The nuances of growing peppers in a greenhouse

Bell pepper is a thermophilic and rather whimsical plant. That is why it is very often grown in greenhouses, creating ideal conditions for obtaining a large harvest there.

In countries with short summers and cold climates, peppers, like other thermophilic crops, are grown in greenhouses. This is due to the fact that from the moment the first shoots appear and until the fruits appear on the bushes, 110-150 days usually pass.

In the Urals and Siberia, this crop is most often grown in polycarbonate greenhouses or in beds covered with film. In the northern regions, the cultivation of sweet bell peppers is possible only in glazed and well-heated greenhouses. In the Moscow region and the Central region, you can get a good harvest of peppers in the open field. But this is not possible in every season.

To get a rich harvest, it is also important to choose a variety suitable for a closed greenhouse. Gardeners should pay attention to the following options.

1. "Latino F1". This hybrid is very productive. Fruits appear on the bushes about 100 days after planting on the site. The shape of the fruit is cuboid, the color is deep red. They can be used to prepare a variety of delicious dishes.
2. "Actor". This variety is also suitable for greenhouse cultivation. When choosing it, it is worth remembering that the bushes grow up to 1.5 meters in height. To prevent the branches from bending under the weight of the fruits, they must be tied up several times per season. This variety is considered to be high yielding. From one bush, you can collect about 4 kg of fruit.
3. Montero. It is also a high-yielding and early maturing variety. The fruits that appear on the bushes are large in size and have a pleasant taste. They are quite heavy, so the branches sag under the fruits. To prevent this from happening, supports are also installed next to the bushes.
4. "Red Bull F1". This variety is hybrid. The fruits that appear on the bushes are cylindrical in shape. The average weight of each of them is 200-300 grams. The pulp of such peppers is juicy and aromatic. The fruits can be eaten raw, canned, frozen or stuffed.
5. Claudio F1. This hybrid was bred by the Dutch. The fruits ripen early on it. This usually happens within 80 days after the first shoots appear. The bushes are small in size. The fruit is red in color and tastes good.
6. Gypsy F1. Another hybrid Dutch variety. It bears fruit early. The peppers ripen within two months after being transplanted into the greenhouse. They are small and tapered. The average weight of one fruit is 100-150 grams. Their flesh is sweet. It has a pleasant and pronounced aroma.
7. "Orange miracle". A plant with such a beautiful name is early and large-fruited. With proper care, the bushes grow up to a meter in height. Ripe fruits are orange in color and rich in aroma. Their shape is cuboid. Gardeners highly value them for their pleasant taste and good keeping quality.

In order for the peppers to grow in comfortable conditions, the room in which they will be located must be prepared in advance. This process consists of several main stages.

If the greenhouse was not cleaned in the fall, spring work should be started with this event. All plant residues must be dug up or collected and taken outside the greenhouse. Next, you need to remove all the old supports and twine.

After that, wet cleaning must be carried out in the greenhouse. To be effective, add a small amount of soap shavings to the bucket of hot water. All hard-to-reach places need to be cleaned of dirt. If last season the plants were affected by some kind of fungal diseases, instead of a soap solution, it is worth using more effective means.

1. Lime. To prepare the composition, 400 grams of bleach is used. It is diluted in 10 liters of warm water, and then left to infuse for 2 hours. The resulting product is filtered and used to process the premises.
2. Copper sulfate. This tool does an excellent job of disinfecting the room. Processing the greenhouse with it allows you to protect the future crop from the most common diseases and pests that pose a danger to young peppers. The solution is prepared from 100 grams of the drug and 10 liters of water.
3. Potassium permanganate. This substance is also diluted in warm water and then used to treat the room. The solution should have a pleasant pink color.

Having finished cleaning the greenhouse, you need to tackle the soil. Indeed, the yield of peppers depends on its quality. The soil on which these plants are grown should not be acidic. You can deoxidize the soil using dolomite flour or dry wood ash. These products are simply scattered on the ground 2-3 weeks before planting the seedlings, and then embedded in the soil.

To protect the site from pests and diseases, the land must be watered with hot water before planting seedlings. The area after watering is immediately covered with plastic wrap. They take it off only a few hours after such treatment.

The preparation of planting material also plays an important role. They usually start doing this in February. The seed preparation scheme consists of the following stages.

1. Selection. The first step is to place the seeds in a container of brine. After 10 minutes, its contents must be checked. The seeds that float must be thrown away. The remaining grains must be well rinsed and dried.
2. Treatment. To speed up the seed growth process, they can be placed in a gauze bag, and then immersed in a glass with an ash solution or a growth promoter. Leave them there overnight. After that, the seeds must also be dried well.
3. Germination. In order for the seedlings to appear faster, the seeds can be additionally germinated. To do this, they are placed between layers of gauze, slightly moistened and left in a warm place. Once the seeds are germinated, they can be planted. It is very important to place the germinated kernels in moist soil. In a dry environment, they can die.

It is recommended to sow seeds in separate pots with nutritious soil. Usually they are placed in the ground to a depth of 0.5-1 cm. If you do everything right, seedlings will appear in 4-5 days.

After the first shoots appear, the pots should be transferred to a well-lit place. It is very easy to care for young seedlings. It is enough to water them regularly. The soil in the pots should not dry out.

After the first true leaves appear on the sprouts, the peppers need to be fed with high-quality organic fertilizers.

