What is the difference between pepper and other plants, the rules of home cultivation, how to properly propagate a plant, diseases and pests, interesting facts, species. Pepper (Piper) belongs to a fairly common group of spices that can be obtained from a number of different representatives of the flora. But the plant itself is part of the Pepper family (Piperaceae), or as it is also called Pepper. In this family, botanical scientists included flowering plants, which are distinguished by climbing or erect shoots and taking the shape of shrubs (vines) or grasses, but occasionally peppers grow in the form of small trees.
This family includes up to 1,500 thousand varieties, which are common in their native habitats. All of them are found on the territory of tropical lands in both hemispheres of the planet, but most of these plants can "call" tropical America or the monsoon regions of East Asia as their native habitat.
Often, for their habitat, peppers "choose" undergrowth in low-lying areas of tropical rainforests, but plants feel good in clearings and living areas of high slopes, such as foggy forests. There is only one variety - Japanese pepper (Piper kadsura), which can cope with winter frost without prejudice to itself. This plant grows in southern Japan and on the outskirts of South Karea, where the subtropical climate prevails. Often in these areas, peppers dominate other representatives of the flora, spreading widely.
Pepper bears its scientific name thanks to the word "pippali", which from the Sanskrit language means the generally accepted term "pepper" and is used to designate a variety of Long Pepper (Piper longum). It is important that there is no confusion with Vegetable Pepper (Capsicum) and other plants that are used in cooking as spices, but have nothing to do with the genus of peppers.
Some of the pepper varieties often grow in symbiosis with insects, for example, the so-called "Ant pepper" (Piper cenocladum) "cohabit" for the benefit of each other with ants.
If the pepper grows in the form of a shrub, then its shoots can reach 1.5 m in height, but if the plant is a liana, then its stems can stretch up to 20 meters. The leaf plates are oval or elongated-ovoid, varying in length from 8 cm to 25 cm. There may be a sharpness at both ends. The surface is glossy, often wrinkled, the color is dark green.
During flowering, whitish or grayish-yellow flowers are formed, which grow both singly and gathering in bundle-shaped inflorescences, the length of which is 8-10 cm. During fruiting, grains ripen, which resemble small rounded peas. They are often carried by birds or small mammals (for example, bats from the genus Carollia). Pepper grains are included in their diet, which is important for the spread of the plant over long distances from the parent specimen.
Despite the fact that the fruits contain a highly irritating substance - piperine, which is quite harmful for herbivorous representatives of the fauna, but some of the insects in the process of their evolutionary development received the ability to calmly transfer these substances and can easily survive the peculiar chemical defense of pepper, which serves it "Shield". Even some types of moths or earthen fleas cause significant damage to pepper plantings.
How to provide proper care for pepper, room maintenance?
- Lighting. The plant can be placed on the windowsills of windows facing east and west - there the light will be bright, but diffused. It is important that the direct rays of the sun do not fall on the leaves at noon.
- Content temperature in spring and summer within the range of 20-25 degrees, and from autumn it is reduced to indicators of 16-18 units. Drafts are harmful.
- Humidity and watering. Peppers need high moisture readings. Spraying is carried out twice a day, and these parameters are also increased by any available means. The water used is soft. From the beginning of vegetation activity until the autumn period, watering is necessary abundant, using warm and settled water, as soon as the substrate on top of the pot dries up. From autumn and throughout the winter, watering is moderate.
- Fertilize pepper from early spring to early September. Complex mineral preparations are used for decorative deciduous indoor plants. The frequency of top dressing is once every 14 days. With the arrival of autumn, fertilizers stop until the beginning of spring activity in growth.
- Features of care. The pepper has a dormant period, which occurs during the winter. At this time, the heat indicators must be lowered to the range of 17-18 degrees and the plant is kept in a bright place or with additional illumination.
- Transplanting and soil selection. Young peppers can be replanted annually, and specimens are older only once every two years. The transplant should take place by the transshipment method, without destroying the clod of earth. It is better when the pots are made of plastic, as clay products will help the soil dry out in it as soon as possible. Drainage material is placed on the bottom of the pot. A light and nutritious substrate is suitable for transplanting. It is also made up of equal parts of peat, humus soil, leaf and sod soil, and coarse-grain sand is also added there.
