Cucumbers On The Windowsill: Cultivation Features

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

You can easily grow cucumbers in the apartment in the winter without additional lighting. It's important to buy the right varieties and follow a few rules

Full fruiting of a cucumber in a room does not last long - about two months. You can plant at any time, the timing depends on the availability of lighting equipment. Without additional lighting, cucumbers sown in February-March will grow and bear fruit. With artificial lighting, sowing is carried out in December-January.

Cucumbers for growing in an apartment

Competently selected varieties of cucumbers guarantee a positive result. The choice is based on shade tolerance, unpretentiousness, the ability to form side shoots. There are such species among hybrids and common varieties.

There will be less worries with parthenocarpics, they do not require pollination, they actively set fruits in any conditions. If you decide to grow a bee-pollinated variety, you will have to manually pollinate each flower. Let's make an overview of cucumbers-hybrids, suitable for indoor cultivation, with an indication of the timing.

• For sowing in the first or second decade of February, you can use smooth-skinned hybrids that grow well with a lack of light - these are Faust and Forward.

• From the second half of February, you can sow bee-pollinated: Olympics; Marathon; Relay race; Manual. Using any of the above, it is recommended to land a Phoenix nearby. The flowers of this cucumber will be used for pollination.

• From March 1, daylight hours increase - early maturing Flagman hybrids are sown; Arbat.

• From March 15: Chistye Prudy; TCX 442 F1; The hit of the season; Moscow Nights; Patty; Russian style; Company's secret.

If you have a phytolamp or equipment with diode lighting, all of the listed cucumbers can be planted earlier: December, January.

Sowing step-by-step instructions

The garden on the windowsill is created taking into account the requirements of a particular plant. To grow cucumbers, you need a sufficient amount of land, an adjusted nutrient soil and adherence to agricultural practices. Let's take a closer look at each moment.

1. For one bush, a capacity of at least five liters is used. If there is no suitable pot / planter, a plastic 5-liter bottle is taken (a neck is cut along the shoulders, holes are made in the bottom).

2. The soil is used as purchased universal or brought from a summer cottage. When placed in a planting container, it is mixed with compost and perlite. Proportions: 1 part earth + 3 parts compost + 1 part perlite. It is recommended not to abandon disinfection - steam the earth in the oven or spill it with boiling water, treat it with a fungicide. Such actions will prevent the development of infections, fungi.

3. At the bottom of the jar / pot, 2-3 cm of drainage material is laid out. Filling the planting tank with earth is done without tamping. The soil level should not reach the sides by 3-4 cm. For shrinkage, be sure to spill and leave for 3-5 days.

4. Seed preparation consists of treatment with a growth stimulator, soaking, hardening. Many people simply sow dry seed into wet soil.

5. Sowing goes into holes of 3 seeds, the depth is 2-3 cm. In one container, for safety reasons, several holes are made with a step of 3-5 cm. Germination will take place with sufficient humidity: pour and cover the container with a plastic bag. After soaking, seeds will sprout for 3-5 days, dry seeds - for 5-8.

6. After emergence, thinning is done. A strong sprout is left, the rest are cut off.

pollination

Techniques for growing cucumbers at home

Watering is carried out with warm, settled water (within + 23 … + 26) in the morning or in the evening. The importance of the land should be moderate, without overflow. Let the top layer dry a little.

When the third leaf appears, feed with solutions of organic fertilizers Radogor or Bucephalus. You can make your own nutrient solution. Prepared for 10 liters: 2 tsp. double superphosphate + 2 tbsp. l. ammonium nitrate (no slide) + 1 tsp. potassium sulfate. For one planting container, 0.5 liters of liquid fertilizing is used, the event is held after the next watering.

During the appearance of the fifth leaf, pinching of the crown and garter of the stem is done. The support can be a stretched string, cord. Cucumbers growing on the windowsill develop better along the garden net, which is stretched over the window area.

During the flowering and fruiting period, feeding is done with an infusion of ash (5 liters of water + 0.5 cups). It is prepared within a day, the consumption is 0.5 liters per bush, the frequency is every 2 weeks. Do not let the fruit outgrow, the more often the harvest is carried out, the better the new ones grow.