Seed sowing for seedlings: preparation, terms, growing conditions

Every year in January-February-March, this period, which stirs every trucker, sets in on seedlings for seedlings. We sow tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, white cabbage to obtain seedlings of 55-60-day-old age for the purpose of landing in a greenhouse or open ground. But, before sowing, it is necessary to start preparing the seed for sowing. What needs to be done first thing?

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First, buy seeds or revise old stocks, specify the storage time, the rate of seeding. And only then directly begin to prepare them. Preparation of seed for seeding includes the following steps: soaking, bubbling, heating, hardening, disinfection or dressing.

Saplings of early vegetables are grown in a pottery or a no-must. Cultivation in the potter's way promotes better preservation of the root system, an earlier harvest.

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Seedlings can be grown with or without picking. When growing with a picking, the seeds are sown thicker with a row spacing of 4-5 cm, and when the phase 1-2 of these leaves is reached, the seedlings are dug (transplanted) into separate pots with an area of ​​7 × 8, 8 × 8 cm. When growing without picking, the seeds are sown with a distance between the rows of 8 cm, between the grains in a row - 7-8 cm.

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Which containers can be used for growing seedlings?

Now stores for gardeners, truckers offer many products for growing seedlings: peat or plastic pots of different sizes, plastic cassettes with pallets, drainage openings or made on the principle of small greenhouses with transparent covers, peat tablets of various diameter.

You can choose any kind of containers, pots or peat tablets, if they are at least 5-8 cm in diameter and have drainage holes. If the size of the container cells is less than these dimensions, the seedlings should be transplanted into large dishes after the appearance of 2-3 real leaves.

Shoots of eggplant

When growing seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant I use peat pills, and then, after the appearance of 2-3 real leaflets, I transplant them. Peat pots or plastic cups should be at least 7-8 cm in diameter. You can use plastic cups or paper packages from yoghurt, dairy products or juices, from which the top with a lid is cut off, and drain holes are made at the bottom.

I do not recommend the use of egg packages, because they are small in volume first, and secondly, they dry up too quickly, in addition, cardboard draws moisture out of the soil mixture.

Square or rectangular containers more effectively use space, provide more comfortable conditions for the root system of plants than round ones.

Pots from the newspaper

You can use pots made with several layers of newsprint when growing. It will cost you less, and the labor costs are small. This method is also good because planting seedlings can not be removed from homemade newspaper cups. The only drawback is the rapid drying of the soil. But I solve this problem so. I add vermiculite, perlite, sphagnum moss or hydrogel (I buy what is sold) or I cover the bottom of the tray with a capillary mat.

I usually use an earth mixture. You can buy it, but you can prepare it yourself. Prepare a different in composition of the soil mixture, the composition of which depends on the type of vegetable crops.

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The best primer for seedlings is the land under the birches. But the safety measures for the plants still have to be taken. Lay the soil in a wide container, for example, a basin and pour it with boiling water so that the water passes through the soil to the bottom of the tank. In the kettle or watering can with boiling water, throw a few granules of potassium permanganate before watering, so that the solution turns pink. You can add peat and ash. Let the soil stand like this 3-4 days, and then you can sow the seeds, plant seedlings or houseplants.

For example, for cabbage, one part of the humus is taken to one part of the sod land. For 10-12 kg of soil mixture, which you want to prepare yourself for growing seedlings, add 1 tbsp. spoonful of nitrogen, 2-3 tbsp. spoons of phosphorus, 1/2 teaspoon of potassium fertilizers and mix thoroughly.

Ordinary garden soil is not a good choice, as it often contains seeds of weeds, harmful fungi, and also compacts too quickly.

The soil for growing seedlings should be well moist, but not wet. It should be crumbly. Before sowing it is necessary to fill the containers, containers, cups with the ground on the finger below the edge.

