Care of cucumber plant
How to Grow and Plant Cucumbers
Learn expert tips for growing cucumbers in your vegetable garden. Cucumber is a relatively easy plant to grow and really easy to eat!
A tropical vegetable, cucumbers thrive when the weather is hot and water is plentiful. Growing cucumbers is for warmer weather: Plants are so frost-tender that they shouldn't be set into the garden until soil temperatures are reliably in the 70-degree range (no less than 2 weeks after the last frost date).
Cucumber plants grow in two forms: vining and bush. Vines scramble along the ground or clamber up trellises, while bush types, such as Burpless Bush Hybrid, form a more compact plant. Generally, vining cucumbers yield more fruit throughout the growing season. Bush selections are especially suited to containers and small gardens. You can increase the season's yield of bush varieties by planting several crops in succession 2 weeks apart.
Whether you want a cucumber for slicing or pickling, Bonnie Plants® has a variety to suit your taste. Lemon cucumber offers smaller fruits perfect for a single serving, while Boston Pickling boasts classic heirloom taste. The long Armenian cucumber is a specialty cucumber prized for taste and the fact that a single cucumber yields so many slices. Whichever cucumber variety you choose, you can rest assured that you'll get a strong start with Bonnie Plants, a company that has been around for over 100 years.
Quick Guide to Growing Cucumbers
- Plant cucumbers when average daily temperatures reach the mid-70s° F.
- Space cucumbers 36 to 60 inches apart (12 inches apart for trellised plants) in an area with abundant sun and fertile, well-drained soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8.
- Improve native soil by mixing in several inches of aged compost or other rich organic matter.
- Cucumbers will grow quickly with little care. Be sure they receive an inch of water every week.
- Make the most of your food growing efforts by regularly feeding plants with a water-soluble plant food.
- When soil is warm, add a layer of straw mulch to keep fruit clean and help keep slugs and beetles away.
- Harvest cucumbers when they are big enough to eat.
Soil, Planting, and Care
Cucumbers need warm, fertile soil with a pH of 6.0 to 6.8, although they will tolerate a bit more alkaline soil to 7.6. To improve the soil and help create the root environment needed for a big harvest, work several inches of aged compost-enriched Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics® All Purpose In-Ground Soil into the top few inches of your existing garden soil. (Compost or composted manure will work, too.) Plant seedlings 36 to 60 inches apart, depending on variety (check the stick tag). For vines trained on a trellis, space plants 1 foot apart.
In areas where spring is long and cool, you can warm the soil 3 to 4 degrees by covering the hill or row with black plastic.If you do not plant in black plastic, then mulch with pine straw, wheat straw, chopped leaves, or your favorite organic mulch shortly after planting.
If the weather is unseasonably cool, you can wait a while to mulch until the ground is warmed by the sun. Mulch is especially important to keep the fruit clean for bush types and vines not growing on a trellis. Straw mulch is also thought to be uncomfortable for slugs and creates an uneasy footing for cucumber beetles, helping to keep them at bay.
If you can, trellis your vines. This keeps the fruit clean and saves space. A 12- to 18-inch diameter cage made from 4- or 5-foot welded wire fencing or hog wire will support 2 or 3 vines. Wire is easy for the tendrils of climbing cucumbers to grab as the plant grows.
Cucumbers grow fast and don't demand a lot of care. Just keep the soil consistently moist with an inch of water per week (more if temperatures sizzle and rain is scarce). Inadequate or inconsistent moisture causes oddly shaped or poor-tasting fruit. If possible, water your cucumbers with a soaker hose or drip irrigation to keep the foliage dry. This helps prevent leaf diseases that can ruin the plant.
For best results, high quality plant food is just as important as starting with great soil. You can fertilize with a water-soluble food, such as Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics® Edibles Plant Nutrition, applying it directly to soil around plant stems. Or, you can use a continuous-release fertilizer, like Miracle-Gro® Performance Organics® Edibles Plant Nutrition Granules, worked into the soil. Both plant foods feed both your plants and the beneficial microbes in the soil that help them thrive. Either way, be sure to follow label directions.
Troubleshooting
If vines bloom but don't fruit, something is probably interfering with pollination. First, make sure that you see both male and female blooms. Male blooms usually appear first and then drop off, so don't be alarmed if this happens. Within a week or two, female flowers will also appear; each one has a small cucumber-shaped swelling at the base that will become a cucumber. If you're still not seeing those swellings turn into fruit, you may need to do a bit of hand-pollination.
Several pests bother cucumbers. Squash bugs may attack seedlings. Slugs like ripening fruit. Aphids can colonize leaves and buds. Straw mulch helps keep slugs at bay, as can trellising vines to get the fruit off the ground. Vines are also bothered by cucumber beetles, which chew holes in leaves and flowers and scar stems and fruits, but worse than that, they spread a disease that causes the plants to wilt and die. Powdery mildew is a disease that leaves white, mildew-like patches on the leaves. Apply fungicides at the first sign of its presence. To minimize disease spread, avoid harvesting or handling vines when leaves are wet.
Harvest and Storage
You can pick cucumbers whenever they're big enough to use. Check vines daily as the fruit starts to appear because they enlarge quickly. Vines produce more fruit the more you harvest. To remove the fruit, use a knife or clippers, cutting the stem above the fruit. Pulling them may damage the vine. Don't let the cucumbers get oversized or they will be bitter, and will also keep the vine from producing more.
Yellowing at the bottom (blossom end) of a cucumber signals overripeness; remove the fruit immediately. Harvest lemon cucumbers just before they begin turning yellow. Although they are called lemon cucumber because the little oblong or round fruits turn yellow and look like a lemon, by the time the fruit turns yellow it may be a little too seedy for most tastes.
You can keep harvested cucumbers in the refrigerator for 7 to 10 days, but use them as soon as possible after picking for best flavor. If you don't eat a slicing cucumber all at once, cover the unused portion in plastic wrap to prevent dehydration in the refrigerator. In fact, it's a good idea to wrap your whole cucumbers in plastic or store them in a zipper bag in the fridge to keep them crisp.
