When to pick pepper in March according to the lunar calendar: favorable and unfavorable days

Pepper is not the most demanding plant in the garden. However, serious problems can arise during the process of picking pepper seedlings, especially for novice gardeners.

The thing is that the root system of peppers is very sensitive and fragile; it takes a long time to recover from any damage. It is much more susceptible to injury than cucumbers, tomatoes, petunias and other plants. This is why picking can be a real test for peppers. At a minimum, it may take more time and effort to recover and continue active growth, but, even worse, young seedlings may die.

Moon phases

In ancient times, people calculated chronology not by the Sun, but by the Moon. The day began not at midnight, but with the rising of the month. There were not 365–366 days in a year, but much fewer. Later, humanity began to count days, months and years according to the position of the Sun, but the lunar calendar was preserved. Residents of coastal cities used it to count the days of ebb and flow of the sea.

To this day, the lunar calendar is used to calculate the dates of many moving religious holidays. Many gardeners follow it in order to choose the most favorable days for plant growth. Using this calendar you can see when to pick tomatoes and peppers in March. The appropriate date depends on the phases of the Moon and its position in the zodiac circle.

There are 4 main phases:

New Moon - The Moon is not visible in the sky because it is almost in line with the Sun and the Earth (in the shadow of the latter). It is not recommended to work in the garden.
Growing - if you mentally draw a straight line by the month, you will get the letter R. The optimal time for planting and harvesting “tops” - those plants, the upper part of which is used for food.
The full moon is an even shining circle.
Waning - the “sickle” in the sky looks like the letter C. A favorable time for planting and collecting “roots” - root crops.

Compiling lunar sowing calendars is an activity at the intersection of astrology and astronomy using some information from agricultural technology.

Interesting fact! In the southern hemisphere, the waxing and waning months look completely different than in the northern hemisphere. The growing “sickle” there looks like the letter C, and the decreasing “sickle” looks like the letter P without a straight line. At the equator, the “sickle” is located not vertically, but horizontally.

Moon in March 2021

General information about picking: what it is, why it is needed

Picking is the process of transplanting seedlings from one container to another larger container. The procedure is carried out, as a rule, if the seedling has one or two true leaves (specifically, pepper seedlings are transplanted with 2-3 true leaves ).

It is necessary to pick plants if the seedlings are planted in a common container, for example, one planting box. But growing without picking is possible if the seeds are sown in separate containers, for example, peat pots.

Positive aspects of picking

As already noted, bell pepper seedlings are very sensitive to the procedure, but despite this, often such a procedure is simply necessary. Picking has undoubted advantages:

The main advantage is that you give the plants the opportunity to develop normally, build up the root system and above-ground parts in a more spacious container. As a result, you will get strong, strong and healthy seedlings.
You can sort plants . Among the strong seedlings there may be weak and frail ones; the procedure helps to identify and eliminate them.
You can also prevent diseases . This is true, if one specimen gets sick, you can eliminate it and protect healthy seedlings from the disease.

Negative points of picking

The procedure also has disadvantages that should always be kept in mind:

The procedure requires care and precision . If you handle delicate seedlings carelessly, you may damage them. And if you do the procedure carelessly and not according to the plan, you can cause even more stress in the plants and reduce the chances of good survival and a future good harvest.
The need to do picking within a certain time frame . If you do the procedure too early or too late, you may be disappointed with unpleasant consequences, more on that below.

Lunar calendar for picking peppers for March

Garden and vegetable crops should be sown at the end of February or at the beginning of March. When the sprouts sprout and get stronger, they are planted in small cups so that each seedling grows its own root.

Sweet bell peppers, hot peppers and tomatoes belong to the same family - Solanaceae. Peppers grow a little slower than tomatoes.

Picking tomatoes and peppers in March is a mandatory procedure for these plants. If this is not done, the seedlings will grow and interfere with each other. Picking peppers is carried out 15–20 days after sowing, when each seedling grows 3 healthy leaves. Such shoots grow in tomatoes already 7–10 days after sowing, so they need to be picked earlier. After the procedure, peppers and tomatoes should be watered with warm water and fed.

Rules for picking pepper

Before transplanting seedlings and pinching the roots, you need to take care of the soil mixture and containers. To exclude infection, it is advisable to treat with a 1% solution of potassium permanganate. If garden soil is used as a basis, then it should be kept in the microwave for 20 minutes or calcined.

Composition proportions:

4 parts of disinfected soil;
4 parts each of peat and humus;
2 parts - clean river sand or small pebbles.

It is better to replant in peat cups. If plastic ones are chosen, you need to make holes in them to ensure drainage and wrap them in paper. It is necessary to protect the root system from light.

General dates of suitable days

There are several favorable days for picking, common to all garden plants, including tomatoes and peppers.

The most favorable dates for picking peppers: March 4, 5, 6, 10, 11, 12, 17, 18, 22, 2022.
It is best to plant tomatoes on the following dates: March 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 15, 16, 20, 21 and 25–28. It is advisable to work with plants in sunny weather so that they receive more light and warmth.

You cannot plant weak, immature seedlings; you need to wait until they grow up.

