When bunched cucumber plants are unable to feed numerous ovaries, some of them dry out. To prevent this from happening and to ensure that the harvest meets your expectations, you must follow 11 rules.

Helpful advice

The filling of cucumbers will speed up if you place a barrel of fermented grass in the greenhouse. The carbon dioxide released during fermentation increases fruiting. There are statistics: if the amount of carbon dioxide exceeds the norm by 20 times, the harvest increases by 20 percent.

1. 10 days before planting seedlings, fertilize the soil in the greenhouse. When digging, add humus or compost (10-15 kg/m2) and complex mineral fertilizer (2 tablespoons/m2). The day before planting the plants, the beds are watered abundantly.

2. Plant cucumbers when the soil at a depth of 10 cm warms up to 10 degrees, usually in mid-May.

3. Place holes 10-12 cm deep every 40 cm in one row; bunch cucumbers do not like crowded spaces. Before planting, pour at least 1 liter of warm solution of potassium permanganate (1 g/10 l) into each hole.

4. Water the seedlings 2 hours before transplanting. Plant together with a clod of earth so that its upper edge is flush with the surface of the earth. After planting, add soil, squeeze the plants with it, water and sprinkle with peat, humus or just dry soil.

5. Maintain optimal conditions for the growth of ovaries in the nodes: air humidity 90-95%, temperature when planting seedlings 20-22 degrees, during flowering 25-28 degrees, during fruiting 25-30 degrees.

6. Protect from late frosts by additionally covering the bed with film stretched over low arches.

7. Once the threat of frost has passed, tie it to a trellis. To create it, 2 wires are pulled at a height of 2 m at a distance of 30 cm. Plants are tied to them with twine, securing it with a free loop under the first pair of leaves. In this case, the order of the garter is as follows: one plant is fixed on one wire, the next one on another. The twine is tied to the wire, leaving a 20 cm long end hanging down. It is needed to ease the tension of the garter as the stem grows. Twice a week, twine is wrapped clockwise around the plant.

8. Mandatory formation of strongly and moderately branching plants by shortening shoots. The procedure is as follows. In the axils of the first four leaves of the 0 zone, all female flowers are removed, as well as shoots, not allowing them to grow more than 5 cm. In the zone I, when the first bunch of cucumbers grows, the side shoots are pinched, leaving 2 leaves. Next, in zone II, pinching is done, leaving 2 leaves and a bunch of cucumbers. And accordingly, in zone III, 3 bunches of cucumbers and a leaf are left. When the stem reaches the wire, it is twisted around it twice and secured with a figure of eight twine. Let a couple of leaves and bunches of cucumbers grow and pinch them off.

9. Water the cucumbers only with settled warm water on sunny days, followed by loosening. Before fruiting, water once a week, then every 2-3 days.

10. Fertilize plants once every 2 weeks, alternating complex mineral fertilizer (1-1.5 tablespoons per 10 liters of water) and organic matter: mullein diluted 1:10, bird droppings - 1:20.

11. To activate the filling of all fruits, spray with drugs that increase resistance to stress (epin, zircon, etc.). They are treated with them no more than twice: at the beginning of the opening of the buds and during the period of mass flowering.

Helpful advice

If the plants have grown to the trellis, but there are no cucumbers, you should remove the top of the main stem and stop fertilizing with nitrogen fertilizers.

Standard methods of planting and growing vegetables are being replaced by new, modern and more convenient methods.

When choosing original methods for growing cucumbers, you need to take into account some features that are discussed in the following descriptions.

1. Unusual ways of growing cucumbers in bags or garbage bags are built on the principle of a vertical bed.

You only need to choose thick bags. Planting takes up little space, cucumbers are easy to care for, and the fruits begin to ripen ahead of schedule. The progress of the work can be described step by step as follows.

