During the active formation of ovaries and fruit filling, bell peppers, like other nightshade vegetables (potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants), are in dire need of additional doses of potassium and microelements. Root feeding with a solution of ordinary plant ash helps to ensure adequate nutrition for plants.
Benefits of ash for nightshade vegetables
According to reviews from experienced vegetable growers, the ashes contain a sufficient amount of potassium, which activates the functioning of the fruiting organs, and also contains phosphorus salts that are bioavailable to the root system of seedlings, necessary to strengthen the underground part and quickly absorb the necessary elements along with water. In addition, after feeding peppers with aqueous extracts from ash, the deficiency of microelements is eliminated: iron, manganese, copper, boron, cobalt, etc.
Well, another important advantage of using ash during the growing season of peppers is the ability of the products remaining after burning wood and grass to quickly and effectively alkalize the soil in the beds due to the content of calcium salts.The addition of ash solution is especially important if the soil on your site is highly acidic, and you did not have time to carry out work to deoxidize it the previous fall.
The benefits of iodine for peppers during active fruiting
And to enhance the beneficial properties of ash fertilizer, experienced gardeners must enrich the solution with iodine, using an alcohol solution of antiseptic available in every first aid kit. The trace element iodine not only disinfects the soil, preventing the spread of most dangerous phytopathogens in plantings, but also accelerates the ripening of peppers and other vegetables. And due to the rapid filling of fruits, plants have time to form more ovaries, especially if they are grown in closed structures and bear fruit before the onset of frost.
The practical experience of advanced vegetable growers, who annually receive stable yields of nightshade vegetables, shows that it is advisable to use both ash and iodine when cultivating vegetable peppers, starting from the stage of growing seedlings.
But ash fertilizing with the addition of a microelement brings the greatest benefit in the second half of the crop’s growing season, when the bushes are filled with fruits and at the same time numerous ovaries are formed.
Recipe and rules for using liquid root feeding with ash and iodine
To prepare top dressing for peppers, after the first fruits form on the bushes, add a full faceted glass of vegetable ash (100 g) and 30 drops of pharmaceutical tincture of iodine (5%) to each standard bucket of settled water (10 l). From 300 to 500 ml of solution is used for each bush. Before watering the plants at the roots, shake the liquid vigorously.
Like other root feedings, watering pepper bushes is carried out exclusively in moist soil, regardless of whether your seedlings grow in open beds or in greenhouses. In dry times, liquid fertilizer is applied after deep scheduled watering either in the early morning or after sunset.
The ash-iodine solution, which is prepared in a matter of minutes, is recommended to be used every two weeks, starting from the moment the first 2-3 ovaries form on the seedlings.
In addition to vegetable pepper, aqueous extracts from wood and grass ash with the addition of iodine are recommended for greenhouse and ground tomatoes and eggplants.
Such a simple agrotechnical technique allows you to increase the yield of bell peppers by 20-25% and at the same time increase the content of vitamins, sugars and other beneficial phytonutrients in the fruit pulp. Easy work for you on your summer cottage!
