It was first grown in Mexico. However, only after long and hard work of breeders from Bulgaria did this vegetable acquire big sizes and juicy pulp. Then they began to export it to Russia, Ukraine and Moldova, where the pepper was nicknamed "Bulgarian". In Western countries, it is known as paprika. Myself pepper needs sun and warmth.

Stages of growing a vegetable

There are several stages growing bell pepper:

1. Landing place. The nightshade family, which includes peppers, do not like areas where other nightshade crops were previously grown. You need to choose a place where cucumbers, legumes or pumpkin crops, cabbage or greens were previously planted. The site should be in an open area under the sun, the soil should be fertile and moisture-retaining. Remove weeds from future beds.
2. Soil preparation. The soil should be prepared a year before planting, it is at this time that the future site is fertilized (5 kg per square meter). In the fall, the soil is dug up with the addition of 50 grams of phosphorus / potassium fertilizers. Before planting seedlings, the place is disinfected; for this, the following solution is prepared: a tablespoon of vitriol per 15 liters of water. After completing all the stages, we plant the peppers.
3. Landing method. We divide the plot into beds, observing the following distance of 40-50 cm between the holes and 60 cm for the row between the beds. The pepper is planted to such a depth that the root collar is at ground level. If growing peppers in peat pots, plant the seedlings with them. If the seedlings were grown in the same container, then try to separate the peppers from each other and at the same time leave an earthen ball on the roots. After that, you need to half-fill the hole with soil and water the plants at the rate of one bucket for three peppers. When all the water is absorbed into the soil, fill the wells with earth to the top.
4. Landing in open ground... The most time for planting is when the seedling has 8-12 leaves. At the same time, the air temperature should be stable, about 17 ° С, and the soil temperature should be about 12 ° С. Peppers should not be planted too early, otherwise due to frost and low temperatures the plant will get sick and will lag behind in development.
5. In early May, we plant the peppers in the greenhouse for two weeks, after which we plant the seedlings in open ground, but for two weeks we cover the beds with foil for more rapid growth plants.

To grow bell pepper in the open field is not difficult at all. The main thing is to adhere to some recommendations for planting and growing.

Plant paprika (lat.Capsicum annuum) belongs to the species of herbaceous annuals of the genus Capsicum of the family Solanaceae, widely cultivated in agriculture... A native of the vegetable pepper from Central America, it came to Europe in the 15th century and, despite the exacting care and increased thermophilicity, quickly became the most popular garden plant. Today there are about 2,000 varieties of capsicum, but most of them belong to the sweet pepper subspecies, and others to the bitter pepper subspecies. In this article, we will tell you about how to plant peppers, how to dive peppers, how to water peppers, how to fertilize peppers, how to grow pepper seedlings and when to plant sweet pepper seedlings. Bitter pepper will be the topic of a separate article.

Planting and caring for peppers

• Landing: sowing seeds for seedlings - in February or March, planting seedlings of peppers in the garden - at the stage of formation of the first buds, in late May or early June.
• Lighting: bright sunlight.
• The soil: light, neutral, well-drained and fertilized in advance.
• Predecessors: good - cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, green manure, pumpkin; bad - all nightshade crops, including pepper.
• Watering: before flowering - once a week, during the period of fruit formation - 2 times a week at a consumption of up to 6 liters of water per m².
• Top dressing: twice in the seedling period: two weeks after the pick and at the stage of development of the second pair of leaves, then twice after planting the pepper in the ground. Both organic and mineral solutions are used as fertilizers.
• Reproduction: seed.
• Pests: spider mites, aphids, slugs, wireworms.
• Diseases: verticilliasis, bronze (or spotted wilting), phytoplasmosis (or stolbur), late blight, fusarium, black leg, apical and gray rot.

Read more about growing peppers below.

Vegetable pepper - description

Sweet pepper, or paprika, is an annual vegetable that is naturally a perennial shrub. Its leaves are simple, petiolate, collected in a rosette or single, the color of the leaves, depending on the variety and variety, can be different shades Green colour. The flowers of the pepper are axillary, large, collected in a bunch or single, with a white, purple or greenish corolla. The fruits are false hollow polyspermous berries of yellow, red, brown or orange of various shapes, masses and values.

Growing pepper from seeds

Sowing pepper seeds

Sweet peppers in our latitudes are usually grown by seedling seed method. The timing of sowing seeds for seedlings depends on climatic conditions, however, in any case, the sowing of sweet peppers is carried out no later than the beginning of March.

Planting pepper on seedlings begins with pre-sowing seed treatment: first, they are immersed in water at a temperature of 50 ºC for swelling for five to six hours, then, wrapped in a damp cloth, they wait 2-3 days at a temperature of about 20 ºC for the seeds to bite, and only after that they are sown in the ground. Such preparation of seeds accelerates their germination, and seedlings may appear within 2-3 days after sowing.

