What to put in the holes when planting peppers in a greenhouse

What kind of soil does bell pepper like?

The handsome pepper is picky about the soil. It will not grow in clayey, heavy and acidic soils. But soil that allows air and moisture to pass through well is suitable. The soil should be rich in humus, nutrients, and fertile. The ideal option is loamy soil, light, but not too chernozem. The acidity level should be neutral.

The soil should contain moderate amounts of magnesium, phosphorus, iron, and manganese. All these nutrients are needed for the healthy development of the plant and good fruiting. In addition, pepper does not like cold soil, so the soil temperature should be at least 15 degrees Celsius.

Correct soil

In Russian latitudes, pepper is grown in almost every garden, but not many know how to choose the right soil for the crop.

Good soil for planting is soil that is suitable specifically for a given type of plant, which has a certain composition of nutrients, is suitable in structure, and has drainage qualities.

Another important point regarding the correct soil is the pH level necessary and suitable for a given crop, that is, the acidity of the soil.

How to prepare soil in a greenhouse for planting peppers

Before moving pepper seedlings to a garden plot, to a greenhouse, you need to prepare the soil.
The first steps to prepare the soil are taken in the fall. Gardeners remove the soil in the greenhouse, about the size of a spade, cover the ground with humus and straw, and water it generously. When snow falls, it is transferred to the greenhouse and placed on the beds.

In the spring, the beds in the greenhouse need to be dug up and debris removed. Fertilize the soil with organic matter; rotted manure or humus will do. Usually a couple of buckets of organic fertilizer are taken per square meter. Seven days before planting, the beds are watered with a nutritious mineral solution.

Care must be taken that the soil is not acidic, that it contains enough nitrogen and phosphorus. Before directly planting the seedlings, the soil is shed with water.

Caring for peppers after planting

During the period of active fruit growth, it is quite possible to carry out a third feeding; here you definitely need potassium sulfate in the amount of a teaspoon per bucket of water at a consumption rate of a liter per plant.

During this period, you can add wood ash at a rate of 150 g per square meter of soil that is well loosened and watered.

Watering

An important activity is watering; it is advisable to combine it with loosening the soil and removing weeds. The abundance of water in the soil is especially important during the period of active plant growth, during flowering and fruit growth.

If it is hot and dry, then you can water the pepper every 2 days, pouring 1 liter under each bush; during flowering and fruit growth, the water consumption rate should be doubled, but you should not overwater the soil.

Photo: Watering pepper

Do not use cold water for irrigation; it must be at room temperature. It is advisable to watering either in the morning or in the evening.

___________________________________

Temperature

During the flowering period, it is important to maintain the temperature in the greenhouse no higher than 27 degrees above zero, since at higher temperatures the pollen becomes sterile. To do this, you can open the windows and doors during the day and close them at night.

When to plant peppers in a polycarbonate greenhouse

The seedlings move to the garden plot in mid-May. Gardeners believe that the best time to plant seedlings is the time when the coltsfoot heads begin to bloom.

There are rules that all experienced gardeners follow:

Bushes are planted in the greenhouse at the age of 60 days.
At the time of planting in the greenhouse, seedlings must have at least 10 leaves, and plant height must be at least 25 cm.
Temperature conditions are important - the cold will kill tender bushes, so planting is allowed if the air temperature in the greenhouse is not lower than 10 degrees Celsius.
Pepper loves warm soil, so the optimal soil temperature for planting seedlings is 15 degrees Celsius.
The bed should be light.
Seedlings should be planted on a cloudy day or at times when the sun is not at its zenith. That is, in the morning or in the evening hours.

Pepper growing technology

The technology for growing crops in a greenhouse differs from open ground technology. Additional efforts will be required to create a microclimate.

Necessary microclimate

Microclimate is the temperature of the soil and air, their humidity, the level of illumination and its duration, the composition of the air and its movement. It is easier to create the necessary conditions if the greenhouse is installed correctly: at a distance from high buildings and fences, oriented from north to south, and equipped with a sufficient number of windows.

Light regime for peppers in a greenhouse

Pepper loves light very much. During the entire growing season, it needs 12 hours of lighting; longer lighting is not needed, as it slows down the formation of buds. In cloudy weather, the level is adjusted using artificial lighting. Lamps must have a wide spectrum.

Photosynthesis requires blue light, red light for growth and flowering, and yellow light to produce chlorophyll. It is worth purchasing lamps with a reflector.

