Pear-shaped cucumbers than to feed. Irregular-shaped cucumbers: what are they missing and how to treat? Growing conditions and care for cucumbers

Without exception, all gardeners had to deal with such a problem as crooked cucumbers. How to feed so that the greens will no longer grow bent? First of all, potassium supplements. However, a lack of nutrients may not necessarily be the cause of crooked cucumbers.

About such a common problem as gnarled cucumbers, we propose to talk today.

Why do cucumbers grow crooked? Main reasons

Lack of elements, mainly potassium

Potassium is a macronutrient responsible for the formation of fruits, whether it be a cucumber, raspberry or carrot. The complex fertilizers that you apply (if you apply) when planting, such a powerful plant consumes even before the formation of fruits, and at the time of filling the greens, it requires new, shock doses of potassium. There is nowhere to take them to a cucumber, except from dressings.

These greens grow with a lack of potassium

With potassium starvation, cucumbers most often have a narrow “butt” and a wide lower part where the flower was. But this is not a mandatory indicator - it may just be a strong torsion or other deformation. Also, the lack of this element will be indicated by a yellow border along the edge of the leaves. It is curious that in tomatoes, a lack of potassium manifests itself in a violation of pigmentation: it slowly ripens near the “butt”, sometimes in spots, unevenly. If there are such tomatoes on your site, at the same time feed them with potash fertilizers.

Potassium deficiency appears on the leaves of cucumbers with a yellow border

Cucumbers lack potassium: what to feed?

-root dressing - ash. Yes, ordinary ash, and preferably herbal ash, obtained after burning herbs and weeds. Wood ash has more calcium in it, which won't hurt either, but in this case it's a little off. To the best of lazy gardeners, they can simply close up the ashes in the root zone of the plant, but it will be more useless to prepare the so-called. mother solution. A bucket of water is added to one and a half liter jars of ash, insisted for several days and a concentrate is obtained. One liter of such an ash concentrate is again diluted with a bucket of water and a luxurious potassium top dressing is obtained. Potassium sulphate is also sold in stores - half a liter of solution (3-4 tablespoons per bucket of water) for each bush will help fix the problem.

- foliar top dressing. It will be faster to “align” the cucumbers if, in addition to the root, foliar top dressing is also carried out. You can take the same ash solution or potassium sulfate, but at a concentration two times lower. In cold, gloomy weather, foliar top dressing should be preferred.

However, if you figured out that squiggle cucumbers grow precisely because of a lack of potassium, it’s not a fact that there is little potassium in the soil. At low temperatures, as well as temperatures above 30-35°C, potassium is simply not absorbed by plants. Therefore, in the heat, greenhouses are regularly ventilated, the roofs are whitened, and in the cold season, on the contrary, they install barrels of water, which collect heat during the day and release it at night. For open ground cucumbers in cold weather, you can build a mini-greenhouse.

Crop rotation plays a significant role here. Naturally, you should not plant cucumbers after pumpkin cucumbers. But even after strawberries, eggplants, tomatoes and other crops that need high doses of potassium, the cucumber will be uncomfortable. Therefore, fertilize the plants not only when the cucumbers are curled up, but regularly. Top dressing for cucumbers is given every one and a half to two weeks during irrigation or after rain, alternately using either organic matter or mineral fertilizers. And since cucumber seedlings are planted quite late, you can easily have time to enrich the soil with green manure - for example, oats, the most "potash" of green fertilizers.

But if the plant itself is pale, and the fruits have a wide “ass” and a narrow end where the flower was, the cucumbers lack nitrogen. In this case, it is best to fertilize with chicken manure or herbal infusion - this is where the real cocktail of organics and trace elements is.

Cucumbers that lack nitrogen

Other reasons why cucumbers grow unevenly:

- Wrong watering . Due to the rare watering of cucumbers, when the earth remains dry for a long period, the cucumbers are arched.

Cucumber not getting enough moisture

And if you water the cucumbers with cold water, or when a rather cold night replaces a still warm day, the cucumbers get a kind of screed in the middle, the greens take the form of a crooked barrel. Do not forget to mulch the soil - this will retain moisture and smooth out the temperature difference.

- Wrong grade . It happens that cucumbers do not have the opportunity to develop normally due to the fact that the length of daylight hours does not suit them. Follow the manufacturer's instructions on the packaging

- Remove ripe cucumbers regularly . The presence of overgrowths on the lash, especially yellow ones, gives the “stop” command to the development of further fruits, the supply of nutrients is disrupted, and you are provided with crocheted cucumbers. If you can’t regularly visit the dacha, cut off the crop at the gherkin stage, from 4 cm.

As you have seen, the main reason why cucumbers grow crooked is the imbalance in mineral nutrition, the lack of certain elements. Therefore, it is necessary to feed cucumbers from the very beginning of their growing season, using both mineral and organic top dressing. And proper watering and smoothing of night temperatures will reduce the possibility of the appearance of crooked cucumbers to zero.