How to reproduce pepper at home?
You can get a new pepper bush by dividing an overgrown specimen, sowing seeds, cutting or rooting layers.
Seed propagation should be in early summer. You can use peppercorns, which are available in any store. Of all the peas, the largest should be selected and soaked in warm water with the addition of aloe juice for 24 hours. The pot is filled with a substrate mixed from turf soil and leafy soil with river sand (0.5: 1: 0.5). The seeds are buried by 1 cm. The temperature during germination is important to maintain at about 24-28 degrees. The pot, you will need to wrap it up with plastic wrap or put a piece of glass on top - this will help create high humidity and warmth. But then you should not forget about daily airing, in case of drying out of the soil, spraying.
After the expiration of a month, you can see the first sprouts of pepper. As soon as a real pair of leaves unfolds on them, the first feeding is carried out. For her, it is recommended to use a solution based on bird droppings, which has been infused for several days. Then, when the plants still grow and get stronger, then you can transplant by transferring them into large pots with more fertile soil. One plant is placed in each container. Since the shoots are creeping and drooping, it is necessary to put a support in the new pot before replanting the pepper.
If, when leaving, strange formations in the form of whitish-colored eggs appeared on the back of the leaf plates, this should not cause panic, since over time they will turn black - this process is the norm. When cuttings are carried out, then each workpiece for planting should have 1-2 buds. The cuttings are planted in a seedling box or mini-greenhouse so that they take root. In the container, soil is poured, consisting of sheet earth, coarse-grain sand (ratio 0.5: 1), can be replaced with a peat-sand mixture, where the parts are equal. The germination temperature is maintained at about 24-26 degrees. The cuttings are wrapped in a plastic bag or placed under glass vessels. Care in this case consists in watering when the soil dries up and airing the seedlings daily.
After 20 days, the cuttings are usually already rooted, after which it is recommended to transplant them into pots with a diameter of 9 cm one by one. When the production is industrial, then three pieces of pepper blanks are immediately planted in such pots and then placed in distribution containers. When there is sufficient development of the root system of the plant, it is recommended to re-transship (without destroying the earthen coma) into containers with a diameter of 12 cm. The substrate is then replaced with a more fertile one, which includes leafy, humus soil and river sand (all parts are equal). If the pepper bush has grown too much, then in the spring you can divide it. Usually, this operation is combined with changing the pot so that the plant does not expose the plant to unnecessary trauma. The composition of the soil for transplanting is taken as for adult specimens. Use a sharp knife to cut the root system. Each of the divisions should have several points of growth and not be too shallow. Then all the places of the cuts are powdered with activated charcoal or charcoal powder. After that, you can plant parts of the peppers in separate containers and moisten the soil abundantly. Until the plants adapt enough, they are kept in shade from the sun's rays.
If it is decided to root the layers, then a pepper shoot is chosen that lies freely on the surface of the soil. Then, using a hairpin, it is tightly attached to the sand, laid in a separate pot, and sprinkled. If the room is warm and humid, then rooting takes place quite quickly. After a sufficient number of roots are formed, the shoot can be carefully separated from the parent specimen and cut into pieces, and each of the segments is planted in separate pots prepared in advance. It is possible to place 2-3 copies in one container. Further care is the same as for adult peppers.
Pests and diseases of pepper when grown in a room
Like many indoor plants, spider mites or aphids attack pepper if the conditions are violated. If the soil is constantly in a state of waterlogging, then a fungal disease may begin - "black leg", powdery mildew and brown spot of leaf plates. For treatment, fungicides are used, and in the fight against pests, they are treated with insecticidal preparations.
Among the unpleasant moments when growing pepper are the following:
- The tendency of shoots to stretch out and become exposed appears if the level of illumination is reduced and the nutrition is insufficient.
- When the air humidity is low, and the earthen coma often dries out, the tips of the leaves begin to turn brown.
