There are about 700 species in the genera Pepper (Piper). Gardeners grow Bulgarian sweet, chilli, spicy chili in their backyards. And those who do not have a dacha can try to do it at home.
The article will tell you how to grow peppers in pots at home and which varieties are suitable for this. This culture will delight with delicious fruits and decorate the house.
Variety and Seed Selection for Successful Growing
There are a great variety of types and varieties of pepper for home cultivation. When choosing seeds, take into account the taste preferences and conditions in your home. If it is not possible to spend a lot of time caring for the plant, stop at the most unpretentious and disease-resistant varieties.
That’s interesting. Black pepper is found among plant collectors. This species belongs to true peppers (from the Piperáceae family), while bell and hot peppers are relatives of eggplant and tomato. The fruits of the plant are small and inconspicuous, but famous throughout the world.
The most popular types of pepper
Sweet and pungent varieties deserve special consideration.
Sweet:
- Yarik. Early ripe, matures on the 85th day. The fruits are cone-shaped, heavy, up to 6 cm long. The bush needs support.
- Sweetie. Red, small, tomato-like, spherical fruits. Ripe for 115 days. An ornamental variety, but the fruits are edible, sweet.
- Etude. Mid-season (135-140 days). Bush 60-70 cm high. Fruits are formed up to 30-40 pieces. on the bush, red, fleshy, juicy, weighing up to 100 g.
- curious thing. Ripens at 65 days. The fruits are bright yellow, cone-shaped, with a pointed tip. Resistant to tobacco mosaic virus.
- Treasure Island. Repair grade. On day 60, small light green or orange peppers weighing 50 g ripen.
Acute:
- Tabasco. Bush up to 45 cm high, densely decorated with yellow and red peppers (6 cm), collected in bunches. The famous sauce is prepared from the fruits.
- Black pearl. Luxurious decorative variety. As the plant grows, along with small, like beads, peppers change their color from green to purple-black.
- Small miracle. Bush up to 30 cm high. Fruits change color as they ripen. Peppers of cream, green, red and purple colors ripen on the bush at the same time.
- The Queen of Spades. A colorful hybrid with purple and red peppers. Differs in long fruiting and the ability to develop in partial shade.
How to grow indoor pepper from seeds and cuttings
For the germination of pepper seeds, the same conditions are created as when sowing plants for seedlings.
Growing peppers from cuttings
Cuttings with 2-3 buds are obtained with regular crown pruning and rooted in water with coal. If there are a lot of cuttings, they are rooted in boxes with humus and sand (1: 1). Before planting, the lower cut of the shoots is dipped into the Kornevin root former. Plantings are sprayed and covered with a film. Rooting occurs in 2-3 weeks.
How to grow peppers at home on a windowsill
Pepper is a very demanding, even capricious plant: it will be easier to grow it if you know the requirements of the culture for the conditions of detention and the subtleties of caring for adult specimens.
Presowing seed preparation
Preparing seeds for sowing helps speed up their germination and ensures healthy seedlings:
- Calibration for size and quality (damaged seeds are not suitable for sowing).
- Germination test. Pepper seeds are dipped in salt water (30-40 g of table salt per 1 liter of water) for 5-7 minutes. Hollow seeds will float to the surface, while viable seeds will sink to the bottom.
- Soaking for 10-15 minutes in a 1-2% solution of potassium permanganate.
- Processing in any growth and root formation stimulator – “Epin”, “Zircon”, aloe juice.
Seed germination technology
Seed propagation allows you to plant any variety you like on the window at home:
- Prepared seeds are sown in February in flat containers.
- Top sprinkled with a thin layer of fertile soil, mixed with sand in equal parts.
- Abundantly moisturize with a sprayer.
- Cover with foil to create a greenhouse effect. Every day, morning and evening, open for airing.
- For friendly emergence of seedlings maintain a temperature of 24-26°C.
Pepper does not tolerate transplanting well, so it is better to grow a vegetable without picking, sowing it immediately in pots of 1-2 seeds.
Soil and pot preparation
The soil for planting pepper should be nutritious, light in texture, water and breathable.
The soil is prepared from the calculation:
- 2 parts of humus;
- 1 part peat;
- fertilizers (1 g of urea, 2 g of superphosphate and 20 g of potassium sulfate are applied per 45 m25).
The acidity of the earth should be 6-7 pH. If the soil is acidic, add lime or dolomite flour. The earth is shed with dark pink potassium permanganate and left for 2-3 hours. Then mix again and start transplanting.
Help. If it is not possible to prepare the land, it is purchased at any flower shop. Of the ready-made soils for pepper, the following are suitable: “Saintpaulia”, “Begonia”, “For tomatoes and peppers.”
Transplanting young plants to a permanent place
Shoots appear on the 6-10th day. The film is removed from the seedlings, the temperature is reduced to 22 ° C or transferred to a cooler room. When young plants reach a height of 25-30 cm, they are transplanted into a larger pot.
Drainage is laid at the bottom of the pot in the form of 1,5 cm of fine expanded clay and a thin layer of sand. The soil for transplantation is used the same composition as for seedlings. After planting, the plants are watered with “Zircon” (1 ampoule per 5 liters of water).
