How to feed peppers with ash in a greenhouse and open field

Ash applied to the soil to stimulate the growth of garden crops is an excellent, mineralized top dressing for cucumbers, tomatoes and zucchini, but can the substance be used as a fertilizer for bell peppers? It turns out that it is not only possible, but also necessary, especially on soils with high acidity or depleted.

Ash top dressing serves as an excellent antiseptic, preventing the spread of fungal diseases. Ash does not contain chlorine elements, and it costs nothing to get this environmentally friendly fertilizer, especially knowing what type of raw material is intended for what purpose.

Types of ash for feeding peppers

Kiln ash is any ash obtained from natural wood, and vegetable ash is any ash obtained from the burning of herbs.

The main condition for obtaining a usable product is the absence of artificial impurities in the burned material, in the form of glue, plastic or cellophane elements, fabric inserts.

It is believed that ash extracted from peat or coal has the least nutritional value for the soil - the benefits and harms of such raw materials for the plant are almost zero, but they are still used when there is a need to reduce the acidity of the soil.

Here is a quick reference overview of the value of the different types of ash used for peppers:

product obtained from burning birch logs, contains: 40% calcium, 7% phosphorus and almost 15% potassium;
if you burn walnut shells, the finished product for fertilizer will be rich in potassium (up to 20%), calcium (about 7%), phosphorus (4-6%);
dried potato tops are rich in lime (29-32%), phosphorus (5-8%) and potassium (22-25%);
buckwheat and straw, is in first place in value among all types of vegetable ash, it contains 30-34% potassium, 16-18% calcium, 3% phosphorus;
rye straw ash is slightly poorer, containing only 15% potassium, 6-8% calcium and no more than 8% phosphorus.

Because it is free from heavy elements, plant or wood ash is great for any type of soil, improving the quality and productivity of even the poorest and most depleted sites.

How to feed peppers with ash

The first top dressing of peppers is carried out even before germination - as a preventive measure against infection of seeds with a fungus and to saturate them with essential microelements. For seeds, a reduced concentration of an ash solution is used, mixed with “soft” water - melted water or rainwater. Per liter of water take 0.5 tbsp. tablespoons of the sifted substance, stir the composition well and filter it after a day. Soak the seeds for 5 hours.

The second top dressing of pepper with ash is carried out when seedlings are planted in the ground, however, the root system of a young plant should not come into direct contact with the fertilizer, so the hole spilled with the solution is sprinkled with earth and only then the seedlings are lowered into the hole. The recipe for making an infusion, in this case, is the same as for the primary feeding of seeds.

When the plants take root, they can be fed with an ash solution prepared "on herbs". To do this, you can use any weeds that grow in the garden.

First, the roots are cut off from the grass and the seed pods are removed, then the greens are finely chopped and, in a volume of 5 to 7 kg, are placed in a container, where several handfuls of ash and 5 liters of mullein are poured. All this mushy mass is diluted with a sufficient amount of warm water and settled for a week. Top dressing of peppers with this composition is carried out at the rate of 1 liter of fertilizer per bush.

You can also fertilize with ash in the pure form of the concentrate - for this, the substance can not even be sifted, but crushed right in your hands. Grooves are drawn in the aisles of pepper - no closer than 10 cm from the plants - and dry fertilizer is generously poured into these grooves. According to the grooves, watering can also be carried out. In the same way, complex dry mixtures are introduced into the soil, using ash as the main component. Purified sand and peat serve as an addition to the composition - both are taken half as much as ash.

Foliar top dressing

In the open ground, top dressing with ash is common through spraying the composition on the foliar part of the plants. Such "washing" will not survive aphids and most caterpillars; will try to avoid treated plants naked slugs, bear.

For spraying, prepare a decoction of 200 g of ash, brewed with 1 liter of boiling water and aged for another half an hour on low heat. The solution is aged for a day, then filtered and diluted with a bucket of warm water. Some gardeners, before feeding the pepper, add a quarter of a bar of grated baby soap without fragrances to the finished composition. This addition gives the solution "tenacity" and it lingers on the leaves and stems of plants for a long time.

Spray peppers with ash solution often, as the liquid is quickly washed off by heavy dew and rain. The recommended frequency of pollination is three times a month, but in rainy summer the product can be used more often - once in Week. Peppers love ash, but to get carried away with fertilizer beyond measure, or even worse - it is impossible to increase the concentration of the substance, as the plants can get burned and die.

Another outdoor treatment option that is suitable even for plants in a greenhouse is pollination with sifted ash, mixed, in equal quantities, with tobacco dust.

This powder is made during the appearance of the third true leaf on the stem and serves, at the same time, as a growth stimulator for a young seedling, top dressing and protection from harmful insects.

Feeding peppers with ashes in a greenhouse

Greenhouse plants require a special feeding base to compensate for those substances that they could receive while in the open field. Therefore, a one-component ash solution in this case will not be enough.

It is recommended to include ash in the composition of complex top dressing applied directly to the soil. Such a composition can be a fertilizer prepared according to the following recipe:

150g wood ash;
0.5 tbsp spoons of potassium sulfate;
1 tbsp spoon (without top) of superphosphate;
0.5 buckets of rotted compost.

This amount of fertilizer is based on 1 square. meter of soil in the greenhouse. The soil is sprinkled with top dressing, and then everything is carefully loosened and watered from a watering can with slightly warmed water. To obtain condensate, the entire treated surface of the soil is covered with polyethylene and left for 3-4 days, after which it is already possible to plant peppers.

In the future, the ash for plants in the greenhouse can be applied in its pure form, pouring it directly in a handful between the rows of peppers.

The rules for fertilizing with ash fertilizer

In order not to damage the plants and get a good harvest of large fruits, both in the greenhouse and in the open air, it is not enough to know only the composition and benefits of fertilizers, you also need to be able to use them. There is a small set of rules that you will have to follow when dealing with such mineral fertilizer as ash:

if mulch is not used around the plants, each top dressing should be accompanied by a shallow loosening of the soil;
you can’t use the same type of fertilizer all the time - mineral dressing is rich in useful elements, but it doesn’t have the qualities that organic matter has, which means that these two types of fertilizers need to be alternated;
ash is not applied to dry soil, but even in very moist soil its effectiveness is low, therefore, it is necessary to make it a rule to use ash top dressing a day or two after a good watering;

Peppers love warmth, so all ash solutions must be diluted with water heated to an average soil temperature - if we are talking about a greenhouse and 1-3 ^{C above if watering is done outdoors ground.}