Planting and caring for the physalis still cause a lot of questions for summer residents, because the plant itself has not yet become what grows in every garden plot. And so sorry. After all, he has a lot of advantages: the decorative appearance of the bush, a diverse taste from strawberry to pungent, the color of the fruits of all spectra: green, blue, lilac, orange, red. And physalis seedlings are easy to grow on their own.
Three main types of physalis
Physalis is a plant from the solanaceous family, which has a little more than a hundred species. But among gardeners, three are especially known: decorative physalis, vegetable physalis and berry physalis.
Photo: main types of physalis
- Decorative physalis propagates perfectly self-seeding
- Bushes of vegetable physalis grow sprawling and require garter
- The fruits of berry physalis can be stored directly in small cases.
Preparation for landing
Decorative types of physalis can be grown in a seedlingless way, and when growing its edible varieties, it is better to start with seedlings. After all, our summer is not so long. And we need the fruits to not only grow, but also to ripen, so that from them you can then not only make jam, but also make (depending on the type) sauces, caviar, candied fruits, sweets, decorate them with cakes and pastries.
Physalis fruits must have time to ripen
Soil preparation
Before sowing seeds, you need to prepare the soil. The easiest way is to buy in the store soil for seedlings of peppers and tomatoes. And you can prepare a suitable mixture yourself. A possible option may be as follows:
- peat - 4 parts,
- humus - 2 parts,
- garden land - 2 parts,
- river sand - 1 part.
For physalis seedlings, suitable soil, in which seeds of tomatoes and peppers are sown
The prepared mixture needs to be sieved and warmed up for disinfection within an hour.
Sift the soil for seedlings
Preplant seed treatment
If the seeds were collected independently, then before sowing they need to be checked for germination. This can be done by dropping them in a weak saline solution. Those seeds that, after mixing, will float up are not identical. And those that fell to the bottom, you need to collect, drain the water, rinse and dry. They will be suitable for sowing.
A weak saline solution will help to select germinating seeds.
Usually physalis seeds sprout quickly, they do not need additional stimulation. But holding them for half an hour in a weak solution of potassium permanganate will not hurt. After this procedure, they need to be dried again so that they do not stick together when sowing.
It is necessary to disinfect physalis seeds in a weak solution of potassium permanganate
Growing in the seedless way
In a reckless way, you can plant decorative physalis. He is not afraid of frost and is even able to breed self-seeding. Edible species of physalis are more tender and whimsical. In a seedlingless way, they can only be sown in the southern regions.
Growing through seedlings
The soil and the seeds themselves are prepared, you can start sowing them for seedlings.
Landing time
To correctly calculate the timing of planting, you need to know that seedlings of physalis are planted after the threat of return frost has passed. At this point, the seedlings should be 30-40 days. Depending on the region, count this time taking into account the week needed for seed germination. Vegetable physalis is planted earlier than berry, for two weeks.
If you plant seeds in early March, or even in February, you can get dubious results. Seedlings are likely to stretch, because there is still not enough light at this time. And later it will have to be dived not once, but twice: the second time - in a larger capacity tank. There will be inconvenience with the placement of such containers on the windowsill, and when transporting seedlings to the country. If you understand these problems, it is better to sow seeds for seedlings not earlier than mid-March.
How to plant physalis seeds for seedlings
1. Fill the small container into which the crop will be sown, fill it with prepared soil to 3/4 of its volume and lightly compact it.
Fill the tank with soil
2. Using tweezers or a folded piece of white paper, gently spread the seeds on the soil surface.
Seeds can be scattered or spread out using a folded piece of white paper
3. Top the seeds lightly with earth (a layer of earth should not exceed 1 cm) and compact it a little so that when watering the seeds do not float.
Seeds sprinkled with a thin layer of earth
4. Lightly moisten the topsoil with a spray gun.
Water the seeds carefully
5. Place the dishes in a plastic bag and put it in a warm place with a temperature of about +20aboutFROM.
Future seedlings are placed in a bag or under a cap
6. Ensure that the soil is moist and carry out daily ventilation.
Before emergence of shoots it is necessary to carry out moistening of the soil and airing
7. Shoots of physalis will appear a week after sowing. After that, the capacity must be freed from the package.
Do not forget to attach a plate indicating the sowing date and variety to the tank with future shoots.