Types of lamps for greenhouses:

metal halide;
mercury;
sodium

Watering and fertilizing peppers in a greenhouse

The plant is negatively affected by excess and lack of moisture in the soil. Soil moisture of about 85% is optimal. It needs to be provided with frequent but moderate watering. The first month after transplanting seedlings, 4 liters per square meter is sufficient. m. As it grows, the volume of water per unit area increases.

The main thing in watering is regularity. Irregular watering during fruit formation leads to their deformation and cracking.

Water in the morning strictly at the roots. To prevent a crust from forming on the soil, loosen it after each watering. You can use mulch - a layer of dry grass (5 cm) or dark spunbond retains moisture and prevents crust formation.

It takes 10-14 days for seedlings to adapt after transplantation; during this time, the seedlings should not be disturbed with unnecessary care. During the daytime, shade the plantings from the bright sun with white covering material.

Plants need potassium, phosphorus, nitrogen and a number of other trace elements to grow, flower, and set fruit.

At the end of the second week, carry out the first feeding. At this time, it is better to use organic fertilizer made from cow dung. Prepare an infusion in a large container, add 10 parts of water to 1 part of manure. After 3-5 days, the fertilizer is ready. 1 liter is enough for one watering can.

You can use mineral fertilizers instead of manure. Prepare the feeding solution immediately before use; for 10 liters of water you need:

20 g ammonium nitrate;
40 g superphosphate;
30 g of potassium sulfate.

Feed the plants a second time after two weeks. Prepare an infusion of herbs and add the entire complex of mineral fertilizers to it. The third time is when the first fruits are formed.

The bushes need to be inspected several times a week, by their appearance, determine which elements are missing and promptly replenish the deficiency. For example, when there is a lack of potassium, the leaves curl; a lack of phosphorus is indicated by the purple color of the lower part of the leaf. A gray tint to the leaves is a signal of nitrogen deficiency.

If there is a deficiency of one or another element, it is necessary to carry out foliar feeding.

Temperature, humidity and ventilation

It is necessary to know the critical values of air temperature at which normal development is disrupted. Plants stop setting fruit if the daytime temperature remains 16 °C or lower. High temperatures of 30° C and above prevent normal pollination, and flowers may fall off.

For peppers, the optimal daytime air temperature is 25°C, soil temperature is from 18 to 22°C.

To maintain a certain air temperature in the greenhouse, automatic ventilation systems are installed. The controller allows you to regulate the air temperature: if necessary, it turns on the fans and opens the vents.

Ventilation helps reduce air temperature. When organizing ventilation, you must remember that this crop does not tolerate drafts well, so you need to open doors and vents on one side.

In hot weather, plants are protected from sunlight in various ways: they cover the top of the greenhouse with lime, or hang a thin covering material or garden net from the ceiling.

Bush formation

Healthy seedlings quickly recover from the stress received during transplantation and actively grow. The formation of a bush helps to direct all the plant’s forces to flowering and fruiting.

Here are the rules to follow when forming a bush:

remove all leaves up to the first fork;
pinch the crown bud in the first branch;
leave 2-3 shoots growing from the first branch - they will form the skeleton of the bush;
branches of the first order will branch, forming branches of the second order, leaving strong shoots;
delete all stepsons.

When pinching a shoot, leave one leaf. The leaf will nourish the ovary located below.

On the bush you need to leave from 15 to 25 ovaries. By rationing the harvest, large fruits are obtained. About a month before the end of the growing season, you can pinch off all the tops. By removing growth points, all plant resources are concentrated on the formation and ripening of fruits.

Harvesting

Here are the rules to follow when harvesting peppers in a greenhouse:

Fruits that have reached technical ripeness should be collected at least once every 7 days.
Cut the pods with the stalk, use tools: scissors, pruning shears.
Pods picked at the stage of biological ripeness should be sent for processing; they are not stored for a long time.

Ripe fruits should be stored at a temperature of 1 °C, maintaining an optimal air humidity of 90%. If the fruits are laid out in layers of paper, they will easily retain their presentation for 2 months.

Fruits picked at technical maturity ripen within a month at a temperature of 10° C; at higher temperatures, ripening occurs earlier.

How to properly make holes for peppers: depth, distance

Pepper loves order, so the rows in the beds must be made with mathematical precision. If low-growing varieties of pepper are planted, then prepare the beds as follows: the planting sites for each plant are located at a distance of 25 cm from each other. If seedlings of tall varieties are planted, then the holes should be prepared with an interval of 30 cm from each other. Each row must be separated from the other by at least 70 cm.

It is better to grow seedlings in special peat cups; this makes planting in a greenhouse more convenient. The depth of the hole is no more than 20 cm.

