2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38
The appearance of the first leaves, the first flower, the first ovary evokes a feeling similar to the feeling of joy and delight of a mother when her child gives the first smile, the first word, the first step. Therefore, often the hand simply does not rise to remove this first flower or the first ovary. But, when growing cucumbers, there are no big victories without small losses
Why pinch a cucumber?
The eternal question of who (or what) appeared first, the chicken or the egg, has not yet been answered. When it comes to the primacy of the appearance of male and female cucumber flowers, then any vegetable grower will answer that male flowers appear on the stem earlier, and only later, along the beaten path, female flowers responsible for the harvest appear in the world.
This order of appearance of cucumber flowers forces the grower to pinch the top of the main stem, on which preference is given to male flowers, so that the plant releases lateral shoots that give birth to female flowers.
The word "pinching" does not mean that the procedure is performed by hand. Early in the morning, arm yourself with a sharp knife or scissors and pave the way for female flowers. Why is it better to choose morning hours for this? Because then the wounds will quickly tighten with protective tissue, without giving a chance for infection to infect the injured plant.
But such execution is required, as a rule, for old varieties of cucumbers, such as, for example, "Klinsky", "Vyaznikovsky". Today, many new varieties and hybrids have been bred, for which this problem is not relevant, and therefore they do not need to pinch. This, in theory, should be written on the packaging bag.
Choosing a pinching location
It turns out that pinching the main stem does not always fulfill the task of increasing the yield in full. Indeed, like women who love to let a fog of mystery and unpredictability, female cucumber flowers of different varieties of cucumbers, and sometimes even within the same variety, like to choose different places for their appearance.
There are three types of arrangement of female flowers, on which the nature of the pinching depends:
• Female flowers appear in large numbers on the main stem - in this case, the pinching of the main stem is done at the top of the trellis.
• Female flowers appear on lateral shoots - such varieties are pinched over 5-6 leaves of the central shoot, making the next pinches every 3-4 leaves. Lateral shoots are exposed to shorter nips, after 1-2 leaves, and completely cut out after fruiting.
• Female flowers appear only on lateral shoots, moreover, starting with second-order shoots - that is, the central shoot and lateral shoots of the first order are occupied only by male flowers, from which it will not be possible to obtain fruits. For such varieties, the pinching of the main shoot and side shoots of the first order should be done after 2-3 leaves.
Removal of lower flowers and ovaries
Not only the first male flowers are subject to removal, but also the female ones that appear in the axils of the first 3-4 leaves. Cucumbers, although they are early ripening vegetables, at the stage of 3-4 leaves are not yet able to give nutrients to their fruits. To do this, they first need to build up a more powerful leaf surface, which, through photosynthesis, contributes to the accumulation of nutrients.
Light-winged helpers
Only self-pollinating hybrids do not need helpers to pollinate female flowers. All other varieties of cucumbers will not yield a harvest if you do not create a "team" of insect helpers for them.
Most often, bees help out a person. To stimulate them, you can make a sweet treat with sugar syrup, which requires just 100 grams of sugar per liter of water. Warm syrup is insisted for a day, adding male cucumber flowers to it, and then poured into bowls, which are placed on a cucumber garden.
But bees on cloudy days arrange a day off, and therefore it is necessary to take care of attracting other helpers. For example, dung flies, having prepared them "fragrant" heaps of fresh dung.
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