In the spring we spend a lot of time and effort growing vegetable seedlings. But what will happen to these plants that we cherished and cherished when they move to the greenhouse? Will they grow big and strong and delight you with an abundance of fruit? Of course, but only if you properly prepare the greenhouse for planting seedlings.
1. Inspection of the greenhouse
When the snow begins to melt on the site, go out to the dacha to check the greenhouse. Ventilate it and inspect it from all sides for damage. Now is the time to patch up the structure if it was damaged in the winter. It is important that the greenhouse is airtight, because it must retain heat well and not allow smoke to pass through when fumigated with a sulfur bomb.
2. Cleaning the greenhouse
Next, you need to clean the soil in the greenhouse from plant debris that accidentally remained after autumn cleaning. Next, you should wash the greenhouse. You can start this in April, when it is already warm enough. It is easy to remove dirt from film and glass using a soap solution. To treat cellular polycarbonate, you can use a light pink solution of potassium permanganate (it is more convenient to wash with a sponge). It is enough to wash the metal and plastic parts of the frame with hot water and vinegar. The wood is washed with plain water. Please note that the greenhouse must be treated both inside and outside.
3. Soil treatment against diseases and pests
You can disinfect the soil immediately after washing the greenhouse. There are two ways to treat soil against diseases and pests: chemical and biological.
Chemical processing method. A sulfur bomb is most often used to disinfect wooden greenhouses and greenhouses made of plastic pipes. How to process with it? It is better to install the checker not in the ground, but on some non-combustible material. Next, you need to light the wick and leave the greenhouse, tightly closing the door and transoms. When the bomb burns out, let the smoke remain in the greenhouse for a couple of hours, then open it and leave it to ventilate for several days.
Greenhouses made of metal profiles are best treated with a solution of slaked lime (3 kg of slaked lime and 500 g copper sulfate dissolve in 10 liters of water). And if you still decide to use a sulfur block, first paint the frame or lubricate it with grease, otherwise the surface will quickly rust.
Biological processing method. Dilute Fitosporin, Phytocide, Stubble Biodestructor or any other drug of your choice for soil disinfection according to the instructions indicated on the package, and spray the ground and walls of the greenhouse with it.
4. Preparing the soil for planting
After all the procedures have been completed, all that remains is to dig up the soil and form beds in the greenhouse. You can immediately add fertilizer to them: compost, manure or humus. The soil in the greenhouse must be fertile, because the future harvest depends on this.
Read more about fertilizers that need to be applied to the soil in spring in our article.
To make the soil in the greenhouse warm up faster, in the spring you can put covering material on the beds or cover them with black film. By the way, some summer residents leave it for the whole season, making cross-shaped cuts in the film and planting seedlings in the holes. Black color promotes better soil warming and more active development greenhouse crops. True, with this method of cultivation it is necessary to install a drip irrigation system and shade the greenhouse in hot weather so that the plants do not “burn out.”
You can increase soil fertility and also improve its structure with the help of green manure, for example, mustard or oats. They need to be sown approximately 3-4 weeks before the main planting of crops. By the time it is time to transplant the seedlings into the greenhouse, the green manure plants will have time to grow a little. The soil is dug up along with them. The benefits of such agrotechnical techniques are colossal.
Have you already prepared your greenhouse for the “moving” of vegetables? If not, then hurry up. In dacha affairs, every little detail is important, otherwise high yields you can't even dream.
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Protected ground structures provide an opportunity for hobbyists to grow seedlings of garden crops, flower seedlings, and root cuttings of fruit and ornamental trees and shrubs. But before moving in with green residents, they must undergo certain training. You can learn from the article how to properly prepare the inside and outside of the greenhouse so that in the spring you can start growing the planned crops in it.
Repair work
You should start planting the desired crops early spring, approximately in early March. It is advisable to carry out work in accordance with the following points:
- Inspection of the structure frame. If it is made of wood, then the reliability of all lintels and roofing is thoroughly checked. In those places where loosening is detected, parts must be replaced. In the case where the frame is metal, the emphasis is on identifying areas affected by corrosion, which should also be replaced to prevent the greenhouse from loosening. In addition, in winter, during heavy rainfall, the metal skeleton of the greenhouse may bend under the weight of snow. In this case, it is leveled and additional supports are installed.