Temperature and ventilation
Pepper is characterized by increased requirements for light, heat and does not withstand strong changes in conditions of detention:
- temperature – during the day + 24 … + 26 ° C; at night +18…+20°C;
- air humidity – 65-70%;
- illumination 20-30 thousand lux (requires additional lighting in winter at night);
- daylight hours – 12-14 hours;
- regular ventilation;
- from May 20 to early August, plants are kept on an open balcony or street, protected from direct sunlight.
At temperatures below 15°C, plants slow down their growth. Heat above 29 ° C is also fatal, leading to the abscission of flowers and ovaries.
Watering and spraying
Peppers need more frequent watering than indoor cherry tomatoes. A moisture-loving vegetable does not tolerate even a short-term overdrying of the earth. But waterlogging of the substrate leads to acidification of the soil, the development of fungal diseases and the death of the roots. Water the plants when the topsoil is dry to a depth of 1 cm.
The air in the apartments is often dry, especially in the autumn-winter period. To maintain optimal air humidity, peppers are sprayed daily with warm water. Containers with water are placed on the windowsills in the immediate vicinity of the pots. Water, evaporating, will not allow the leaves to dry out.
Diseases and pests of indoor species
Diseases in indoor peppers are the same as in their garden counterparts:
- Blackleg dangerous at the seedling stage. It manifests itself in the form of constriction and blackening of the base of the root collar. Plants wither and die.
- Brown spot. Blurry yellow-brown spots appear on the leaves. On the underside of the leaf is a white coating, which then turns brown.
- Sooty fungus – concomitant disease. Settles on pepper affected by insects that secrete a sticky liquid.
Most diseases are the result of improper care and watering. To combat fungal diseases, biological fungicides are used, for example, the drug “Barrier” (20 g per 10 l). Strong fungicides approved for cultivation in the garden cannot be used in the apartment due to the long-term toxic effect. In greenhouses, after treatment with a potent drug, they withstand 3 days of quarantine and do not enter the treated room.
Plants affected by vascular fungal diseases (fusarium and late blight) cannot be cured. They are thrown away, healthy bushes are treated for prevention with the specified fungicide.
Pests infect the crop less often than in the garden. They enter plants through an open window, along with earth or bouquets of flowers:
- Greenhouse aphid. Leaves curl, plants slow down growth. A sticky liquid is noticeable on the leaves – insect secretions.
- Whitefly. Numerous small light dots are noticeable on the leaves. With a strong defeat, the leaves fall off, the bushes look depressed. The leaves become shiny due to the secretions left by the butterflies.
- Spider mite. Numerous pinpoint punctures and light strokes are visible on the affected leaves – traces of tick bites, cobwebs entangle the stems and leaves.
- Gall nematode. The plant lags behind in growth, looks dangling with normal watering. Swellings are visible on the roots – galls.
From pests, folk methods of control will help – spraying with an infusion of garlic, tobacco, a solution of laundry soap, or treatment with Fitoverm. Dosage: 2 ml per 1 liter of water. It belongs to the 4th hazard class (low-toxic drug). They are processed on the balcony or in non-residential premises (it is impossible to carry out processing in the kitchen and bedroom).
Pruning, shaping and harvesting
Peppers do not stepchild, but they regularly pinch the shoots. The more side branches a plant has, the more abundant the harvest. The formation of the crown is started during the active growing season, with the exception of the dormant period:
- in seedlings 12-15 cm high, pinch the apical bud to form lateral branches;
- regrown lateral shoots are left as the main ones, and weak ones are pinched after the first leaf;
- also act with the rest of the branched shoots of the 2nd and 3rd order;
- in August, pinch all the tops of the shoots so that the set fruits become large;
- in October-November, side shoots are shortened by 1/2-1/3 of their length.
What is an ornamental pepper
Ornamental pepper (Capsicum) is a subshrub native to South America. The fruits are considered inedible. Plants are grown exclusively for interior decoration. Its numerous fruits ripen by Christmas. They cover the entire plant, have a bright color.
Is it possible to eat decorative pepper
Small peppers have a burning bitter taste, but are not poisonous and will completely replace chili seasoning.
Caring for decorative peppers
Care measures are practically the same as caring for any other pepper:
- from February to November – regular watering;
- from November to February – a dormant period (rare watering, keeping temperature + 18 … + 20 ° C);
- transplant every 2 years;
- during the fruiting period – regular fertilizing with phosphorus-potassium fertilizers (every 2 weeks);
- plucking and crown formation.
Flowering, growth and fruiting of ornamental pepper
In ornamental pepper, flowering is more abundant, the fruits cover the entire plant. At the same time, buds, ovaries and ripened fruits are on the plants. The fruits on one bush can be of different colors depending on the variety (yellow and red, purple and red). Excess ovaries do not pinch.
Choosing a place in the apartment for growing such pepper
Abundant fruiting of a houseplant depends on the illumination. Choose places for your pet that are lit throughout the day (south, southwest or southeast windows).
Tips and Tricks
Recommendations of experienced gardeners for growing this demanding crop:
- Peppers with large fruits must be tied to a support.
- Do not place sweet and spicy varieties side by side – as a result of cross-pollination, bushes with sweet peppers will produce bitter fruits.
- Use water for irrigation at room temperature, otherwise the plant will curl the leaves.
Conclusion
Indoor garden is a popular and promising area of indoor floriculture. Among the vegetable crops grown on the windowsill, pepper occupies a worthy place.
To get a good harvest of sweet pepper, you will have to make a lot of efforts to create favorable conditions – light, temperature. It is easier for beginners to start developing a culture with decorative, unpretentious varieties.
