To get a good harvest of cucumbers, they need proper care. Which? We will tell you about this.
Like other "tenants" of the garden, the cucumber requires constant attention. This culture is not one of those that you can easily forget about for a week. Such inattention, of course, is not fatal, but it will certainly affect the harvest. To minimize possible losses, we highlight the main thing that you should definitely pay attention to.
IN Lately only the lazy does not let go of sharpness against meteorologists, but it must be admitted that short-term forecasts can usually be trusted. And sudden weather changes are happening more and more often. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that you will urgently have to rush to your site to wrap cucumber beds in case of a sharp cold snap or, conversely, open greenhouses when the thermometer makes an unpredictable somersault.
How does the formation of plants
The female flowers that produce fruit directly are mainly formed on lateral shoots. Therefore, in some cases, it becomes necessary to pinch the main shoot for earlier and more friendly fruiting. This is usually necessary in late varieties and when growing cucumbers on a trellis. With the trellis method, in order for the stem to be strong and the leaves large, they pinch (the so-called blinding) shoots and flowers in the axils of the first four true leaves. The next 5-6 shoots are allowed to grow up to 20 cm, then pinch the tops. Another 5-6 shoots can grow up to 30-40 cm, and the next - up to 40-50 cm. It is better not to let the shoots of the second order grow longer than 15-20 cm, since the ovaries develop poorly on very long stems and quickly turn yellow. The main shoot is pinched at a length of 60-80 cm. Short-branched varieties do not need to be formed.
How to properly water cucumbers. Watering cucumbers in the garden
Cucumber, as a native of the tropics, loves high humidity. But only in combination with warmth. In cold weather better cucumbers do not water, as the roots do not absorb moisture well, and it is quite possible to provoke their decay. In different periods of life and watering requires different. Young plants require a moderate amount of moisture before flowering - water about once every 4-5 days as the soil dries. A large amount of water contributes to a more rapid growth of green mass and inhibits the onset of flowering.
But from the moment the ovaries are formed, and especially during the harvest period, it is necessary to water more often, about once every 2-3 days. It should also be borne in mind that beds located near walls or fences dry out faster. For irrigation use only warm water. Plants should never be watered in the sun as this can cause severe burns. The best time for watering is evening. Pour water under the plants very carefully, as a strong stream can injure the root system (we remember that it is located superficially) or over-compact the soil. You can arrange a “rain” from a watering can in the evening on the garden bed, at the same time the air humidity will increase (it is better not to do this in greenhouses). Also to create high humidity(as in your native jungle) place open containers of water between the grooves. It is even better to infuse a “nutritious cocktail” in such vessels: nettle, burdock, dandelion leaves, you can add chicken droppings or manure - and evaporation occurs, and you can use it for top dressing, do not forget to dilute only (no less than 1:10).
Feed for cucumbers. How to properly feed cucumbers in the garden
If you want to get a good harvest, top dressing is necessary. But it is important not to harm with your “good intentions”. Cucumbers need to be fed 5-6 times during the entire growth period. The first top dressing is carried out on seedlings when the second true leaf appears. The second - at the beginning of flowering. Then - during the fruiting period, about once every two weeks. Top dressing should be carried out only in warm weather (in cold weather, nutrients, like water, are poorly absorbed by the roots), always after good watering so as not to burn the root system.
What to feed cucumbers? Can be integrated mineral fertilizers, you can - organic, you can alternate them. Depends on your capabilities and desires. The main thing is that fertilizers should be well dissolved in water. Read and follow the instructions for use carefully.
A good “nutritional cocktail” can be made at any site without material costs. All kinds of weeds (nettles, dandelions, burdocks, etc.) are placed in a plastic container, filled with water (1: 1) and infused for about a week. You can add a little chicken manure or manure (horse, cow). For top dressing, be sure to dilute (1:10).
