Every gardener knows - to get high-quality seedlings, you need to spend a lot of effort, so you must not skip pre-sowing preparation, which includes three stages: pest prevention, selection of a suitable site and installation of sufficient lighting.
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Prevention of spider mites in seedlings
Seedlings are grown mainly on the windowsill, where pots with indoor plants used to stand. It is very likely that spider mites nest there. If you do not find the pest immediately, it will move to young shoots that will die or weaken from the activity of the insect.
In order to avoid the spread of spider mites, it is necessary to systematically inspect the plants, upon detection dubious white spots and cobwebs urgently need to resort to the help of folk remedies or biological products:
- a solution of laundry soap will help in the fight against a small colony of ticks. Foam is applied to large leaves, small ones are sprayed with a spray bottle and left for 3-4 hours. Then the composition is washed off and the plant is placed in a plastic bag for 24 hours;
- if folk remedies do not cope, the plants are sprayed with a non-toxic preparation "Fitoverm" in a ratio of 2 ml per 1 liter of water. If necessary, the treatment is repeated after 7 days.
Reference! If the spider mite appeared earlier, then there is a high probability that it will manifest itself again: before sowing, it is better to treat the plinth and windowsill with a solution of Fitoverm biological product.
Arrangement of seedling racks
There is not always enough space on the windows to accommodate all the seedling boxes. In such a situation, the best solution would be to use two types of shelving: floor-standing or with placement on the windowsill.
The floor rack has a number of advantages: they are used in different rooms, the number of shelves of this design can be any. The second type consists of a maximum of 4 shelves and is extremely suitable for southern windowsills.
Shelves can be bought or made independently from scrap materials: plastic pipes, plexiglass, metal sheets, etc. The main thing is that the structure not only looks aesthetically pleasing, it must be strong, resistant to moisture and provide unhindered access to the seedlings. For high-quality growth of seedlings, lighting is required, which needs to be equipped with racks, especially floor ones.
Setting the backlight
Phytolamps purchased in a store or self-assembled lamps with fluorescent, sodium or LED lamps are used as an additional source of lighting.
Reference! Incandescent lamps cannot be used to illuminate seedlings, they emit excess heat for plants due to the lack of the desired glow spectrum.
Choke lights get very hot, heating boxes with seedlings, so when using them you need maintain a distance between the shelf and the lighting fixture of at least 4-6 cm or choose a lamp with an electronic ballast.
For full-fledged photosynthesis, seedlings require sunlight: due to the influence of the red-orange spectrum seeds germinate quickly, purple-blue color stimulates growth and promotes the formation of strong shoots. By installing one lamp of "warm" and "cold" light, with a power of 36 W, you can illuminate a shelf measuring 0.5x1.4 m.
The use of light and phytodiode lamps as backlighting is the best option to make up for the deficit of sunlight. Place such lighting devices, based on the manufacturer's instructions, at a distance of at least 10 cm from the shelves with seedlings.
To increase the efficiency of the illumination, screens are installed on the sides and behind the containers with seedlings to reflect the light. If necessary, the lighting power is adjusted by changing the distance from the lamp to the rack.
Do you know what to do before sowing seeds for seedlings?
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