An apartment is not always the best place to grow seedlings. Indoors, plants and light may not be enough, and the window sills traditionally defined for this purpose may be too narrow to accommodate planting containers. But it is still possible to solve these problems.
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How and where to place seedlings in the apartment
When choosing a place for placing containers with seedlings, you should pay attention to the main condition - the absence of drafts and hot air rising from the battery (it needs to be covered with something). Also important is the sufficiency of lighting, in which the process of photosynthesis in plants will be active. This means that they will be able to form 10 times more organic matter than they need to ensure the respiration process. As a result, they develop better and acquire a rich color. Lack of light will lead to the fact that almost all the forces of plants will be spent on respiration to the detriment of active growth. Such seedlings look sickly, frail, and grow poorly.
If the windows of the apartment face the south side, then there will be no shortage of lighting for seedlings. But if to the north, devoid of direct sunlight, then you will have to use additional artificial lighting or special reflectors in the form of mirrors, which, being installed on the windowsills at a certain angle, will be able to compensate for the lack of sunlight.
If the window sill is too narrow to accommodate containers with seedlings, you can always increase its area using simple devices. For example, by fixing on it a piece of wide board or thick plywood of greater width. You can also build additional shelves in one window opening by placing them above the window sill.
Seedling care
Until the appearance of the entrances, there is no need to worry about the lighting of the seedling containers. At this stage, it is more important to maintain a favorable temperature regime for the seeds in the soil. For this, containers are placed in a warm place and covered with plastic wrap or glass. The substrate in them must be moistened every day with a spray bottle, avoiding overflows.
Watering and picking seedlings
For seedlings of a particular culture, their rules may differ. For example:
- Eggplants and peppers. After the emergence of seedlings, they are not watered for the first few days. Then watering is carried out every 7 days. When two leaves are formed on the sprouts, they are dived into containers with a larger volume.
- Tomatoes. The first days after sowing, the soil in the container does not need to be watered. And when shoots appear, they will need to be watered only once a week, and preferably in the morning. After 2-3 weeks, tomato seedlings dive into individual containers so that they are buried in the ground to the first lower leaf.
- Cucumbers. Usually they are sown in small individual containers, placing 2-3 seeds in a substrate. When they all sprout, the strongest sprout is selected from them, and the rest are removed. Moreover, they are not pulled out of the ground (this can damage the root of the left sprout), but are cut off with scissors at the root. Cucumber seedlings are watered quite often - every day or two (best in the morning with warm water).
Watering of seedlings of all crops at an early stage of development is carried out with a gentle method - using a spray bottle.
To obtain healthy seedlings, it is also necessary to feed it. As a top dressing, both traditional organic fertilizers such as poultry manure and complex chemical fertilizers are used. The frequency of feeding is individual for each crop. To protect any plants from diseases, they can be sprayed from a spray bottle with a milk solution made from skim milk (half a glass) diluted in a liter of water.
Indoor humidity
This is one of the most important factors affecting the normal development of seedlings. If the air in the room is too dry, moisture will begin to actively evaporate from the leaves, which causes the plants to experience stress, which leads to a slowdown in their growth.
A simple trick will help to increase the level of humidity. You need to put a container near the battery and take a long piece of wet thick cloth. One end of it is placed in a container, and the other is placed on the radiator. According to the wick principle, water will rise up through the fabric and evaporate. As a result, the overall humidity in the room will rise.
With all of these tips and tricks taken into account, the seedlings will be healthy and strong. Well, the result of this will be a good and bountiful harvest.
Do you know how to grow strong seedlings?
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