Priceless fertilizer - wood ash. It has absolutely all mineral elements, necessary for plants and in an accessible form. You can simply sprinkle dry ash on the soil before watering. And you can prepare an ash infusion: 2 tablespoons of ash is poured into 1 liter of water and insisted for a week, stirring occasionally.
By the way, cucumbers themselves can tell you how to feed them. If the fruits look pale, and the tip where the flower was bent or thin, there is not enough nitrogen. If the cucumber poses as a pear (thin towards the tip of the stem and thick at the flower), there is a lack of potassium. But all kinds of curvature indicate violations during irrigation: simply curved fruits are the result of insufficient moisture, and a “thin waist” is formed during irrigation cold water(below +25 °С).
❧ Nitrates - salts of nitric acid, highly soluble in water, are destroyed during heat treatment. Used as fertilizers (nitrate), explosives (ammonites), medicines(nitrovasodilators).
Nitrogen is essential for the normal growth and development of plants. The nitrogen atom is part of almost all organic compounds; without it, the processes of protein synthesis are simply impossible.
For humans, nitrates in certain doses are not poisonous. But the excess of these permissible concentrations in the blood can cause a number of very unpleasant consequences, for example, a significant decrease in blood pressure. The most dangerous thing is that nitrates are converted into nitrites (derivatives of nitrous acid) in the human body, but they can already cause serious poisoning. Here, the total amount of nitrates that enter the body plays an important role. The body of an adult can quite easily cope with a daily dose of nitrates from 15 to 200 mg (about 5 mg per 1 kg of body weight). A dose of 600 mg is toxic for an adult, but 10 mg of nitrates are already dangerous for an infant.
For some reason, there is a strong belief that "greenhouse vegetables and watermelons are stuffed with nitrates at the beginning of summer." This is not entirely true - the prospect of getting a rich harvest of strong vegetables that almost burst from the juice filling them can provoke any gardener to some excess in fertilizer dosages (and the “grandmothers” on the market are no exception). You should also pay attention to the amount of food eaten. Why are poisonings most often associated with watermelons? Yes, because they eat a lot of them at a time.
In order not to be tormented by doubts in the market, and not to look at your crop with suspicion - you still need to fertilize, otherwise there will be “environmentally friendly beds”, but empty, you can advise you to purchase a nitrate meter, or a nitrate tester. A convenient compact device will always allow you to determine the allowable dose of nitrates on the table.
If, due to various circumstances, the content of these chemical compounds exceeds the permissible limits, you should not immediately throw away the crop. It just needs to be cooked: remove the parts with the highest nitrate content (for many vegetables, this is the peel, zones active growth, for example, a cabbage stump, both ends of a cucumber, a stalk of celery, pink flesh near the rind of a watermelon), soak (nitrates pass well into water), boil, stew, fry (nitrates decompose during heat treatment). And for yourself to draw conclusions about the correctness of the feeding.
Cleanliness and tidiness
Keep your beds clean on a regular basis. Weed out the weeds in a timely manner - they not only take a lot of moisture and nutrients, but also become a "shelter" for many pests. Remove yellowed and dried leaves or lashes. It is better to throw them away from the site or burn them, as they can serve as sources of diseases for plants. It is better not to touch healthy lashes if possible, do not shift from place to place. Over time, the stalks of cucumbers in the lower part are exposed. It will be very useful to make "rejuvenation" - and this is not just a cosmetic procedure. Scourges on trellises (plants lying on the soil practically do not have such problems) are lowered a little and pinned (or sprinkled with loose soil or humus), which contributes to the development of adventitious roots and improved nutrition. Loosen the beds must be very careful not to damage the roots. It is better to make punctures with a pitchfork to a depth of 10-15 cm with a strong compaction of the soil. It is useful for cucumbers to mulch the soil with rotted manure, compost or loose fertile soil, it will not be superfluous to add a little wood ash to this mixture.