Cucumbers grown on a trellis are clean and easy to pick. Use a trellis slender enough for tendrils to grab. Cattle panels work beautifully for this purpose.Set cucumber transplants at the base of your trellis, and mulch after planting unless the soil could use a little more warming.
Cucumbers bear male and female flowers. Female blooms have a small swelling at the base, the makings of a fruit.Cucumbers on a trellis are clean and easy to pick. Use a trellis small enough for tendrils to grab.Short vines make this plant ideal for a variety of containers.FAQs
I read that cucumbers can be planted in hills. How do I do this?
Make a hill before planting the cucumber. Just a small rise in the ground is adequate. Build the hill, or mound, about a foot in diameter and about three inches high; this is to drain water from around the stem. Plant the cucumber in the mound.
Should you stake cucumbers?
Stakes or cages hold plants up from the ground. Cucumber vines have little tendrils that will grab a string or wire and climb up a wire cage or trellis. Staking makes it easier to pick the cucumbers and keeps them cleaner than if they are on the ground.
Which varieties of cucumbers can be grown in containers?
Use our bush-type cucumber because it is more compact and is bred for containers and small gardens.
The vines do not grow as long as standard types.
My cucumbers bloomed but failed to set fruit. Why does this happen?
This is a pollination problem. The flowers must be pollinated to set fruit. Did you use a pesticide that might have killed bees that pollinate the flowers? Look to see if any bees are visiting your plants in the morning. This is when they are most active.
Why do my cucumbers taste bitter?
Some varieties grown under stressful conditions — weather that is too warm or too cool, poor soil fertility, or disease — can develop a bitter flavor. The same thing will happen to fruit that is left on the vine too long and is overmature. To help minimize the potential for bitterness, plant varieties that are not prone to becoming bitter, such as Armenian cucumber, lemon cucumber, small pickling varieties (like Boston pickling), or “burpless” slicing varieties.
It is cold in the spring where I live. How do I protect my cucumbers from the chill?
Cucumbers are sensitive to frost.
Plant at least two weeks after all danger of frost has passed. You can use plastic sheeting on the ground to help retain the earth's heat. You can also cover plants with a row cover until they start blooming, if needed. After flowers appear you have to uncover them for the bees.
How often should I water my cucumbers?
Water often enough to keep the soil slightly moist all the time. Cucumbers will be small and can taste bitter if they get stressed for water. Mulch the soil around the plants to keep in moisture. It also keeps the fruit clean.
When should I harvest pickling type cucumbers?
Pickling cucumbers should be harvested when the fruit reaches 3 to 4 inches in length; for big pickles let them get 6 to 7 inches long if they are still tender.
Cucumbers Growing Cucumbers Growing Techniques Summer Garden Urban Gardening Vegetables
The 7 Secrets To Growing Cucumbers
When it comes to growing cucumbers, following a few key tips can make all the difference between struggling plants, or a massive harvest.
And if you love cucumbers, a big harvest means plenty of cukes for salads, fresh eating, pickling and more! Here is a look at 7 key tips to help you grow your best crop ever:
#1 Plant For Early Morning Sun
Cucumbers need a lot of sunlight to produce a bumper crop. Cucumbers rely heavily on photosynthesis to build strong, sturdy and productive vines. A process that is centered around the sun entirely.
Locate your crop in an area that receives a minimum of 8 hours of sunlight each day. And if at all possible, make sure your plants receive early morning sunlight.
Check Out Our Podcast On How To Grow Amazing Cucumbers!
Early morning sunlight helps to dry off vines and foliage from early morning dew. Dew that if left to linger, can create the perfect conditions for mildew and blight.
#2 Great Soil = Great Cucumbers
Whether planted in the ground or in containers, cucumbers need rich, fertile soil to grow strong and thrive. In addition, that soil needs to be light and airy to allow for good drainage.
When planting, add in 6 to 8 cups (a few shovels) of compost to each planting hole. Compost adds vital nutrients that can easily be absorbed by the cucumber plants. But even more, it also loosens the soil to create excellent drainage.
Cucumbers thrive in loose, fertile soil that drains well. By adding compost at planting time, you can help to build soil with those exact qualities.From pitchforks to shovels and more, there are a wide range of gardening tools that can work well to work the compost in.
Want to build even more power? Add in a quarter cup of worm castings to the compost. The worm castings / compost combo can make a huge difference in the health and productivity of plants.
#3 Plant In Mounds
When planting directly in the soil, plant your crop in slightly tapered hills. In containers, make sure the primary stem is planted above the surrounding soil as well.
Cucumber plants are highly susceptible to rot. But a bit of “raised planting” helps keep the main plant stem out of sitting water during heavy rains or watering.
Create tapered mounds approximately 18″ in diameter, that are 3″ to 4″ high in the middle. And remember – add in that compost!
#4 Transplants Vs. Direct Seeding
Although cucumbers can be grown easily by direct seeding, we prefer starting our seeds early and transplanting. The added growth and strength of a transplant gives the plant a better chance to avoid and fight dreaded cucumber beetle attacks.
Transplants can help give you a better chance against cucumber beetles than direct seeding.When planting, plant two transplants per cucumber mound. If seeding, plant 3 seeds and thin to the 2 strongest after a few weeks. By growing multiple vines per mound, they intertwine for added strength.
#5 Be Careful What You Plant Nearby
What you plant around your cucumbers will play an important role in their productivity. One thing to avoid for sure is growing cucumbers near potatoes.
Potatoes release a substance in the soil that greatly hinders the growth of cucumbers. And planting them nearby can have devastating effects on your cucumber crop.
Planting radish seeds around your cucumber plants an help stave off beetle attacks.But there are some crops that are highly beneficial, like radishes. When grown nearby or with cucumbers, radishes help to repel harmful insects like cucumber beetles and aphids that attack tender cucumber plants.
