How to plant peppers in summer? Keep these planting precautions in mind
AbstractSeeds: Sun-dry pepper seeds for 4 hours, then disinfect them with trisodium phosphate solution, soak them in clean water for 8 hours, and remove them for later use. Germination: In summer, at a temperature of about 30°C, they will sprout in 60-70 hours. Plug trays: 72 seedlings per tray. Fertilizing: Apply fertilizer appropriately after the third leaf appears. Management: After the plants grow taller, use small sticks to support the pepper plants to prevent broken branches and lodging, and usually prevent high-temperature drought, etc. Pest and disease control: Prevent aphids, whiteflies, mites, bacterial spot, bacterial wilt, etc.
In the south, peppers are an indispensable seasoning food for many dishes. In many households, peppers are grown for convenience, and the most are grown in rural areas. Basically every household grows dozens of pepper plants. When the peppers mature, they can not only be self-sufficient, but the extra can also be taken to the market to sell for a good price. Below, the editor will introduce pepper cultivation techniques.
How to plant peppers
1. First find some containers. The container volume should not be too large, otherwise it will be impossible to move later; nor should it be too small, otherwise when the pepper plant grows up, it may be top-heavy with shallow roots and fall over. Many households have all kinds of discarded or damaged containers, mostly basins and buckets, and they can all be used to grow vegetables.
2. In terms of container choice, many households mainly use plastic containers. In fact, growing vegetables in plastic containers is unscientific in the long term and is not beneficial to health. Plastics have a lifespan. After plastic containers age, they may produce a series of substances harmful to the human body, such as dioxins, and once these substances enter vegetables, they will certainly enter the human body as well. Therefore, it is recommended that households with the means choose ceramic containers such as clay pots and clay vats to grow peppers.
3. Next, drill holes in the bottom of the containers found, to prevent the peppers from drowning later due to excessive watering that cannot drain. However, after drilling holes in the containers, muddy water often leaks out, easily dirtying balconies and other places. Therefore, in places where rain cannot reach, as long as watering can be controlled well, the bottom of the container does not need holes. If the peppers are placed on a rooftop or similar place, the bottom of the container must have holes, otherwise on heavy rainy days the peppers can easily drown.
4. Next is finding cultivation soil. Try to find soil rich in humus. This soil is fertile, so you can apply less fertilizer, or even no fertilizer. If you cannot find fertile soil, find soil that has been exposed to sun, wind, and rain, and try not to choose deep soil. Note that it is better to choose somewhat poor soil than to covet fertile soil and use soil from garbage piles. Today's household garbage is mixed with too many harmful wastes.
5. Next is filling with soil. After filling part of it, press it down slightly with force, then continue filling and pressing the soil until it is full, then spread and level it. Do not fill the soil too full. Keep a distance of about 5 cm between the soil surface and the container rim. This can prevent muddy soil from flowing out when watering later, and can also reserve space for later topdressing. In addition, do not press the soil too tightly, as this is not conducive to growth.
6. After filling with soil, it is best not to rush to sow, but first carry out sterilization treatment, and sow three days after sterilization. For sterilization, carbendazim dilution can be sprayed, but the safety interval of carbendazim is relatively long, up to one month. If it contaminates other vegetables at home, it is harmful to health. Therefore, a greener and more environmentally friendly method is to spread quicklime powder (after spreading, spray it with clean water).
7. Before sowing, first soak the pepper seeds in clean water for about 8 hours to help germination. Sprinkle the seeds on the soil surface, then sprinkle water to wash the seeds into the cracks in the mud. After that, water irregularly every day and just keep the soil moist. In about five days, they will germinate and take root, with the specific time depending on actual conditions such as temperature and humidity. During the germination period, do not water too forcefully, otherwise it is easy to knock over the pepper seeds that are taking root.