• To make a watering system, you will need three plastic tubes, the entire area of ​​which needs to be drilled.
• The prepared bag is completely filled with soil, and a wooden peg is stuck in the middle. Several nails are driven into the upper edge of the stick, to which the ropes will then be tied.
• Plastic tubes are inserted around the wooden peg.
• You need to make several small cuts on the bag on one side.
• No more than three cucumber seedlings are planted in one bag.

Water is poured through plastic tubes to water the cucumber beds, and the degree of soil moisture is determined using a side cut.

As soon as the tendrils appear on the cucumbers, you need to install poles around the bag. A thick rope is pulled from them to a wooden stick located in the middle of the soil in the bag.

1. Among unusual ideas Not least of all is planting cucumbers in buckets. To grow cucumbers in a bucket you need to know a few rules.

Slightly branched and bush varieties are suitable for planting cucumbers in buckets. They do not have many root branches and therefore do not require much space. The main thing is that the bucket should not be less than 5 liters. The material can be any. Be sure to make drainage holes at the bottom of the container. Cucumber grown in buckets in a greenhouse turns out juicy, crisp, without a hint of bitterness.

Growing cucumbers in buckets has its advantages. The bucket can always be moved to another, more favorable place or completely removed from the garden bed if there are heavy rains or frosts. Cucumbers are rarely exposed to diseases and pests, the fruits are always clean and easy to pick.

2-3 grains are sown in prepared holes in buckets. As soon as the leaves of the seedling begin to unfurl and tendrils appear, arches or other support are installed above the bucket.

1. In open ground, you can use another idea for growing cucumbers. You can plant cucumbers in unnecessary tires.

Growing cucumbers in tires has its advantages. Everything is created in a pyramid of wheels more necessary conditions for growing cucumber beds. Tires retain heat well, take up little space, can be placed in any convenient place and there is no need to fertilize the entire area. A similar planting option can be used for greenhouse cucumber varieties.

Initially, you need to decide where to put the structure. Be sure to lay cardboard or paper under the tires to prevent grass from growing inside. First, the first tire is installed and drainage material is placed in it; dry tree branches work well. Sprinkle soil on top.

Place a second one on the first tire and fill it with dry grass, as well as food waste, which will serve as a good fertilizer. Cover with soil again. The third tire is filled with rotted manure, the next layer will be the soil itself.

Make holes in a circle and sow two seeds. When growing cucumbers in wheels, good germination is observed and the plant is less sick. If the weather is cool, you can cover the cucumber seedlings with film.

1. A compact option is the option with drawers.

To grow cucumbers in boxes you don’t need a lot of space. They take ordinary wooden boxes, line the bottom with film, in which several holes are made. The next layer is sand (4.5 cm). After this, you need to decide on a permanent place in the garden so as not to drag a heavy box.

After placing the box, it is covered with ordinary soil. You can mix the topsoil with rotted manure. The prepared holes are watered with water and two seeds are sown. Be sure to tie the ropes vertically so that the lashes of cucumbers stretch upward.

1. You can grow cucumbers on mineral wool.

This is a special material in the form of cubes that allows you to moisturize and drain the root system of cucumbers. The root of the seedling receives oxygen, moisture and nutrients in sufficient quantities.

The width of the cube should be approximately 25 cm, the height about 8 cm. Two seedlings are planted for each cube. For cucumber seedlings, use smaller cubes.

How to plant cucumbers

Cucumbers are grown in two main ways: horizontal and vertical. When planted horizontally, the cucumber vines spread along the ground, and when planted vertically, they spread upward along the installed support.

Some vegetable growers suggest it is interesting to plant cucumbers in the form of a Christmas tree. When planting cucumbers in a herringbone pattern, the bed is made round (diameter approximately 1.5-2 meters). A round bed is dug up, hay is placed in the trench for insulation and covered with earth.