The most favorable days for seedlings are those when the Moon is in Capricorn, Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio.

Pepper picking algorithm:

The soil in the container with grown seedlings is moistened abundantly to reduce the likelihood of damage to the roots.
The prepared containers are filled 1/3, holes are formed and the soil mixture is moistened.
Separate the plant using a small garden spatula or spoon, carefully holding it by the stem and leaves. If you take out several sprouts at the same time, separate them with your fingers, removing the weak ones.
Pinch off the side shoots without touching the main, strongest root.
Place in a prepared container, making sure that the roots do not intertwine or twist counterclockwise. Immerse 1-1.5 cm below the previous depth.
Sprinkle with soil and lightly compact to ensure a vertical position.
Water with warm water - not specially heated, but settled, 1-2° above room temperature.
The pots are placed in a common tray and waited 30 minutes for excess moisture to drain. The water is drained.
For 2-3 days, the seedlings are left in a place of constant growth, shaded from sunlight. This time is necessary for adaptation. If the heating has already been turned off, it is advisable to cover the top with film or cut plastic containers. That is, create a mini-greenhouse.
Subsequently, daylight hours are increased to 8-9 hours to speed up the development of pepper.

Attention!

To give the sprouts the correct position, it is recommended to first deepen them as much as possible, sprinkle them, and then slightly pull them up by the above-ground part. Then the roots will stretch in the right direction.

Ural, Far East, Siberia

Early spring in the regions east of the Urals is unfavorable for growing garden vegetables. Cold and wet weather will destroy early seedlings.

Picking peppers according to the lunar calendar in March in the Urals, Siberia and the Far East should be carried out from the end of March to mid-April. In these regions, they try to grow only frost-resistant, early-ripening varieties.

In cold climates, all agricultural work begins no earlier than April

When to pluck pepper seedlings: pepper varieties

This is a crop with a long growing season. Therefore, it is necessary to sow seeds and plant them in the ground as early as possible, as soon as favorable conditions arise. All options are divided into 3 types:

Early. The first fruits are harvested 110-120 days after emergence. They are well suited for regions with short summers, where spring comes late and cold nights begin early in August.
Average. The period for collecting the first peppers is usually 125-135 days after germination. The universal option grows normally in the middle zone if the work is done on time.
Late. It takes the longest to mature - about 140 days or more. At the same time, the taste quality is high, and the fruit size is large. But it is suitable only for areas with a long warm period; it feels best in the south.

All terms are indicated for sweet peppers; if you grow hot peppers, you need to reduce the indicators by 10 days. For normal development and fruiting, the average daily temperature should be above 20 degrees for most of the period. When such conditions are not met outside, make a greenhouse or install a greenhouse, otherwise the harvest will be several times lower.

Southern regions

The mild and warm climate of the southern regions, especially the Krasnodar Territory, allows you to grow vegetables directly in open ground. But many farmers prefer the traditional method of planting: first in closed ground, and then in open ground.

Gardeners are trying to figure out when to pick peppers and tomatoes in March in the southern regions. It is recommended to do this in the first days of April.

If you have to transplant seedlings directly into greenhouses or open beds, you must wait until the ground warms up to +15 °C.

Important! In any case, it is important that there are no night frosts.

Advantages and disadvantages of the procedure

After picking in a separate container, the plants receive a lot of free space for development. Often the seeds are sown in a common seedling box, since it is easier to provide the necessary conditions for proper development. But as they grow in size, the sprouts begin to compete for nutrients, space and light. To solve this problem, picking is used.

During transplantation of sprouts, sorting is performed so as not to waste time caring for weak seedlings. When diving, only healthy and strong seedlings are transferred to a new container. Specimens with signs of disease must be removed so that the remaining seedlings do not become infected.

Picking increases the yield of sweet peppers. Simultaneously with replanting, pinch out the central root. This accelerates the growth of adventitious roots. After transplanting into open ground, they will be located in the fertile layer. This improves the supply of nutrients to the pepper bush. Such peppers grow and develop faster and begin to bear fruit earlier.

Although picking has many advantages, this procedure has its disadvantages. These include:

Great stress for plants. Weak seedlings do not take root after transplantation.
There is a high risk of spreading infection when trying to separate diseased seedlings from healthy ones.
The procedure requires time, attention and accuracy.
Diving is possible from February to April depending on the climate in the region. If picking is done late, the formation and ripening of fruits is delayed.

Why you should stick to the lunar calendar

In ancient times, people tracked the time of agricultural work according to the lunar phases. They noticed that vegetables, fruits and flowers grew better if they were planted on favorable days. Modern gardeners claim that the lunar calendar helps increase the harvest by almost 3 times.

The lunar calendar is a good cheat sheet for gardeners. It is not necessary to adhere to it, but it is advisable. The calendar will tell you in what phases and in what sign of the Zodiac the Moon most strongly affects this or that part of the plant. The Earth's natural satellite is closely related to the magnetic field of our planet. Changes in the magnetic field affect humans, animals, as well as the roots, tops, and fruits of plants.

Most gardeners sow, pick and plant plants on the days the calendar advises. However, we must not forget that the most important thing is to adhere to the rules of agricultural technology and properly care for the seedlings.

