What are the key points of water and fertilizer management in sweet pepper cultivation?

The sweet pepper is a very popular plant of the Capsicum genus, and it has a relatively large planting area in China. When growing sweet peppers, if you want to improve the yield and quality of sweet peppers, then water and fertilizer management is very important. Good water and fertilizer management is the only way to ensure that the nutrients and water needed for sweet pepper growth are met. So how should water and fertilizer management be carried out when growing sweet peppers? Today the editor brings you the key points of water and fertilizer management for sweet peppers. Let us take a look below!

I. Watering management

1. Planting water

After the sweet peppers are planted, we need to water them once with planting water. You can water on the day of planting or the next day, and the watering amount should be kept at about half the depth of the ditch. Be sure not to let the water overflow onto the bed surface. After the planting water is given well, you must begin to control the watering amount properly. Wait until about 3 days before the first pepper (menjiao) of the sweet pepper blooms, then start watering again; this watering is called flower-forcing water. After the water has seeped into the soil, combine it with loosening the soil by deep hoeing, then earth up around the roots of the seedlings to avoid a temperature drop that would affect the growth of the sweet peppers.

2. Flower-forcing water

About one week after the flower-forcing water is given well, we need to water once more. This watering should be combined with fertilization by applying an appropriate amount of urea. Then after about 5 days, carry out the fourth watering. This watering should be combined with applying an appropriate amount of compound fertilizer. After the sweet peppers enter the fruit enlargement stage, be sure to keep the soil moist, watering about once a week, and watering should follow the principle of small amounts and multiple times. Then also pay attention to controlling the watering time well; it should be done in the morning and evening, and especially before high-temperature weather, be sure to water promptly in the morning before the temperature has risen. However, control the watering amount well; if water accumulates, drain it promptly.

II. Fertilization management

1. Topdressing

After the sweet pepper seedlings have successfully recovered from transplanting, begin the first topdressing. For the seedlings, choose a stable high-nitrogen fertilizer, applying about 30kg per mu. Then at the bud stage of the plants, begin the second topdressing, keeping the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium ratio the same, mainly with quick-acting fertilizer. After the sweet peppers enter the fruiting stage, until just before harvest, every watering should be combined with topdressing. The fertilizer can be a high-nitrogen, high-potassium compound fertilizer used alternately, to ensure that the sweet pepper's growth needs are met.

2. Medium and trace elements

Throughout the entire growth period of sweet peppers, pay attention to supplementing calcium well. If calcium is insufficient, sweet peppers are prone to blossom-end rot, so you can spray a high-quality liquid calcium fertilizer on the leaves of the sweet pepper plants to supplement calcium. Then also pay attention to supplementing magnesium. In the early planting stage of sweet peppers, the absorption of magnesium by sweet peppers is not much, but it begins to increase during the harvest period. At this time, if magnesium is insufficient, the areas between the leaf veins are prone to yellowing, which is very unfavorable to the growth and fruiting of the plants, and it can also be supplemented through foliar fertilizer. Finally, also pay attention to boron, to avoid boron deficiency in the plants causing flowers without fruit.

The above is a brief introduction to the key points of water and fertilizer management for sweet peppers. That is all for today's introduction. This article is for reference only, and I hope it can help everyone!