How to properly prepare the soil for sowing? Valuable tips and advice
Content:
Preparing the soil for sowing. As you know, all plants must be sown in properly prepared soil. You can count on healthy seedlings and high yields if you do everything right. Each plant requires different soil properties, but the basic requirements for its production are similar for different crops.
Soil preparation for sowing and soil requirements.
Fertility: the composition of organic and inorganic elements must be balanced. Micro and macronutrients must be available to the seed. Fresh manure, unburned leaves and other elements cannot be used. When they begin to decompose directly in the soil, the amount of nitrogen decreases, and additional heat is released, which is dangerous for the planted seeds.
Microflora: the presence of "live" bacteria, they help to process organic matter into substances easily assimilated by plants.
The structure of the earth is: light, porous, loose. It should allow air to pass well to the roots, ensure an even distribution of moisture throughout the volume. Clay is not used in the seed substrate. It has a high density, compacts the soil and makes it heavy, and this has a bad effect on the health of young seedlings.
Acidity: close to neutral, 6.5 to 7.0. (For these purposes, specialty kits are sold in specialized stores, but you can do it yourself, at home).
Harmful soil elements: weeds, pests and microbial spores. The presence of heavy metals, waste of various substances and other chemical compounds is unacceptable.
Land can be purchased at a specialist store or made on your own. In the second case, the main thing is to choose all the components correctly and prepare the soil for planting.
What to make the planting mixture from?
The mixture for planting must necessarily contain components of organic and inorganic origin. The organic part is earthen, leaf, sod and vegetable mixture, peat, compost and humus. Additionally, you can use wood ash, grain husks, crushed eggshells. Inorganic part - pieces of foam and hydrogel, river sand, lime, expanded clay.
All crops have different soil requirements. The proportion of the components is prepared taking into account a specific plant. You can make a versatile mixture of garden soil, humus, peat and sand (2: 1: 1: 1). Sowing in humus without other components is strictly prohibited. Initially, the plants will grow very well and are pleasing to the eye, they have a very well-developed green mass, and the root system is poor, therefore, when transplanted, they take root very poorly.
Optimal soil composition for peppers, eggplants and tomatoes:
Peat, sand and vegetable mixture in equal proportions.
Sand, humus and garden soil (1: 1: 2). You can additionally add 2 glasses of ash to a bucket of such a composition, and for cabbage, you can also add a glass of lime.
Sand and earth must be sieved through a coarse sieve before preparing the mixture. This will help get rid of pieces of debris, some pests and their larvae. After that, the earth is disinfected.
How and why to disinfect?
With the help of disinfection, you can get rid of harmful parasites and sources of various diseases when preparing the land for planting seeds. It is carried out in one of the available ways:
Etching. This method is considered the easiest.An unsaturated solution of potassium permanganate is made (3 g per 10 liters of water) and the soil is watered. Additionally, you can moisten the ground with an antifungal drug, for example, Fitosporin solution (10 g per 5 L of water)
Freezing. In winter, when the frost is -15 degrees, the earthen mixture is moved to the street. A few days later, they bring it back into the house. This procedure must be carried out several times during the winter. Already in the spring this soil can be used for planting without additional action.
Calcination. The soil is leveled on a metal tray about 5 cm, moistened and placed in the oven for half an hour at a temperature of 70 to 90 degrees.
Thanks to such simple actions of tillage before planting the seeds, the survival rate of the seedlings is increased, the seedlings grow stronger and healthier. The number of pests on the site, especially at the initial stage of plant development, decreases. High-quality soil is the main criterion for obtaining a high yield of tasty fruits.