Where to plant seedlings (the choice of seedling dishes)
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Which bowl is best for growing seedlings?
Compactly place seedlings of celery, cabbage, various flower crops, strawberries, etc., which has a relatively small root system, can be placed in cassettes (photo 1). These crops need a minimum of 0,2-0,3 l soil for normal development.
Such a volume is enough for pepper, tomatoes and eggplant, but at the age of 25-30 days they will have to be transferred into larger pots - 0,7-1 l. Thus, on the windowsill 1 × 0,3 m can be placed in four rows of 56 bushes (in two cassettes).
However, if the light falls only from the window, the plants located in the “gallery” will be pulled out, they need backlighting.
Cassettes are convenient for care and transportation, but it is desirable to hang them in pallets, which, alas, often are not included in the kit (or sold separately).
TIP. So that when transplanting from cassettes, do not damage the root system of the plant, do not use very loose soil. Or, on the bottom of each cup, pre-place a plate of perforated plastic. It is enough to press on the bottom from the bottom - and the plant will rise along with the soil.
Peat tablets (photo 2) Costly, but convenient, if you need to root the cuttings or grow, say, ampel plants for pots. For most plants, the acidity of the soil pH 6-7 is suitable. Read carefully when buying information on the label, peat in tablets can be more acidic (pH 5-6).
Seedling, grown by this method, is also good because it does not slow down the growth rate during the landing. Such a technique is also suitable for obtaining an early harvest of cucumbers, squash, pumpkins (but already at the age of the first or second present leaf, the bushes are planted in the ground).
Tablets with a diameter of 24 mm and 33 mm are used, as a rule, for the color of non-ornamental crops, onions and strawberries. 36, 41 and 44 mm are suitable for all kinds of cabbage, cucumber and zucchini, and also in the early stage of cultivation for tomatoes, peppers, eggplants. In 70-millimeter tablets, they could be grown before planting in the ground, but you can not buy these everywhere.
See also: Seed time
Instead of tablets, you can use capacity of small volume (100-150 ml) –For celery, cabbage, flower and ornamental crops (photo H).
TIP. The main problem of tablets and small pots is their quick drying. But if you pour a pad of moist sand, vermiculite or sphagnum under the tablets into the pallet and maintain it in this state, there will be no problems.
Peat Reindeer Pots (Photo 4) increasingly cause complaints. And the reason for all the troubles is the high strength of the walls: as a rule, there is not enough moisture in the soil to make the walls loose. As a result, the bush is forced to be content with a tiny, rapidly drying out volume of land. And what kind of yield, what abundant flowering can we talk about?
Traditional for many gardeners packaging - milk packages. They have many advantages: cheapness, large volume, maximum use of the useful area of the windowsill, the ability not to injure the roots of plants when planting in the ground. Among the disadvantages are disposability, as well as the need to accumulate them during the winter.
If the situation with the place is completely sad, you have to use every centimeter of the square. E. Zakharchenko from the Kaluga region grows seedlings (including for sale) in film diapers (photo 5).
Uses an old thick film: cut it into squares the size of a sheet of paper A4 and rolls the roll, thoroughly tucked it from below and a little from above so that the ground does not spill out. Walls along the long side are broken by wire, poured into the ground. Variety writes directly on the film with a felt-tip pen.
Finished cups placed on a pallet tightly, one to one, but for reliability, and then binds everything together with an elastic band.
So it’s easier to take care of and transport. Before disembarking, it is enough to remove the wire, unfold the film - and on the hand remains a dense, penetrated by roots of a lump of earth.
Seeds in the "roll"
In the afternoon, “I work, and make sure that the germinating seeds do not dry out; So I found a way to germinate without risk. To do this, cut off a strip of film, lay a layer of toilet paper on it, and seeds on it, slightly sprinkled out of a spray bottle, to better hold. I turn everything into a snail and put it in a glass 1/4 full of water. Seeds are on top, in the air, and the paper around them is constantly wet. And germination is always excellent! N. BOGDANOV, Nizhny Novgorod
Reference by topic: Growing seedlings is a fascinating thing
Seedling dishes - types
Seeds are sown in late March in peat pots
Lyudmila Pronko, Krasnodar Territory
Seedlings - the key to the entire crop of cucumbers. Therefore, I buy seeds only in specialized stores. I always take seeds of several varieties: Courage F1, Farmer F1, Boris F1. And always something new for the experiment. I noticed that hybrids are more adapted to temperature fluctuations, do not require frequent treatments for diseases. And their productivity is high. Seeds, of course, can not be procured from hybrids, but, frankly, seeds are not so expensive. In addition, serious firms sell seeds that are already processed.
