Land Preparation of green pepper

1. Crop Propagation

Land preparation

1. Sweet pepper Nursery establishment

• Bush clearing
• Land preparation
• Collection of required tools and selection of certified packed seeds
• Mixing of soil well with compost
• Measuring the bed dimensions and corners
• Heaping the soil mixture and raising it to at least 30 cm high and leveling it
• Protection of the bed walls with timber or banana stems or wooden logs
• Digging small straight trenches horizontally at a recommended spacing
• Carefully planting the vegetable seeds at 1-2 cm spacing (width of one finger) and covering them with little soil
• Watering the bed sufficiently
• Carrying out other nursery management practices like weeds and pest control and thinning to reduce plant congestion are done after the seedlings have fully emerged.
• Construction of a shade to protect seedlings against wind destroying and heavy rain drops
• Covering the soil with little grass after planting but removing it as soon as seeds germinate and use it for mulching
• Hardening the seedlings by reducing watering rate and shade materials 1-2 weeks before transplanting to strengthen them

2 . Garden Soil tillage and planting

Seedbed preparation

It is important to select a well-drained area not recently cropped with a Solanaceous crop. Burning a 3-4 cm layer of rice straw on the seedbed before sowing and forming a raised seedbed of 15 cm or higher to improve drainage reduces soil borne disease problems. Seeds are sown in rows approximately 6-cm apart. The bed surface is covered with a thin layer of compost or rice straw mulch.

Sweet pepper is planted in seedbed for quick establishment and maturity. Certified seeds are used for best results. It is later transplanted in the garden. Raised beds are used to facilitate furrow irrigation and to improve drainage. Beds can be prepared in many ways. In some areas beds are made with a mechanical bed shaper and are about 1 m wide with furrows 50 cm wide. Bed height varies with the season: 20 cm in the dry season and 35 cm in the wet season.

A mulching of rice straw or other material is used to cover the soil surface. Mulches reduce fertilizer leaching, conserve moisture, and reduce weeds.