Harvesting cucumbers
Probably the most enjoyable of the chores is harvesting. Short-fruited varieties are best harvested every other day, and long-fruited varieties after 2-3 days. Such a frequency allows you to collect “marketable” fruits as much as possible, that is, grown just to a size suitable for food (no more than 12 cm long, up to 5 cm in diameter), does not allow a strong overgrowth of those missed in the previous collection (and they are like chameleons - you look, there seems to be nothing, but you slightly change the angle of view, and here it is - hanging). In addition, the timely removal of greens stimulates the formation of new fruits and slows down the aging of the whip.
Like all other manipulations, fruit picking should be done very carefully, better in the morning until the fruits are as juicy as possible. The whips are not lifted and are not shifted from place to place. Cucumbers need to be plucked by pressing on the stalk with your thumb, without pulling it anywhere, and even better, cut it with secateurs.
How to feed cucumbers for good growth Do you dream that cucumbers grow well and give excellent harvest? But you don't want to once again to poison plants with "chemistry"? Then this article is for you. Experienced summer residents try to resort to the use of various "chemistry" in their area as little as possible. This is especially true of such a culture as cucumber, because it is often consumed fresh. There are a lot of familiar and safe types of top dressing for good growth of cucumbers. Learn to apply them correctly and enjoy a good harvest. ️ Fertilizer from bread Fertilizer from bread can rightfully be considered one of the most popular and simple. Everyone has bread at home. How to prepare a top dressing from bread? To prepare a quality fertilizer for cucumbers from bread, fill an ordinary bucket 2/3 with sliced \u200b\u200bcrusts of ordinary black bread, fill it with water and put it under a press in a warm place for about 7-10 days. To properly use the resulting bread sourdough, dilute it three times and add 1 Matchbox universal fertilizer for 12 liters of liquid. With this tool, you can water cucumbers from the beginning of flowering until the onset of wilting once every 7 days. ️ Bread sourdough has an acidic reaction, so it is especially suitable for alkaline soils. To neutralize the acid, you can add chalk or dolomite flour to the starter before diluting with water. ️ Zola Zola is excellent organic fertilizer, accurate chemical composition which is difficult to determine in advance. The fact is that it depends on the type and age of the burnt plant. However, calcium is invariably present in the ashes, which is so necessary for the growth of cucumbers. How and when to use? Ash is added only 5-6 times during the growth period of cucumbers. For the first time, this is done at the very beginning of the formation of the plant, when 2-3 leaves appear on the stem, the next time - at the beginning of flowering, and only then as the fruits grow at intervals of 14 days between top dressing. Ash can be used in two forms: ** dry ash; **ash infusion. Sprinkle dry ash on the soil before watering the plants. To prepare the ash infusion, pour 10 tbsp. l. ash 5 liters of water and infuse for 8-10 days, stirring the infusion regularly. Feeding advice from practitioners Any feeding of cucumbers should be carried out only in warm weather after watering the plants, so as not to harm the root system of plants. It is impossible to simultaneously introduce ash and nitrogen-containing compounds - a lot of ammonia will be released, and the plants may die. For top dressing, it is strictly forbidden to use the ash resulting from the burning of polymers, rubber, paper, garbage, etc. ️ Yeast Yeast dressing for cucumbers is used quite often, because it has a lot of advantages: + increases the endurance of seedlings with a lack of light; + improves root formation; + is a source of natural bacteria that increase plant immunity; + is an excellent plant growth stimulator. How to prepare yeast nutrition? Preparing yeast fertilizer is easy and simple: 1) take 10 g of dry yeast and dissolve it in 10 liters of warm water; 2) add to the solution about 2 tbsp. l. Sahara; 3) let it brew for 2-2.5 hours and dilute with 50 liters of water. How and when to use yeast nutrition? Cucumbers respond well to yeast supplements, after their application, they quickly increase the vegetative mass and fruit ovaries. For the entire growing period, apply this fertilizer no more than 2 