When planting cucumbers, simply seed 5 to 10 radish seeds on the edges of your mounds. The seeds germinate fast, and will help stave away the beetles. (See: Companion Planting 101)
#6 Crop Rotation
Cucumbers, much like tomatoes and peppers, can easily develop soil borne disease when planted in the same space year after year.
Rotate your crop each season to help keep plants healthy and strong.Rotate your crop to a new location in the garden each season. This allows the soil to recover, minimizes disease, and reduces the possibility for long-term infestation.
For best results, wait at least three years before rotating back to plant cucumbers in the same location.
#7 Harvest Regularly
Once cucumber plants begin to grow and produce, they need to be picked on a regular basis to continue to produce.
When overloaded with a harvest, plants will instead put their energy towards making existing fruit larger, and not into producing new blooms.
Harvest regularly to keep the energy of plants concentrated on producing new blooms.In addition, cucumbers left on the vine too long will become woody, full of seeds, and bitter. Check plants daily, cukes can go from 2″ inches to 12″ in just a day or two!
A bit of slow and steady fertilizing can help to keep plants producing as well. Apply a light dose of compost tea or organic fertilizer ever 2 weeks until plants begin to form their first cucumbers. Once they begin to fruit, fertilizing can cease. Product Link : Dr. Earth’s Organic Fertilizer
There you have it, seven huge secrets for growing cucumbers successfully.
Now get out there and grow your best crop ever!
Happy Gardening! – Jim and Mary
As always, feel free to email us at [email protected] with comments, questions, or to simply say hello! You can sign up for our free email list in the subscribe now box in the middle of this article. Follow us on Facebook here : OWG Facebook. This article may contain affiliate links.
planting and care, how to grow from seeds in open ground, photo
Author: Elena N. https://floristics.info/ru/index.php?option=com_contact&view=contact&id=19 Category: garden plants reprinted: Last amendments:
Content
- Planting and cucumber care
- Botanical description
- Growing cucumbers from seeds
- How to sew seeds
- Comments
Plant common cucumber , or common cucumber (lat.
Cucumis sativus) , is a herbaceous annual species of the genus Cucumber of the Cucurbitaceae family, a vegetable crop widely grown throughout the world. The name of the plant comes from the Greek word agouros, which means “immature”, that is, at the etymological level, the name is assigned the concept that the cucumber is eaten unripe, that is, green, as opposed to, for example, a tomato, which is not eaten green. The cucumber vegetable has been cultivated for over 6,000 years. It comes from India, where it still grows wild at the foot of the Himalayas. Planting and caring for cucumbers
- Planting: sowing seeds for seedlings - in April, planting seedlings in the ground - in early or mid-May.
- Lighting: bright or partial shade.
- Soil: Highly fertile, well-drained, low nitrogen, neutral to slightly alkaline.
- Predecessors: the best - green manure, onions, cabbage, tomatoes.
Unwanted - lagenaria and any pumpkin crops. - Watering: the first time after transplanting seedlings into the ground - frequent, after rooting - once every 5-7 days at a flow rate of 3 to 6 liters of water per m², during the flowering period - once every 2-3 days with a double water consumption per unit area.
- Top dressing: 6-8 times per season with organic and mineral fertilizers. Do not fertilize during periods of extreme cold.
- Garter: horizontal and vertical. They begin to tie the whips to the supports almost immediately after planting the cucumbers in the ground.
- Pinching: in the open field, to stimulate the growth of lateral vines, pinch the shoots above the 5-6th leaf.
- Stepping: at the 3-4 leaf development stage, then at the 8-leaf development stage, then at the 12-leaf formation stage.
- Reproduction: seed.
- Pests: aphids, gall nematodes, cutworms, mole crickets, tobacco thrips, spider mites, sprout flies, wireworms.
- Diseases: anthracnoch, ascochyta, verticillium, powdery mildew, downy mildew, blackleg, gray rot, black rot, olive spot and ring mosaic virus.
Read more about growing cucumbers below
Botanical description
Cucumber stem is rough, creeping, reaching two meters in length and ending with a mustache, with which the plant clings to a support. Leaves are five-lobed, heart-shaped. The fruit is emerald green, bubbly, juicy, multi-seeded, with a structure characteristic of Cucurbitaceae. The shape and size of the fruit varies depending on the variety.
Despite the fact that the cucumber is 95% water, it contains useful trace elements - iron, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium and vitamins - C, B1, B2, provitamin A. Cucumber juice is a structured liquid that perfectly removes toxins and toxins and beneficial effect on the state of the human body.
Cucumbers are a source of iodine in compounds that are easily digestible. Growing cucumbers from seeds
How to sow seeds
Growing cucumber seedlings allows you to speed up fruiting in the open field by 2 weeks, and also prolongs the fruiting period. Even if you know how to grow cucumber seedlings, after reading the recommendations in this article, you will be able to compare your experience and knowledge with ours, and maybe you will learn something that you did not know yet.
Seeds for seedlings are sown in April. Seeds of cucumbers, when properly stored, do not lose their germination for 8-10 years, but three-four-year-old seeds are considered the most productive. Seedling material for seedlings should consist of full-weight large seeds that have been heated for a month near heaters at a temperature of about 25 ºC. This does not apply to seeds of hybrid varieties - they do not need to be warmed up before planting.
Planting cucumbers for seedlings is also preceded by disinfection of seeds by immersing them for an hour in an infusion of 100 g of water and 30 g of garlic pulp.
After disinfection, the seeds for swelling are wrapped in a damp cloth and kept at a temperature of 20 ºC for 48 hours, after which they are placed in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator for the same period. Seeds ready for sowing are laid out in peat-muck or plastic cups 10-12 cm high, filled to the top with coco substrate or soil, which must be prepared in advance: thoroughly mix 2 parts of humus, 1 part of sawdust, 2 parts of peat and for 10 liters of such soil mixture add 2 tablespoons of wood ash and one and a half tablespoons of nitrophoska. In each cup, one hatched seed is laid out with the spout up so that during germination, the peel of the seed remains in the soil.
