Hot chili pepper is not just a spice that is often used when preparing meat dishes, but also a rather beautiful plant. Many vegetable growers are planting it. Most often they try to grow hot peppers on the windowsill. Some people grow peppers on the balcony. Growing bell peppers yourself at home is not so easy. Therefore, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself in advance with how to grow hot peppers on a windowsill and how to care for chili peppers.
The best varieties for home
Before you grow hot peppers from seeds at home, you need to decide on the best peppers for this. There are several low-growing species that are ideal for growing Chili at home in a pot.
Treasure Island
Most often it is bought for growing at home on a window. It has average fruit ripening times. The first harvest of the variety can be harvested 110 days after planting the seeds in pots. The grown fruits are heart-shaped and red in color with an orange tint. They are not very large, as their average weight is 60-80 grams.
Gift from Moldova
Many vegetable growers grow this kind of chili pepper at home. It is not suitable for early harvest lovers, since the first peppers will begin to ripen only 140 days after planting. During the cultivation of the variety, rather large dark red fruits are formed on the bushes. The weight of each of them is approximately 80-100 grams. Their distinctive feature is the taste, which contains bitterness mixed with light sweetness.
Watercolor
This sweet pepper grows well on a windowsill or balcony. The fruits of the variety are fully ripe 110 days after sowing the seeds. They are distinguished by their cone-shaped shape and scarlet color of the peel. The size of Aquarelle fruits is very small, since the weight of each of them rarely exceeds 30 grams.
Dwarf
Quite often, the variety is purchased to grow chili peppers on the windowsill. A distinctive feature of the variety can be considered its fruits. They have a cone shape and are very fleshy. The dwarf belongs to the mid-season varieties of peppers and ripens 100 days after the appearance of the first shoots.
Siberian firstborn
This red pepper grows well not only on the balcony, but also on the street. The fruits of the variety differ in their size and weight. Each pepper weighs at least 100 grams. All ripe fruits are colored bright red.
Preparing seeds
Growing bell peppers at home begins with preliminary preparation of planting material. Only pre-prepared seeds can produce a good harvest.
Calibration
In order to correctly select the highest quality seeds, you should calibrate them. First, all the seeds must be spread out on a flat surface and small seeds must be discarded. It is recommended to grow medium-sized seed.
During calibration you will have to use a saline solution. Chili pepper seeds should not be empty and therefore they need to be dipped in a solution made from 40 grams of salt and a liter of heated water for 5-10 minutes. Well-growing seeds will remain at the bottom of the container, while defective ones will immediately rise to the surface.
Disinfection
Before growing chili peppers in an apartment, it is recommended to disinfect all seed material. If this is not done, then the likelihood of the plant becoming infected with one or another disease increases several times. To treat seeds, a solution made from manganese is often used.
The seeds are placed in a container with a solution for 20-40 minutes, after which they will need to be rinsed with warm water and dried thoroughly.
Hot peppers can also be treated with phytosporin. To prepare the solution, add no more than four drops of the drug to a glass of water. The seeds should be soaked in this liquid for no more than 20 minutes.
Soil preparation
Growing hot peppers at home should be done in previously prepared soil.Therefore, before planting a plant, you should familiarize yourself with the basic recommendations for preparing planting soil. It is recommended to plant peppers in special purchased soil, which is best suited for growing sweet peppers on a windowsill. Such soil contains the necessary amount of microelements that pepper bushes need.
Many inexperienced vegetable growers wonder whether it is possible to prepare the soil for growing on their own. It’s definitely possible, and some gardeners prefer to prepare it themselves. For this you can use ordinary garden soil. However, it will have to be soaked in advance with a manganese solution and watered with heated water. After this, you can begin preparing the planting soil mixture. For this you will need:
- two parts of turf land;
- part of carefully sifted sand;
- part of the humus.
It is better to grow hot peppers in turf soil, which is taken from the place where meadow clover was grown. Also, while preparing the soil mixture, you can add a few tablespoons of ash to it. It is often used to reduce the acidity level of the earth. Sometimes special hydrogels are added to the soil. They are used to make the soil more airy and loose.
Planting
To figure out how to grow peppers on the balcony, you definitely need to familiarize yourself with the peculiarities of planting them. At home on the windowsill, cultivation should be carried out in small peat pots. Prepared planting soil is added to the containers in advance. Then small holes are made in it for planting seeds.
In this case, the distance between plantings should be at least 5 cm.
No more than two seeds are planted in each pot.In order for the seeds to grow better, the grown pepper is covered with a polyethylene film and transferred to a warm room. Growing from seeds is a rather long process, since seedlings begin to appear only after a few weeks. When the bell peppers on the balcony begin to sprout, you will have to make several holes in the film. Over time, it will be possible to get rid of it.
Picking
Before you grow sweet peppers, you will have to pick them. This procedure is carried out when young seedlings become cramped in small peat pots. After all, over time, the root system begins to actively develop and for this it will need more free space. After picking, the roots better hold the soil ball and become several times stronger. This process also has a positive effect on productivity.
Step-by-step picking is performed as follows:
- a day before the procedure, the soil in the containers will need to be filled with warm water;
- in the container for transplantation you need to make a small depression in the very center in advance;
- a few hours before picking, the soil near the sprouts is moistened with water;
- young seedlings must be pulled out from peat pots very carefully so as not to damage the root system;
- when the plant is removed from the pot, the root will have to be shortened by a third;
- the seedlings are carefully placed in a new pot so that its leaves are above the ground and the roots are not bent;
- after replanting, the soil around the seedlings should be compacted;
- The transplanted bushes should be watered with heated water.
Features of care
Growing sweet peppers at home must be accompanied by proper care.
Pollination
To get a good harvest, you need to know how to pollinate peppers at home. It is recommended to do pollination when the plant’s petals are down. If they are not curved, then pollination is not worth carrying out.
Peppers are pollinated in a variety of ways. Quite often this is done with a regular toothbrush. It must be brought very close to the inflorescence and touched a little. This will be enough for pollination to occur.
Watering
Young bushes need regular moistening of the soil and therefore should be kept periodically water them to pepper wasn't very bitter. It’s worth getting serious about watering a week after transplanting the grown seedlings. If the bushes are grown in a loggia, then they will have to be watered at least once a week. In summer you will have to do this more often, as the air temperature will rise and the soil will dry out faster. In this case, you will have to do this 2-3 times a week.
When watering, do not use too cold water, as it can damage the bushes. Therefore, it is recommended to preheat it on a gas stove or in the sun.
Top dressing
During cultivation, bushes may pick up certain mineral elements. Therefore, you need to periodically feed the soil. To understand what exactly the seedlings lack, it is recommended to carefully monitor the condition of their leaves:
- a dry crust appears on the edges of the leaves and they begin to curl - insufficient potassium (a little potassium nitrate or potassium sulfate should be added to the soil);
- the color of the leaves becomes dull - this indicates an insufficient amount of nitrogen (ammonium nitrate is added to the soil, which is one third of nitrogen);
- the leaves begin to stretch upward, and their color turns purple - a lack of phosphorus (phosphoric acid will have to be added to the soil);
- the crown of the leaves becomes marbled - insufficient amount of magnesium (to solve the problem, the soil is fed with magnesium sulfate).
During fertilizing, it is not recommended to add chloride to the soil. potassium or potassium salt. Their use can negatively affect the health of the root system.
Conclusion
Anyone can grow chili peppers at home. To do this, you will have to familiarize yourself with some recommendations for planting this plant in advance. You can also look for a video that will describe in detail how to grow and care for bell peppers at home.