times: 1. approximately 12-14 days after transplanting seedlings into the ground; 2. after phosphorus feeding. ️Chicken manure This type of fertilizer can rightly be considered one of the most affordable for any owner of the site. In addition, chicken manure contains a large number of such important and necessary nutrients for plants as phosphorus, nitrogen, zinc, copper. How and when to use chicken manure? This fertilizer can be used both diluted and dry. Experienced summer residents advise using fertilizer based on chicken manure 3 times per season: * the first time - in May-June (at the beginning of the growing season); * the second time - during flowering; * the third time - during active fruiting. Applying dry chicken manure is easy and simple. It is better to do this at the beginning or end of the season. You can use whole or crushed litter. Apply it to the soil for digging at the rate of 500 g per 1 sq.m. Often summer residents use an infusion of chicken manure on their plots. It is not difficult to prepare it: 1. fill the container 1/3 with chicken manure and add water to the top; 2. let the mixture brew for 2-4 days, stirring it constantly; 3. Dilute the finished fertilizer with water (1:3 or 1:4) and apply to the beds at the rate of 1.5 liters per 1 sq.m. To make chicken manure decompose faster, you can add Tamir or Baikal-M preparations to it (at the rate of 1 tablespoon of the drug per bucket of water). Zelenka + iodine In search of safe and effective solutions, summer residents find unusual applications familiar means and things. So, experienced gardeners successfully use iodine and brilliant green to combat various diseases cucumbers. To get rid of root rot, first dilute 10 drops of brilliant green in a bucket of water and water the plants with this solution. Then dilute 10 ml of iodine in 10 liters of water and also spray the shoots and leaves of cucumbers with this composition. Another option for using these products also allows you to protect plants from root rot: dilute 1 part of iodine or brilliant green in 2 parts of water and grease the cucumber stem 10 cm from the ground with the resulting solution. Just two such treatments are enough to get rid of the fungus that causes the disease. The secret of brilliant green and its antiseptic properties in copper, which is part of the drug. Copper not only protects plants, but is also an excellent fertilizer for cucumbers. This fertilizer will be especially useful on swampy soils. From powdery mildew on cucumbers, a simple recipe can save: mix 9 liters of water and 1 liter of low-fat milk, dissolve 10-12 drops of iodine in them and treat the plants with the resulting solution. ️ Home fertilizer for cucumbers An infusion of onion peel can also be attributed to an effective and simple home fertilizer for cucumbers. Such top dressing is especially relevant if the leaves of the plants begin to turn yellow. To prepare the infusion, pour a glass of onion peel 8 liters of water, put on fire, bring to a boil and cover with a lid. Let the mass infuse for 3-4 hours. Then strain the infusion and pour over the cucumbers under the root. If you irrigate plants with such a composition, then you will get an excellent foliar top dressing, which, moreover, will protect cucumbers from various diseases. Means against yellowing of leaves From premature yellowing of leaves of cucumbers, a solution of ordinary soda can save. Just dilute 1 tbsp. l. soda in 10 liters of water and pour the solution over your plantings. If 1 tsp. dissolve soda in 1 liter of water and spray cucumbers with this composition, then you will get an excellent prophylactic against powdery mildew. You can also stop the yellowing of cucumber leaves with kefir. To do this, dilute 2 liters of kefir in a bucket of water and spray your plants with the resulting composition. For good growth and development of cucumbers, it is not at all necessary to apply complex formulations And chemicals. Often things that are familiar in everyday life store a lot of useful properties.
For a rich harvest of cucumbers, and so that the plants are always in good condition, they must be fed with organic, mineral and micronutrient fertilizers. The condition of plants should be monitored regularly and fertilized to compensate for the lack of nutrients, to protect against pests, and to prevent diseases. Three or four fertilizing with organic and mineral fertilizers will make cucumber plants healthy, help them form delicious fruits, not get sick and resist any vagaries of the weather.