Seeds are very finicky when it comes to choosing the depth of sowing. Some need total darkness for germination, and some like light. This information is usually written on packages. If the package does not contain any information, the rule is that the seeds are planted two to three times deeper than their size along the length.

Seeds should have high germination, germination energy, purity (percentage in seeds of the main crop seeds is for those that are sold in large packages for wholesalers). These properties of the seed material depend on cultivation conditions, cultivation technology, shelf life. When buying, it is necessary to specify the storage period, which should not exceed the permissible standards.

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Terms of storage of seeds

• no more than two years - parsnip;
• three years - dill, parsley, celery, onions;
• four years - sorrel, carrots, lettuce, pepper, spinach;
• five years - radish, cabbage, beets, turnips, rhubarb;
• six years - pumpkin, zucchini;
• seven years - tomato, peas, sugar corn;
• up to nine years - eggplant, cucumber, melon, beans.

The viability of seeds and plants depends on the methods of presowing treatment.

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To assess the potential ability of the seed to produce strong, healthy shoots, and then the crop plants usually pay attention to their size and weight.

Large seeds of each culture give plants with enhanced viability, that is, with higher productivity. For this, they are divided into fractions using special sieves or sieves, selecting larger ones (cabbage, radish, beetroot, lettuce, peas, onions, carrots, etc.).

They are also selected by weight (cucumber, zucchini, squash, pumpkin, melon, watermelon, tomato, pepper, eggplant). Put in clean water or 3-4% solution of table salt. Stirred, let stand for 2-5 minutes. Cereals that floated upward are thrown away, and those who are sinking to the bottom are selected for sowing - they have the highest viability. Then they are dried until flowability - so it will be easier to sow.

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Preparing the seeds for planting - soaking

To get friendly shoots, seeds can be soaked using bags, gauze or saucer with a thin layer of water. The seeds moisturize frequently, sometimes even every 2-4 hours, avoiding overdrying. The amount of water should be equal to the mass of the seed material.

The duration of soaking at room temperature should be:

• cabbage and legumes - no more than 15-20 hours;
• Solanaceae (tomato, pepper, eggplant), beets of the dining room - 24 hours;
• watermelon, melon, onion, celery - 24-36 hours.

Seeds before sowing can be soaked in solutions of mineral fertilizers, microelements, growth regulators, processed by ultrasound, exposed to electromagnetic field. This increases the viability of seed and vegetable plants.

Here are some tips for preparing it for planting:

• Seeds of cucumbers, courgettes and pumpkins are useful to wrap in moss, put it all inside a transparent plastic bag, pour a little water there. Tie the bag and leave it on the windowsill. In a day, the seeds will pierce, and another day they can be planted in the soil (depending on what will be the spring). After three days, shoots will appear. The survival rate is 100%. Moss can be taken directly from stones. It is very easy to remove roll. In the same way, seeds of beet, radish and any flowers can be germinated.
• Another way will help get good seedlings when sowing seeds. It is necessary to cut off the scarlet large leaf from the flower, cut the knife along the sheet on the upper concave side with a knife and put in the dry granules. Leaf or leaves of scarlet (if you decided to germinate several varieties or types of seeds at once) put in a plastic bag. You can leave them there for three hours, or you can spend a day - the more time you spend in the aloe juice, the faster they will ascend. Practice has shown that tomato shoots appear on the 3-4th day, peppers on the 7-8th day, if they are kept for at least a day inside the leaf aloe.

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Seed bubbling

The essence of the reception is keepingseeds in water, through which oxygen or air is passed. You can use an aquarium compressor or a nebulizer for this purpose. The duration of air treatment depends on the culture. At a temperature of 20 degrees it should not exceed:

• watermelon - 24-48 hours;
• peas - 12-16 hours;
• melon - 18-20 hours;
• onion - 14-24 hours;
• carrots - 18-24 hours;
• cucumber - 15-20 hours;
• pepper - 24-36 hours;
• parsley - 12-24 hours;
• radish - 8-12 hours;
• salad - 10-15 hours;
• celery - 20-24 hours;
• tomato - 15-20 hours;
• dill - 12-20 hours;
• spinach - 24-30 hours.

