect on productivity. It has been proven that at temperatures above 35 ° C, pepper begins to shed flowers and ovary.
Some gardeners mistakenly believe that just filling the bed with mulch is enough and that's it.
Mulch also needs care. After it is evenly distributed over the garden, it is necessary to spray with special micropreparations. Only then will it retain its biological qualities.
Fertilization
Peppers are very responsive to fertilization. Plant feeding is carried out according to the following scheme:
- first dressing - 10-15 days after planting seedlings in the ground;
- second top dressing - after the plant enters the phaseflowering;
- third dressing - after the plant enters the fruiting phase.
It is advisable to use recycled bird droppings or slurry as a fertilizer. Litter is diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 10, slurry - 1 to 5.
Sometimes pepper is treated with wood ash, sprinkling it on the beds, or during watering, dissolving 200 g of ash in 10 liters of water.
The main secrets of getting a high yield of peppers
Summing up all of the above, we should highlight 5 main points, subject to which the yield of pepper in your garden will always be consistently high:
- Seed selection. For planting seedlings, choose seed only of good quality and productive variety.
- Plant seeds and seedlings on an auspicious day for planting peppers.
- Observe the temperature regime when growing seedlings. Harden it before planting in open ground.
- Mulch the pepper beds.
- Irrigate timely and fertilize plants with organic fertilizers.
