A Complete Guide to Growing Seedlings in Nutritional Cups

AbstractPreparing nutritional soil: For nutritional cup seedlings, you can use 2 parts of topsoil from soil free of pathogens and weed seeds, mixed with 1 part of decomposed organic fertilizer to prepare the nutritional soil. After the nutritional soil is disinfected and sterilized, it can be filled into the cups, and then the soaked seeds are sown into the cups. Removing and covering the film: In hot weather, the film needs to be removed for ventilation to prevent seedling burn, and when the temperature is relatively low, the film should be covered in time to prevent cold damage. Generally, the film can be removed at 9 a.m. and covered again at 5 p.m. After the seedlings emerge, thinning should be done in time, and pest and disease control work should be done well.

I. Growing Methods for Nutritional Cup Seedlings

1. Preparing nutritional soil

(1) You can choose 2 parts of fertile, loose topsoil that retains water and fertilizer and is free of weeds and pathogen-bearing seeds, plus 1 part of decomposed organic fertilizer, and mix them to prepare the nutritional soil. Add 1 kg of superphosphate per cubic meter of nutritional soil. After the nutritional soil is blended in the appropriate ratio, sieve it and expose it fully to the sun for sterilization.

(2) Based on the commonly used standard cup with a diameter of 11 cm and a height of 10-12 cm, each cup needs 6-7 liang of nutritional soil. In addition, 20-30% of the amount of soil prepared should be reserved for use as seed-covering soil.

2. Disinfecting the nutritional soil

Before making the cups, you can use formalin, or fungicides such as a 100-fold solution of carbendazim, to spray a fine mist over the nutritional soil, then cover it with plastic film and keep it sealed for 2-3 days for disinfection and sterilization.

3. Filling soil into the cups

During this period, you can make your own paper bags for filling, or use commercial cups to hold the soil. After the nutritional soil is disinfected and sterilized, wait until the medicinal smell dissipates before filling the soil into the cups. Generally, the nutritional cups for watermelon should not be too small, with a diameter of more than 10 cm and a height of 10-12 cm, and they should not be too large either. When filling the soil, you need to master the moisture level of the nutritional soil: it should form a ball when squeezed by hand and scatter immediately when dropped to the ground. The bottom of the cup needs to be tamped firm to avoid looseness and easy scattering, while the upper part of the cup should be lightly compacted, which helps the seeds emerge.

4. Preventing empty cups

Poor cottonseed quality and poor seedbed management can both lead to empty cups and missing seedlings. During this period, before sowing, remove rotten seeds and immature seeds, then sun the seeds for 2-3 days. When sowing, make sure the cups are wet and the seeds are wet. After the soil cups are arranged, they need to be watered thoroughly, and seed soaking with chemicals should also be combined, which helps the seeds absorb enough water. Sow 1-2 seeds per cup. After sowing, cover with 1-1.5 cm of sandy soil. The sandy soil used for covering the seeds needs to be fine and moist, which helps the seeds germinate and break through the soil.

5. Preventing seedling burn

After the seedlings emerge, on clear days, if timely ventilation is not provided, it can easily cause high-temperature seedling burn, and in severe cases it can even cause the cotton seedlings to be scalded to death. Therefore, the film needs to be removed for ventilation to lower the temperature, avoiding high temperatures around noon on sunny days that cause seedling burn. After the seedlings emerge, the suitable temperature is 25°C-30°C.

6. Preventing cold damage

After the film is removed, if it is not covered again in time, when the temperature drops sharply, the cotton seedlings at the ventilation openings are prone to cold damage. Therefore, after the cotton seedlings emerge and before the 3-leaf stage, according to temperature changes, uncover the plastic film at both ends for ventilation and hardening of the seedlings. On cloudy days, there is no need to remove the film. When the average temperature is 16°C-18°C, you can remove it during the day and cover it at night for hardening the seedlings. Generally, the film can be removed at 9 a.m. and covered again at 5 p.m.

7. Preventing leggy seedlings

(1) Nutritional cup seedlings in plastic film, under conditions of high temperature and high humidity, grow relatively quickly. If management is improper, they will cause excessive growth and become leggy seedlings, thus failing to meet the standard for strong seedlings. Therefore, after the seedlings emerge, thin them in time, leaving 1 strong seedling per cup to avoid crowding and spindly growth.

(2) You can also ventilate appropriately to harden the seedlings, adjust suitable humidity and temperature, and slow down the growth rate of the seedlings. During this period, you can also use seedling-strengthening agents. From the stage when the cotyledons are flat and spreading to the stage when the heart leaves separate, choose noon on a sunny day to spray the cotton seedlings once with a 250-fold solution of seedling-strengthening agent, or a 4000-5000-fold solution of mepiquat chloride or a growth-regulating amine solution. Wait until the liquid dries, then cover with film again to retain warmth.

(3) You can also move the cups once when the first true leaf unfolds, which helps lower temperature and humidity, inhibit excessive growth of cotton seedlings, and promote lateral root development. If the cotton seedlings show excessive growth, you can appropriately increase the number of times the cups are moved, and control fertilizer and water.

8. Preventing diseases

Common diseases of cotton seedlings include anthracnose and damping-off. If not controlled in time, they will cause a large number of seedling deaths. During this period, the seeds, nutritional cup soil, and seed-covering soil can be disinfected. For the nutritional cups and seed-covering soil, 20% daojaqing wettable powder can be used.

II. Precautions for Grape Application

Grape seedlings cultivated in nutritional cups can have a survival rate as high as 100% after transplanting, and it also reduces the seedling recovery period after transplanting, which helps the grape seedlings grow rapidly. You can raise seedlings and transplant them to establish the vineyard in the same year, and by the 2nd year there will be a yield.

1. Cuttings preparation

Combined with winter pruning, you can select highly mature, thick, plump-budded canes, cut them into cuttings with 2-3 buds and a length of 15-20 cm. During this period, the upper end of the cutting needs to be cut flat and the lower end cut at a slant, and an average of 50 cuttings per bundle should be stored in sand.

2. Cuttings treatment and root promotion in a hotbed

In the Henan region, the sand-stored cuttings can be taken out in January, bundled in groups of 20 on average, with the lower ends aligned, and soaked in clean water for 24 hours so they absorb enough water. After soaking, soak the lower ends of the cuttings in 100X10 (to the negative 6th power) ABT rooting powder for about 0.5-1 hour. After soaking, place the cuttings in an electric heating wire hotbed to heat and promote rooting, and use wet sand to fill the gaps between the cuttings, maintaining a suitable temperature of 25-28°C.

3. Cultivation of nutritional cup seedlings

After the cutting rooting and sprouting rate reaches 95%, insert the cuttings into nutritional cups with a diameter of 10 cm and a height of 20 cm. The nutritional cups are filled with a nutritional soil made by mixing 1 part decomposed barnyard manure with 2 parts fertile soil and wet sand, and then the nutritional cup seedlings are placed in a solar greenhouse for cultivation.

During the seedling recovery period, shade appropriately, maintain a suitable temperature of about 25°C, keep the water-holding capacity of the nutritional soil at 60%, and spray fungicides to prevent diseases. Generally, you can choose early April to take them out of the nursery for transplanting and vineyard establishment.