The summer season begins with growing seedlings. The goals of growing seedlings are obvious. Through seedlings, you can extend the growing season and get an earlier or higher harvest. Some heat-loving vegetables in some regions can only be grown through seedlings. The first days of development determine the entire adult life of the plant. This is a general and inexorable law of nature. The quality of seeds and seedling period determine plant development and yield by 80%.
The following are often used as containers for seedlings: cups, bags, boxes. You can dive into boxes. This will save space, but will worsen the survival rate of plants when transplanted into open ground, since the root system will be damaged. You can’t put peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, or pumpkins into boxes; they have a weak root system.
You cannot use bags and jars of lactic acid products for this purpose – kefir, fermented baked milk, sour cream, yogurt. Lactic acid bacteria are enemies of the roots, and if they are not killed, they can cause root disease in seedlings. The best option would be to use peat (humus) pots.
The porosity of the walls of the pots ensures an optimal water-air regime for the root layer, and when planted in the ground, the roots of the plant grow freely through their bottom and walls.
The pots do not contain pathogenic organisms and toxic substances, and have sufficient mechanical strength as when dry. and in a wet state. The roots of the seedlings grow freely through the bottom and walls of peat pots.
Planting seedlings in the ground together with a pot ensures almost 100% survival rate of the seedlings; decomposing in the ground, the pot serves as fertilizer – an earlier harvest due to the rapid survival of the seedlings.
The pots are filled with moistened nutrient soil, moderately compacted, after which the seeds are sown, bulbs, seedlings or cuttings are planted.
The pots are placed on pallets, plastic film, sand, gravel or a layer of soil.
The grown plants are watered, keeping the soil moist. Peat pots should never dry out! If this has already happened several times, the salts contained in the soil crystallize and, in concentrated form, pose a danger to tender sprouts. As the plants develop, the pots are spaced more freely to increase light, provide aeration, and prevent the roots of neighboring plants from intertwining.
The grown seedlings or cuttings are planted in a permanent place in the ground along with pots.