8. If you want to plant relatively many peppers, you can raise seedlings in a concentrated way, sowing all the seeds in one container, and later transplanting them into each container, reducing management during the seedling period. If you plant relatively few peppers, you can sow directly, sowing in each container, to prevent later transplanting from inhibiting pepper growth. It should be noted that even with direct sowing, each container should have several seeds sown, and a single seed should not be planted alone, to prevent situations such as failure to germinate or weak seedlings.
9. During the period from seed germination to the growth of two true leaves, only water, no fertilizer. When the third leaf begins to appear, you can place one compound fertilizer granule or special fruit-and-vegetable fertilizer for each pepper plant, applying once every 4 days. When the pepper plant grows six leaves, it can be transplanted. If not transplanted, thinning is also needed, removing weak seedlings and excess seedlings, leaving only the most vigorous one. After that, fertilize once every half month, scattering a few compound fertilizer granules each time, with the specific amount depending on leaf growth by increasing or reducing fertilizer. Peppers are not tolerant of waterlogging and are not very tolerant of cold, so just keep the soil slightly moist. When the peppers grow taller, they may be unable to support their own branches and leaves, so use small sticks to support the pepper plants to prevent broken branches and lodging.
Precautions for planting peppers in summer
1. Prevent insect damage. Summer is a season when various insect pests occur seriously. For peppers, pests such as aphids, whiteflies, tobacco budworms, and mites are relatively numerous, so prevention must be strengthened from the very beginning. In particular, mite damage is relatively common in summer, often causing the top buds and leaves of peppers to become bare, preventing normal growth and fruiting.
2. Viral disease is a disease with a relatively high incidence in summer pepper production. Hot summer temperatures easily induce pepper viral disease, increasing the probability of viral disease occurrence and worsening the degree of virus occurrence. To prevent and control viral disease, timely control the occurrence of pests such as whiteflies and aphids to reduce the spread of viral disease. Spray pesticides for preventing and controlling viral disease in a timely manner.
3. Summer is also a season prone to various other diseases, such as bacterial spot, bacterial wilt, and sunscald, bringing difficulties to pepper production.
4. The summer pepper growing period is exactly the stage when herbicides are applied to corn. These herbicides applied on corn have a serious impact on peppers. After being affected by herbicides, pepper leaves become wrinkled, leaves become smaller, and the top becomes shrunken, just like the symptoms of viral disease, seriously affecting the normal growth and fruiting of peppers, and can even cause total loss of yield. Therefore, in places where peppers are planted, try not to use herbicides.
5. Peppers are afraid of waterlogging, and summer rain is frequent. In particular, hot rain has a relatively severe impact on peppers, easily causing root rot in peppers, causing various root diseases, and causing pepper plant death. Therefore, when planting peppers in summer, drainage must be good, and cultivation should use high ridges as much as possible.
6. High summer temperatures are also unfavorable for pepper flowering and pollination. With more rain, pollen cannot disperse or pollination is sterile, easily causing serious flower and fruit drop in peppers. In production, pepper anti-drop agent can be sprayed for control.
7. Summer high-temperature drought, or damp and rainy conditions, also raise requirements for fertilizer and water supply in pepper planting management.
How to raise pepper seedlings in summer
1. Seed treatment: After selecting a good variety, first sun-dry the seeds for 4 hours, then disinfect them with trisodium phosphate solution, then soak them in clean water for about 8 hours. Remove them and let them dry slightly, ready for germination.
2. Germination at room temperature: The current room temperature is generally about 30°C, which is the suitable temperature for germination. Wrap the soaked seeds in cotton cloth, then wrap another layer of plastic film to retain moisture. Every half day, rinse the seeds with clean water, then wrap them again for germination. They will sprout in about 60-70 hours. When the sprouts are about 3 mm long (at this point called seed white emergence), sowing is best. If they cannot be sown in time, the seeds should be stored at about 8°C, and sowing conditions should be created as soon as possible.