Cucumber seedlings in a dacha plot are planted at a distance of 45 cm. A wooden peg is driven in near each seedling. After 2.5 weeks they begin tying. A pipe is driven into the center of the round bed, with hooks at the end. Then stretch twine or a thick rope from the peg near the seedling to the hook. It turns out to be a Christmas tree or something like a pyramid.

If cucumbers are planted in a herringbone pattern, then all parts of the plant have free access sunlight and air. Cucumber beds require minimal care. Weeds appear occasionally; pests and diseases, judging by reviews, are very rare problems. The grown fruits are convenient to collect.

To grow vegetables, gardeners also use another unusual method of growing cucumbers. In greenhouse conditions, Finnish sausages are built - a structure of two long boards and slats between them. At a distance of 30 cm, clamps are passed through. It turns out to be an elongated box, which is covered with film with an overlap on the sides.

From the experience of vegetable growers: “I have been growing cucumbers using the Finnish sausage method for several years now. I fill the bottom of the made beds with crushed stone, which will serve as drainage. I place a filter covering material on top, and then you can start filling the sausages with soil. I level the ground, spill it with water and wrap it in film, tie the clamps and leave the structure for a day.

Every other day, I move the joints of the film apart and plant the prepared cucumber seedling along with a lump of earth. As soon as the plant reaches 15 cm, I stretch a vertical rope along which the cucumber lash will be threaded.”

This method of planting cucumbers in a greenhouse minimizes vegetable diseases, there are no weeds, heat and moisture remain in the soil for a long time. The harvest pleases with its quantity and quality.

Special technique

Growing cucumbers using the Mitlider method allows you to fit beds even in a small space. The harvest is rich and of high quality. It is proposed to dig up the soil not on the entire site, but only on the beds. As a result, fewer weeds appear and there is no need to loosen the soil.

You can grow cucumbers according to Mittleider not only in garden beds, but also in boxes. A mixture of sawdust and sand is poured into the boxes if the soil in the area is rocky.

The scheme for vegetable growing in narrow beds is simple. A strip of land, only 45 cm wide, is enough. The passage between the beds should be about 95 cm. In the fall, after harvesting, all vegetable waste is placed in these passages. Beds for cucumbers should be located horizontally and parallel to each other. The length of the beds does not matter.

Fertilizers must be applied before sowing.

First, a lime mixture is added to the marked bed of cucumbers, then a mixture of nitrogen, phosphate and potassium, and topped with phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen. After this, the soil is dug up and leveled. Using the soil in the passages, sides approximately 9 cm high are formed along the edges of the bed.

If you plant cucumbers using this method, then sow the seeds in two rows and along the edges of the side. Cucumber seeds are not sown in the middle of the bed. You can plant cucumbers and seedlings. You should not forget to feed the cucumbers every 8 days.

As soon as the cucumber bushes reach a height of 18 cm, begin tying them up. Two wires are stretched over the bed. One edge of the rope is tied to the stem of the seedling itself, and the other is attached to the wire.

A gardener who plants vegetables on his plot every year knows various ways to plant cucumbers. For original beds, various available materials can be used.

It’s been 10 years since growing cucumbers from a hobby became my business. The size of a winter heifer is 70 square meters. m, but now there is an opportunity to increase production by building a greenhouse with an area of ​​500 sq. m. m, – my experience turned out to be successful!

Growing cucumbers in winter in a greenhouse in the Central region of Russia is quite profitable. This crop begins to bear fruit early and allows you to get a second harvest. We sow the seeds in three stages. The first launch is January 28. These plants bear fruit until the end of June, after which we remove the old canes, wash the greenhouse, prepare the soil and material, and plant the seedlings again on July 16th. We also have ground cucumbers. We plant them on May 5th.

THIS IS INTERESTING. When the main vine bears fruit, we cut off the wilted leaves. The lash grows overgrown with new, smaller ones, and soon ovaries appear. For comparison: the same tomatoes produce 5 bunches, they bear fruit - and that’s it.

