How to plant and care for pepper seedlings outdoors?

To get a good harvest, gardeners need to consider all the intricacies of growing various crops. For example, planting pepper seedlings in open ground requires special preparation. Follow-up care is also important.

Landing place

The first thing to take care of is the soil. It is important to plant the seedlings in a suitable location. It must be protected from the wind and sufficiently sunny. The site is not suitable if sweet peppers, potatoes, eggplants or tomatoes were grown there last year. Preference should be given to those corners where herbs, pumpkin seeds, cabbage, cucumbers grew.

It is better to determine where the pepper will grow in the future. A year before planting, it is recommended to enrich the soil with organic fertilizers, and in the autumn period - with potassium and phosphorus fertilizers for digging. In the spring, it is advisable to add ammonium nitrate to the topsoil. And a week before planting, the land must be disinfected. To do this, make a solution: a large spoonful of copper sulfate in a bucket of water.

When and how to plant seedlings?

Next, you need to determine the moment for landing correctly. If the seedlings have 4 to 12 leaves, then it can be planted. First buds allowed.

In the middle lane, planting in open ground is usually carried out closer to the end of May, when the risk of frost is minimal. In this case, the air temperature should be at least 15 degrees. If you plant bell peppers too early, then its growth will slow down, the likelihood of being affected by diseases will increase. Planting dates for the greenhouse are usually May 1-15, for open ground - May 15-31. Care must be correct after that.

Plants should be planted correctly, keeping a distance. For small varieties, 30-40 cm between holes is enough, for tall varieties it should be more - 60 cm. The beds should be 60 cm apart. At the same time, there is one trick: it is not recommended to plant different varieties next to each other. They tend to become highly pollinated; sweet peppers lose their qualities next to bitter ones.

The planting depth is easy to determine: it should be slightly more than the container in which the seedlings grew. It is best to plant them in the evening so that they have time to gain strength during the night. On cloudy days, you can do this earlier.

Procedure

In order for the harvest to really please, it makes sense to plant peppers, adhering to all the recommendations.

• Some time before the start of transplanting, the seedlings must be well watered. Withered plants take root less well in a new place. You can also treat with a pest repellent, which will help protect the peppers. It is necessary to remove the sprouts from the containers carefully so as not to damage the earthen lump.
• Before planting, the hole must be thoroughly filled with water, preferably heated in the sun. When it is absorbed, you should lower the plant into the hole and, holding it with your hand, water it again. It is recommended to pour water on the walls of the hole: this will not damage the roots. A seedling should not be planted deeply, this can lead to the appearance of a "black leg".
• Then you need to fill the hole, compact the ground a little and mulch with peat.
• When the seedling grows up, it may be necessary tie up... It makes sense to install a low peg in advance for this purpose.
• When planting is complete, it is advisable to cover the plants with plastic wrap. It can be removed after they get stronger, and the weather is stable and warm.

Watering and loosening

Even after the planting of bell pepper seedlings is completed, the plant will need care. The timing of the appearance and the quality of the fruits depend on this.One of the most important tasks is timely watering. On cool days, it is produced every 2-3 days, in hot and dry weather - every day. Each seedling should consume about a liter of water. After a week, the pepper should be checked, the sprouts that have not taken root should be removed and replaced with spare ones. After that, watering is done in small portions.

Excessive watering will not benefit the plant. It is worth focusing on his condition: when it gets dark, he does not have enough water. It is not recommended to allow the leaves to wilt. The exception is they can seem lethargic on the hottest days.

Advice

In order for pollination to take place successfully, it is worth taking care of attracting insects. To do this, dissolve 100 g of sugar and 2 g of boric acid in a liter of hot water and spray the plants with the resulting mixture.

It is also worth remembering that bell peppers love loose soil. Therefore, care must be taken that the soil crust does not form, maintenance should include loosening. But in the first days after the transplant, it is not worth it. At this time, the root system is strengthened, pepper grows at a slow pace. It is impossible to allow injury to a plant that takes root in a new place.

The timing of the first loosening is 10-14 days after the transplant was made. It should be shallow, because the roots of the bell pepper are located close to the surface. Then the procedure must be repeated after each rain or watering, when the ground dries out a little.

Top dressing, pruning, pest control

Top dressing helps to improve the yield. The first time it is performed two weeks after the planting was made. Used for this manure and bird droppings along with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers... When fruits begin to actively form, the need for nutrients increases. The plant needs to be fed again, be it bell pepper or another variety. Next time, feeding is needed at the beginning of fruiting.

The care includes pinching, that is, pruning side shoots. Be sure to remove on hot, humid days. But if the weather is hot and dry, then the procedure is not worth it - a large number of leaves will help keep moisture in the soil.

During the growing season, care must be taken to shorten overly long shoots and to remove any shoots growing below the main fork. It is advisable to prune at least once every 10 days. It is also worth removing the flower that is at the first fork. This contributes to a better harvest. All care, which includes loosening, feeding and pruning, should be done at the same time.

Tall bell pepper varieties it makes sense to tie up. This is done after hilling and mulching with rotted straw.

Care also provides protection from pests. An hour before you start planting seedlings, the hole must be filled with water. After planting is completed, the plants are sprayed from a spray bottle. Over the summer, it is recommended to pollinate the pepper with wood ash three times. This procedure is carried out with dew. If aphids appear, you need to mix 1.5 liters of serum in a bucket of water and treat the sprouts with the resulting solution.

Growing sweet and bitter pepper not as difficult as it might seem. But it is important to correctly follow the basic recommendations, transplant seedlings on time, since this plant requires some attention.

Even if the outdoor landing is successful, care should continue. Regular watering and feeding will make it possible to get a really good harvest.