Throughout the season, the growth and development of cucumbers is influenced by many environmental factors. The combination of their effects determines the shape, size, taste of the fruit. With insufficient care for the plant at the end of the season, you can get crooked cucumbers. And here it is worth asking the question: “What do they lack? Why do cucumbers grow crochet? The causes and options for solving the problem of the appearance of cucumbers growing in a greenhouse will be discussed in this article.

Watering

A large number of problems with the growth and fruiting of cucumbers lies in the simplest procedure - watering. Unbelievable, but true: often even experienced gardeners do not know how to properly water plants in a greenhouse, and as a result they get a bouquet of diseases in grown plants or their death.

There are several options for improper watering:

• Irrigation with cold water. Given that the temperature of air and soil in the greenhouse is relatively stable, a certain microclimate is created that is favorable for the growth of cucumbers. That is why it is so important to monitor the temperature of the water. If it is much lower than the soil temperature, you will freeze the roots of the plant. This, in turn, will force them to redistribute the accumulated resources in such a way as to offset the damage received.
• Insufficient watering. Cucumbers love moisture, withering in dry periods. Dry soil leads to a slowdown in vegetative processes, which affects the development of fruits. In fact, the plant goes into economy mode, spending a minimum of resources on the formation of fruits, which causes them to deform and become smaller.
• Excessive watering. Just like a lack of moisture, its excess leads to deformation of the fruit. This happens due to the decay of the root system and the inability to absorb useful trace elements from the soil, as they are washed out by an abundance of water.

Lack of light and heat

It will sound a little strange, but crooked cucumbers grow in a greenhouse from a lack of heat and light. Comfortable air temperature for the normal growth of cucumbers + 23-26 degrees. If it is higher, the cucumbers become shriveled, rapidly turn yellow and wither, and if it is lower, they become ill and bear twisted fruits. Even growing them in a greenhouse, keep a close eye on the weather forecast and insulate if frosts are promised. It is especially important to monitor the temperature regime in the last phase of flowering, just before fruiting begins.

Insufficient lighting is another scourge of cucumbers. This happens for various reasons: cloudy weather, thickening, improperly built greenhouse. Be that as it may, the lack of light adversely affects the vegetation and photosynthesis of the plant, which leads to the deformation of the fruit into a hook-shaped shape.

Excessive planting density leads to the fact that cucumbers wither. It is imperative to pinch and pinch bushes to thin out thick leaves and make life easier for the plant.

fertilizers

The issue of fertilizing the soil in a greenhouse is always acute. Is it enough what is brought in during the preparation of the land or do you need more? The ratio of different mineral and organic fertilizers has a huge impact on the growth of cucumbers. Both a shortage and an excess of them in the soil can lead to deformation of the fruit. With a lack of phosphorus, potassium, iron, copper, nitrogen, the leaves of the plant turn yellow, and the fruits lose their taste and grow small. At the same time, with an excess of any of these elements, approximately the same thing happens - the plant behaves strangely, does not bear fruit or bears fruit poorly.

Hooked fruits grow with a lack of potassium. It is known for certain that fertilization with yeast, herbal infusions, chicken manure or mullein leads to leaching of potassium from the soil. And without this, the proper formation of fruits will not take place. As a result, you have sprawling bushes of cucumbers with small, ugly fruits in your beds.

If the predecessors of cucumbers in this place were zucchini, dill, pumpkins, then the soil became depleted in nutrient micro- and macroelements, which leads to plant dystonia, totally inhibiting their growth and fruiting. Try to avoid such a sequence of cultivation, and also carry out timely complex top dressing and fertilizing the soil. Thus, you will get rid of the problem of ugly, small or crooked cucumbers.

Parthenocarpic neighbors

Parthenocarpic, that is, forming fruits without pollination, cucumber varieties do not get along very well in a greenhouse with other varieties, conventional or hybrid. Try to distinguish between them by placing them at different ends of the greenhouse or even seating them in different rooms. If you still decide to plant parthenocapic cucumbers with pollinated insects, then separate them from each other with a dense cloth to reduce interaction by airborne droplets. Why is it necessary to do this? Pollen from hybrid varieties, falling on parthenocarpic ones, pollinates the inflorescences, violating the program of formation and development of the fetus laid down in them. Thus, crooked fruits can turn out.

Late harvest

Growing any plants in a greenhouse, it is important to harvest the ripening crop on time. First of all, this will preserve the quality and taste of the fruit, will not let it rot or be damaged by insects. In addition, this way you will help the cucumbers form the next fruits without any problems. Leaving ripe cucumbers on the bush for a long time, you will deprive the bush of a chance to re-form the ovaries with your own hands.

Harvest fresh fruits every 2-3 days to ensure long-term fruiting of cucumbers in the greenhouse.

Another reason for the formation of crooked fruits is planting cucumbers in the same place for several years in a row. Firstly, it increases the risk of fungal diseases (root rot, gray rot, downy mildew, verdigris). Secondly, during the growth period, a toxin, colin, accumulates in the soil. Its excess affects the shape and size of the fruit.

When it comes time to harvest, most gardeners complain that cucumbers are irregularly shaped.

