How to prepare a greenhouse for the season of growing vegetables - an analysis of mistakes and pluses

The owners of greenhouses, even without heating systems, the season comes a little earlier than those who do not have such facilities on their site.

In April, the foundation of the future crop is laid - thawed and dried out soil, higher air temperature make it possible to cultivate the soil much faster and prepare it for planting.

In this article I will tell you how in April 2017 I prepared a greenhouse for the season and how it affected the harvest.

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Preparing the greenhouse for the season

The transparency of the roof is an essential property of the greenhouse. With the onset of warming, but before the start of the active season, it is necessary to thoroughly wash the roof of the greenhouse made of polycarbonate or glass, and disinfect it.

Especially thoroughly wash the lower part of the glazing and the joints - the places of accumulation of pests and pathogens of plants. Wooden structures are treated with a 5-10% solution of iron sulfate, metal - washed with alkaline disinfectants. It is important that disinfectants do not enter the ground. To destroy the wintering stages of insects and ticks, a sulfur block is burned in the greenhouse - sulfur dioxide is toxic to these pests.

Before disinfection, work is carried out on the mechanical cleaning of the greenhouse, carefully harvesting the plant remains. But the introduction of organic fertilizers, cultivation of soil biopreparations, digging the soil is better to conduct after disinfection works.

It is extremely important to carry out minor repairs of the roof of the greenhouse even before planting, which is often damaged by ice and snow. The higher the tightness of the greenhouse, the faster it warms up, and the better it will be to “keep” the heat on cold nights. Spray de-preservation of the irrigation system. Moreover, the presence of containers filled with water in the greenhouse will allow the construction to resist frost much better - the water heated during the day, cooling, will maintain the temperature in the greenhouse.

Fertilization and soil replacement in the greenhouse

The greenhouse is exploited very intensively, it accumulates ballast salts, pests and pathogens. In addition, in the conditions of a greenhouse it is extremely difficult to introduce even elements of crop rotation. Therefore, it is advisable to replace the soil in the greenhouse every X years by 15-20 every few years.

If this is not possible, to maintain soil structure and increase its fertility, large doses of organic fertilizers (up to 50 kg per sq. M of ridge) are applied, and the soil is treated with various microbiological preparations.

In this regard, greenhouses are an ideal place for organizing warm beds, laid either in autumn (compost in the garden will ripen better) or in early spring (in this case, the garden will turn out to be an additional source of heat, so necessary for plants in April-May). It is highly desirable to conduct a double digging of the greenhouse annually. In addition, phosphorus, calcium and potassium fertilizers are added as the main fertilizer for digging. Phosphorus and potassium fertilizers are well compatible with organic fertilizers, but the application of lime or dolomite at the same time as manure or compost can lead to the active formation of ammonia and significant losses of nitrogen.

As a rule, all preparatory work in the greenhouse must be completed before the second decade of April, although partially the greenhouse begins to be operated in late March - early April.

Hardening of seedlings in an unheated greenhouse

Unheated greenhouse significantly expands the possibilities for growing seedlings. If in February and March young plants took up quite a bit of space, placed on the windowsills, then in April, after diving, each tomato requires an area of 8 × 8 cm, or better ~ more. Seedlings of cucumbers, zucchini and pumpkins initially need pots with a diameter of 8-12 cm.

In April, in clear weather, the greenhouse warms up to 20-25 ° C, providing optimal conditions for temperature, humidity and light for plants. At the same time, at night the temperature in it can drop to + 2-3 ° C, and the frequent April frosts at -5-6 ° C can completely destroy the seedlings. The ideal solution is an “emergency” heating of the greenhouse with an oven or an electric heater. However, it is possible to solve the problem and easier - to make additional shelter inside the greenhouse!

The arcs with 60 density agitated on them can protect plants from freezing at 3-5 degrees, keeping the temperature inside the shelter slightly above 0.

As in the greenhouse itself, under the arcs you can place several containers with water - heat accumulators. Under such a double shelter (from a film or polycarbonate and agrofibre on arches), you can safely grow nightshade seedlings in a greenhouse even in April. Due to low temperatures, it will slow down growth somewhat, but adapted to temperature fluctuations, hardened plants will more easily tolerate transplanting and will be more stable and productive.

Since nightshade plants do not absorb phosphorus at low temperatures, with prolonged cooling, additional foliar fertilizing with water-soluble fertilizers with a high phosphorus content, for example, monopotassium phosphate, Plantafol 10.54.10, is necessary.

In an unheated greenhouse in March-April, ideal conditions are created for cold and light-loving cabbage seedlings. It grows well at temperatures of 10-15 ° C and easily tolerates even small frosts. Therefore, it makes sense to "evict" the seedlings of all types of cabbage in an unheated greenhouse immediately after emergence - it will be better there than anywhere else.

Cold-loving crops in the greenhouse

The beginning of April is the best time to grow cold-resistant short-day lovers in a greenhouse: a variety of salads, arugula, radishes, watercress. At this time, the open ground is still too cold, and the soil is unsuitable for cultivation. The greenhouse allows you to get early greens to the table in mid-April.

Planting seedlings in a greenhouse

Optimal conditions are the key to the harmonious development of plants. For example, the maximum yield of tomatoes occurs with this mode of cultivation: before fruiting at temperatures of 23-25 ° C - the most active growth, and the highest yield at 18-2СГС, and nightly air temperature drops to 16-18 ° С.

As a rule, the moment of planting a plant in a greenhouse at a permanent place occurs 3-4 weeks earlier than in open ground. The conditions in the greenhouse can serve as a reference point here: if at night the temperature in it does not stably fall below 10-12 ° C, and in the daytime reaches 25 ° C and above - it is time to plant seedlings of heat-loving crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and eggplants) in it. For polycarbonate greenhouses at this moment, it occurs most often in late April - early May.

When choosing crops for a greenhouse, it should be remembered that tomatoes prefer temperatures from 23 ° C to 28 ° C and low humidity. A light draft is necessary for successful pollination. Eggplants and cucumbers that originate from the humid tropics prefer a combination of high (25-29 ° C) temperatures and high humidity. Therefore, one eggplant can combine eggplants and cucumbers, but do not combine them with tomatoes.

Pepper will be more comfortable to feel in the "cucumber" greenhouse, but it will also be possible in the "tomato".

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Dacha with their own hands > Summer construction > Greenhouses and greenhouses > How I prepared the greenhouse for the season back in April - what will need to be taken into account for the future