The bubbling contributes to a more harmonious germination, germination increases, yield by 13-24%.

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Seed warming

Warming up the seed material, especially the pumpkin cultures (cucumber, zucchini, squash, watermelon, melon, pumpkin), contributes to the emergence of more female flowers, allows to destroy a viral infection, increases productivity.

Growing seedlings at home, I put sunflower seeds on a heating battery. First I put them on the veneer, then I move them to a thick layer of newspapers, slowly reducing the newspaper layer. The temperature thus increases gradually. I mix the seeds periodically so that they warm up evenly. The seeds lie there all day. But, of course, the holding time depends on the temperature of the heating battery. It is possible to use air-solar heating of seeds for 5-10 days, periodically mixing them.

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Seeding of seeds

Seed material is quenched 2-3 weeks before sowing. First, it is soaked until the appearance of single sprouts (1-3%), then put on ice or placed in a refrigerator at zero temperature for 3-5 days. Hardening increases the resistance of young plants to unfavorable conditions, increases yield.

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Disinfection (dressing) of seeds

Presence in soil, on seeds, inside them of pathogenic microflora determines the necessity of disinfection. This is a must.

But before you start this operation, carefully read the information on the package. Now often agrofirms sell seeds already processed, etched. With them, you do not have to do anything. They are ready for sowing.

But if you bought seeds that did not pass the decontamination or that you collected, prepared by you, then I advise you to do it. With the exception of this method, germination significantly decreases, the risk of damage to seeds and sprouts increases, and, consequently, future plants become sick.

To disinfect the seeds, use thermal treatment (heating), etching with fungicides, stand in a solution of manganese-potassium hydroxide (manganese). Now manganese has become very difficult to buy. Pharmacies sell it only on prescription. And some pharmacies do not have a license to sell manganese-potassium hydroxide, i.e. not in every pharmacy you can buy potassium permanganate.

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What can replace manganese in the disinfection of seeds?

You can replace:

• solution of hydrogen peroxide by 2-3%. To disinfect the seeds, the solution is preheated to 38-40 °. In this solution they are kept for 7-8 minutes.
• boric acid.Prepare a solution - 1/2 teaspoon boric acid (in powder) per 1 cup water. In this solution, the seed should be soaked for 2-3 hours at a temperature of 25-30 ° C. Then rinse them under running water.

To disinfect the seeds of vegetable crops, you can also use such disinfectants as:

• Bilat (against rot and fusarium wilt of tomatoes, 5 g per 1 kg),
• tigam (for the purpose of pickling seeds of the majority of vegetable crops, 3-4 g per 1 kg),
• tiram (for the purpose of processing the grains of cucumbers - 4 grams per 1 kg, table beet - 4-6 g per 1 kg),
• fentiuram (for the purpose of processing seeds of carrots, onions, cucumber, cabbage, rhubarb, 3 g per 1 kg of seeds),
• any others that are freely sold by specialized stores.

For the disinfection of containers, seed material and soil surface, disinfectant solutions for hands can be used quite successfully - they are sold by pharmacies, large supermarkets.

To disinfect the seeds, as well as to stimulate the growth of seedlings instead of potassium permanganate, you can successfully use the drugs "Fitosporin "Maxim" or "HOM".

Timely acquisition of seeds, their preparation for sowing, the ability to correctly determine the time, the method of sowing, the rate of seeding, the depth their sealing makes it possible to get amicable shoots, to establish the optimum density of plants, to obtain a higher yield of vegetable cultures.

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Lighting of seedlings

No matter how the premises where your seedlings are located, it does not need additional lighting. Interior lighting is always less intense than sunlight.

