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Many gardeners grow seedlings on their own. Not all beginners, this comes out the first time. Sometimes it takes several seasons before you get a great planting material. Using the Moscow method of growing seedlings, you can avoid most of the common mistakes that haunt amateur gardeners and get excellent planting material.
Planting technology in Moscow
For growing seedlings in Moscow you will need:
- Directly seeds;
- Polyethylene( preferably not very dense);
- Toilet paper, for placing seeds on it;
- Scissors;
- Plastic cups for further germination of seed material.
Before planting, a mini-greenhouse should be made of polyethylene. For this, polyethylene is cut along the entire length into strips equal to the width of toilet paper.
Getting Started with Arranging Seeds for Growing Seedlings:
- Fold the strips cut from polyethylene.
- We put toilet paper on them and slightly moisten it with water.
- We have available seeds on a prepared basis. At least 1.5 cm should be pulled back from the edge of the toilet paper. Between individual seeds, it is advisable to keep at least 4 cm.
- The placed seed is covered with a second layer of prepared toilet paper.
- The top row of paper, as well as the bottom row, is slightly moistened with water.
- The last layer will again be polyethylene.
- The resulting strips are gently folded into rolls and placed in disposable glasses, pre-filled with water for( a tag with the name and variety of germinated seeds can be attached to each roll).
- Prepared for growing seedlings are placed in plastic bags and placed in a warm and bright place( for example, on the windowsill above the battery).
Moscow seedling in toilet paper is in this form before the birth of the first shoots and the formation of small leaves. Do not forget about fertilizing plants that begin to develop, since there are practically no nutrients in plain water. For this purpose, liquid humic fertilizers are used.
- It is desirable to conduct the first feeding at the time of opening of the seeds and the emergence of sprouts.
- A second feed will be needed by the plants when the leaves start growing.
The concentration of fertilizer used should be two times less than indicated in the instructions. Otherwise, the plants will die. This is due to the fact that the glasses contain a small amount of liquid, and not a soil.
Next, the seedlings should be moved to pots with the ground( if heat-loving plants are grown that require late planting) and continue to grow in the usual way until diving to a permanent place or immediately transplant to a previously provided place.
It is easy to move plants from paper to a pot of earth. For this, a roll with seedlings unfolds, plants are carefully cut off with scissors and moved to prepared pots.
Advantages of the Moscow
method Each method of growing seedlings has its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of sowing seedlings in Moscow are as follows:
- Due to the lack of contact of crops with the ground, the possibility of the disease of plants with a black leg is completely excluded.
- Seedlings in disposable cups significantly reduce the required space, which is almost always not enough in an apartment.
- This technique is best suited for cold-resistant plants that can dive into the ground immediately after the birth of the first leaves.
- Some plants, such as peppers and tomatoes, whose seedlings should be small and strong, grow better in Moscow after growing.
Disadvantages of the Moscow method
Any way of growing seedlings has both positive and negative qualities:
- Due to the lack of light, plants that like heat and light slowly develop.
- In the toilet paper, the rhizome of the plant is poorly developed, and the stems are strongly drawn out.
- Thermophilous plants, after germination in rolls and before planting in the chosen place, you must additionally grow in small pots with the ground( as usual seedlings).
Disadvantages of seedlings grown by the Moscow method are not many, and they are not significant. But the advantages of this method are visible, even to inexperienced gardeners.
You can grow seedlings of annual and perennial flowers requiring this approach, different varieties of tomatoes and peppers, eggplants, all varieties of cabbage, onions and many other vegetables using the Moscow method. Cope with the technology of planting can any novice gardener. Plants grow strong, and can independently develop in suitable climatic conditions.
