Gardeners often face a problem: seedlings stop growing at a certain stage of development.
Sometimes even the seeds don't want to sprout, and precious time is running out. This can be fixed in different ways.
Anastasia Kovrizhnykh , an expert of the online publication "BelNovosti", an agronomist and landscape designer, told how to grow seedlings.
Soil warming
One way to speed up the germination and growth of plants is to warm the soil.
Use special heat mats to provide the optimal temperature for seed germination and seedling growth.
Remember that soil temperature is much more important than air temperature. It may be warm in the room, but the soil will be a few degrees colder, especially when the seedlings are on the windowsill.
If you don’t have heating mats, place fabric or foam between the windowsill and the containers with seedlings.
Additional lighting
Use supplemental lighting, especially if growing indoors.
Special phytolamps with a spectrum close to natural light stimulate active growth and development.
Plants need natural conditions for them - bright light and long daylight hours.
Fertilizing with phytohormones
Phytohormones such as auxins and cytokinins significantly accelerate the growth of seedlings.
Use specialized preparations or natural sources of phytohormones, such as nettle infusion.
Temperature control
Maintain thermal balance by providing heat during the day and reducing it at night. This mimics natural rhythms in nature, which stimulates growth.
For the full development of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, and zucchini, the temperature during the day should be no lower than 17 degrees.
Use of microelements
Pay attention to the microelements necessary for the healthy development of seedlings.
Gardeners fertilize seedlings with nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. But they often forget that proper nutrition also means adding microelements such as iron, zinc, and copper.
Using these life hacks, you can create optimal conditions for seedling growth.
Remember about proper care, regular watering and timely fertilizing so that the next summer season will please you with an excellent harvest.
Previously, we talked about what to do with tomato seedlings to increase the yield .
Expert: Anastasia Kovrizhnykh