The soil for pepper seedlings is prepared as follows: 2 cups of garden humus are mixed with 1 glass of sand, one glass of garden soil, add a spoon or two of wood ash, stir well and sterilize this mixture in the oven or in the microwave, then put it still hot in boxes, level it , allow to cool to 40-45 ºC and spread the seeds on it at intervals of 5 cm from each other with a depth of 1.5-2 cm. But it is better to put the seeds in peat pots, since the pepper does not tolerate a pick. Crops must be watered, and then cover the seedling containers with polyethylene or glass and place in a warm place - the temperature required for seed germination is 21-22 ºC.

Growing pepper seedlings

Growing pepper seedlings is not much different from growing seedlings of any other vegetable. As soon as the first shoots appear, the temperature in the room rises in the daytime to 26-28 ºC, and at night the seedlings need a coolness - 10-15 ºC. Keep an eye on the moisture content of the soil in containers with seedlings - it should be moderate, as in too wet soil, plants can get sick with a black leg. However, the soil should not be allowed to dry out either. Watering the seedlings standing warm water- approximately 30 ºC, from cold water the seedlings get sick, wither and die.

Seedling care involves creating high humidity indoor air, so the seedlings should be sprayed from time to time. In addition, regular airing of the room is necessary, but do not let the seedlings get into the draft. You may need to arrange additional lighting for the seedlings as they need to be exposed to light from 7 am to 9 pm.

Pepper pick

In the development phase of the seedlings of the first pair of leaves, they dive. If you sowed seeds in peat pots, then you do not need to dive, but if your seedlings grow in boxes, when diving, the seedlings are placed from boxes into peat pots 8x8 cm in size and buried in the ground up to cotyledon leaves.

The pickled peppers, after they take root in the cups, begin to develop intensively, and shortly before the solemn moment of planting the seedlings in the open ground, they begin to accustom them to the environment in which they will find themselves: in new conditions, they increase, preventing the seedlings from getting into a draft or under “frost” below 13 ºC.

Before planting seedlings in open ground, pepper is fertilized, and at least twice: two weeks after the pick or in the phase of formation of the first pair of leaves in the seedlings, and then after another two weeks, or when the second pair of leaves develops in the seedlings. Top dressing is best applied in liquid form. The best fertilizers for seedlings are Agricola, Solution, Krepysh, Fertika Lux.

Growing pepper on a windowsill

In order to grow sweet peppers at home, you need self-pollinating seeds, a good substrate, phytolamp and a place in the apartment where the sun shines for at least 3-4 hours a day. When your potted peppers are blooming, shake them at least once a day to ensure successful pollination. Large fruits take a lot of energy from the bush, so leave 5-6 ovaries for ripening, and remove the rest.

Fruiting crops quickly deplete the soil in which they grow, so it is necessary to feed the pepper bush once every 2-3 weeks, adding to upper layer soil a teaspoon of Agrolife or watering the soil with a solution of one cap of the drug Growth in two liters of water.

Sweet pepper at home is a perennial plant, and it will not be superfluous to pour fresh vermicompost into the pot every two months, as long as the capacity allows, or to transplant the bush into larger pots, when the need arises. To extend the life of the plant, it is advisable to carry out a small annual spring rejuvenating pruning of pepper, and then you are guaranteed a harvest of fruits for several years.

Planting pepper in open ground

When to plant pepper in the ground

Grown, matured and hardened seedlings at the stage of formation of the first buds are planted in open ground when the air temperature reaches 15-17 ºС. Typically, planting pepper in the ground occurs at the end of May - mid-June.

Pepper primer

Sweet peppers love light, non-acidic soils, but you need to prepare a site for pepper a year before planting. Moreover, it is not at all necessary that nothing grows in this place for a year, it is just that the soil is prepared for crops preceding the pepper, the best of which are cucumber, zucchini, carrots, onions, pumpkin or green manure. But after crops such as eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, physalis - in short, after nightshades, peppers are not grown.

When preparing the soil for spring planting the predecessors for the year for digging are brought in 5 kg of organic matter per 1 m², and in the fall, after harvesting, the site is dug up with the addition of 50 g of phosphorus and potash fertilizers to the same unit of area. In the spring, in the year of planting pepper, 40 g of ammonium nitrate is added to the topsoil for each m², and five days before planting the seedlings, the area is spilled into the ground with a disinfecting solution, adding a tablespoon to a bucket of water copper sulfate.

How to plant peppers in open ground

In the bed, holes are made at a distance of 40-50 cm from each other, and the distance between the rows is about 60 cm. The depth of the hole should be such that the root collar of the seedling after planting is flush with the surface of the site. Spread one tablespoon of complete mineral fertilizer in the wells, which includes nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, and thoroughly mix the pepper fertilizer with the soil at the bottom of the well.

If the seedlings grew in peat pots, then lower the seedling into the hole right with it, and if you grew seedlings in a common container, then carefully remove the pepper from it, trying not to destroy the earthen ball, and lower it into the hole. Fill the hole halfway with fertile soil, then water each plant abundantly, using one bucket of water for three seedlings, and when the water is absorbed, fill the holes with earth to the top. After planting, it is advisable to mulch the area with sweet peppers with peat. If temperatures drop below 13 ºC at night, planted seedlings will need shelter.

