Rules and timing for planting pepper seedlings in Siberia

Growing heat-loving vegetables in northern regions is very difficult, but some gardeners boast good harvests. This is possible with proper care and the selection of resistant varieties.

To obtain high-quality fruit in areas with harsh climates, it is important to understand when to plant pepper seedlings in Siberia.

Factors Affecting Planting Time

To avoid mistakes in the timing of sowing crops, it is necessary to take into account the period of seed germination, flower and fruit formation, and the preferred time for harvesting.

Let's list the factors that determine the time for planting seeds for seedlings:

1. The area where the vegetable will grow (a hotbed, a greenhouse, or an open garden bed). The plant is replanted before it begins to bloom, that is, 60 days after the sprouts emerge. The soil temperature must be 15°C (59°F). This temperature is reached first in a hotbed, followed by a hotbed and then in the open ground. Therefore, greenhouse planting material is germinated two weeks earlier.
2. Early maturity of the variety. The earliest peppers bear fruit 100 days after the first shoots emerge, early varieties after 120, mid-season ripening lasts 4 months, and late varieties take 5 months. Since Siberia lacks sun, growing late-season varieties is unprofitable, but mid-season and early varieties are suitable.

What else should you keep in mind when choosing the time to plant pepper seedlings?

1. The first leaf appears 15-20 days after the formation of sprouts.
2. Buds form in about 45-50 days.
3. The first fruit ripens a month after flowering has ceased, that is, 80-130 days after germination.

Let's say there's a variety that bears fruit four months after germination, and the harvest is due on August 1st. Count back 120 days from that date, arriving at April 3rd. Subtracting two more weeks yields the desired date: March 20th. On that day, you should begin sprouting the seedlings, and on April 3rd, you should begin planting the peppers as seedlings.

The Siberian climate is unstable, so it's possible that plants are ready for planting, but the soil hasn't yet warmed up to the desired temperature. Don't wait for the most favorable conditions, as the peppers may overgrow, don't establish well in the new area, and fail to bear fruit.

Many gardeners use the lunar calendar to plant seeds.

How to prepare pepper?

Growing this crop is possible with the right planting material, container, and soil. Let's look at all the preparation steps:

• Selecting seeds. Remove any seeds unsuitable for planting (deformed or weak). You can determine the quality of the seeds by soaking the seedlings in a 5% salt solution for 10 minutes. Unsuitable seeds will float. Better yet, at a random time before sowing, plant a few seeds from the packet as a test, but do not germinate them. The number of sprouts will indicate which seeds are high-quality, when to sow, and when the sprouts will appear.

Seeds suitable for planting are treated to prevent fungal attack. Place the seeds in a cheesecloth bag and soak them in a strong potassium permanganate solution for 30 minutes. Then wash them without removing them from the cheesecloth. Sometimes, seedlings are sold already treated. Read the instructions carefully.

If it's unclear whether the seeds will germinate on their own, begin germination. Place them on a damp cloth folded in half, spaced apart. Cover the seeds to prevent the liquid from evaporating immediately. Place them in a warm room with a temperature of approximately 25°C (77°F). Don't allow the seeds to germinate more than 1 mm, otherwise the tips may break off during sowing. This could result in no fruit.

• Preparing the soil mixture. Seeds grow well only in loose, fertile soil. Ready-made soil for peppers is available commercially. Sift it and add washed sand. Alternatively, mix the soil yourself: one part washed sand, two parts peat moss and rotted compost. Ash can be substituted for sand. Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, and add fertilizer.

Some experts recommend disinfecting the soil with special compounds or folk remedies before planting. However, this is debatable, as it destroys not only harmful but also beneficial microorganisms. Therefore, disinfection should be performed only in the seedling container. And sowing seeds should be done only 24 hours after the disinfection.

Soil from areas where vegetables, primarily nightshades or ornamental plants, were grown is not suitable for peppers.

The turf is taken from the ground where perennials were located.

How to sow seeds?

Peppers have weak roots that can easily break and fail to grow fully. As a result, the seedlings will not tolerate transplanting well. Therefore, it's best to plant the seeds immediately in the container where they will grow before they reach the open garden bed or greenhouse. The container should be at least 0.5 liters in volume and 11 cm in height.

When planting, ensure the sprout points upward. The seeds should be covered with at least 3 mm of soil to prevent roots from forming too close to the surface.

The soil temperature should not fall below 25°C or rise above 30°C. The seeds are watered with warm (preferably melted) water, covered with transparent film, and placed in a warm, well-lit room. Peppers only produce fruit in a specific climate. They require warmth at all stages of development, starting with the formation of seedlings. If the soil temperature is 25-30°C, seedlings will appear in a week; if the soil temperature is 20°C, in 2 weeks; if the soil temperature is 18°C, in 3 weeks; if the soil temperature is 14°C, in 4 weeks. In colder soil, the seeds stop growing.