- With frequent waterlogging of the soil, the leaves gradually take on a yellow color and wither. Such a bay is especially dangerous in winter.
- The foliage begins to brighten, but at the veins, its color remains deep green with chlorosis, which reveals a lack of iron or other micronutrients. You can use a preparation containing iron chelate.
- When direct sunlight is constantly falling on the leaf plates, this will lead to pale color and fading.
Curious facts about pepper
Plants belonging to the genus Piperomia can be considered the closest to the genus Piper.
Despite the fact that in both genera (Pepper and Capsicum (vegetable pepper)) there are varieties with a pungent taste, but you need to understand that the nature of these tastes is different. The first has a pungency, which is provided by the alkaloid piperine, and plants of the second genus have capsaicin in their parts.
Pepper types
- Betel pepper (Piper betle) is an evergreen plant with climbing shoots that lignify over time. They can be several meters long. The leaf plates are distinguished by oval-heart-shaped outlines with a sharpness at the apex. Their dimensions in length are equal to 12 cm, with a total width of up to 6 cm. The color on the upper side is dark emerald, the venation is clearly visible. When blooming, spike-shaped inflorescences are collected from small flowers.
- Pepper Cubeba (Piper cubeba). This variety takes on a shrub form, but the shoots of the plant can cling to any support located nearby. The shape of the leaf is elliptical, there is an irregular heart-shape, the edges are sharpened. From small whitish flowers, spike-shaped inflorescences are formed. The fruits of this plant are widely used in medicine and industrial purposes.
- Long pepper (Piper longum) possesses leaf plates, which are bright green in color, in length they reach no more than 9 cm. And since between the multiple veins the surface of the leaf seems to be swollen, it resembles a quilted fabric. The leaves have elongated petioles.
- Great pepper (Piper magnificum) grows in the form of a shrub, characterized by straight shoots with wings. The size of the leaf plate is large, the shape is in the form of an oval, reaching 20 cm in length, but the width is half that. The foliage is glossy on top, the color there is a dark green color, on the back side the shading is red.
- Pepper methysticum (Piper methysticum) takes a bushy form of growth and large parameters in height. Shoots begin their growth directly from the thickened rhizome. The leaves grow with semicircular ovoid outlines, with pointed edges. When the specimen is quite adult, the length of its leaf plate can be 25 cm and a width of 20 cm. The length of the spike-shaped inflorescence is measured by seven centimeters, and small flowers are collected in them. It is often actively used in medicine.
- Wild pepper (Piper sylvaticum) looks like a shrub with climbing shoots that cover oblong and oval leaves. Their length is no more than 20 cm with an average width of 12 cm. At the base, the leaf is cordate, at the apex there is a sharpness. The surface of the leaf plate is distinguished by a greenish-bluish color, which is mottled with light specks.
- Saffron pepper (Piper crocatum). This climbing shrub has thin branches. The surface of the leaf is all with tubercles, the general background is dark green, multiple whitish spots appear on it. On the reverse side, there is a pattern of reddish-pink spots, or it is just a red hue. Like other varieties, the inflorescences take a spike-shaped shape, they are collected from small flowers. Because of this decorative color of the foliage, the plant is popular among flower growers as an indoor crop.
- Black pepper (Piper crocatum). This is a shrub with curly and rather thin shoots that cover leaf plates in a regular order. Their shape is oval, the maximum length can reach 15 cm, with an average width of about 5 cm. The surface of the leaf is leathery with several pronounced veins. On the upper side, the leaf plate is painted in a dark green color, and the opposite is shaded with greenish-gray. Hanging inflorescences are collected from small flowers, resembling catkins in their outlines. As a fruit, a pea is formed, which is well known to us in cooking.
- Narrow-leaved pepper (Piper angustifolium) like other varieties, it has climbing shoots and shrub growth. The branches are quite long and well branched. The shape of the leaf plates is lanceolate, the leaves are opposite on the shoot, the color is bright green. From flowers with yellow petals, inflorescences with the outlines of flexible spikelets are collected.