Growing pepper in a greenhouse

There are varieties of peppers for open ground, and there are those that can only be grown in greenhouses. Pepper varieties include Arnes, Accord, Alyonushka, Vesper, Bonus, Atlant, Buratino, Orange miracle, Tenderness, Swallow, Nochka and others. First, the seeds are sown on seedlings, and when they grow up and undergo hardening procedures on the balcony or terrace, they are planted in the greenhouse soil. Sowing seeds and the stages of growing seedlings, we have just described to you.

Planting pepper in the greenhouse it is carried out when the seedlings reach a height of 25 cm and an age of at least 55 days, it has a thick green stem and 12-14 leaves each, in the axils of which buds have already been formed. The soil in an unheated greenhouse should be warmed up to 15 ºC by the time the seedlings are placed in it, so replanting is unlikely to take place earlier than May 15.

Before planting, the soil for pepper in the greenhouse is fertilized with potash and phosphorus fertilizers at the rate of 30 g of the first and 40 g of the second per m² and watered abundantly. The planting density of seedlings depends on the variety: 35 cm should be left between the seedlings of vigorous varieties, an interval of 25 cm is sufficient between medium-sized seedlings, and early maturing undersized varieties are planted at a distance of 15 cm from each other. The distance between the rows is from 35 to 60 cm. After planting the seedlings in the holes, the soil is compacted and mulched with peat.

Pepper care

How to grow pepper

Growing pepper in the open field involves timely watering, weeding and loosening of the site, garter and feeding of plants. Professionals recommend removing the central flower from the first branch on each bush - this should increase the yield of the pepper. Also, to increase the yield, the bushes are formed into 2-3 stems, for which it is necessary to promptly remove the resulting lateral shoots - stepchildren. They do this in hot and always humid weather. No more than 20-25 fruits can be left on one plant.

When planting seedlings of high varieties of pepper into the ground, drive in a peg right next to each seedling, to which, if necessary, you will tie a bush.

For successful pollination of pepper, it is necessary to attract pollinating insects to the site, for which the bushes are sprayed with boron-sugar syrup, dissolved in a liter hot water 2 g boric acid and 100 g of sugar. And refuse to treat the garden with pesticides from the moment the pepper blooms, otherwise the insects pollinating the pepper may die.

Watering the pepper

After planting in open ground, the seedling looks somewhat sluggish, but this is quite natural, therefore it is very important not to overdo it with soil moisture at this time. Before flowering, you need to water the pepper once a week, and during the period of fruit formation, you will have to water it twice a week at the rate of 6 liters of water per m². After watering, you need to very carefully loosen the soil between the rows, taking care not to damage the superficial root system of the plants.

Watering the pepper is carried out with warm, settled water from a watering can by sprinkling. From a lack of moisture, pepper slows down growth and can shed flowers and ovary. To keep the soil moist, experienced gardeners recommend mulching the area with pepper with a ten-centimeter layer of rotted straw.

Pepper dressing

After dressing in the seedling stage, the pepper in the open field is fertilized twice with a solution chicken droppings at a concentration of 1:10, and also used foliar feeding solution of a tablespoon of nitrophoska in a bucket of water. Twisted pepper leaves with a dry border around the edges will tell you that there is not enough potassium in the soil, but do not use potassium chloride as a fertilizer - pepper does not tolerate chlorine.

From lack of nitrogen leaves become dull, gray tint and gradually become smaller, and from the excess of this element, the plant sheds ovaries and flowers. When pepper lack of phosphorus, the underside of the leaf plate becomes deep purple, the leaves rise up and press against the trunk.

From lack of magnesium sweet pepper leaves become marbled. Be attentive to the plant, and you will be able to help it in time by adding the necessary top dressing.

Pepper processing

The fight against diseases of peppers during the ripening of fruits with pesticides is undesirable, since all beneficial features plants are leveled by nitrates absorbed after treatment and other harmful to humans chemicals... At proper care and the observance of agrotechnics of the type of problems with diseases or pests in pepper should not arise, but if they do appear, let's consider what measures will help get rid of them and at the same time keep the quality of the fruits at a high level.

Pepper pests and diseases

Readers often ask questions about what pepper is sick with. Most often, sweet peppers are affected by diseases such as verticillosis (wilting), bronzing (spotted wilting), phytoplasmosis, fusarium, late blight, apical and gray rot, black leg.

Verticillosis – fungal disease, existing in three forms: brown, green and dwarf, each of which manifests itself in its own way. Since the destruction of pathogens with pesticides on vegetable plants undesirable, only preventive measures: destruction of all plant residues in autumn and cultivation of varieties resistant to verticillosis.

Phytoplasmosis, or stolbur, manifested by the fact that the roots of the plant begin to rot, dwarfism develops, the fruits grow small, thin-walled and tasteless, the leaves curl, harden and turn yellow, as a result, the pepper dries. They suffer from leafhopper disease. The fight against phytoplasmosis is carried out by processing the pepper with Akara at the time of planting and three weeks after it - spraying the vegetable at this stage of development will not cause harm. In addition, it is necessary to regularly loosen the soil in the area and remove weeds.