Sometimes gardeners plant two bushes in one hole at once. The landing pattern looks like this:

Make a hole 20 cm deep.
Sprinkle with Fitosporin solution.
Place 200 ml of compost and a tablespoon of superphosphate into the hole.
Place the roots of 2 sprouts into the holes so that there is a gap of 2-3 cm between them.
Cover the roots and crush them.
The distance between holes is 30 cm, row spacing is 70 cm.

Greenhouse varieties of pepper

Latino F1

An early-ripening hybrid, the fruits reach technical ripeness 100-110 days after germination. The hybrid is super-yielding, up to 16 kg of fruit is harvested per square meter. The shape of the fruit is cuboidal, the walls are thick (1 cm), size 12x12 cm. When ripe, the fruits are red.

Actor

A tall variety, bushes (1.5 m) need support; branches are tied several times throughout the season. The fruits are thick-walled, cone-shaped, with a rounded tip, and red when ripe. An average-sized fruit weighs 300 g. The yield of one bush is around 4 kg, approximately 14 large fruits.

Valuable qualities of the variety: disease resistance, universal use, resistance to temperature changes, excellent taste.

Montero

High-yielding, early-ripening variety. Large fruits will delight you with taste, juiciness, and a wall thickness of 9 mm. The average fruit weight is from 260 g, for record specimens - 900 g. The bushes need support, they are tall - 1.20 m and above. The yield is decent - 16 kg per square meter.

Red bull F1

Large-fruited hybrid. The length of the cylindrical fruits is 20 cm, the average weight is 250 g. Record fruits can weigh about 400 g. The juicy pulp is thick (10 mm), aromatic. The color of ripe fruits is red. The purpose of the variety is universal (freezing, salads, canning, for stuffing). 9 kg of fruits are harvested per square meter; the ripening period is in the range of 110-125 days.

Valuable qualities of the hybrid: long-term storage, stable immunity to the tobacco mosaic virus, forms ovaries in low light, pods collected at the stage of technical ripeness ripen quickly.

Claudio F1

A promising hybrid of Dutch selection. The bushes are medium in height, spreading, erect. The fruit size is large, weight from 100 to 200 g, prism-shaped, wall thickness 6-8 mm. The color of ripe pods is red, they ripen early (80 days). The pulp is aromatic and juicy. The stated yield is 300 c/ha, marketable yield is 94%.

Valuable qualities of the hybrid: tolerates heat well, is resistant to TMV, durable, transportable. The hybrid loves warmth and regular feeding. It responds to good care with a decent harvest.

Gypsy F1

Hybrid from Holland from. The main advantage of the hybrid is its early ripening; technical ripeness occurs 60 days after transplantation into the greenhouse. The bushes are low (50 cm), but require support. The fruits are not large, weighing 120 g, conical, red. The pulp is without bitterness, sweet, with a pronounced peppery aroma. The walls are 5-6 mm thick, there are 3 to 4 chambers. The size of the fruit is ideal for stuffing.

Valuable qualities of the hybrid: good taste, uniform pod size, shelf life, transportability, high yield - 4.2 kg per square meter.

Orange miracle

Excellent large-fruited variety, early (95-110 days). The bushes are powerful, 80-100 cm high, with good care they can grow up to 1.1 m, and require mandatory staking. The variety has an enviable yield of 7-14 kg per square meter. The fruits are orange, large, fragrant.

Up to 8 fruits weighing from 200 to 250 g are harvested from one bush. The walls are of average thickness from 5 to 10 mm, the thickness depends on the quality of care. The shape of the fruit is cuboid.

The variety is valued for its high yield, good taste, long storage period, and safety during transportation.

Star of the East F1

A series of hybrids Star of the East chocolate, golden, red. There is no point in listing all the colors - there are many of them. The chocolate hybrid Star of the East is especially loved by summer residents. The fruits are large, weighing up to 350 g, with an original dark brown color.

The yield is high - 8 kg per square meter. The average ripening period is 110 days. The shape of the fruit is prism-shaped, thickness 10 mm. Spreading bushes, about 70 cm high.

How to treat planting holes

Before planting seedlings in the greenhouse, the formed holes must be disinfected. Many gardeners use a pink manganese solution for this. You can also take a solution of copper sulfate. It is prepared like this: a tablespoon of the drug is dissolved in a bucket of water. Spill the holes and wait three days. After this period, seedlings can be planted, but before that, nutritional components are placed in the holes.