It is not necessary to sow the seeds deep, it is enough to cover them with a layer of soil mixture 5-10 mm thick, after which the sowing should be moistened, covered with paper and kept at a temperature of 22-28 ºC. Seedlings will be ready for transplanting into open ground in 3-4 weeks.
If you put the seeds not in plastic cups, but in peat or peat tablets with a diameter of 41-44 cm, you will not have to bother with picking, but it should be noted that cucumbers do not like this procedure. Growing seedlings
Caring for cucumber seedlings involves watering, fertilizing, picking seedlings if you grow them in boxes, cassettes or plastic cups, and artificial lighting will almost certainly be needed. When shoots appear, the temperature in the room is lowered to 20-22 ºC during the day and to 15-16 ºC at night, and the seedlings are provided with additional lighting with fluorescent or agro-lamps so that the seedlings do not stretch.
- Tomatoes: growing from seeds in the garden
At the stage of formation of two true leaves in seedlings, fertilizer for cucumbers of this composition is applied to soil : 3 teaspoons of nitroammophoska are dissolved in three liters of water at a temperature of 20 ºC. And a day or two before planting seedlings in the ground, they are fed with a solution of 15 g of urea, 10 g of potassium fertilizer and 40 g of superphosphate in 10 liters of water, spending this amount of feeding on about 2 m² of soil.
As for watering seedlings , during the entire growing period it is carried out once a week, and the soil is shed completely, and the excess liquid must be drained - for this it is convenient to keep containers on a pallet. If the seedlings grow quickly, and you do not intend to swoop down on them, pour some soil into their cups for stability.
Picking cucumbers
Cucumber picks are not very fond of, so follow our advice and grow cucumber seedlings in peat pots or tablets, but if for some reason you decide to sow seeds in boxes, then picking cannot be avoided, and it is carried out in the phase development of two true leaves in seedlings. Before diving cucumbers, the soil in the box is well watered, then the seedling is very carefully taken out, trying not to shake the soil from the roots, and transplanted into a separate container, immersing the root and part of the stem into a depression made in the soil along the cotyledon leaves.
After picking, the soil around the seedling is compacted in such a way that the seedling cannot be easily pulled out of the ground.
When transplanting, twisted and diseased plants are rejected, however, it should be remembered that picking delays the development of seedlings for 5-7 days. If weather conditions and the level of development of seedlings allow, dive seedlings directly into open ground to a permanent place. Or dive seedlings into peat pots so that they can be transplanted into open ground when the time comes, along with the container. A week before planting seedlings in the ground, they begin to accustom them to the outdoor environment, taking them out into the fresh air for several hours every day, not forgetting to protect them from wind and drafts at first. Also, before planting in the ground, it is advisable to treat the seedlings for preventive purposes with Immunocytophyte or Epin.
Growing at home
For growing cucumbers at home, you should choose varieties that do not require pollination, and cluster and medium climbing cucumbers are best located on the windowsills. Optimal for apartment conditions are varieties Domashny, Rytova, Masha, Room, Marfinsky, Bianka, and hybrids of Claudia and Marinda.
If you want to get fresh, self-grown gherkins for the New Year's table, you need to sow cucumber seeds at the end of October, and if you need them by March 8, sow cucumbers in January. It usually takes 45-50 days from the moment of emergence of seedlings to the ripening of the first cucumbers.
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Before sowing, cucumber seeds are treated: they are disinfected in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15-20 minutes, after which they are washed with running water. Then the seeds are laid out in individual seedling cups with a diameter of 6-8 cm with a drainage layer in the form of coarse sand or expanded clay and a light nutrient mixture seasoned with rotted organic matter - it is best to purchase ready-made soil mixture for cucumber seedlings in the store.
The soil is poured with boiling water directly in the cups, then the substrate is allowed to cool and then the seeds are laid out on the surface, covered with damp gauze and placed on the southern or eastern windowsill.
They contain containers at a temperature of 17-22 ºC at night and 22-26 ºC during the day, protecting from drafts and constantly keeping the gauze moist. After a few days, when tiny sprouts appear on the seeds lying in the cups, make a hole 1 cm deep in the center of the soil surface, put the germinated seed in it and cover it with soil, and cover the cups so that moisture does not evaporate from the soil, cover with paper or film. After the emergence of seedlings, the coating is removed. If you do not have the opportunity to illuminate the seedlings, you will have to lower the temperature in the room to 15-17 ºC during the day and 13-15 at night so that they do not stretch out. Watering seedlings is carried out as the topsoil dries up.
At the three-leaf stage, seedlings are carefully transplanted one at a time into larger containers - flower pots with a diameter of 25 cm or buckets, for example. The transplant is carried out on a cloudy day, after which the plants are shaded from the sun for 2-3 days.
As soon as the first ovaries are found, the cucumbers are fertilized: 100 g of wood ash is thoroughly mixed in one liter of hot water and infused for a day, after which the potted soil is poured with this composition. Pinching off the side shoots that appear on the central lash. One plant should carry no more than two lashes that need to be tied up: the easiest way is to pull a large-mesh construction mesh over the window, for which the growing lash will cling with a mustache.
Water the cucumbers after the topsoil dries out early in the morning or in the evening with warm water at about 27-30 ºC. It is very important to maintain a balance of moisture in the soil, since rot can develop from its excess in the roots, and from a lack of moisture, the fruits will be bitter. When cucumbers appear, do not let them outgrow, and then the next fruits will begin to form and develop faster.
Planting cucumbers in open ground
When to plant
Planting cucumbers in the ground is carried out not earlier than the seedlings develop 3-4 true leaves, and the soil warms up to 20-24 ºC and warm weather sets in.