Fusarium- a fungal disease in which the pepper turns yellow: the leaves become poisonous yellow. Sick specimens are destroyed, the rest of the plants are carefully looked after: they are watered moderately in the morning, and weeds are not allowed to appear on the site. Please be aware that in next year it is better not to grow peppers in an area infected with fusarium.

Late blight- a common fungal disease that affects peppers and tomatoes. Symptoms of phytosporosis are the formation of hard spots on the fruits that capture the pulp. The causative agents of the disease are destroyed with Oxyhom, Zaslon, Barrier, but only before the flowering of the pepper. By the way: hybrid varieties much less susceptible to disease.

Blackleg affects the root part of the stem of pepper seedlings as a result of too dense sowing and keeping at high humidity soil and air. Over time, the stalk softens and the seedling dies. To avoid the disease of seedlings with a black leg, you should sow seeds spaciously, dive seedlings in time and monitor the level of humidity in the greenhouse. If you find diseased seedlings, immediately remove them, dry and loosen the soil in which the seedlings grow, and sprinkle it with wood ash. At this stage of plant development, it is permissible to sprinkle seedlings with a solution of the Barrier in the ratio: 3 caps of the drug per 1 liter of water.

Top rot arises on the plant, oddly enough, in the case of a lack of moisture and manifests itself in shiny or black deep spots on the fruits. Sometimes the cause of the disease can be an excess of nitrogen and calcium in the soil. The infected plants are burned, and the rest are sprayed with calcium nitrate.

Gray rot can infect every plant at any stage of development with putrefactive spots and gray mold. Usually rainy weather provokes its appearance. Affected fruits and plant parts must be removed, and the bushes on the site should be sprayed with fungicides, if it is not too late.

Signs of bronze, or spotted wilting, look like brown spots on leaves that take on a bronze or purple hue. These necrotic spots are located mainly along the main vein of the leaves. As a result of the development of the disease, the top of the plant dies, the fruits in the area of ​​the stalk are covered with green, brown or pale yellow ring spots. To save the harvest, ripe fruits are cut off, and the soil is no longer watered. The fungus is destroyed by Fundazol, but before treating the pepper with a fungicide, once again weigh the pros and cons of such spraying.

Of the pests, aphids, spider mites, wireworms and slugs are annoyed by pepper. You can help protect the plant from slugs by sprinkling nut shells, ground hot pepper or mustard powder. You can also place bowls of dark beer here and there, to which shellfish will slide from all over the site. And do not forget to loosen the soil in the aisles to a depth of 4-5 cm in the heat.

Clicker beetle larvae, or wireworms, remaining in the soil for five years, they gnaw at the roots of plants. To get rid of wireworms, in the fall, they dig up the land on the site, and in the spring, before planting the pepper, several baits are arranged on the site, burying pieces of sweet root vegetables in the ground and outlining these places for themselves. Clicker larvae will surely crawl to these baits. Every two to three days, the bait is dug up, the larvae are collected and destroyed.

Spider mites plant on plants in dry land, they settle on the underside of leaves and suck out cell sap from them. If you do not know how to treat pepper from a tick without resorting to insecticides, we offer you a recipe for a solution that is non-toxic to the human body: a tablespoon of liquid soap or dishwashing detergent along with a glass of finely chopped onions or garlic, as well as chopped dandelion leaves are mixed in 10 liters of water, let it brew and spray pepper with this composition at any stage of its development.

From aphids get rid of wood ash or tobacco dust infused in 10 liters of hot water in the amount of one glass. You can also, if necessary, use the treatment of pepper with a solution of rapidly decomposing insecticides such as Karbofos or Keltan at the rate of one tablespoon of the drug per 10 liters of water.

Collection and storage of peppers

Pepper has two types of ripeness - technical and biological (or physiological). At the stage of technical maturity, all peppers are usually green in color - from dark green to greenish-whitish hue. If the peppers on the bush are yellow, red, orange, purple or brown, then we can say that they are already at the stage of biological maturity, which means that the fruits removed from the bush must be used immediately - canned or eaten, since they are stored such peppers for a very short period of time.

The fruits harvested in a state of technical maturity under suitable conditions can be stored for up to two months. The time difference between technical and biological ripeness is 20-30 days. The readiness of the pepper for harvesting is determined by the crackling of the fruit when you lightly press it. And one more landmark: peppers are harvested at about the same time as eggplants and tomatoes.

Usually, the first fruits are harvested in early or mid-August, and peppers continue to be harvested until frost. That is, ripe fruits are removed selectively every 5-7 days. To keep the pepper better, it is cut off along with the stalk. During the growing season, three to five harvests are carried out. Before the onset of frost, all fruits are removed from the bushes, and their further ripening takes place indoors, after sorting by size and degree of maturity.

Before storing the fruit, the stalk is cut off, leaving a segment of only 1-1.5 cm. Only healthy thick-walled fruits that do not have mechanical damage are suitable for storage. Thin-walled varieties are stored in the refrigerator. Juicy-walled varieties can be kept in plastic bags with a thickness of at least 120 microns, preferably with a perforated membrane on the side wall. Peppers keep better if each fruit is wrapped in paper. Peppers can be stored in baskets, shallow boxes with 1-2 rows or on shelves in the basement with a temperature of 8-10 ºC and an air humidity of 80-90%.

