How to prepare the soil for planting pepper seedlings: a guarantee of an excellent harvest
Due to the fact that the process of growing peppers takes a lot of time, many summer residents begin sowing this crop as early as February.
An expert of the online publication BelNovosti, agronomist, landscape designer Anastasia Kovrizhnykh spoke about what needs to be done with the soil in order to grow strong and healthy seedlings and, accordingly, get a rich harvest in the future.
First, let us remember that pepper is one of the crops that does not like heavy clay soil.
This type of soil contains little air and, in addition, there is a high risk of the roots getting wet, which can lead to them rotting.
Hence the simple conclusion: to grow pepper seedlings, use a loose substrate, which includes high-moor peat, humus and river sand.
To maintain maximum humidity, it would not hurt to add perlite or vermiculite to it.
Another "antipathy" of pepper, which is definitely worth considering when growing seedlings, is acidic soil. If the acidity of the soil is increased, the seedlings will wither and their growth will slow down.
If you suspect your soil is too acidic, use an additive such as wood ash.
Perhaps this is of no use to experienced gardeners, but we will still remind you: before you start planting seeds in the ground, do not forget to disinfect the soil.
This can be done by calcination or treatment with potassium permanganate, but it will be much better if you use Trichoderma powder for these purposes at a rate of 2 teaspoons per 5 liters of soil.
Finally, the last thing a summer resident needs to do to get soil ready for growing seedlings is to add fertilizer, for example, potassium magnesium sulfate (1 tablespoon per 5 liters of soil).
Earlier we talked about how to properly “treat” indoor flowers with banana peels.
