Provide The Right Food For Your Cucumbers

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

What is needed in order to collect an enviable crop of juicy tight cucumbers from the beds? Neither more nor less - to create resort conditions for them! Cucumbers are famous lovers of sunlight, heat and water procedures! Cucumbers like areas sheltered from the wind. And if there is a natural reservoir not far from your garden, which increases the humidity of the air and thereby reduces the threat of plant death from unexpected frosts, this is a very successful combination of factors for those who like to crunch cucumbers from their own beds and provide themselves with preparations for the winter. What else is useful to know when growing these vegetables?

Do not skimp on fertilizers

Cucumbers are demanding on the quality of the soil. They require highly fertile conditions. Therefore, it is recommended to prepare for their crops in advance. From autumn, fresh manure is introduced into future beds for digging. Organics will need about 1 bucket per 1 square meter. Instead of manure, you can water the beds with an aqueous solution of mullein and water. For 1 part of the fertilizer, you need 10 parts of water. It is necessary that 5 liters of nutrient liquid be prepared for each square meter.

When it was not possible to add manure in the autumn months, the soil is enriched in the spring:

• compost soil;

• a mixture of sod and humus soil;

• a mixture of sod land with peat.

Manure and carbon dioxide for high yields

The manure in the soil will provide the plant not only with nutrients, but also with the necessary carbon dioxide for cucumbers. By the way, this feature of cucumbers can be used not only in the open field, but also in greenhouses. To increase the content of carbon dioxide in the air, and thereby increase the productivity of plants, barrels with diluted mullein or bird droppings are placed in greenhouses.

However, we must not forget about security measures. To prevent corrosive ammonia and hydrogen sulfide released as a result of chemical reactions from causing leaf burns, barrels are not left directly next to plants.

Such care is useful both during the fruiting period and during the cultivation of seedlings. It is noticed that this not only increases the yield, but also improves the taste.

Strict temperature control

The heat-loving nature of cucumbers should be considered when choosing the sowing time. It is important that at this moment the soil is well warmed up - at least to + 12 ° C. When this figure is below + 10 ° C, plants do not germinate and the seeds, as a rule, rot in the ground. Therefore, if you are going to sow cucumbers in the open field, without using temporary shelters, do not rush to do it too early. You should wait until the air temperature rises to at least + 23 ° C.

The optimum temperature for the growth of cucumbers is + 25 … + 30 ° С. If the weather surprises in the form of a decrease in the thermometer by 15-20 °, the plants stop growing, get sick and may even die. However, hardened seeds are insured against such dangers.

Cucumber seed hardening technology

Preheated and disinfected seeds are hardened. To do this, you need to stock up on sand or clean sawdust. These auxiliary materials must be scalded with boiling water in advance, and then the seeds must be left in this humid environment until they swell. For cucumber seeds, this time is about a day. In this case, the ambient temperature should be at the level of + 20 … + 25 ° С.

Then the seeds are placed in the refrigerator for another 18-20 hours. Seeds hardened in this way not only withstand lower temperatures, but have other benefits as well. In particular, they can be sown earlier, and they also yield earlier.