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To prevent seedlings from overgrowing: what needs to be done to slow down plant growth – advice for summer residents
30.01.2024 22:29
One of the many problems is overgrowing seedlings on summer residents’ windowsills.
This is bad because the plants turn out to have thin stems, do not tolerate transportation well, and do not take root much better in a garden or greenhouse.
Anastasia Kovrizhnykh , an expert of the online publication "BelNovosti", an agronomist and landscape designer, told how to slow down the growth of seedlings.
This trouble can be prevented by calculating the planting date more or less accurately. It is not difficult and you can get strong sprouts that do not stretch out and do not sit on the windowsill for too long.
But what's done is done, and sometimes the summer resident has to intervene.
What to do if seedlings outgrow
1. Lower the air temperature, for which you can take the containers into a room where the air warms up to 12 degrees Celsius during the day and to +7 at night.
For heat-loving crops, such as eggplants and peppers, the temperature is lowered to 18-20 during the day and to 16-18 at night.
2. Don’t forget to illuminate the sprouts with phytolamps or other lighting fixtures.
3. Alternatively, you can transplant the seedlings. They say that this is only good for tomatoes.
4. Seedlings need to be watered moderately and as the soil dries out, and you should be careful with fertilizers with a high nitrogen content during this period.
Growth regulators
In extreme cases, it remains to use special retardant preparations. They suppress growth at early stages.
By listening to this advice, summer residents can grow strong seedlings with thick stems.
Earlier we talked about what needs to be added to the soil when sowing seeds for seedlings.