Once the seeds have sprouted, it's best to lower the soil temperature to 16°C (62°F) to strengthen the roots. Once two leaves appear, it's recommended to raise it to 22°C (72°F), and after transplanting, to 25°C (77°F).

Peppers also require light to grow. If there's enough light, a flower will form at the branching point after the ninth leaf. If there's insufficient light, another leaf will form at this point. This delays harvest time, which is unacceptable in Siberia, where summers are very short. If the plant requires additional light, a fluorescent lamp is placed 6 cm above the seedlings and turned on for up to 15 hours a day.

Seed planting procedure

The container should be treated with potassium permanganate. Line the bottom with drainage material, and top with pepper nutrient solution. Then add soil, leaving at least 4 cm of space at the top of the container.

Before planting, water the soil. If placing several seeds in a single container, spread them out on the soil surface, 1 cm apart and 3 cm between rows. Leave the same amount of space between the edges of the container and the seeds.

For convenience, paper plates are attached to the pots, where the planting date and the name of the variety are written.

Crops need ventilation to prevent mold from appearing on them.

When watering, make sure there's no standing water in the trays. To prevent young plants reaching for the light from leaning in one direction, regularly turn the containers.

Feeding pepper seedlings should not begin until the first leaves appear, otherwise all the plant's energy will be spent on the foliage. You can use liquid flower fertilizer at a ratio of 2 teaspoons per 5 liters of water.

Ten days before planting the peppers outdoors, they need to be hardened off. To do this, take them outside when there's no wind. An hour outside is enough at first, but later on, more time is needed. This process helps the peppers adapt better to the open ground and prevent them from contracting dangerous diseases.

Peat tablets: what are they used for?

To ensure the seedlings receive the necessary nutrients, sprouted or dry seeds are placed in a container with tablets covered with boiled water. The moisture causes them to swell, becoming five times larger and cylindrical in shape. Excess water is drained.

Make a 1.5 cm hole in the top of the tablet, place the sprouted seed inside, and cover with soil. After that, proceed as if planting in a potting mix. If peppers are grown in peat tablets, fertilizing is not necessary.

Seedlings need additional moisture as the tablets shrink. Water is poured into the bottom of the container to ensure it is absorbed quickly and does not stagnate.

Transplanting vegetables from containers into pots occurs after the roots have grown through the mesh of the tablet. Therefore, the pots are filled with soil to a depth of 4 cm, and the tablet is placed in the center, carefully distributing the roots. Then, add more soil and level it. Finally, water the seedlings from the edge of the pot.

Planting in the ground

Peppers should be grown in a sunny, draft-free area, in soil of moderate acidity, free of weeds.

The vegetable is planted outdoors after the first buds appear. The soil temperature should not be colder than 14°C. The optimal distance between plants is 0.5 m.

Transplanting is done by transshipment. Before doing this, make holes the same depth as the vegetable was in the container. One tablespoon of a mixture containing nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus can be added to the hole. Chlorine should not be added.

Place the pepper plant in the hole, cover the root system 2/3 full with soil, and water with 3 liters of lukewarm water. Then fill the container completely with soil and attach a label. Mulching with materials such as straw, peat, sawdust, or last year's compost is also possible. If necessary, tie up the plant.

The support is installed in the soil before planting the pepper so that the fragile root system is not damaged.

Don't water the vegetable until it's established. If the climate isn't hot, water the plant once a day, just under the roots. Be careful not to overdo it, otherwise moisture will stagnate in the soil.

The soil is loosened twice per season. The first time is after the roots have taken root.

When flowers form, the crop is hilled to obtain a better harvest.

Do not plant different varieties of pepper too close to each other to prevent cross-pollination.

Pepper varieties suitable for Siberian conditions

Not all varieties of heat-loving crops can grow in harsh climates. Therefore, before planting peppers there, it's important to select a low-maintenance variety. These include:

•        Tusk, Siberian Prince - early;
•        Siberian Valenok, Siberian Format, Siberian Bonus, Eastern Bazaar - mid-season;
•        Cardinal, Orange Miracle, Gift of Moldova – for open areas

When purchasing planting material at the store, pay attention to the expiration date. Typically, seeds expire after four years. However, it's better to buy them fresh; this way, more seeds will germinate.

Reviews

Siberian gardeners share their opinions and advice on forums:

"I've been planting bell and hot peppers for several years now, and I've been watching the seedlings grow. I've come to the conclusion that the seeds need to be germinated, planted in warm soil, and covered with plastic. Then they'll sprout quickly, and the peppers will turn out beautifully." (Veronica)

"We had pepper seedlings on the windowsill, but they were growing very poorly. Even though we sowed them in January and kept a close eye on them. That was until we installed PVC windows. Once the peppers received the necessary warmth, they started growing, and within a couple of months, the plants had reached a normal size. Now we plant the seeds at the end of winter, and the seedlings are doing well." (Nikolay)

So, does it make sense to grow peppers in Siberia? Yes, if the right variety is chosen, the planting time is observed, and the plants are properly cared for.