Advice. In order for the base of the structure to serve for a long time, it is better to treat it with special protective compounds.
- Thorough inspection of the greenhouse covering. With the glass option, all cracked and broken windows are replaced. If the coating is made of polyethylene, then some areas must be replaced, and sheets with small cracks or punctures are glued with regular tape. When modeling the surface of a polycarbonate greenhouse, sags, tears and dark spots may form on its surface after the cold season. Areas with such defects must be replaced in the spring.
Cleaning the interior from plant debris
The process of preparing a greenhouse in the spring also includes such a mandatory item as getting rid of the remains of plants that lived here last season. This step makes it possible to prevent the development in a closed system of closed ground of some diseases that affected predecessors. For example, most pathogenic fungi do not die along with the plant, but overwinter safely on dried leaves and stems.
Attention! Residues removed from the greenhouse are best taken off site or burned.
The roots of obsolete plants should also be removed from the greenhouse without fail. In this case, the top layer of soil can be replaced at the same time. This procedure looks like this step by step:
- Remove from 5 to 7 cm of soil. The roots are selected and discarded. The soil is transferred from the greenhouse to an open space.
- Lay a layer of humus and then manure.
- Everything is sprinkled with a small (about 3 cm) layer of garden soil.
Additionally, soil disinfection should be carried out. To do this, use a solution of copper sulfate, which is poured into the soil in the greenhouse after loosening.
How to disinfect
Spring treatment of the interior with disinfectant solutions when preparing the greenhouse is very important, since only this technique can destroy the spores of a fungus that is dangerous to crops and causes late blight. It is carried out using several methods:
- using sulfur gas bombs;
Disinfection using a checker
- spraying with slaked lime mixed with copper sulfate;
- treating walls, ceilings and soil with special biological products.
Attention! All des. solutions are poisonous. You should only work with them if you have appropriate protection.
For gas treatment, “Climate” sulfur blocks are most often used. During their combustion, acids are formed that penetrate even into inconspicuous crevices. In this way, fungi, slugs, and spider mites are destroyed. The procedure is carried out with the door and windows tightly closed. 50 g of sulfur is required per 1 m³. Ventilate the greenhouse 3 days after fumigation. Some greenhouse owners oppose this method of disinfection, citing its low efficiency and the high percentage of sulfur compounds in the non-spill soil of the greenhouse, which guarantees its absorption by the plants.
Treatment in the following way consists of spraying the walls, ceiling and frame with a solution of a mixture consisting of 3 kg of slaked lime and 500 g of copper sulfate (per bucket of water). This method is also not good enough due to the fact that the drugs are toxic to humans.
The use of biological products when preparing a greenhouse for spring plantings is considered the most effective, safe and promising way to get rid of fungi and harmful microflora. In addition, according to manufacturers, such treatment increases productivity. For 10 liters of water you need 100 g of the drug.
How to prepare the soil
For normal plant growth and, accordingly, obtaining a good harvest, a sufficient supply of nutrients in the soil is required. Therefore, before planting crops in a greenhouse, the soil is prepared.
There are 2 methods you can use here:
- adding organic matter and minerals;
- sowing
- legumes;
- cereals;
- phacelia;
- mustard.
They are sown very densely in the greenhouse, early in the spring. A week or two before the planned planting of vegetables, green manure is cut with a flat cutter and buried to a depth of 3-4 cm.
Preparing a greenhouse is a very important event, the correctness of which determines the well-being of the planted crops. Most amateurs, after reading the article and viewing the photos and videos attached to the article, will be able to figure it out and do the work themselves.
What to do in the greenhouse before planting: video
With the first breath of spring, the time comes for mass preparation of greenhouses for the new season. Cleaning and whitewashing the greenhouse, its disinfection, as well as warming up and adding the components necessary for the earth - this is just an incomplete list of work awaiting gardeners during this period. But only timely and high-quality implementation can be a key factor in obtaining a decent harvest. Proper soil preparation in the spring in a greenhouse can significantly improve its performance.
Greenhouse prepared for planting
When the revision of the greenhouse structure is completed and all identified deficiencies have been eliminated, the next step on the path to obtaining a rich harvest is begun - cultivating the land before planting.