Since peppers quickly absorb odors, make sure nothing in your basement grows moldy or decays. Storing pepper in the right conditions allows it to stay fresh for one and a half to two months. Bell peppers can be stored for up to a month in the refrigerator at 9-10 ºC. Many housewives prefer, after washing the fruits and removing the testes, fold the peppers one into the other and store them all winter in the freezer, so that at any time you can cook your favorite dishes from it or add a slice or two to borscht or salad.

Those fruits that are not suitable for storage can be processed. They make excellent marinades, fragrant winter salads, borsch dressing.

Types and varieties of pepper

We have already mentioned that vegetable peppers can be sweet and bitter. We promised to tell you about hot pepper in detail in a separate article. Sweet peppers are divided into the following varieties:

• bell pepper;
• tomato-shaped vegetable pepper;
• cone-shaped vegetable pepper;
• cylindrical vegetable pepper;
• bell-shaped vegetable pepper.

Popular varieties include outdoor peppers, greenhouse peppers, and container varieties that grow and bear fruit on a balcony or windowsill. Varieties also differ in terms of ripening: early varieties reach maturity in 80-100 days, mid-ripening ones need a little more time to ripen - from 115 to 130 days, and later ones will take 140 or more days.

• Early peppers include the varieties Zdorov'e, Dobrynya Nikitich, Snow White, Swallow, and also hybrids Atlantic, Orange miracle, Montero, Cardinal, Denis.
• Of the mid-season varieties, Prometheus, Ilya Muromets, Korenovsky, Belozerka, Maxim and Vitamin hybrids are considered the best.
• Of the late varieties, the Gold Medal variety and the Nochka hybrid have proven themselves well.

By the way, what is the difference between the concept of "variety" and the concept of "hybrid"? Seeds of hybrids do not retain varietal traits, so collecting seeds from hybrid varieties is pointless, the seed of the hybrids you like will have to buy every year. But hybrid varieties are distinguished by high yields, large fruits with excellent taste moreover, they are very resistant to disease.

Pepper varieties also differ in size and shape of the fruit, and this is very important, since for stuffing, for example, you need thick-walled peppers large size oval or spherical in shape, and for salads you can use other varieties, with thinner walls and smaller sizes. In shape, sweet pepper fruits are elongated, cuboid, conical, oval, spherical and cylindrical. They can be either smooth or lumpy.

And, of course, the varieties of pepper differ in the color of the fruit in the phase of biological maturation. Such varieties as Alyosha Popovich, Red Elephant, Swallow, Ilya Muromets, Winnie the Pooh and hybrids Zarya, Latino and Red Baron have red fruits. Yellow peppers are represented by varieties Katyusha, Yellow Bouquet and hybrids Raisa, Isabella, Indalo. The Maxim hybrid has a violet color in the case of technical maturation and dark red in the biological one. The Cardinal hybrid has fruits purple, the Bonus variety has ivory to dark red fruits, the Apricot Favorite variety and the Chanterelle hybrid have ripe bright orange fruits.

We offer you several popular varieties of pepper, among which you will surely find those that you want to grow on your own.

• Fat Baron- an early ripe variety with sweet red cuboid fruits weighing up to 300 g. 8-9 fruits ripen on a spherical bush 50-60 cm high.
• Red shovel- a bush up to 70 cm high, on which up to 15 red sweet fruits weighing up to 150 g and wall thickness up to 8 mm ripen.
• California miracle- proven for decades, a well-deserved mid-early variety, which takes about 75 days to ripen from the moment the seedlings are planted in the ground. The height of the bush is up to 80 cm, the fruits are red, thick-walled, weighing up to 250 g.
• Yellow bell Is one of the earliest disease-resistant varieties that needs only 65-70 days to mature. The height of the bushes is 70-80 cm, the fruits are golden-yellow, cuboid, up to 12 cm high and in diameter, the walls are 8-10 cm thick.
• Hybrid series Star of the East with thick-walled fruits weighing from 150 to 350 g, mostly early ripening with fruits of white, white with red, golden and chocolate color.
• Tevere- mid-season thick-walled sweet hybrid with yellow fruits weighing up to 300 g.

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After this article, they usually read

Bell peppers or sweet peppers are widely used in cooking, Food Industry... It has an impressive list of quality properties and is an excellent antioxidant. So how and when to plant peppers in the open ground to enjoy the pleasant taste of the healthy "false berry".

Pepper is annual plant with hollow, multi-seeded fruits of red, yellow, green, orange or brown colors. Weight, shape, size, depending on the variety, are different. With proper care, the weight of one copy reaches one hundred and fifty grams. The variety is selected taking into account the climate of its growth.

• Fat Baron - early, bushes reach a height of 60 cm, fruits - up to nine pieces, sweet, red, cuboid, weighing up to 300 gr.

• Yellow bell - early, resistant to diseases, ripening period up to 70 days, plant height up to 80 cm, yellow, golden, cuboid fruits with walls up to 10 cm thick, up to 12 cm in diameter.