Light, whatever it comes from - the sun or from artificial sources, consists of different wavelengths of light waves. In a normal state, our eyes perceive these waves together, perceived as white light. Everyone is familiar with the spectrum of colors, when white light is refracted by drops of water - we see a rainbow.

Plants use red and blue light wavelengths. Red is used by plants for photosynthesis, and blue influences plant growth. Now, garden and garden shops sell special lamps that emit red and blue rays of light. It's not bad, but if their cost is important to you, then ordinary fluorescent lamps work well for additional lighting of plants.

I grow seedlings on the southern windows of the apartment. But I have only two such windows. In addition, not always even the southern windows are brightly illuminated by the sun - there are after all cloudy days. The seats on the windowsill are not enough. During the growing of the cassette, boxes with seedlings are not all placed there. I use chairs, stools, attached to the window. This seedling does not get much light even in bright sunshine. How do I get out of this situation? Read the article "How to grow seedlings at home."

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Care of seedlings - the temperature of the contents

One of the main recommendations on the conditions of the maintenance of seedlings is the night reduction in the temperature of the room where you grow it. In addition, the temperature should be lowered not only at night, but also when it is overcast. That is, the maximum temperature (within the optimum rate for each plant species) is maintained on a sunny day, cloudy - a little reduce (by 4-5 degrees), in the dark, the temperature is kept to the minimum allowable for this plants. For example, seedlings of cucumbers for open ground the best temperature on a sunny day is 25-26 degrees, cloudy - 18-22 degrees, at night - 16-18 degrees; for tomatoes, respectively, 20-26, 18-20, 12-16 degrees; for early white cabbage - 14-18, 12-16, 8-10 degrees.

For each plant species there is a temperature regime of growth and development. When growing seedlings in a room on a windowsill, it is difficult to maintain the optimum temperature for different plant species. Therefore, whenever possible pots are placed in different places, at night more cold-resistant (for example, cabbage, celery) I transfer there where it is more cool (closer to the balcony door, to the balcony, veranda, etc.).

Why do plants with a decrease in light energy recommend reducing the temperature of the air?

The process of the formation of organic substances by cells with the participation of light energy is called photosynthesis. With the help of photosynthesis plants receive carbon and oxygen from the air. That is, plants in the daytime, when they light, breathe and simultaneously carry out photosynthesis. In the process of breathing, cells consume part of the products formed during photosynthesis. At dark time (cloudy weather, at night) in natural conditions, the intensity of solar energy (light) decreases, photosynthesis slows down or completely stops, the temperature of the medium decreases and, as a result, the intensity of breathing slows down (oxidation). Therefore, only a part of the substance received per day is oxidized in the plant, and the rest is used for accumulation.

If, however, in the greenhouse or on the windowsill, when the intake of light decreases, the temperature of the ambient air does not decrease, then the intensity of breathing does not decrease, but there is an increased expenditure of organic materials accumulated by light (starch, glucose and etc.). Plants are weakened, seedlings are weak.

Unfortunately, very often beginners gardener do not pay due attention to observing the temperature regime when growing seedlings, especially when there is not enough sunlight and at night.

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Tomatoes - sowing seeds for seedlings - terms

When calculating the seeding period for tomato seeds for seedlings, one must know the timing of the beginning of flowering and ripening of the fruit. At an optimum soil temperature (24-26 degrees) and sufficient moisture, good tomato seeds rise on the 4th-5th day. From shoots to the beginning of flowering usually takes 50-60 days.

The first inflorescence is already beginning to grow and develop (this depends on the variety and external conditions) approximately on the 15-20th day after emergence, after the appearance of the plant 2-3 leaves.

Flowering begins gradually, from below upwards from the first inflorescence.

From the beginning of flowering to ripening, it takes 47-60 days.

The optimal period of picking is the appearance of the 1-2th present sheet. Usually it happens on the 10-14th day after emergence.

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Errors in sowing seeds and seedlings

Avoid them you will help video "Garden and vegetable garden. Errors in planting seeds and seedlings. "