2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
Fans of zucchini cannot wait for the real summer warmth, which their adored vegetable loves so much, and therefore they grow zucchini seedlings. Of course, it takes an extra investment of time, but your favorite diet squash is worth it
Interesting feature of zucchini seeds
As a general rule, the longer people keep plant seeds in their stash, the less chance they will produce healthy, viable seedlings. Therefore, fresh seeds have to be purchased every year.
A somewhat different picture is observed with zucchini seeds. One-year-old seeds give vigorous shoots and strong adult bushes. It would seem that this should please the grower, but the only problem is that much more male flowers appear on powerful bushes, and therefore the harvest from the bush is small.
“Growing up” for a year or two, the seeds change their habits, showing weaker bushes than those of one-year-old seeds, but female flowers bloom in abundance on the plant, providing an enviable harvest. In addition, such zucchini are more resistant to diseases.
In general, zucchini seeds up to 7 years old retain the strength to awaken a new life.
Seed preparation for sowing
To get healthy and strong seedlings, you should devote time to seeds. Each grower chooses a different method of seed preparation. Someone resorts to the help of the sun, laying out the seeds for several days for warming up and disinfection. Those who have the sun is a rare guest, they simply hang a linen bag with seeds on hot radiators for a couple of months.
Disinfection of seeds can be done using a solution of potassium permanganate, if you have old stocks of potassium permanganate, or you have a prescription from a doctor, since it is almost impossible to buy potassium permanganate freely in a pharmacy today. For processing, 20 minutes are enough, and then the seeds are washed in cold water.
Many today treat seeds with special growth stimulants, or with a solution of trace elements.
The presence of a refrigerator allows hardening of seeds. Two to three days in the refrigerator (not in the freezer) helps the seedlings to cope with cold weather more easily.
Experts advise against germinating zucchini seeds, because their sprouts are too fragile, and plants grow weak from long sprouts. But your own seeds should be soaked before sowing until they swell.
Preparing soil for growing seedlings
In order not to ruin the zucchini even at the seedling stage, you should choose the right soil components and disinfect it, neutralizing it from pests and pathogens. A particularly insidious enemy is a fungus that causes blackening and decay of the root collar (black leg disease), leading to the death of seedlings.
For large seeds of zucchini, which show strong sprouts in the world, the best suitable soil is composed of sod soil, manure humus, peat and coarse sand, in a ratio (3: 3: 3: 1), or a ready-made soil purchased in a store for seedlings of zucchini …
To neutralize the "black leg", homemade soil should be watered with a strong warm solution of potassium permanganate, or resort to modern means: the biological preparation "Rizoplan" or the biological fungicide "Trichodermin".
Growing seedlings
It will be safer if each seed gets a personal pot. First, the pots are kept in a warm place, and when shoots appear, they are determined on the sunniest windowsill. The plant is very light-loving, so it is advisable to provide it with additional light from fluorescent lamps, or build a foil screen that reflects the sun's rays, thereby increasing the illumination of the seedlings.
Watering is carried out with warm water under the root, trying not to touch the leaves in order to avoid fungal diseases. A week after the appearance of stilts, watering is completed with the first feeding with a weak solution of a mullein. The second feeding is carried out 4 days before transplanting seedlings into open ground.
The optimal period for growing seedlings is 3-3, 5 weeks. During this time, the plant grows 2-3 true leaves, and the roots tightly cover the volume of a 10x10 cm pot. Such seedlings take root more safely in the open field than older ones. Therefore, having planned the date of planting in open ground, it is easy to calculate the date of sowing seeds.
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