• The Star of the East is an early hybrid, the fruits are white, red, golden, chocolate, their usual ripe weight is up to 350 grams.

• California miracle - mid-early, ripening period up to 75 days, bushes grow up to 80 cm in height, fruits with thick red walls weigh up to 250 grams.

• Tevere - mid-early, yellow fruits reach a mass of up to 300 grams.

They have different ripening periods:

• early to 125 days

• medium early up to 140 days

• late up to 150 days

• too late before 155 days

Growing seedlings

At first, the pepper was bitter, and it became sweet as a result of European breeding work, which replaced pungency with sweetness.

A common way of growing peppers is by seedlings. It is suitable for different latitudes. The time of sowing seeds depends on the climate, optimal terms- end of February, first decade of March.

Planting pepper seedlings begins with preliminary preparation seeds. First, they plunge into water with a temperature of no higher than fifty degrees. So for 5-6 hours the swelling process takes place, then the seeds are for about three days in a wet cloth, gauze. After the seeds have hatched, they are sown in prepared soil. This method provides fast germination (2-3 days after sowing).

The composition of the soil should include - sand (1 stack.), Garden humus (2 stack.), Garden soil (1 stack.), Wood ash (2 tablespoons). The mixed mixture must be disinfected with a manganese solution, sterilized in the oven or microwave, then put it hot in a container, level the surface and let it cool to a warm state. To increase its looseness, ash is introduced (70gr. / 1.5kg of earth), in order to avoid stagnation of water, drainage is placed at the bottom of the container. A useful moment for preparing good soil - garden soil can be replaced with peat.

For purchased garden soil disinfection, calcination is not carried out.

Seeds are spread to a depth of two centimeters and at a distance of five centimeters. The ground is watered, the container is covered with glass or polyethylene. It is better for her to be in a warm place, where the constant temperature is + 22. The best option planting seeds in peat, plastic pots, because the pepper does not feel well after the pick.

When the first shoots have appeared, the daytime temperature should be increased to 28, the nighttime temperature should be lowered to 15 heat. The soil should be moderately moist, an excess of moisture negatively affects the plant and suggests a black leg disease. For irrigation, settled warm water (+30) is used, from cold - the sprouts will get sick and rot.

In the room where the seedlings are located, the air humidity is controlled. To increase it, the sprouts should be sprayed, ventilated the room, but drafts are not allowed. In this case, the seedlings are covered with plastic caps, glass jars... It is necessary to arrange lighting for the seedlings for fourteen hours. A special lamp is used for this, especially on cloudy days.

As soon as the first pair of leaves has appeared, the sprouts are picked into separate peat pots to a depth of cotyledonous leaves. If the seeds have already been sown in such a container, this procedure is omitted.

After taking root, the peppers are actively developing, and when they get stronger, hardening is carried out for them two weeks before planting. First, temporary - half an hour, then three to four hours, then permanent in sunny weather. It is more useful for seedlings to be in the shade.

Staying them in a draft or frost is not allowed.

Before planting seedlings, the soil should be fertilized, preferably twice. The first time - after the pick, the second - ten days after the appearance of the second pair of leaves. Well-proven liquid top dressing- Strong, Mortar, Agricola, etc. abundant feeding are not allowed.

To protect the seedlings from late blight, a solution is used for three days - boric acid and copper sulfate - 2g. for 3 liters of water. After that, watering stops. When a tick, aphid appears on the seedlings, it is watered with tincture of wormwood, tansy, and garlic.

Planting seedlings

In this process, it is better to be guided by the rule - it is better later than to ruin your labors and be left without a crop.

At the time when to plant pepper seedlings in open ground, the sprouts themselves will indicate. When they are strong, hardened and begin to form the first buds. When the temperature in the air does not drop below +17. The approximate period is from late May to mid June.

The quality of the peppers also depends on the composition of the land in which they will be planted. The site is being prepared in advance a year before this event. The best predecessors of pepper are pumpkin, onions, carrots, zucchini, cucumbers, unacceptable ones are nightshade.

The soil under the predecessors should be dug up, fertilized with organic matter (5kg / 1sq.m.). After harvesting, digging is carried out a second time with the simultaneous introduction of potassium, phosphorus, fifty grams per unit area. If it is supposed to grow pepper on it this season, the top layer is flavored with ammonium nitrate (40 g / 1 sq. M.). Seven days before planting seedlings, the soil is disinfected with copper sulfate (1 tablespoon per bucket of water).

Planting technology

The distance between the rows is up to 60 cm, between the holes - up to 50 cm. The depth corresponds to the root collar of the sprout, it should be at the surface level of the ground. Fertilizers with minerals - phosphorus, nitrogen and potassium, 1 tbsp each are laid in the holes. and is mixed with the soil. It is necessary to carefully remove the finished shoots from the general container in order to avoid damage to the roots. Grown seedlings in pots are simply lowered into the hole. The voids are filled with earth, and the hole is well watered. After absorbing water, it is completely covered with earth. Experienced gardeners recommend mulching the soil around the peppers with peat. This will provide a safe shelter for the seedlings when the temperature drops at night.

In the garden, it is necessary to control the place of planting of bitter and sweet peppers. They must be far enough from each other, otherwise cross-pollination is inevitable.

