Good afternoon, my reader. Sweet (or Bulgarian) pepper is a rather thermophilic culture. In the southern regions, it can be grown as seedlings in the open field, but in most of the territory Russia can create favorable conditions for him only in a greenhouse made of film, polycarbonate or glass. But greenhouse cultivation has its own characteristics.
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Conditions for growing pepper in a greenhouse
To get a good harvest, the following conditions must be maintained in the greenhouse:
- The temperature is about 24-26 degrees.
- Air humidity not less than 70%, but not more than 75%. At the same time, both drying out and waterlogging are destructive, especially at the stage of the appearance of the ovary.
- Illumination. Bell peppers are a very light-loving culture, so they should not be planted too densely so that the bushes shade each other. In addition, if the weather is cloudy, artificial "supplementary lighting" of the pepper in the greenhouse may be required.
- Soil structure. For peppers, a light soil rich in organic matter and having a neutral acidity is ideal. On heavy clay soil, growth problems may arise, so if the soil is exactly like this in your area, do not forget to add coarse calcined sand to the garden bed in the greenhouse.
Also, we must not forget that pepper is a relatively tall culture, but its stem is weak. So, so that the plants do not die, do not forget to arrange a trellis in the greenhouse or at least a row of pegs for a garter.
In addition, the greenhouse needs to be ventilated every day. In order not to create drafts, it is enough to open the door or window (if any). This is especially important in extreme heat - then you can even partially remove the film.
Watering and mulching
Pepper needs the following amount of water:
- 1 liter of water every 5 days for a young bush;
- 2 liters of water during the same period - per adult.
Watering is best in the morning, no later than 10-11 hours. The water should be as warm as possible, set in the sun.
Watering should be done only at the root. If possible, install a drip irrigation system, fortunately, it has served for many years and is not so expensive. The ingress of water on the leaves must be excluded. After each watering, you need to ventilate the greenhouse for about an hour. The next day after watering, you need to loosen the soil (at the same time, you can weed).
In order not to lose moisture in the soil, you can mulch the plants. To do this, a 3-4 cm layer of straw, compost or humus is applied under each plant. It is undesirable to use sawdust: they deoxidize the soil during decomposition.
Fertilizers
For a good yield, the pepper needs feeding. The first time it is introduced 2 weeks after transferring the seedlings to the ground, spilling a solution of 15 g of potassium chloride, 40 g of superphosphate and 20 g of nitrate per bucket of water. The second dressing is applied after 3-4 weeks, and then the procedure is repeated until the fruits ripen.
Instead of mineral fertilizers, you can use an infusion of rotted manure. To do this, dilute 3 liters of slurry with 1 liter of water, let it brew in a warm place for three days and dilute with clean water in a ratio of 1:10. After that, a liter of the resulting mixture is poured under each bush.
Garter and bush shaping
So that the bushes do not die, after about a week you can begin to carefully tie them to the trellis or pegs with the help of garden twine. As they grow, the strongest shoots are tied separately, the rest are wrapped around.
As soon as the first bud has formed, it must be removed. The plant begins to branch after this, and the gardener's task is to pinch in time after the appearance of the first ovary the weakest and thickest shoots. You also need to cut out the lateral processes that do not have fruits on them. Stepsons need to be removed to prevent thickening.
From time to time, lightly shake the trellis - from this the ovaries form more actively. The reason is not entirely clear, but the method has been tested in practice. This must be done carefully so as not to break the shoots.
Cleaning
You can remove the pepper when it reaches one of two stages:
- Technical ripeness. About 5 weeks after flowering, the peppers become edible and mature, but do not have a particularly bright taste. At this stage, they can already be pickled or put in a salad, but it is better to cut them off and let them lie down - to ripen in the warmth.
- Biological maturity. Determined by the presence of fully formed seeds. Pepper has the brightest color and taste, but it is practically not stored. Such fruits should be eaten or preserved almost immediately after harvest.
Peppers should not be picked from the bush, they are carefully cut with pruners or scissors. After the last fruit is harvested, the bush must be pulled out and sent to compost so that it does not take up space and does not attract pests.
Do you like to grow sweet peppers?
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