After transplantation, the sprout is watered and fertilized

How to understand that it’s time to pick peppers in April

It’s very easy to understand that in April it’s time to pick pepper seedlings. As soon as 2 true leaves grow on the seedlings, it is necessary to dive.

Please note that first the sprout produces cotyledon leaves. They are oval and very tiny.

Then the real leaves appear. They already have the “classic pepper shape.

As soon as they grow a little, you can dive.

Picking at this particular time is due to the fact that the seedlings already have a fairly developed root system, but have not yet outgrown them and will therefore tolerate the procedure well.

ON A NOTE. Adult seedlings pick worse and get sick more often.

Caring for seedlings after picking

Pepper seedlings often stop growing for unknown reasons; leaves on the bushes may turn yellow and fall off. Among summer residents, this plant is considered capricious, so the conditions for keeping the seedlings are of particular importance.

Temperature, lighting

Room temperature is of great importance for pepper, as it is a heat-loving crop. The temperature should not be allowed to drop below +15° C. The optimal temperature for this crop is +23-25° C; in cloudy weather it can be 2 degrees colder.

At night, the indicator should not fall below +16-18° C. Even with short-term exposure to cold, seedling growth stops. If seedlings stand for several hours at temperatures below +10° C, they may even die.

The first time after picking, peppers should not be exposed to open sunlight. Plants should be in bright but diffused light. This can be achieved by blocking the window glass with gauze or a white sheet of paper.

After a week, the shelter is removed. As a rule, plants no longer need additional lighting after picking, because, starting from the second half of March, natural lighting is quite sufficient for the normal development of peppers.

Watering mode

Peppers do not like excess water. After picking, water the plants once every 5-6 days. For the first time after planting, the peppers are moistened after a week. The volume of water should be such as to completely wet the earthen ball. Excess liquid will flow out into the pan through the drainage holes.

It is advisable that the water for irrigation be warm (25-30° C). It is preliminarily settled for 1-2 days or filtered. It is better to carry out water procedures in the morning; by the evening the water will have time to be completely absorbed and the earth will dry out a little. If you water peppers in the evenings, the seedlings may become infected with fungus.

Feeding

While the seedlings are at home, they are fed twice. The first time this is done 10-15 days after picking, the second feeding is carried out another 2 weeks later. The plants need to be watered first. It is better to apply fertilizer in liquid form, dissolving the granules in water, or diluting the concentrate. You can use ready-made fertilizer for vegetable crops, halving the concentration recommended by the manufacturer so as not to burn the tender roots.

From this point of view, humate is safer. Some people use dried tea leaves as a top dressing, infusing it in boiling water until the solution acquires a golden color. If there is slow growth of seedlings or loss of leaf color, it means that the seedlings do not have enough nitrogen. In this case, the seedlings are fed with urea (0.5 tsp per 3 liters of water).

Possible problems with seedlings after picking

Sometimes, after picking pepper, summer residents face various problems. Methods to correct the situation depend on the original cause:

Sometimes summer residents plant pepper seedlings in peat pots, citing the fact that in the future the plants will more easily tolerate transplantation into open ground. However, in this case you need to be especially attentive to the watering regime. Plants in peat pots dry out quickly. It is necessary to monitor this and avoid excessive dryness. It is still better to give preference to plastic containers.
Temperature changes and drafts lead to disruption of the development of peppers. You should not open the window near plants during the cold season. This can cause seedlings to get sick and stunt their growth. Sometimes plants stop developing because they are standing directly on a cold windowsill. Periodically it is necessary to measure the soil temperature and if the indicator drops below 13° C, be sure to use heat-insulating stands (pieces of polystyrene foam and wooden mugs). Overheating of pepper in the sun is also unacceptable; on hot sunny days the plants are shaded.
Because of the fear of drafts, some gardeners do not ventilate the room where the peppers are at all. Elevated temperatures and dry air increase the risk of crop damage by pests. Most often, peppers are parasitized by aphids, spider mites, and thrips. Sometimes harmful insects move to seedlings from indoor plants. To avoid using chemicals at home, at the first sign of infection, seedlings are sprayed with an infusion of ash or tobacco dust. If there are few bushes, you can wipe the leaves on both sides with a solution of laundry soap.
If the sowing time is not observed, the seedlings may overgrow. Excess heat and lack of lighting contribute to this. Try moving pots of plants closer to the glass and lowering the room temperature by 3-5°C. Peppers can be planted in open ground only after the threat of frost has completely disappeared. To artificially inhibit the growth of seedlings, you can add a little soil to the pots. This will slow down the growth of the aboveground part of the seedlings, the plants will begin to grow additional roots.
The first watering after picking is carried out using a small amount of water. If the roots have not yet taken root, excess moisture in the soil can lead to rotting of the root system. As a consequence of this, the seedlings cease to develop normally.

On a note! In order to increase the immunity of seedlings after transplantation, you can spray the bushes with Epin. Yeast feeding also has a good effect (3 g of dry yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar per three-liter jar of water). To ensure that the potassium content in the soil does not decrease, ash powder is simultaneously embedded in the ground.