Basic methods and purposes of disinfection
First of all, it is necessary to protect future seedlings from the influence of microorganisms that harmed plants in past seasons. To do this, it is advisable to completely remove the top layer of soil, which contains most of the harmful fungi and bacteria that can destroy the crop.
Before planting, it is important to disinfect not only the soil, but also the room
If this is impossible to do, don’t worry. High-quality preparation of the greenhouse for planting is also possible when it is treated with disinfectants. It should be done several weeks before planting the first vegetation. Moreover, the amount of time before planting seedlings in a greenhouse is, first of all, determined by the characteristics of the use of a disinfectant.
There are several methods for disinfecting soil in greenhouses:
- thermal;
- biological;
- chemical.
Spring preparation of the greenhouse allows you to use them both separately and in combination. All of them are effective in their own way, but each has its own characteristics. We will try to talk about land disinfection methods in more detail.
Thermal treatment of soil
Thermal methods for improving the health of greenhouse soil include freezing and steaming. During the first of them, in winter or early spring, the snow cover is removed and the ground is allowed to freeze to sub-zero temperatures. Naturally, the lower the thermometer reading drops, the more likely it is to destroy microorganisms that can destroy future plants.
Freezing the soil allows you to get rid of many pests
Steaming not only destroys pests, but also speeds up the harvest.
Chemical methods of disinfection
Chemical methods for disinfecting greenhouse soil are the most popular. Among the main reasons for their widespread use:
There are two types of chemicals: for liquid or gas disinfection of soil.
Among the disinfectants for soil preparation in a greenhouse, the use of which is carried out in a liquid state, the following can be noted:
- copper sulfate;
- carbation;
- phytosporin;
- viracide;
- formalin and others.
Chemicals effectively disinfect the soil in the greenhouse
All of the above drugs are soluble in water (the proportions are indicated on the packaging) and can be applied to a wide range of pests of greenhouse crops. As for specific disinfection preparations, the following have proven themselves to be quite good:
- Bayleton – a remedy against gray rot;
- Fitoverm - a drug against spider mites, aphids and caterpillars;
- acrobat is an effective cure for late blight and downy mildew.
The essence of the gas method of disinfecting a greenhouse is to fumigate it with sulfur dioxide released by burning sulfur. Among the sulfur bombs that seasoned gardeners most often tend to choose, the following can be noted:
- pawn;
- climate;
- Hephaestus.
Carrying out this procedure requires careful sealing of the room, as well as compliance with the necessary safety measures. Such treatment of the greenhouse should be carried out at least two weeks before planting the first seedlings in it.
Disinfection with sulfur destroys pests even in hard-to-reach places
Efficiency chemical methods disinfection of greenhouse soil is indisputable. But their use still does not make it possible to obtain environmentally friendly vegetables. Therefore, it is best to use such methods not in spring, but in autumn, immediately after harvesting. Accordingly, the spring volume of work associated with chemical disinfection of the soil in a greenhouse largely depends on how intensively the greenhouse was prepared for winter.
Safe biological soil renewal
Less effective than chemical ones, but most acceptable in the context of obtaining environmentally friendly products, are biological methods of soil treatment. Their essence is to introduce living organisms into the soil (with manure or compost) that are capable of destroying greenhouse pests on their own. In addition, you cannot do without:
- soil replacement;
- use of sewing shifts;
- growing green manure.
The results of using biological methods for disinfecting greenhouse soil are excellent, but there are several disadvantages:
- they are not always applicable for a greenhouse;
- their duration of action is calculated from 4-5 years of constant use, and a beginner in greenhouse business cannot use them;
- During the compost process, constant digging is necessary to protect yourself from weeds.
To get the maximum effect from biological soil improvement, it is important to remember three factors:
- The opinion that pests of greenhouse plants completely die under the influence of low temperatures is absolutely unreliable.
- To achieve the desired effect, disinfection as part of preparing the greenhouse for planting must be carried out in conjunction with disinfection of the entire greenhouse structure.
- Fumigation with sulfur is highly undesirable in greenhouses with a metal frame: the gas released significantly accelerates the process of rust.