Seeds are sown at the end of March in peat pots, which I fill with a mixture of turf, humus and sawdust. On 1 a bucket of this mixture I add 1 a glass of wood ash and 1 st. a spoonful of nitroammophoska. I mix everything well, fill the tanks, then water a little with boiling water.
If the seeds are caught unprocessed, soak them before sowing in a solution of potassium permanganate. Sow two seeds in a container, sprinkled with a layer of earth about 2 cm. I put it in the warmest place. As soon as the seedlings appear, I send the pots to the sunny windowsill. If the weather during this period is overcast, sometimes I lighten the seedlings with a fluorescent lamp (specially bought, it is inexpensive and fixed simply).
I water the plants only with warm water (23-25 ° C). I grow seedlings in the house for about a month. During this time, I feed her twice: ten days after emergence (3 liters of water for 1 teaspoon of urea and nitrophoska) and again ten days later (for 3 liters of water -1 tbsp, a spoonful of wood ash). In general, cucumbers need to be fed further for good fruiting. I tried various means, but stopped at feeding "Agricola No. 5": cucumbers respond well to it.
Seedlings in the garden are planted directly in peat pots, and it always gets well. I pour warm water under the root.
For the control of aphids I use such a composition. Fill two liters of boiling water mixture of 1 glass onion husks and 1 glass of wood ash, add 1 art. spoon of liquid soap. I insist four or five hours, I filter. With this solution I spray the plants. And always, from early spring and until the fall, I have on my table delicious crispy cucumbers.
Two excellent articles on growing seedlings read here и here
© Author: V. PLATONOVA, agronomist
Below other entries on the topic "Dacha and garden - with their own hands"
- Vegetable transplantation for winter at home: pots and containers
- Organic farming - growing berries without chemicals
- Cultivation of vegetables by the method of Mitlajdera in the open ground on narrow ridges.
- Pickling seedlings (table-MONEY)
- How to buy soil for seedlings - select and check
- Repeated crops and plantings
- Neighborhood and compatibility of trees and shrubs: what can be planted nearby - a reminder
- We will prepare seeds in the second half of summer!
- How to prevent carrots and cabbage from cracking and rotting potatoes
- We prepare seeds for sowing: we calibrate, disinfect, barborate, feed
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I do not know how other dacha residents, and I for a long time could not solve the problem with tanks for diving seedlings.
I used all available milk packages and peat pots. But their shortcomings just made me angry. And their most important disadvantage is that no matter how you twist, no matter how tricky you are, and when planting plants you will inevitably damage their roots (in the first place, this applies to peat pots). In the end, I decided that it would be much better to make the containers myself.
To do this, take sheets of drawing paper (for those with children who are drawing, I will especially like my method, especially since throwing away old drawings is an unforgivable waste) and cut them into
The gloss is the width of 100-120 mm. Then I turn off the cylinders with a diameter of 80-100 mm, fasten the clerical clips and set them in drawers. I put a soil in the paper tubes and dive into them.
When it's time to plant the plants in the open ground, I transfer the whole farm to the dacha, put each cup in a dug well and sprinkle with the soil. Then I cut the paper with scissors and pull it out.
And the root system of plants does not suffer at all!
I was convinced of this when I started to harvest richer crops.
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If the seedling is stretched
There may be several reasons for this: increased temperature (more than + 25 degree), excessive watering and top dressing. But most of the plants are stretched from lack of light. I struggle with this as follows: I do not thicken the seeds when sowing, after picking, I place the cups on the windowsill freely, so that the leaves do not interlace.
Victoria Prishepova
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When I thin out the seedlings, I do not pull out the plants, so you can damage the roots of the "neighbors" that have not yet become stronger. Just pinch off the aboveground part of weak shoots.
When picking, I remove the seedlings from the box, holding them for the cotyledons. For a better formation of the lateral roots, I pinch the central spine.
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Previously dipped tomatoes in sour cream cups or cut into two pieces of PET bottles in volume 1,5-2l. The tanks were comfortable, but due to the fact that in them for excess water drain pierced the holes, the moisture seeped onto the windowsills. They had to make something or put glasses on pallets. And this is problematic on my rather narrow window sills. The same PET bottles came to the rescue, only to use them became a bit different. О Cut off the bottoms at the bottoms just below the middle of the tank, turn the top parts down with their necks, insert them into the lower ones, fill them with soil and dive seedlings into them. Get beautiful pots with pallets in size and holes for draining excess water. In addition, they are conveniently planted on plants in the garden: he unscrewed the lid, pushed the lump with his finger - and he easily went out.
A neighbor feeder cuts off the top and bottom of the PET bottles. The remaining cylinder in one place cuts along and fastens back with large clips on both sides. He puts the cylinders on the pallet, fills the ground and dives eggplants and peppers. When planting on a plant, the plants are not injured: they carry seedlings in a greenhouse on a pallet, places a cup in the holes and already there removes the paper clips, removing the cylinder.