Usually all these signs appear in mid-May. The area reserved for cucumbers should be protected from the wind, well lit by the sun, although partial shade is also acceptable. If there is a possibility of night frosts or a sharp cold snap, the cucumbers planted in the ground will have to be covered with a film, for which metal arcs are dug in throughout the garden, on which, if necessary, covering material is thrown. Also, close to the holes along the beds, a trellis is installed or a large-mesh net is dug in, along which the cucumber liana will climb up. - The reason for the ugly seedlings of cucumbers is old seeds (photo)
Cucumber Soil
Cucumber soil should be well-drained, fertile, low in nitrogen. Acidic soil should be limed before planting. Cucumbers grow best in a soil mixture of 6 parts of peat, to which one part of humus, sawdust and soddy soil is added, but in principle any soil is suitable for cucumbers. The main thing is that it be loose and warm, and for this you need to arrange beds 25 cm high for cucumbers, directed from east to west with a slight slope to the south.
The day before planting cucumbers, the formed beds are watered with a solution of a teaspoon of copper sulfate in 10 liters of almost boiling water, spending three liters per 1 m². The best predecessors for cucumbers are green manure, tomatoes, onions and cabbage, but plants such as pumpkin, watermelon, melon, zucchini, zucchini, lagenaria and other Cucurbitas are undesirable as predecessors for cucumbers.
How to plant in the ground
How to plant seedlings of cucumbers and is it necessary to fertilize the soil on the site before that? Since the root system of cucumbers is unbranched, fertilizers are applied directly at the time of planting: holes are made in the beds 40 cm deep at a distance of 60 cm from each other, a layer of soil mixed with compost or humus is poured into them, then a layer of fertile soil without fertilizer is added, seedlings with an earthen clod are transferred to it or a peat pot with seedlings is placed in the hole, the hole is covered with soil and watered at the rate of 3 liters of water per plant.
In the future, the plot with cucumbers can be mulched with peat or grass, which will attract earthworms to the plot, supplying the soil with humus, or you can cover the aisles with black ground cover to reduce the evaporation of moisture from the surface of the plot and slightly increase the temperature of the soil.
Greenhouse cultivation
Indoor hybrid varieties such as Ant, Marinda, Twiksi, Halli, Murashko, Bidretta and Buyan are used for greenhouse cultivation of early cucumbers. In order to get a crop of cucumbers as early as possible, manure beds are arranged in the greenhouse, which are called hot, or compost beds are warm.
If you have fresh cow dung, put it in a high bed in the greenhouse, cover with at least 25 cm of fertile soil on top and water abundantly, then spread cucumber seeds at a rate of 4 plants per m². Seeds of hybrid varieties do not need pre-sowing treatment. Close up the seeds of cucumbers by 1-2 cm, after which supporting arcs are installed on the bed, on which light covering material is laid.
Thanks to manure that warms the soil, the first shoots appear after 3-4 days. During the day, you need to briefly raise the shelter to ventilate the seedlings. Keep an eye on the temperature of the soil and air in the greenhouse - it can change dramatically and unexpectedly with the weather. The optimum temperature for the development of seedlings in a greenhouse is 18-30 ºC. If the temperature rises higher, the cucumbers will simply burn. In addition to the bottom heating of the beds, seedlings may need additional lighting.
If you do not have manure, instead of a hot bed, you can make a warm bed according to the same principle, only in this case, garden compost is placed under the soil layer instead of manure. Since the soil temperature will not be so high, planting cucumbers in the greenhouse is carried out with already sprouted seeds, right in peat cups or tablets. In cold regions, it is better to arrange manure beds, and in warmer areas, compost beds will be enough.
Further care for cucumbers in the greenhouse is carried out in the same way as for plants in the open field. Caring for cucumbers
Growing conditions
At first, after planting in the ground, cucumber seedlings need frequent watering and shading from sunlight, and in case of a sharp cold snap, they will need shelter - when the temperature drops to 15 ºC, cucumbers slow down growth, and when 10 ºC development stops altogether. After watering, it is desirable to loosen the soil in the area while hilling the bushes, but this must be done carefully, since the root system of cucumbers is located in the upper soil layer. Mulch covering the area allows you to loosen the soil less often or without loosening the soil at all, and also reduces the need for frequent watering and inhibits the growth of weeds. It is advisable to pinch cucumbers for open ground over 5-6 leaves to stimulate the growth of lateral lashes.
Watering
Before flowering cucumbers are watered every 5-7 days at the rate of 3 to 6 liters per m².
When flowering begins, cucumbers need to be watered more often (once every 2-3 days) and more abundantly (6-12 liters per 1 m²). Watering is carried out with settled warm water (about 25 ºC) early in the morning or in the evening. If the water is poorly absorbed into the soil, make punctures in the aisle with a pitchfork to a depth of 10-15 cm - the water should soak the soil to a depth of 20-30 cm. You need to water the cucumbers under the root, trying not to fall on the leaves. So that the jet of water does not erode the soil and does not expose the roots, watering is carried out with a watering can with a divider nozzle. The main thing in watering is balance: remember that due to insufficient moisture, cucumbers grow bitter, and fungal diseases occur from excessive moisture, so before watering cucumbers, make sure that they really need it.
How to tie cucumbers
Growing cucumbers in the open field is carried out in two ways - horizontally or vertically.
Among the vertical methods, there are several witty and even exotic ones. For example, growing cucumbers in leaky barrels, in plastic bags, in a hut or under a black film. Since cucumbers are vines, they need to be tied, a procedure that saves space, avoids contracting certain diseases, and makes harvesting easier. They begin to tie cucumbers to a support in the development phase of 3-4 leaves, in fact, almost immediately after planting in open ground. Like cucumber growing methods, the garter can also be horizontal and vertical. With horizontal tying method , several rows of strong rope or wire are pulled between the two-meter poles driven in at the beginning and end of the row, along which the lashes will rise as they grow.