Improving soil fertility
In addition to therapeutic procedures, preparing a greenhouse in the spring also cannot be done without preparing proper soil mixtures - a high-quality basis for the future harvest. After all, in order to promote normal growth and development of plants, the soil needs proper care, as well as a sufficient amount of minerals. In this section we will try to understand the features of greenhouse soils and their preparation.
High-quality soil significantly increases productivity
Features of an ideal greenhouse soil
Let us immediately make a reservation that soil for greenhouses, which would be suitable for absolutely all plants grown in them, simply does not exist in nature. The choice of greenhouse soil mixture depends on many factors:
- requirements of the crop being grown;
- time of year and the presence of additional heating;
- climatic features of the region;
- availability of necessary ingredients.
To ensure normal yields, the soil in the greenhouse must meet the following requirements:
- ability to ensure normal heat and air exchange;
- high-quality water saturation during irrigation, as well as the ability to transmit it when growing non-moisture-loving plants;
- absorption of necessary microelements in cases of its fertilization.
The best soil mixtures in terms of their physical properties are those in which the ratio of liquid, solid and gaseous fractions is 1:1:1.
Soil for greenhouses: components and their properties
Among the possible components of greenhouse soil are the following elements: turf, sand, peat, clay, as well as conifer bark, straw, sawdust and fallen leaves, green manure and fully prepared composts. In addition, organic agents in the form of pus, humus and bird droppings, as well as a full set of necessary mineral macro- and microelements, are added to the soil mixture.
Each of them has its own special purpose in creating optimal soil for growing plants. So, sand serves as a baking powder and insulation, and clay retains moisture well. Sawdust, leaves, straw, etc. maintain the desired volumetric mass, improve the water regime and release carbon dioxide, and the bark serves as an antiseptic. The introduction of these components perfectly replenishes the soil with organic matter.
Another supplier organic fertilizers The soil mixture is manure. In addition, it perfectly maintains the structure of the soil, and also saturates the plants with a full range of micro- and macroelements. Peat eliminates excess life-giving components, releases carbon dioxide and adds organic matter. And lime materials optimize acidity and improve soil structure.
The more components are used to create a mixture, the more the possibilities of proper nutrition, formation and development of plants improve. In addition, by qualitatively complementing each other, the elements of multicomponent soils also mutually neutralize negative manifestations.
So, if fertilizers are applied in excess of the norm, their excess will be absorbed by sawdust, bark or peat. In turn, bird droppings will enrich them with nitrogen, and sand resists oxidation.
Do-it-yourself preparation of soil components
In fact, preparing a greenhouse in the spring for harvest begins with the preparation of components for greenhouse soil. And their combination is carried out depending on where and what vegetables are planned to be grown. Let us consider here the features of preparing the main components for the production of soil mixtures: turf, humus and composts.
The harvesting of turf land is carried out in late spring or early summer in areas where perennial cereals and legumes grow. Manure, lime and mineral fertilizers, after which they are raked and placed in piles up to 2 m high. Throughout the summer, they are watered several times with liquid manure and shoveled using improvised mechanisms.
Preparing humus
An excellent biofuel for greenhouses, humus is nothing more than completely rotted manure.
To prepare this component of the soil mixture, you need to take manure that has already been used in the greenhouse and lay it out in piles. The finished heaps are sprinkled with peat and systematically watered with slurry. To avoid drying out, the stacks need to be swapped from time to time.
Another great fertilizer for preparing soil in a greenhouse in the spring is compost. It can be prepared practically all year round, because the basis of this product is made up of almost any plant debris: mown grass and weeds, fallen leaves and kitchen waste, rotten vegetables or fruits, manure, peat and others. Each layer of organic matter is sprinkled with fertile soil and watered from time to time.
Conditions for natural ripening
Compost maturation lasts from 6 to 12 months. The readiness of the fertilizer can be determined by its color (it becomes uniform and dark) and, most importantly, its smell and substance. Mature compost has a rather pleasant aroma of freshly plowed soil or forest litter. To avoid drying out, compost containers are placed in the shade and sometimes covered with film. In winter, to protect from freezing, they are carefully covered with snow.
Making compost
Important to remember:
- Regular ventilation significantly speeds up the compost preparation process.
