It's Time To Open The Nightshade Planting Season

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Many vegetable growers have already sowed peppers with eggplants on seedlings in February, and in March they will only deal with tomatoes. But what about those who are late with the crops in winter? To be left without a crop of peppers and eggplants this season? Fortunately, there are tricks that help summer residents who did not have time to do this on time, and when sowing in March, get nightshade seedlings. What secrets do you need to know for this?

Pay attention to the ripening dates and description on the packaging

The first thing to remember when choosing peppers and eggplant seeds for sowing in March is the ripening time. For spring work, it is important to choose early ripening varieties and hybrids that reach technical ripeness in 90-100 days. These data must be indicated on the packaging.

However, you should immediately warn that different manufacturers may indicate different terms:

• from emergence to fruit ripening;

• from planting seedlings to fruit ripening.

It is important to study this point in the description on the package, since in the second case, the days that are required for the development of seedlings will need to be added to the ripening period in order to find out whether this is an early specimen or a late one.

Picking - prohibited technique

Solanaceous crops tolerate picking in different ways. For example, such a procedure is beneficial to tomatoes, since with a slight injury, the root system develops better and this only makes it stronger. But peppers and eggplants tolerate this agricultural practice worse.

Nevertheless, many gardeners still carry out a pick - for reasons of space saving and for many other reasons. But if it is still permissible when sowing in February, then for March plants it is categorically not recommended to do this. Those who did not have time to sow their vegetable peppers and eggplants at the end of winter should immediately provide them with separate cassettes or individual pots in the spring.

Presowing seed preparation

Many are stopped by sowing in individual containers that individual seeds may not germinate. Indeed, this happens all the time, even when the seed is fresh and from the same package. To prevent this from happening, and especially when sowing is carried out in March, it is imperative to soak and germinate the seeds.

It must be said right away that it is better not to soak the seeds in a glass of water. This process will be more efficient when air is available. You can use a damp cotton cloth to soak and germinate. Wet discs will also work. Seeds packed between them are placed in a container with a lid. And if this is not found in the house, you can use a saucer enclosed in a plastic bag so that the seeds do not dry out.

Humidity can be provided not just with clean water, but with some kind of growth stimulant. Soak the seeds well in a biofungicide solution.

For sowing, use those seeds that were the first to hatch. The rest of the seeds can also give roots, but having passed this test, they have already shown their low germination energy. And this is an indicator that they are likely to continue to lag behind in development. However, this is not at all the result that we need to achieve when sowing in March.

Features of sowing pepper and eggplant seeds

When the seeds are ready for planting, the cassettes can be filled with nutritious soil. The seed is buried in the soil by about 1 cm, and crushed with earth from above. This subtlety is very important so that overcoming the resistance of the soil, the cotyledons are removed from the sprout. And if a seedling looks out of the ground without dropping this "cap", it develops weaker than other plants.