Vertical method involves the installation of a U-shaped structure on the bed, which consists of two dug-in strong vertical supports with a wire stretched between their upper points, to which ropes will be tied around the stems of cucumbers growing below.
These ropes can be pulled up as the whips grow, but there is no need to pull them hard. Instead of ropes, it is better to use wide fabric ribbons - they will not injure plants in strong winds. Cucumber whip is captured with a rope loop under the first or second leaf. How to form a cucumber bush
Since cucumbers are divided into varieties with strong, moderate and limited lateral branching, this should be taken into account when planting seedlings on the site: the more branchy the variety, the less bushes should be planted. Varieties with strong branching require shaping, which must be carried out in a timely manner and in stages. At the first stage, when the plant has only 3-4 leaves, all stepsons and ovaries must be removed up to the fourth leaf so that the plant expends energy solely on the formation of the root system. When 8 leaves have already developed on the seedling, leave one ovary on the branches from the fourth to the eighth leaf, and pinch the branch following it.
Repeat this procedure every other time from the eighth leaf to the twelfth, leaving two ovaries each and removing the rest of the lateral branch. As a result, the bush will take the form of an inverted Christmas tree, which will allow it to better absorb nutrition and develop, and will also have a positive effect on the quality and quantity of fruits.
Feeding cucumbers
In order for cucumbers to grow healthy and large, they are fed on average 6-8 times per season. The first feeding is carried out at the beginning of flowering, and each subsequent one two weeks after the previous one. How to fertilize cucumbers? Of the organics, cucumbers are best perceived by a solution of bird droppings in a ratio of 1:25 or mullein 1:10. Solution consumption - 4-6 liters per 1 m². Fertilizers are applied on moist soil, trying not to get on the leaves and stems of plants. Do not fertilize cucumbers during a cold snap, as heat-loving crops are not able to absorb nutrients at low temperatures.
Processing
Readers sometimes complain that ground cucumbers are often exposed to fungal diseases and ask how cucumbers can be treated to increase their immunity to various rots. We offer you a folk way that increases the resistance of cucumbers to diseases. Lubricate the lower 10 cm of vertically growing cucumber stems with diluted water in a ratio of 1: 2 with iodine or brilliant green - plants treated in this way do not need fungicides. To protect cucumbers from rot, preventive treatment of plants is carried out with a solution of 10 ml of iodine in 10 liters of water.
Pests and diseases
The fight against diseases of cucumbers and their pests is too serious a topic, and one section cannot fit here, so we will provide detailed information about all cucumber enemies in a separate article. In it, we will also talk about why cucumbers dry, why cucumbers turn yellow and how to process cucumbers when infected with a particular disease. For now, let's just name the diseases and pests that you will have to deal with if you begin to neglect the rules for growing and caring for cucumbers.
So, what are the diseases of cucumbers? Among the diseases dangerous for cucumbers are anthracnose, bacteriosis, ascochitosis, verticillium, powdery mildew (true and false), black leg, black mold, gray rot, olive and brown spot and ring mosaic.
There are also a lot of insects that can harm cucumbers: aphids, gall nematodes, mole crickets, scoops, sprout flies, tobacco thrips, spider mites and wireworms.
Slugs are also dangerous.
To control diseases and pests of vegetable plants used for food, it is desirable not to use chemicals, especially at the stage of formation and development of fruits. There are many time-tested folk ways to get rid of this kind of trouble, and we will definitely tell you about them.
Collection and storage
Cucumbers are harvested as they ripen, and when fruiting begins, this must be done at least once every two days, otherwise the cucumbers will outgrow, turn yellow and prevent the formation of new greens.
In addition to collecting ripe fruits, all unsuccessful and ugly fruits must be removed. The more often you shoot greens, the more abundant new ones will grow. Since cucumbers 8-12 cm in size are used for canning, from 8 to 18 cm for pickling, and larger cucumbers are also suitable for salad, you can adjust the number of fruits for the purpose you need by the frequency of collection. For example, with daily harvesting of greens, cucumbers for canning will begin to grow intensively, with harvesting once every two days there will be more raw materials for pickling. After the first frost, you will have to collect all the fruits.
Greens should be removed early in the morning or in the evening in such a way that the stalk remains on the whip, so it is better to cut the cucumbers, and not to pull or pull. When taking out a cucumber growing in the depths of a bush, try not to turn the whips over. Do not keep the collected fruits in the sun, immediately place them in a cool shade.
Fresh cucumbers are stored, unfortunately, for a very short time, which is why they are marinated and salted in large quantities, but greens can lie down for a week or two with proper handling. You can put the cucumbers in a pot of water and keep them there for up to ten days, tightly covered and changing the water daily. You can lightly beat the egg white, coat it with cleanly washed cucumbers and let this coating dry - after this treatment, the cucumbers can be stored without putting them in the refrigerator. It is good to store cucumbers in a village or in a country house, if there is a deep stream nearby that does not freeze in winter: thick-skinned cucumbers are put in a barrel and lowered into running water. With this method of storage, cucumbers will be fresh until the middle of winter.
Species and cultivars
Cucumber varieties are divided into salad, canning and universal varieties according to their purpose. Cucumbers of canned varieties have a thin skin, they are distinguished by a high content of sugars, which is very important for pickling and canning.
The coarser and thicker skin of lettuce varieties prevents the penetration of brine and marinade into the vegetable, but these cucumbers are much tastier fresh than canned greens. Universal cucumbers can be both canned and consumed fresh. Canned cucumbers include the following varieties: Business, Brigantine, Rodnichok, Favorit, Voronezh, Salting, Harvest 86, Reliable, Nezhinsky local, Competitor, Cascade.
Salad varieties: Adam, Graceful, Movir, Saltan, Phoenix, Parade, Synthesis, Rzhavsky local.
Universal varieties of cucumbers: Stork, Epilogue, Marinda, Regia, Duet, Cruise, Crane, Farmer, Sagittarius, Moravian gherkin, Khabar and others.