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Peat pots: for and against
The advantages of peat pots for seedlings are obvious: they are eco-friendly, breathing, and decomposing, they turn into a good fertilizer.
In addition, we do not need to remove seedlings from them when transplanting, which means that root damage is excluded. However, they have disadvantages.
Last year I purchased peat pots for growing vegetable seedlings, but then regretted it. Since peat strongly absorbs moisture, plants often had to be watered, otherwise the soil dried up, and the pot itself "cringed." In addition, the water flowed through the pots, and I had to put all the seedlings on pallets. By the time of the transplantation, most of the pots began to fall apart, and this was uncomfortable when transporting the seedlings from the apartment to the dacha. I also noticed that in a normal cardboard box, covered from the bottom and sides with food film, the seedlings developed better than in peat pots, and it did not get any worse. Therefore, before choosing a container for growing seedlings, it is worthwhile weighing the pros and cons. You can conduct an experiment: plant seeds in different containers and compare. Perhaps you will have different results.
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For the cultivation of tomato seedlings, a nutritious, but light, loose, air-permeable soil is required. Therefore, do not take the land directly from the garden, even if your area is a luxurious chernozem. Such a primer is too dense, it will be difficult for young plants to grow in it.
However, the garden land is about half of the good seedlings. It should be harvested from autumn and stored in a cold room, periodically adding up for a week to heat. Several cycles of thawing and freezing will allow to clean the soil of pests and diseases. You can not take land from there, where representatives of the same
nightshade nightshade, like tomatoes: from under potatoes, eggplant, peppers, physalis. The best predecessor ... nettles! Under its large rhizomes there is good soil, free from many pathogenic microbes.
To the garden soil add sand, peat, rotten sawdust, a little wood ash and superphosphate. To do this it is necessary for 2 weeks before planting seedlings, so that the soil is settled and acquired uniformity. If the soil has an unpleasant or putrefactive smell, it should be steamed about 20 min., Placing in a colander, over a pot of boiling water. After this, you can additionally spill a solution of a microbiological preparation.
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The gardeners with the experience have already developed their own seed sowing system for seedlings: a certain container, soil mixtures. Now all this can be bought in the store. I use my containers and ground mixtures, which with the least cost can achieve the desired result.
For sowing seeds, I use plastic boxes in which 400 × 280 mm of fruit and vegetables are brought to markets and shops. Such a box is easy to place on the windowsill. First, I insert the film into it, and then I fill the soil.
I also prepare my own soil. In the fall I take turfy soil from the beds. Well, if there are mounds dug by moles, such a land is the most fertile and does not contain impurities. I choose humus from the compost heap. I sift it all through the grate and fall asleep separately in the tanks. I buy peat in the store. I leave everything freezing for the winter on the street. In the spring before sowing I bring home.
When the soil recoils, I prepare a mixture of turf ground, humus and peat soil in the ratio 1: 1: 2 (10 handfuls of soil and humus and 20 handfuls of peat). I add 4 a handful of sand and a handful of ashes. Thoroughly mix, and the mixture is ready. I put it in a box, I pour hot water, a solution of potassium permanganate, and after sowing I sow the seeds.
In the above box you can sow in the 4 row, between seeds not less than 2 cm, if after a sprouting of seedlings is supposed. If not dive, then in the 3 series, the distance between the seeds is not less than 5, see the film cover the ground before emergence. So I grow tomato seedlings.
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In what plant?
Gardening was engaged relatively recently, and I still can not decide which capacity for growing individual seedlings will be optimal?
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According to the requirements for seedlings, there will be some variation in different garden plants. But since seeds of peppers, aubergines and tomatoes are sent first to the "plowed field of the window sill", we'll talk about them.
The packaging must be opaque!
It seems to be convenient to use transparent plastic disposable cups, both inexpensively and the volume is suitable ... But on the inner surface of the transparent cup very often soil algae grows, which with its metabolites adversely affect the root system of the plants living here. So sweep!
2 Tare more than 300 ml volume. Okay, but it takes a lot of space - times. and secondly, the land, not mastered by the root-
mi, tends to sour - and this seedlings will kill for sure. A container less than 100 ml is frankly small, only if you will not constantly and thoughtfully use top dressing. Fuck ...
3 It is better to use a disposable, homemade container (there are many options). Used - threw out. No care either with storage, or with sterilization.
4 And probably the optimal capacity is 250 ml, and the vessels should be "wide": if you imagine the projection of such container as a rectangle on the short side, then the ratio of the short and long sides should be 1: 1,5, not more.