HOW TO PREPARE SEEDS FOR SOWING FOR SEEDLINGS?

The time has come to deal with seeds: both the lunar calendar and the long-term practice of planting seedlings in a permanent summer place prompted. Listen to me: it is better to transplant younger seedlings than overgrown ones.

In fact, it is practically impossible to contain and properly maintain seedlings that have begun to outgrow and develop intensively.

What to prepare - hybrids, varieties, their species composition, plant new items or give preference to proven ones - all this is a matter of creativity for a summer resident gardener. I have several companies whose products I use in practice, which I trust for purity, for the characteristic features of the variety and species. I just want to remind you that hybrids will require double the amount of trace elements from you compared to varieties, but they will accumulate less nitrates.

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Look at the seeds in the bags - by the way, they are always different - both large and small. I take the average size, but filled. I don’t pickle with potassium permanganate, as reputable companies process the seeds already when they are harvested. I don’t calibrate in saline solution, as overdried seeds can also float.

There are many options for working with seeds - you just can’t hear enough! For example, soaking in juice from frozen potatoes, fermented mushroom infusion, nettle infusion, fertilizer solutions, etc.

I'll tell you a secret: I use aloe to soak the seeds.

I put a sprig of three-year-old aloe for 10 days in paper on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Then I squeeze and dilute one teaspoon of the resulting juice with 100 ml of melt water. I add an incomplete teaspoon of honey. In separate gauze bags, I place the seeds in a glass for 16 hours at a solution temperature of about 25 degrees.

In such a stimulant, you can process the seeds of tomatoes, eggplant, cabbage, lettuce. But it is better to soak the seeds of pepper, onion, pumpkin in such an infusion: 1 tablespoon of dry nettle per 1 cup of boiling water. Infuse for two hours, strain. Nettle dust - especially May nettle - is also good for planting seedlings of tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage.

I choose the optimal seed sizes - here is the first rejection. Then I wash them in melted water. I put a piece of foam rubber in a saucer, pour water and place the seeds between two layers of soft tissue - the bottom one should be in the water at the bottom of the saucer. Saucer - in a plastic bag. Full saturation of seeds with moisture at a slightly elevated temperature (25 degrees) should occur after 3 hours.

Now watch carefully.

As soon as white roots appear, I immediately transfer the seeds to the ground.

If there is a delay in the appearance of roots, I don’t bother, I don’t expect such seeds: the difference in the development of plants will be too great. Here is the second rejection.

Reference by topic: Preparing vegetable seeds for sowing seedlings - my secrets and advice (Altai)

Seedlings need heat until stem loops appear from the ground. Light and relatively low temperature come first here. The window panes have been washed by this time, the reflective foil screens on the packaging cardboard have been prepared, and the fluorescent lamps too. I put screens not only on the sides of the window, but also from the side of the room. As the seedlings grow, I move the electric lamps in height, leaving a distance of 15 cm to their tops.

I do not harden seedlings in the refrigerator, since I cannot ensure the continuation of the low temperature on the window. I bring the total flow of light up to 20 hours a day. (Just remember that peppers don't like this!)

Now about moisture. Seedlings are very sensitive to watering. I water exclusively with melt water, heated in the sun, and only when the leaves begin to wilt. I water with a small children's enema not under the root of the stalk, but to the side of it at a distance of 1-3 cm. I rather keep it on a starvation water ration: I think that the plant itself will develop its root system in conditions of lack of water. I don't want undead seedlings. Some of them will develop normally, some will lag behind in development, well, it’s worse for them - I’ll reject them for the third time.

Regularly piercing the ground near the roots with a ballpoint pen for air aeration is a boon for seedlings.

I don’t do any stimulating top dressing: to stuff children with hormones - to cause harm for life! But to treat with a disinfectant before disembarking at a permanent place is a completely different matter. But it's getting closer to summer.