We harvest our first noticeable harvest in mid-March (the first cucumbers appear earlier, by March 8). At this time the price is retail trade is 200 rubles. for 1 kg. It remains at this level until mid-May, then gradually decreases. There are no problems with implementation. Delicious, fresh, aromatic and sweet cucumber always goes with a bang. It turns out that the cucumbers I grew reach the market only in June, when friends and acquaintances of friends are already full of them. And there are no problems in the market. You can sell greens wholesale or sell them yourself at retail (as we do). In the spring, from the greenhouse we sell from 10 kg to 35 kg every other day, in the summer, from the ground, we sell 100-300 kg every other day (at this time the price drops, and we have to take it in quantity).

THIS IS INTERESTING. The main costs are seeds, non-woven material, with which we close the beds, drip irrigation tapes (every start I change them to new ones, although with traditional operation the tape can not be changed for up to 3 years), heating and light. However, already 35% of the profit covers all expenses.

We don’t grow cucumbers in winter; the experiment was unsuccessful: the plants, despite the lighting, were very weak, and the meager harvest would not allow us to recoup the costs of gas and electricity.

THIS IS INTERESTING. You cannot save on planting material. We buy high-quality, professional seeds. They are already coated with a protective compound that protects the seedlings from diseases. We have been growing the F hybrid, Adam, for many years now, and we are happy with it too. appearance, and taste.

I sow the seeds in well-boiled sawdust, as soon as it cools to room temperature. Whether they are coniferous or deciduous does not matter, the main thing is that it is not waste furniture production(where chipboard or plywood may come across). Shoots appear on the 3-5th day, we transplant them into plastic cups with a volume of 0.8-1 liters. Since the seedlings are 24-30 days old when planted, the plants do not require more volume. By this time, cucumbers produce 4-5 true leaves, tendrils, side shoots and even ovaries appear.

We plant the plants according to the 40x80 cm pattern. For the first start, 120 roots are required, in July - 100 roots, and in the ground - 2000 roots (over an area of ​​7 acres), where they grow in a spread, without a trellis.

THIS IS INTERESTING. Only properly formed plants will produce a full harvest. We cut off the side shoots at the first 4 nodes (axils) so that the plant forms a powerful root system. Next, we leave one cucumber on the 5th, 6th and 7th sinuses. And above we form the side shoots into one sheet.

Such a technique as lowering the lashes has shown itself to be very good: we cut off all the leaves from their lower parts, which have already bear fruit, and lower the lashes themselves, placing them in “coves” below. This method is very good in the second revolution. There is also a desire to conduct an experiment and lay the stem, which has already yielded a harvest, on arches. Let's see, maybe this technology will be more advantageous.

When deciding to start a cucumber business, you need to remember three factors, savings on which can negate all your efforts.

1. HEAT.

Heating even in a small greenhouse must be of high quality. I have a 17 kWh gas boiler. The heat from it is enough to heat 70 square meters. m. What is the gas consumption by month?

During the 2 months of unsuccessful experience (December and January), we used 830 cubic meters each. m, in January - 830 cubic meters. m. In February we have to spend 850 cubic meters. m, in March - 560 cubic meters. m, in April - 500 cubic meters. m, in May - 300 cubic meters. m. This year June was cold, so I had to spend another 100 cubic meters. m of gas, although this is usually not required.

Uniform air temperature (20-25°) is ensured by steel pipes extending from the boiler (they run at a height of 40 cm and 2 m from the level of the beds). Plastic pipes are laid under the beds at a depth of 20 cm. Yes, their thermal conductivity is less than that of metal ones, but they can be easily adjusted so that they heat up to 20-25°.

THIS IS INTERESTING. We maintain the soil temperature at 21°. How? By setting the boiler temperature to 80°, we know that the plastic pipes will heat up to 40°. This is a lot, you need to close the ball valves on the pipes going underground. Well, if the boiler temperature is lower, but we, on the contrary, need to raise the ground temperature, we open them slightly.