Pepper sprouts can be protected from pests. For this, border marigolds, basil, calendula are planted next to them. Coriander and parsley are excellent at attracting pollinating insects.

Care of seedlings in the ground

For two weeks, they will be sick, overfeed, it is not worth watering them abundantly. It is important to ensure that water does not fall on young leaves.

If the weather brings frost, the seedlings can be covered with a film, cut plastic bottles... Such an event is relevant in cold weather, cloudy, rainy days.

Pepper does not require much maintenance. Moderate watering and regular loosening of the soil near the plant is enough for him. As a result, it root system will be saturated with oxygen, which will have a beneficial effect on its development, fruiting.

Top dressing of pepper is carried out up to four times during the growth and ripening period. Once every two weeks, the elements are applied before watering. This way they dissolve better.

Tall bushes must be tied to a peg previously placed next to it.

Harvesting

Reached the stage of ripeness, and its indicator is green color, the fruits are torn off and stacked in boxes. In a warm room, they ripen and acquire a color corresponding to the variety. The fruits that remained on the bushes, in the absence of competitors, receiving more nutrition from the ground, grow faster and fill up.

Growing peppers is a painstaking job. Observing all the recommendations, every gardener will be able to rejoice great harvest useful multi-colored fruits.

To obtain good harvest, gardeners need to take into account all the subtleties 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 sheltered from the wind and sufficiently sunny. The site will not work 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 in advance where the pepper will grow in the future. It is recommended to enrich the soil a year before planting organic fertilizers, and in the autumn - potash and phosphorus for digging. In the spring, it is advisable to add ammonium nitrate to the top layer of the soil. 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?

V middle lane planting in open ground is usually carried out towards the end of May, when the risk of frost is minimal. The air temperature should be at least 15 degrees. If you plant bell peppers too early, the likelihood of disease 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 low varieties, 30-40 cm between holes is enough, for tall varieties it should be more - 60 cm. The beds should be 60 cm apart. However, there is one trick: different varieties it is not recommended to sit next to it. 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

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, such a care will help protect the peppers. It is necessary to get the sprouts out of 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 onto 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 earth a little and mulch with peat.
• When the seedling grows up, you may need it. It makes sense to pre-install a low peg for this purpose.
• When planting is complete, it is advisable to cover the plants with foil. 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.

Over-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.

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 should not be carried out. At this time, the root system is strengthened, the 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 up 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 carried out. Bird droppings are also used for this together with. When fruits begin to form actively, the need for nutrients rises. 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 perform removal 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 retain moisture in the soil.

During the growing season, care must be taken to shorten overly long shoots and 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 better harvest... All care, which includes loosening, feeding and pruning, should be done at the same time.

Tall ones make 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 is not as difficult as it might seem. But it is important to correctly follow the basic recommendations, to transplant seedlings on time, since this plant requires some attention.

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

Planting peppers in open ground is an essential step towards a rich harvest of this crop. Mistakes made by a beginner at this stage can negate all efforts to grow high-quality seedlings. In the article I will detail and in simple words I will tell you how to plant peppers in open ground with minimal effort on your part and as comfortable as possible for the plants themselves.

Preparing pepper seedlings for planting in open ground

When grown on a windowsill, pepper plants need additional lighting.

About a week before the planned planting, pepper seedlings begin to "walk", bringing the plants to fresh air. At first, walks should be short, 15-20 minutes long, but each time their duration is increased by 50%. At a temperature not lower than +14 ... 15 degrees, the plants will be perfectly tempered and they will better transfer the transplant to an open garden.

How to choose a place for pepper

If there is no room in the garden, then peppers can also be grown in bags filled with nutritious soil.

A bed for pepper is placed on an area with moderately fertile, light soil with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction. This culture does not grow well in places with a close occurrence. groundwater- then it is better for her to take a high warm bed... For information on how to build such a bed, read in.

Pepper just hates shadow... Therefore, the plants must be under the sun all day, otherwise their development will be slowed down and the harvest will be very scanty.

One more important condition when choosing a site for this culture, it must be reliably protected from the wind.

To do this, at some distance from the garden, you can make a partition or arrange a wattle fence from any available materials... Alternatively, around the plantings, at a distance of 70-100 centimeters, you can arrange 1-2 rows of curtain plants - beans, corn, sunflower, Jerusalem artichoke, Swiss chard. Plants required are sown or planted with seedlings in advance, 2-3 weeks before planting the pepper itself. If you plan to keep the bed under the film for the whole season, then you do not need to build any additional protective barriers.

Legumes, onions, beans, pumpkin, squash, squash, root vegetables and cabbage- here is the list the most successful predecessors for pepper... I do not recommend planting pepper after any nightshade, for example, potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, as well as after any kind of pepper. Wait at least 3-4 years before placing the pepper in such a place.

Cooking a bed for pepper

It is better to remove the first (crown) flower of a pepper seedling. This will noticeably enhance the branching of the bush and the yield.