A plate indicating the variety and sowing date will help not to confuse anything
Video: tips for sowing physalis for seedlings
Seedling Care
Caring for physalis seedlings is similar to caring for tomato seedlings. Seedlings love light, so it needs to be placed on the windowsill. Even the option of additional illumination with a phytolamp is possible. Temperature +17, +20about FROM. The soil must be kept moist. Once every two weeks, you can feed the seedlings with special fertilizer for seedlings. It can be, for example, Agricola.
You can start picking seedlings with the appearance of 3 real leaves.
Picking seedlings
You can dive seedlings when the third real leaf appears
Soil for future seedlings can be used the same as for sowing. The only difference is that the amount of sand needs to be reduced by half. It’s good to immediately add complete fertilizer (for example, nitroammophosku) at the rate of 1 table. spoon / 5 l.
- Immediately before diving, the container with seedlings needs to be watered very well so that plants can easily be removed from it.
- Prepared soil is filled in cups or cassettes for 2/3 of the volume.
- In the middle of the glass with a small spatula or a sharp stick create a depression for the plant.
- Gently pour a little water at room temperature into the groove made.
- Carefully separating the sprout, place it in the recess in the cup as deep as possible. This is necessary so that in the future the plant forms a powerful root system.
- The soil around the plant is crushed and sprinkled with earth.
The soil around the seedling is crushed.
Video: picking physalis seedlings
Planting seedlings in the ground
Seedlings can be planted in the soil when the seventh true leaf is formed on the plant. Two weeks before planting, seedlings need to start hardening, for which purpose it is taken out into the open air during the day. At first, it is enough to do this for half an hour, gradually bringing such a walk to several hours. Properly hardened seedlings will be able to withstand temperature drops to 0aboutFROM.
When preparing the beds for physalis, nitroammophoska is introduced into the soil at the rate of 40-50 g / 1m2 . If the soil has high acidity, you need to add ash - 200-300g / m2 .
Immediately before planting, wells are prepared according to the scheme 70 × 50 for berry and 70 × 70 for vegetable species. You can add a handful of humus to each hole and pour.
1. Put the plant in the hole so that it goes into the soil to the level of the first true leaf.
Seedlings are buried in the soil according to the first true leaf
2. Gently fill the hole, while tamping the soil around the plant. Then they are watered and mulched from above with sawdust or peat so that a crust does not form after watering.
The final stage of planting is watering
If a cold snap is still possible, you should take care of temporary shelter. Cut plastic bottles for water are well suited for this purpose.
For temporary shelter, cropped plastic water bottles are suitable
Video: planting physalis in the open ground
Further care of seedlings
Further care of the physalis includes regular weeding and loosening of the soil.
After two weeks, you can feed. This can be a mullein infusion in a ratio of 1: 8. And after two weeks - top dressing with full mineral fertilizer at the rate of 1 table. spoon / bucket of water.
Physalis loves watering. In hot, dry weather, you can water it once every two days.
Physalis does not require stepson. On the contrary, the more branches, the more fruits
Another undoubted plus of the plant is that it practically does not get sick.
Pasynkovanie physalis is not required. This is due to the fact that the fruits are formed in the axils of the lateral branches. You can pinch the top, which will lead to greater branching of the plant. The more branches, the greater the yield.
From my personal experience, I can say that getting physalis seedlings is really easy. Yes, and to plant a lot of plants makes absolutely no sense. The bushes of physalis grow sprawling, give many fruits. Vegetable physalis appears self-seeding next year. It is important to choose the varieties that you like with their taste and aroma. And then you can make preparations for the winter, and make jam yourself for pleasure.
Harvest physalis will be rich, if you are lucky with the summer: it will be warm and humid
If self-grown seedlings by the fall will delight in the harvest of the fragrant fruits of physalis, you must write to this site this wonderful vegetable.