For additional air heating, I have a regular radiator from a VAZ-2107 and a fan, the operating principle is the same as in a car. This protects the plantings from diseases, because when it is cold outside, the humidity in the greenhouse increases and fungal and bacterial diseases can occur. Blowing warm air over plants can significantly reduce this danger. In winter, cucumbers absolutely need ventilation. Well, in summer period– ventilation. The greenhouse is equipped with windows, which we (depending on the weather) open and close.

2. WATERING CUCUMBERS IN THE GREENHOUSE.

For watering, we use warm (20-25°) water so that the plants do not experience stress. Only when in comfortable conditions do they produce maximum yield.

I determine the frequency of watering as the soil dries out (every 1-2, maximum 3 days). Everything depends on the sun. If it shines intensely, more frequent watering is needed. In hot weather, pour up to 2 liters per root, in cloudy weather - 1 liter. If there is no sun for several days, we reduce the intensity of watering by pouring 1 liter per plant every other day.

PEST AND DISEASE CONTROL

Unlike potatoes, where the Colorado potato beetle can be collected manually, this will not work with cucumbers. The pests here are small - whitefly, spider mites, thrips. Our main problem is spider mites: they appear when it is very hot. To combat it, at the first sign of trouble, I use an acaricide with the active ingredient spiromesifen -5 ml/10 l of water. If you miss time, the pest will multiply and eat the crop in a week, maximum two.

As for diseases, they will appear extremely rarely if you follow all the rules of agricultural technology. When air humidity is high, rot may occur - white or gray. Will the ground be cold? Expect root rot, popularly called blackleg. This is a signal: we need to change agricultural technology. In such cases, the greenhouse was disinfected with sulfur bombs.

H. GREENHOUSE LIGHTING

Without the sun, the harvest decreases: 1% loss of light is 1% loss of yield! You can't save money in this world.

Since I also grow cucumbers in early spring, when there is little sun, I use lighting.

There are two types of lamps installed in the greenhouse - LED and HPS. The first ones are economical and very good for supplementary lighting of seedlings. The latter are used as additional lighting and warm the air a little. Three 400 W HPS lamps are located near the ceiling, at a height of 2.3 m. I assembled the LED lamps myself, these are modules with a power of 30 W and 50 W (I’m experimenting with them now). Practice has shown that it makes sense to install LED lamps with a thermostat (they will automatically turn off during the hottest hours).

THIS IS INTERESTING. Previously, I lost up to 70% of the harvest on the north side of the greenhouse - the cucumbers dropped their ovaries. I installed additional LED lamps there and the problem was solved.

In professional greenhouses in winter period lighting operates 20 hours a day. Previously, we turned on the lamps for 12 hours a day, but this year an experiment showed that the yield is higher if the plants are illuminated 17 hours a day.

Electricity costs depend on the time of year. Thus, our unsuccessful winter experiment required 450 kW of energy in December, and 430 kW in January. The remaining costs were already paid off by the harvest. In February, for example, 570 kW was consumed, in March - 500 kW, in April - 230 kW, in May - 110 kW, in June - 70 kW (there was little sun, which is why we had to add additional lighting, usually in May we turn off the lighting) .

I use ordinary soil for planting, but every year I add vermicompost - no more than 20% of the total mass of land, that is, 2 potato bags per 10 square meters. m, and add a little manure. Over the 10 years of operating the greenhouse, I only changed the soil once - last year I decided to test the “Finnish sausage” technology and used new soil.

Cucumber is a very demanding crop regarding soil fertility. But for abundant fruiting, it also requires additional feeding. I carry them out once every 10 days: first I add fertilizer to the irrigation water, and after about 1 hour I also spray it on the leaves. I use water-soluble complex fertilizers with microelements.

And lastly: don’t go after big money right away! I advise you to start a cucumber business with a small greenhouse. In this case, even failure will not be as critical as if you immediately went into business over a large area.