When do you start feeding cucumbers?
How to feed cucumbers on a leaf
Cucumber is very responsive to foliar feeding, especially when cold weather. The fact is that at soil temperatures below 14 ° C, part of the nutrients passes into hard-to-reach compounds.
It would be nice to carry out a one-time foliar top dressing and micronutrient fertilizers.
Effective foliar spraying on the leaves with such a solution: 5 g of ammonium nitrate, 10 g of superphosphate, 10 g of potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water. You can also use highly soluble in water complex fertilizers, in abundance presented in country stores: Kemira-lux , Kemira combi , Mortar , Crystallon etc. When using, carefully read the instructions for use!
Galina Kuzmitskaya, breeder, candidate of agricultural sciences
Top dressing cucumbers in the open field (video)
About how and what to feed cucumbers in open field after a cold snap, look at. In the open field, cucumbers are subject to various vagaries of the weather: the scorching sun gives way to heavy rains, withering winds blow, night and day temperatures fluctuate sharply. Especially on the development of cucumbers, cooling can adversely affect, due to low temperatures, plants slow down in growth, both the root system and the aerial part suffer. Therefore, as soon as the temperature rises, cucumbers are fed. For root dressing use from. For foliar spraying, the biopreparation HB-101 is used, which stimulates the immune system of the plant, improves the color of the foliage, and strengthens the shoots.
Read about feeding cucumbers and tomatoes in protected ground in the articles:
Empty flowers, a small number and deformation of fruits on cucumbers indicate a lack of nutrition in the soil. Top dressing of cucumbers during fruiting is carried out in several ways: spraying on the leaf and watering with nutrient mixtures.
At this time, cucumbers need potash fertilizers and nitrogen. They are used every week in turn.
At proper care and regular top dressing, cucumbers can continuously and abundantly bear fruit for several months.
Potash fertilizer for cucumbers
During active fruiting, cucumbers need a lot of potassium. The most accessible source ash or humate potassium.
It is better not to mix them with other types of fertilizers, but to apply separately. One week you need to feed the cucumbers with green infusion, the second with potassium, and the third with yeast.
Dosage:
- 1 glass of ash
- 10 liters of warm water
- 0.5 teaspoon potassium humate
- 10 liters of water
Stir and water the bed generously. Potassium will improve taste qualities fruits, there will be no voids in them. Cucumbers will not be bitter and deformed.
Feeding cucumbers with yeast
Cucumbers are watered with mash 3-4 times per season from the moment the first fruits are set. Yeast is also better not to mix with manure, potassium or azophos.
Dosage:
- 100 grams of yeast
- 5 liters of warm water
- half a glass of sugar
Mix thoroughly and leave for a couple of hours to ferment. Dilute the working solution 1:5 and pour over damp soil at the rate of 1 liter per plant.
The leaves on the cucumbers will become large, healthy, many new flowers will appear, and the fruits will be well tied.
Fertilizing Cucumbers with Fermented Green Manure
Literally 3 days after fermented watering herbal infusion, the plants will start to grow sharply, a huge number of flowers and ovaries will appear. How to prepare green miracle tea for cucumbers?
Everything is extremely simple: we take any green grass, preferably juicy, freshly cut, and place it in a large BLACK plastic bag without holes. Close tightly and leave in the sun for 2 days.
During this time, the grass in the bag will heat up to a temperature of 60-70 degrees, the process of fermentation and decomposition is actively taking place in it. And pests and pathogenic bacteria will die.
After 2 days, open the bag and transfer the grass to a bucket. We fill the bucket halfway with grass and fill it with water.
Leave for an hour or two to ferment. Feed the cucumbers undiluted with this solution. One plant will need one and a half liters of this fermented “tea”.
This fertilizer is also great for peppers and eggplants, as well as tomatoes. Weak plants react especially quickly to such “tea drinking”. Literally 3 days after watering, you will not recognize them!