According to the ripening period, cucumbers are divided into early-ripening, ripening in 32-45 days, mid-ripening, which need 40 to 45 days for full maturity, and late-ripening varieties, ripening up to 50 days or longer.
Early varieties and hybrids include: Liliput, Graceful, Zabiyaka, Emelya, Zadavaka, Blizzard.
Mid-ripe varieties of cucumbers: Pikas, Athlete, Stepnoy, Solnechny, Unity, Far East 27, Competitor, Topolek.
Late varieties: Nezhinsky, Phoenix, Khrust, Secret, Chinese climbing, Rodnichok, Chinese miracle, Parisian, Mother-in-law.
Cucumbers are divided into hybrids and varieties: hybrids during seed propagation do not retain their properties, like varietal cucumbers, capable of transmitting the characteristics of a variety through several generations. But hybrids begin to bear fruit earlier and more abundantly, in addition, they are stored longer and turn yellow much later than varietal cucumbers, so hybrid seeds are more valuable and much more expensive than varietal cucumber seeds.
Hybrid varieties include: Buyan, Marinda, Othello, Parker, Regina, Pasadena, Business, Ajax, Brigantine, German, Emelya, Katyusha, Lastochka, True friends and others.
According to the type of pollination, cucumbers are divided into bee-pollinated, which are grown in open ground, and self-pollinated, or parthenocarpic, grown both in greenhouses and in the garden.
Bee pollinated varieties of cucumbers: Athlete, Zhuravlyonok, Table, Graceful, Lyubimchik, Slavyansky, Katyusha, Competitor, Casanova, Nugget, Swallow and others.
Self-pollinating varieties: Adam, Aelita, Stella, Yuventa, Russian style, Romance, Picnic, Navruz, Marta, Pasadena, Voyage, Danila, Amazonka, White Angel and others.
According to the size of greens, cucumbers are divided into gherkins, the length of which is not more than 8 cm, and salad-type cucumbers intended for eating raw.
Gherkins include varieties of German selection: Adam, Graceful, Othello, Libelle and others.
By the nature of the surface, cucumbers are small-tuberous and large-tuberous, and the thorns on them can be white or black.
White-thorn lettuce varieties: Emerald stream, Chinese snakes, Chinese heat-resistant.
Black-thorned pickling varieties: Nightingale, Real Colonel, Zasolochny, Lilliput, Aquarius and others.
If you are interested in exotic varieties and hybrids, there are many of them among cucumbers.
For example: Chinese long-fruited cucumbers
whose stem reaches 3.5 m in length, and the fruits are from 40 to 90 cm, but they amaze not only with their size and excellent taste, but also with ease of cultivation, unpretentious care and high yield . The most common varieties are: Chinese miracle, Chinese long-fruited, Chinese farmer's, Chinese white, Emerald stream, Lio Ming, Chinese disease-resistant;
Armenian cucumbers
have a very unusual appearance: ribbed fruits up to 50 cm long and weighing up to a kilogram are covered with a silvery-white fluff. The stems of Armenian cucumbers reach a length of 4 meters. Grow this curiosity both in the open field and in the greenhouse. Varieties: Silver melon, White Bogatyr, Chalk on Flehu-ozus;
Italian Cucumbers
So called because they are the result of the work of Italian breeders. Outwardly, they look like Armenian cucumbers - the same ribbed ones. But the color of the peel, depending on the variety, can be light green, like the Arbuzze variety, or Tortorello, the taste of which simultaneously resembles both watermelon and cucumber, or dark green, which eventually becomes orange-yellow, like the Barrese variety, cucumber flavored with watermelon;
Crystal apple
English breeders have managed to develop an amazing cucumber hybrid that looks more like a lemon, although it tastes like an ordinary cucumber.
For some reason this miracle is called the Crystal Apple. These lemon-cucumbers, called apples, grow on a six-meter stem; White cucumbers
Equally well-growing both in greenhouses and in the garden, they form long whips, are not afraid of diseases and fifty-degree heat. The most delicate sweetish cucumbers reach a length of 20 cm, the only drawback of white cucumbers is that they quickly outgrow. The best varieties: Italian white, Snow Leopard, Bride, Snow White, White Angel, Three White Leaves;
Mini-cucumber
Or melotria rough is an ornamental perennial climber from Africa with rich green leaves that do not change color until October, and small fruits up to 2.5 cm in diameter, similar to watermelons, but to taste which are ordinary cucumbers that can be eaten fresh, or can be salted or canned;
Indian Cucumber
Or Momordica, can be easily grown both in the garden and on the windowsill.
The foliage of the plant is decorative, bright yellow flowers smell like jasmine, and tuberous elongated fruits gradually change color from dark green to bright orange as they grow. When the fruit ripens, it opens and becomes like a crocodile with its mouth open, which is why the vegetable is often called “crocodile cucumber”; Trichosanth serpentine cucumber
Also a cucurbit plant widely cultivated in Southwest Asia. Trichosanth is unpretentious in care and immune to diseases, its fruits, reaching a length of 120 cm, are cylindrical in shape, and they wriggle like snakes, changing color from green to orange as they ripen. Trichosanth flowers resemble weightless snowflakes with a diameter of 4 cm;
Red Cucumber Tladianta dubious
Perennial climber up to 5 m tall native to Southeast Asia. The leaves of the tladianta are light green, heart-shaped, tulip-like flowers are bright yellow, the fruits are small, suitable for canning and pickling, until they outgrow 15 cm and begin to turn red.
Overgrown and reddened fruits become sweet, and excellent jam is obtained from them; Antillean anguria cucumber
A plant with watermelon leaves, stems up to 4 meters long and small fruits weighing 30-50 g, tasting like cucumber and suitable for pickling. Anguria is often grown as an ornamental plant.
