Hilling is the process of loosening the top soil layer located near the crop. Such care is very important and beneficial for most plants, so gardeners are wondering: is it necessary to hill peppers?
The hilling process itself allows the planting to grow properly, promotes oxygen access to the root system, and as a result of this effect, the crop sprouts new roots necessary for nutrition and stability in the soil.
Hilling blocks the processes of washing out the soil layer during heavy rains.This is an excellent disease prevention; hilling plays an important role even before cold weather, frosts, hardening the crop, which helps minimize all risks of freezing.
Points for and against"
Despite all the advantages of hilling, among summer residents there is no definite answer to the question of whether this procedure should be performed in relation to peppers. Gardeners are divided into two groups: one claims that peppers cannot be hilled, and the second is sure that this procedure is very useful for the plant. Each opinion has a clear argumentation that allows one to draw a conclusion about in what situation it is necessary to carry out hilling, and in what situation it should be abandoned.
Most summer residents claim that hilling peppers is an unnecessary procedure. This opinion is due to the fact that the root system is located in the area of the upper soil layer, as a result of which it can easily be damaged during loosening. There is another argument against hilling: the root system of peppers has a neck; peppers do not require the growth of additional root branches to carry out the nutritional and plant-fixing function in the soil.
Extending the retention period of soil moisture can lead to the spread of putrefactive pathologies on the root system and trunk.
There is also an opposite opinion. The second part of the gardeners was convinced from their own experience that pepper responds positively to hilling, so vegetable growers consider this procedure for caring for the plant mandatory. This position is due to the fact that, thanks to the root system located in the upper soil layers, during loosening there is an increased flow of oxygen to it.Such oxygen treatment promotes the activation of crop growth and development, enhances the biological function of soil beneficial microorganisms, and improves nutrition.
Hilling technology
Pepper does not tolerate soil crust at all, so summer residents need to monitor the moments of its formation and eliminate dryness in time. Despite the benefits of loosening, gardeners urge you to hill up the peppers very carefully so as not to damage the roots.
To do this you need to know the right technology:
- It is worth considering that one of the characteristics of bell peppers is slow growth in the first 10–14 days after transplantation. This feature is due to the strengthening of the rhizome. Hilling should not be carried out during this period.
- The first hilling should be performed 24 - 48 hours after the second irrigation. The depth of loosening should not exceed 6 - 8 centimeters.
- During mass flowering, it is necessary to carry out another loosening. This hilling can be deepened to a level of 8 - 10 centimeters.
- The third hilling of peppers is carried out at the moment of formation of fruit ovaries. It can reach a depth of 14 – 16 centimeters.
- During the mass fruiting phase, the loosening depth should be reduced again to 6–8 centimeters.
If the soil has a heavy structure, hilling can be done a little deeper to ensure better heating and ventilation of the soil layer. However, this should be done very carefully so as not to damage the formed roots.
In addition to these cases, shallow loosening should be carried out after each watering or rain. During such soil treatment, weeds should be removed. The planted plant must be earthed up only after the formation of 4–5 true leaves. After such treatment, the soil in the garden bed should be mulched with compost fertilizer and covered with straw or other suitable materials.
When growing peppers in open ground, loosening should also be carried out between rows. In order not to harm the plant, you need to consider several recommendations:
- Inter-row treatments during mass flowering are carried out at a depth of 10 - 12 centimeters.
- During the period of ovary formation, you need to loosen the soil no deeper than 15 centimeters.
- During mass fruiting, treatment is carried out at a depth of 22 - 25 centimeters.
- If the row spacing is narrow, they must be stopped during mass flowering.
- Wide row spacing should not be cultivated after the crop reaches the mounting height of mini-cultivators or modern tractors.
- During the growing season, it is necessary to hill up the plant 2–3 times to remove weeds.
Hilling up allows the summer resident to sprinkle the weed seedlings with a soil layer of 5–6 centimeters, under the yoke of which they die. During the growing season, 4–5 inter-row treatments are possible.
The need for the procedure in greenhouses
Do peppers need to be hilled if the crop is planted in greenhouse structures? Hilling peppers in a greenhouse is an optional procedure. This is due to the fact that new roots do not form in the planted crops, and this process is the main goal of hilling.
But since peppers do not tolerate the formation of a soil crust, the soil should be regularly loosened to a shallow depth. This procedure will be an excellent prevention of many diseases, saturate the plant’s root system with oxygen and prevent the formation of rot on the roots and stems.The procedure for loosening the soil in a greenhouse is best combined with ventilation.
Positive features
Many summer residents have learned from their own experience that peppers hilled in this way are characterized by increased development. The procedure has a number of other advantages:
- improving air flow to the root system leads to accelerated growth and development of the plant crop;
- beneficial soil microorganisms are indirectly stimulated, which have a beneficial effect on plant health and reduce the risk of common pathologies;
- reducing the risk of rot forming on the rhizome or trunk of the plant;
- Such loosening allows you to fight weeds in time.
A distinctive feature of the growth of bell pepper is that the culture well forms adventitious root shoots exclusively on green stems and before the formation of cotyledon leaves. Hilling up during this period only stimulates the process and helps the plant crop grow and develop faster.
When the pepper stems are already woody, the plant reacts negatively to the deepening of the root collar and loosening that takes place in the deep layers of the soil. This is explained by the fact that the risk of violating the integrity of the surface root system increases.
If all the rules for hilling and loosening are followed, the planted pepper will respond positively to the procedure. Most often, hilling helps to accelerate the growth of peppers and increase productivity during the period of mass fruiting. To do this, it is necessary to carefully cultivate the soil with smooth movements that do not damage the integrity of the roots.