Any soil can be improved and made suitable for planting peppers by adding various organic materials to it:

• in the case of medium loamy soil- this is peat and well-decomposed manure, one bucket per square meter of the garden bed, as well as half a bucket of stale sawdust per square meter;
• in the case of clay, heavy soil- this is peat or well-decomposed manure at the rate of a bucket per square meter plus coarse sand (or semi-rotted sawdust) at the rate of 1 bucket per square meter;
• in the case of peat soil- this is humus and sod (or clay) land, one bucket of each type of soil per square meter;
• in the case of sandy soil- these are 2 buckets of humus (garden compost), 2 buckets of peat and clay soil and 1 bucket of rotten sawdust;
• in all cases, it is recommended to put one tablespoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate into the soil (this is done in the fall), as well as one teaspoon of urea or nitroammophoska (in spring) per square meter of the garden; for convenience, the "mineral water" is mixed with organic matter;
• if you don't use at all mineral fertilizers on the site, then just add to the soil wood ash at the rate of 1 glass per square meter of the garden (it is better to do this in spring)

To determine the texture of the soil in your area, perform a simple test. You can find its description in.

Consider the following when preparing the soil for this crop:

• it is advisable to fertilize the soil for pepper from autumn, but it is permissible to postpone this work until spring;
• if you have light loam on the site, then you only need to fill the soil in the bed under the pepper with compost or humus at the rate of 1 bucket per square meter of its area;
• the garden bed for this culture cannot be filled with fresh manure, otherwise the plants will give a lot of greenery, but few fruits.

Planting pepper in the garden

Spring soil preparation for planting pepper is in full swing)

In central Russia, peppers are planted in open ground not earlier than the last decade of May, and with a prolonged spring, it is better to postpone this work to the beginning of summer.

By the time of planting, pepper seedlings should have 7-9 well-developed leaves, as well as short, strong internodes and several formed flowers. Early maturing varieties are allowed to be planted even with an ovary.

On the eve of planting in a permanent place, hardened pepper bushes are watered abundantly so that they are not lethargic. V otherwise they will be stunted and will shed their first buds.

Planting sweet peppers in open ground is carried out in 9 simple steps:

1. The soil in the garden is carefully loosen and align... When growing peppers in two rows, its width should be 90-100 meters, and with a three-row planting, the width of the beds is increased to 120 centimeters. It is also highly desirable that the bed be extended in the direction from north to south.
2. A distance of 50 to 60 centimeters is left between the rows, 40-45 centimeters between the individual planting pits. The pits are best staggered. More thickened fit over scheme 20-25 x 50 centimeters leads to a decrease in the size of the fruits, but increases their number.
3. The wells are filled with 200-300 grams of vermicompost (humus, compost), add 1 tablespoon of ash and the same amount of crushed eggshell, and also pour in 1-2 liters of a light pink solution of potassium permanganate.
4. Arcs are installed above the bed, and so that the film does not sag, twine is pulled between the arcs on both sides.
5. Seedlings are planted in the afternoon or in cloudy weather at any time of the day.
6. Pepper bushes are planted at the same level at which they grew in pots (permissible depth is no more than two centimeters). In this case, tall varieties are placed in the central row, and undersized and dwarf ones - along the edge of the garden.
7. When planting, pegs with a height of 50-60 centimeters are attached to each plant for further garter. After that, the roots of the plants are covered with hands and squeezed around the stems for better contact with the ground.
8. The soil in the bed with the planted seedlings is mulched with peat or dry soil. This is an optional but highly desirable technique.
9. Throw a film over the arcs. If the weather is cool, then the plantings are additionally insulated with lutrasil or any other non-woven fabric.

You can reduce the need for watering, weeding and loosening by planting pepper seedlings directly in black film or non-woven covering material. To do this, the soil in the garden bed is fertilized, moistened, mulched with peat and covered with a film or non-woven cloth. Pepper plants are planted 40-45 x 50-60 centimeters in cross-shaped holes made in the selected material.

Pepper care after planting in the ground

This pepper clearly does not want to be eaten))).

The pepper slowly takes root in a new place, so the plants need to be helped to acclimate. To do this, the first one and a half to two weeks, they are watered every 2-3 days under the root, using 1-2 liters for one plant.

In dry and hot periods, watering is carried out on a daily basis.... During this period, the soil in the aisles must be loosened, but with great care, to a depth of no more than 3-5 centimeters. This avoids any damage to the plant roots before they finally take root.

As long as the temperature at night does not exceed +16 degrees, the peppers should be under a film cover. In the daytime, if the air under the film warms up above +28 degrees, it is opened slightly or even completely removed.

But if, according to the forecast, return frosts are expected - this sometimes happens in early June - the soil in the garden with the planted seedlings must be shed with water at a temperature of + 35-38 degrees. Then, in addition to the film, throw on top of a dense non-woven fabric and your plants will be reliably protected from the cold.

One of the most common problems a novice gardener faces when growing peppers is when the plants begin to shed their ovary en masse. The main reason for such a nuisance is flaws in care and weather surprises, which are especially dangerous on open bed... To more fully understand what exactly caused the ovary to drop in your situation, I suggest reading.

For you, we made a short video in which we shared our experience of growing pepper seedlings and planting them in open ground.