Literature
- Read related topics on Wikipedia
- Peculiarities and other plants of the gourd family
- List of all species on The Plant List
- More information on World Flora Online
Cucumbers: diseases and their treatment
Cucumbers: why they turn yellow in the greenhouse and in the gardenSections: Cucurbitaceae Fruit Garden plants Plants on O Cucumbers
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How to take care of cucumbers during the fruiting period
Cucumbers are the main crop in vegetable beds, greenhouses and greenhouses.
According to statistics, the gardener makes more than 60 percent of all preparations for the winter from them, and he manages to hold on to last year's stocks until next summer. Therefore, a cucumber crop failure can be a real tragedy for the whole family, since home-made canned food is a must in their diet and saves a lot of money: after all, similar purchased products are quite expensive.
How to grow healthy seedlings, how to care for them after transplanting into a greenhouse or garden, as well as our best varieties, we have already described in detail in the article: "How to grow cucumbers" .
But according to your numerous questions, it became clear to us that we should dwell in detail on the period when cucumbers actively enter the fruiting season.
This is a very important time when the plants simply need careful care, otherwise you can lose most of the crop.
Therefore, today we will talk about how to care for cucumbers after they begin to form greens.
In order to better cover this topic, we have compiled a selection of the most frequently asked questions and prepared quite detailed answers to them.
When growing seedlings and transplanting them into a greenhouse at the beginning of June, I applied a lot of rotted manure and other fertilizers to the beds. Once again I fed the plants with slurry at the end of the month. Do I need to fertilize cucumbers in July and August?
Tatyana Efimova, Barnaul
If you want to get a good harvest of healthy greens and prolong fruiting in the greenhouse until mid-September, then you can’t do without regular top dressing.
Can you imagine how much nutrition one cucumber plant needs in order to delight you with crispy green cucumbers every other day?
Moreover, during this period, cucumbers need not only nitrogen, but also phosphorus and potassium. The lack of a particular nutrient is “signaled” by the fruits on the plant.
If the herb is not even, but resembles a pear in shape, then the plant lacks potassium. If the fruits have brightened, this is a sure sign of a lack of nitrogen. In order for the whips to be strong and strong, they need phosphorus.
Therefore, carry out three top dressings in July. One - with a solution of mullein, the second - with a solution of mullein with the addition of potassium sulfate (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of solution), the third - with a solution of potassium sulfate (1 tablespoon) and superphosphate (2 tablespoons of granules dissolve for 5 days in a bucket of hot water and then pour potassium sulfate into it).
At the beginning of August, you can feed again with slurry, and in the middle of the month, give another potassium-phosphorus supplement. Feed at the rate of 1 watering can for 2 plants.
Liquid top dressing is carried out only after very abundant watering, so as not to burn the delicate roots of cucumbers.
No matter how well you try to take care of cucumbers, you won't get a big harvest without fertilizers!
In my greenhouse, cucumbers are planted quite densely.
Some varieties produce long side lashes. They are intertwined with me and interfere with watering, care and growth of cucumbers. Tell me how to properly form cucumber lashes in a greenhouse? Valentina Zharkova, Moscow
When densely planted, the plants in the greenhouse are quite crowded. They begin to compete with each other, "fight" for food and sunlight. How to care for cucumbers in such conditions?
If you have multi-branched varieties planted in your greenhouse, they must be formed at the sixth leaf stage. After it, gently pinch the main stem, then the entire main crop will form on the side stems.
Non-branched hybrids are grown in one lash. In medium-branched - you need to pinch only those branches that interfere with other plants. And most of the time they don't touch them.
It is very important to properly tie the main stem to the trellis. This is usually done after the formation of the fifth sheet.
A soft twine or rope is carefully brought under it, a loop is tied and carefully pulled up, tied to a trellis. Do not pinch the top of the whip. Just fold them over and let them grow sideways along the stretched trellis. This will allow you to get more ripe fruits.
How often should cucumbers be watered during fruiting in the greenhouse?
Ivan Strelnikov, Amur Region
It is necessary to water constantly, plentifully and sometimes even twice a day, and not only under the root, but also to carry out finely dispersed sprinkling of the whole plant! Indeed, after the start of fruiting, cucumbers require a lot of water (about 15 liters per 1 sq. M per day).
Water under the roots in the morning. If the weather is not hot, then this is enough, but in the heat, cucumbers also need additional sprinkling in the evening.
The root system of cucumbers is very delicate, fibrous and located in the upper soil layer, which quickly heats up and dries up.
Therefore, if you do not water the plants enough, they will begin to dry, their leaves will turn yellow, and the fruits will stop growing. Lack of moisture causes cucumbers to become bitter, soft and unsuitable for canning.
Only warm water is taken for irrigation, as the use of cold water can lead to various diseases!
For normal growth and development, cucumbers need high air humidity (up to 80%), so we recommend placing several containers (basins, barrels, buckets) with water in the greenhouse.
In extreme heat, the greenhouse must be ventilated. The normal temperature for good growth and development of cucumbers is +26 degrees.
Several cucumber plants in my greenhouse started to turn yellow leaves. This is some kind of disease, and what should I do? I am a beginner gardener and am just learning garden art.
Pavel Semin, Irkutsk region
There can be many reasons for this.
The first is insufficient watering. The second is the lack of sunlight in dense plantings. The lower leaves on the lashes may turn yellow from aging, this is a natural process. But if the plants, especially not all, but only some, have some kind of disease - in no case do not use chemicals to combat it!
The whole crop will have to be thrown away, because the poison will get into the fruits, and they will no longer be eaten.
If you cut off all the leaves from the infected whip, feed and water the plant well and spray it with a filtered solution of garlic with potassium permanganate, then the disease will recede and there will be no further infections.
It is very good for prevention to spray all plants with iodine-milk solution (200 g of milk and 8 drops of iodine per liter of water). In extreme cases, you can use the biological product "Baktofit", which does not contain any chemicals.
My neighbor said that cucumbers need to be picked according to science, but she did not explain how exactly.
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