We recommend using multi-component organic fertilizers as nutrients, for example OrganicMix. This is a powerful organic rooting agent. Provides maximum survival rate, increases immunity and tone of the plant. OrganicMix fertilizers for plant replanting, thanks to its composition, restore soil fertility. It contains fermented legume meal, low-fat fish and bone meal, alfalfa meal, high content of seaweed, amino acids and vitamins.

Responsible for high-quality and rapid strengthening of the root system of young plants, accelerates root growth. After such feeding, plants take root better in open soil and tolerate temperature changes and cold more easily.

More information about the components of the mixtures

Pepper soil can contain many components. It is worth noting that the presence of all of them simultaneously in one nutritional mixture is not required.

Peat is used only when the soil is highly alkaline.

Peat

Peat is divided into three groups: lowland, surface and transitional. All of them are used as raising agents and to increase the acidity of the earth.

Surface peat must be enriched with ash, gypsum or lime. For greater efficiency, it is recommended to add phosphate or magnesium mineral fertilizers to the soil along with this component.

Coarse sand

Sand is often added to improve the drainage qualities of the soil and increase its looseness. It also allows you to form a powerful support area for the plant.

Turf

The sod is removed in late summer or early autumn and placed in boxes. Its use helps to saturate the soil for peppers, as well as improve its structure. It is very important to warm the turf slightly before use.

Sphagnum mosses

They have high bactericidal qualities and help prevent the appearance of mold and infectious fungus. Sphagnum mosses greatly increase moisture permeability in the soil and prevent the root system from rotting.

Sawdust

Sawdust is often added to the soil for pepper seedlings. They make the soil lighter and looser, and also prevent stagnation of water.

What to put in the holes when planting peppers

Experienced gardeners know that it is better to use organic fertilizers. Therefore, when planting seedlings in the holes, put:

Green manure. They are specially sprouted in the fall.
Ready-made complex fertilizers with a high content of amino acids (for example, OrganicMix)
Humus, compost. When planting, just put a handful of organic fertilizer in the hole.
Acidity neutralizer. Pepper does not like soil with a high level of acidity, so you need to use diatomite, 2 tablespoons per hole.
Vermicompost. Rich in potassium and calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, vermicompost will help the plant be healthy. There are a couple of handfuls per hole.

Gardeners additionally use tools that gardeners have used for a long time:

Feathers. Pepper needs molybdenum, and feathers are the natural material that contains it. The feathers are placed in the hole like this: a feather on the bottom, a layer of earth on top, everything is watered with a nutrient solution. To prepare the solution, use 2 tablespoons of Fitosporin per 10 liters of water. Seedlings are planted in the hole prepared in this way.
Banana peel. The peel must first be dried and crushed. The fertilizer is poured into the hole, then sprinkled with soil, then watered with a nutrient solution and then the seedlings are planted.
Egg shells. They need to be crushed, this fertilizer will work as a soil deoxidizer. Crushed shells - 100 g - pour into the hole before planting.
Onion peel. Pre-prepare the husks by pouring boiling water over them and keeping them there for a while. Then the bottom of the hole is lined with husks, covered with a layer of soil into which fertilizers have already been mixed, and filled with water.

A complex “filling” of the hole is used. 150 g of humus, a tablespoon of wood ash and bone meal, as well as mineral fertilizer are placed in each hole. This could be Fertika universal or another fertilizer of similar composition. The fertilizer mixture must be thoroughly mixed right in the hole, adding soil, then water the hole, then plant the peppers.

If you use ready-made complex fertilizer for replanting OrganicMix, then 10 g of fertilizer is mixed with soil at the bottom of the hole. Water well and carefully place the root system of pepper seedlings in the hole, sprinkle with soil. Another 10 g of fertilizer is sprinkled on top around the plant, loosened and watered again.

After planting the seedlings, the soil is mulched.

Read our articles:

Annual lupine as green manure
White mustard like green manure

What work needs to be done with the beds

If the soil was not fertilized in the fall, it needs to be fed in the spring before planting the pepper . It is advisable to use compost from organic matter in a ratio of 2-3 kg per 1 sq. m beds.

Complex fertilizers will be appropriate as a mineral fertilizer, the most universal of which is nitroammophoska. 12-14 days before transferring the seedlings, granules are added in dry form at the rate of 2 teaspoons per 1 square meter. m. If there is no time, dissolve nitroammophoska in water (50 g per 10 l) and water the soil with the resulting composition.

If necessary, the soil is disinfected before planting seedlings: 1 g of potassium permanganate is dissolved in 10 liters of hot water (80-85 degrees).

The resulting solution is thoroughly poured and the area reserved for pepper is covered with polyethylene for 24 hours. The procedure promotes not only disinfection, but also warms up the soil in the greenhouse.