- It is extremely undesirable to harvest turf in areas with marshy areas - the result will be a soil mixture with very high acidity.
- Dry peat crumbs, due to the impossibility of high-quality wetting with water, are not used in the manufacture of greenhouse soils.
- Soil in which insects, pests or pathogens of various diseases are present is unsuitable for preparing greenhouse mixtures.
Warming up the greenhouse soil before planting
The final stage of spring soil preparation in a greenhouse is its warming up. The importance of the procedure lies not only in increasing temperature regime in the greenhouse, but also in other factors:
- the indoor microclimate improves;
- the root system matures faster;
- as a result, productivity increases significantly.
To naturally obtain the 10-15 degrees necessary for the growing season, you can arrange high beds and use cellular polycarbonate as a covering. The excellent heat retention abilities inherent in this material, along with good heating of the soil in the greenhouse, will allow short terms achieve the desired result.
High beds in the greenhouse warm up perfectly
In addition, you can install forced heating of the room. To do this, special electric plates are placed under the main soil, which:
- absolutely safe for both humans and farmed products;
- have the ability to regulate the supplied heat;
- switched on in forced or automatic modes.
Important things to consider:
- To better warm up the greenhouse soil, you can cover it with a dark film.
- Under no circumstances should snow be thrown into the greenhouse, as it will become a powerful insulator between the soil and the warm air in the room.
High-quality preparation of the soil in a greenhouse in the spring will not only increase the yield of greenhouse crops, carried out taking into account the above recommendations, it will make it possible to grow healthy, environmentally friendly vegetables with which you can delight yourself and those close to your heart all year round!
How are you preparing for spring planting?
The spring period is very important for gardeners: they need to perform numerous tasks, not least of which is the preparation of greenhouses and hotbeds for sowing seed material or planting seedlings.
First, it is necessary to remove the remains of tops and weeds from the greenhouse, as well as last year’s foliage, and then burn them outside the site. Then you should disinfect the greenhouse and prepare the soil.
Preparation of the greenhouse structure
The following recommendations will help facilitate this rather voluminous work.
- Preparing the structure for disinfection measures. It is necessary to check the greenhouse frame and polycarbonate covering for the absence of moss and colonies of moldy fungi. If such deposits are detected, they should be removed mechanically, and the cleaned surfaces should be treated with a 5% solution of ferrous sulfate.
- Carrying out disinfection using a sulfur bomb. When a sulfur bomb burns, a gas is formed that penetrates into hard-to-reach places in the greenhouse. After treatment, you should “keep” the greenhouse closed for three days and then ventilate well. It should be remembered that disinfection with a sulfur bomb can be carried out at temperatures not lower than +14 °C. This method Contraindicated for greenhouses with a metal frame base, since the gas released has a destructive effect on the metal.
- Carrying out disinfection using bleach. To disinfect, you need to prepare a solution of bleach by diluting 400 g of dry matter in a bucket of water, and then leave it for at least a day. The resulting solution must be treated with a wide brush. You can also use a regular household spray bottle. When carrying out work, precautions must be strictly observed and personal protective equipment must be used.
- Inspect and repair any damage found. These works can be carried out both before and after disinfection measures. After checking the integrity of the greenhouse structure, all cracked and broken areas should be replaced, and, if necessary, the covering and arches should be leveled after exposure to the snow mass. It may also be necessary to restore the strength of the connections of supports and guides and carry out anti-corrosion treatment.
Spring soil preparation
Even if in winter period the greenhouse soil was treated with cold, some pests could remain in it. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out one of the following methods:
- disinfection of greenhouse beds at the rate of 1 tbsp. l. powder in a bucket of warm water;
- treating the soil with boiling water or a special steam generator, which is effective against more than 60% of pathogenic organisms;
- soil disinfection with Planriz or Fitosporin-M, which perfectly fight pests without disturbing the natural, beneficial microflora.
It is very important to fertilize the greenhouse soil, especially if the greenhouse cover is made of translucent polycarbonate. It is recommended to add humic acids to the beds, which promote the development of beneficial soil organisms and high-quality enrichment of the soil. A good effect is observed when using drugs such as “Phoenix” and “Flora-S”.
How to prepare a greenhouse for spring planting (video)
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