When the seedlings grow up, they can be transplanted into the greenhouse. If the room is not heated, the transplant should be done at the end of May. Plants are transplanted into a greenhouse with heating already in mid-April. When choosing the right time for this procedure, gardeners usually focus on the condition of the seedlings, as well as weather conditions.

Young peppers undergo a lot of stress during transplantation. To prevent this from happening, it is recommended to harden them in advance. To do this, 10-14 days before transplanting, pots with green sprouts begin to be taken out into the street. In the first few days, they are left outdoors for only a few hours. By the end of the second week, the pots can be left outdoors all day.

Before planting seedlings, it must be well watered and treated with a growth stimulant. After this preparation, the plants will quickly adapt to new conditions.

In the future, the plants will need proper care. Agricultural engineering consists of several main points.

First of all, it is worth remembering that the plants need to be watered regularly. Watering should be frequent, but not too abundant, because peppers react poorly not only to a lack of moisture, but also to its excess. Watering young bushes is recommended in the morning.

So that a dense crust does not appear on the soil, the soil must be loosened regularly. Hilling greenhouse peppers is optional. Only plants with a superficial root system need to be hilled. This procedure will help to increase the yield of peppers.

Regular feeding also has a good effect on the yield of peppers. For the first time, the bushes need to be fertilized 14-20 days after the young seedlings are planted in the greenhouse. At this time, the plants need nitrogen fertilization. They contribute to the rapid growth of green mass and strong stems. As a rule, gardeners at this stage use a weak solution of mullein or chicken.

A week later, potash fertilizers are applied to the soil. It can be potassium humate or potassium sulfate. An infusion of dry wood ash can also be used instead. At this stage, plants can also be fed with calcium nitrate, urea or superphosphate.

In the future, fertilizers are applied to the soil only if the plants seem to be weakened. For this purpose, you can use both mineral dressings and organic ones. Young peppers respond well to feeding with agents such as iodine or ammonia.

Healthy seedlings quickly fall away from the stress they receive from transplanting them to the greenhouse. As soon as the young peppers grow up, the gardener should start forming the bush. This process consists of several steps.

1. The first step is to remove all the leaves, up to the first fork.
2. Next, in the first branch, you need to carefully pinch the crown bud.
3. Two or three main shoots should grow from the first branch.
4. Having formed the skeleton of the bush, the branches of the second order also need to be thinned out.

If large bushes were selected for planting, adult plants will need to be tied up. Otherwise, the stems will break under the weight of the fruit. Adult bushes are usually tied to supports with twine or cloth cut into wide strips.

While creating the ideal conditions for growing peppers, it is important to also ensure that they receive enough light. In spring and summer, peppers can be grown without additional lighting. If the bushes are in the greenhouse during the cold season, it is worth installing lamps in the room.

When planting seedlings in a greenhouse, it is worth remembering that young plants are afraid of drafts. It is worth opening a room for ventilation only in a few cases. This is usually done on days when the temperature or humidity in the greenhouse is too high.

When planning to grow peppers in a greenhouse, it is worth remembering that these plants are attacked by various pests. Aphids, nematodes, scoops and slugs are dangerous for peppers. To combat these pests, the beds are treated with soapy water. If there are too many insects on the site, strong insecticides can be used.

Various diseases can also deprive the gardener of the harvest. Typically, plants are affected by the following diseases.

1. Bacterial cancer. Infected pepper leaves darken and fall off over time. To save plants from this disease, treatment of the site with a solution of copper sulfate and the removal of all affected leaves help.
2. Black spot. If the plant does not develop well, and its leaves turn black, it means that it was affected by black spot. If the peppers that are sick are not treated in time with such a drug as Fitosporin, they die.
3. Mosaic. This is a dangerous viral disease. The leaves of the infected plant turn yellow, become pale and become stained. It is impossible to fight this disease. Therefore, infected bushes are simply removed from the site.

If possible, peppers are recommended to be grown separately from other plants. In this case, the gardener will be able to create optimal conditions for the development of this culture. But if this is not possible, they should be planted next to tomatoes or eggplants. Plants perfectly withstand such a neighborhood.

You can also grow young bushes next to herbs. Basil, lovage or marjoram are usually placed on the beds.

Novice gardeners often make various mistakes in the process of cultivating peppers. In order not to harm the plants, you need to pay attention to some points.

1. Temperature conditions. Peppers do not like sudden changes in temperature. Therefore, it is worth ventilating the greenhouse only in warm weather. When planning to grow peppers in the cold season, it is important to insulate the room well. It is worth remembering that plants that are frozen are very difficult to reanimate.
2. High humidity. Excess moisture leads to the fact that spots appear on the foliage, and the fruits rot right on the bush. To prevent this from happening, the bushes need to be watered often, but not too abundantly.
3. Thickened planting. If too many peppers are planted in the area, the plants will not get enough nutrients. Because of this, ovaries often fall off the bushes, and the fruits remain small and tasteless.
4. Incorrect feeding. Plants can be harmed not only by a lack of nutrients, but also by their excess. You should not feed the bushes too often so that they do not burn out.
5. Lack of pollination. For peppers to bear fruit well, flowering plants need to be pollinated. To do this, in warm and windy weather, the door is left ajar. Some gardeners prefer to manually pollinate the plants using lightweight brushes.