3. Preparation of plug trays: Use special seedling-raising medium. Each bag can fill 12 trays of 72-cell plug trays, and each tray can raise 72 seedlings. Vegetable growers can calculate the required number of seedling plug trays and seedling medium according to their own needs. Mix the seedling medium with an appropriate amount of phosphorus-potassium compound fertilizer, special biological microfertilizer, and other trace elements, add water and stir evenly, then fill the plug trays and level them (scrape flat with a vertical wooden board) before sowing.
4. Prevent high temperatures: After sowing, water the plug trays thoroughly and spray Previcur, then cover with plastic film to retain moisture. At this time, pay attention to shading and cooling, and beware of steaming the seeds and affecting emergence. At this time, the daytime temperature should be kept below 30°C, and the nighttime temperature below 18°C. When about 80% have emerged, the plastic film can be removed. As the seedlings grow, the time for covering with shade netting can be shortened, which is more conducive to seedling growth.
5. Prevent drought: After sowing and emergence, always pay attention to the humidity of the seedbed. Do not let it be too wet or too dry. Many vegetable growers, fearing that the seedlings will grow leggy, control watering and cause the plug trays to become excessively dry. At this time, because the capillary roots are injured by dehydration and drought, future absorption capacity is affected, forming weak seedlings that are susceptible to disease. Therefore, water appropriately, and the best time for watering is on sunny mornings.
6. Prevent leggy seedlings: No matter what crop, leggy plant growth is due to weak light conditions, insufficient photosynthesis, high temperature, high humidity, etc. The main reasons for leggy pepper seedlings in summer are high nighttime temperatures, strong respiration, excessive nutrient consumption, and sufficient nitrogen fertilizer and water causing leggy seedlings. In addition, seedlings that are too dense shade each other and affect photosynthesis. Therefore, to prevent leggy seedlings, attention should first be paid to preventing excessively high nighttime temperatures and excessive humidity in the plug trays; second, apply less nitrogen fertilizer when watering with fertilizer; third, when the seedlings grow to a certain size, widen the spacing between plug trays to increase ventilation and light transmission, enhance photosynthesis, and prevent leggy seedlings.
7. Prevent heavy rain damage: For seedbeds set inside a shed, generally use the one-film-two-net covering method (plastic film plus shade net and insect-proof net). When there is heavy rain, the shed film can be pulled down and buried well, preventing rainwater from washing the seedlings and spreading pathogens through rainwater.
8. Prevent pests and diseases: At the current stage, because the external environment is relatively favorable for pest outbreaks, pest control should also be strengthened. For example, set up tight insect-proof nets in the seedling shed; use pest tropism to set yellow boards to trap aphids and whiteflies, and blue boards to trap and kill thrips, etc.; when necessary, use pesticide control.
How to transplant and plant pepper seedlings
1. First sprinkle pepper seeds in a flowerpot, water them, and cover with plastic sheeting. Then, after a few days, water again. Generally, water once every 2-3 days. After about 10 days, the pepper seeds begin to sprout. On sunny days, the plastic sheeting can be opened, and water when the soil looks dry.
2. When it is cloudy and raining, the pepper seedlings in the flowerpot can be dug out with a shovel, then gently separated by hand if there are multiple seedlings, preferably keeping some root soil on the root system. Dig a small hole where the pepper seedlings are to be planted, with a depth a little longer (deeper) than the root length of the pepper seedlings, which is beneficial for seedling survival and growth.
3. Then place the pepper seedling (with root soil) in the middle of the small hole, then use a shovel to fill the surrounding soil into the hole (be careful to keep the pepper seedling upright). Then press the soil around the pepper seedling slightly with your hand or pat it with a shovel, so that the pepper seedling is planted relatively firmly in the soil without loosening. Finally, water around the planted pepper seedling, which easily allows the seedling roots and soil to fully combine into one, beneficial for survival and growth.
From the above introduction, everyone should have some understanding of growing peppers. Although the editor rambled on a lot in the article, do not be scared by it. In fact, peppers are very easy to grow, enduring high temperatures and drought. If you want your peppers to have a harvest, then you need to fertilize them well.