The aesthetic unattractiveness of grown fruits lowers their commercial value and, therefore, contributes to the difficulty of transportation and processing. As practice has shown, it is quite difficult to roll up a crop of irregularly shaped cucumbers.

They can be useful only for salting in wooden barrels or for vegetable salads. So why do cucumbers come in irregular shapes? Let's try to figure this out.

Undesirable proportions of cucumbers, which appear in the form of a twisted fruit, in most cases are observed when the rules for growing the named crop are not followed. Today there are errors such as:

• non-compliance with the recommendations of the crop rotation of cucumbers;
• illiterate choice of varieties and their subsequent planting in the ground;
• defects during watering;
• violation of the temperature regime;
• top dressing that was performed improperly;
• late collection.

As a result of non-compliance with certain rules, cucumbers become hooked. This moment can be explained by the imbalance in the earth of certain elements and the accumulation of toxins.

Cucumbers are a fairly nutrient sensitive crop. If the fruits of cucumbers are grown all the time in one area, the concentration of the toxin reaches its climax. That is, the plant stops growing due to the negative impact on its quality.

Cucumbers will grow beautiful, provided that last year a crop of crops such as potatoes, tomatoes, turnip onions, greens, legumes, cabbage, and root crops grew in the cucumber planting area. Poor soil cannot provide cucumber plants with the required amounts of nutrients.

Illiterate choice of varieties

Of fundamental importance for the correct formation of the fruit is the purchase of the desired variety and the subsequent planting of seedlings. Growing seeds and planting seedlings in the ground, almost all gardeners assure that they performed all actions strictly according to the rules. That is, there were no deviations from the norm in the scheme. However, the cucumbers grew in an irregular shape - crocheted. Why?

Bee pollinated and parthenocarpic varieties

If you look in detail, it turns out that at the time of planting cucumbers, gardeners made mistakes when planning the arrangement of varieties relative to each other. Simply put, bee pollinated and parthenocarpic varieties were planted close together.

For parthenocarpic cucumbers, in order for the ovaries to appear, there is absolutely no need for pollination. Insufficient pollination of bee pollinated varieties contributes to the formation of hooked fruits. For full pollination of bee-pollinated varieties or hybrids, one should try to select varieties suitable for pollination, attract bees and bumblebees, and in the absence of the latter, carry out artificial pollination of cucumber ovaries.

Timely collection

Following the above recommendations, many gardeners continue to ask the question: “why do irregularly shaped cucumbers grow crooked?”. In this case, it is strongly recommended to pay close attention to the timeliness of picking cucumbers. As practice shows, irregular harvesting leads to the fact that the nutrients will be distributed incorrectly, which means that the cucumbers will grow in an irregular shape.

The presence of overgrown greens on the stems will necessarily cause a delay in the ripening of new fruits. As a rule, the fruits ripen every two days. If you collect cucumbers less often, overripe ones will not be so tasty, tender and beautiful.

A few words about watering cucumbers

Asking the question of why the cucumbers are not quite the right shape, gardeners must ensure that the cucumbers are properly watered.

In this case, you need to be aware that the reason for the growth of irregularly shaped cucumbers can be, on the one hand, insufficient soil moisture, and on the other hand, ice water.

If the soil begins to dry out, there is a cessation of growth of cucumbers as a result of the redistribution by the plant of the vital elements for development that are contained in the stem. As a result, cucumbers lose their usual shape.

Some are also surprised that hooked cucumbers also grow with constant watering. In most cases, cold water is the cause. As practice shows, as well as pumpkin crops, cucumbers do not tolerate cold well. That is, it can be stated with all confidence that it is cold watering that is a kind of obstacle to the full formation of the cucumber crop.

Violation of the temperature regime

Speaking about the irregular shape of cucumbers, it is important to say that a fairly common cause is a lack of heat. In the event of a decrease in temperature, the culture stops its growth, which affects the processes of formation of the fetus itself. In this case, the plant cannot absorb those trace elements that the earth is rich in.

If the temperature regime fluctuates, constrictions are observed in fruits in most cases. When the weather is too hot outside, the leaves of plants have all the risks of getting burned, becoming a source of the development of numerous diseases.

Wrong composition of dressings

A common cause of fruit distortion is a deficiency of phosphorus or the predominance of nitrogen in the soil and plants over phosphorus and potassium as a result of an unbalanced diet. If there is no predominance of nitrogen, then you can feed the plants with a solution of Mortar. In any case, you can feed with a solution of potassium monophosphate or superphosphate. The first fertilizer is more expensive, but dissolves more easily in water.

Moreover, some people think that nitrogen-based fertilizing can fix the problem, and therefore they begin to actively apply only such types of fertilizers. The result of such actions is the deformation of the fruit. An increased amount of nitrogen in the soil against the background of a lack of phosphorus and potassium causes the ovary to fall off.

How to deal with the curved shape of cucumbers

Most cases of a curved shape are observed when there is a thickening of the planting and a lack of light. The fruits also become crooked at low temperatures at night (below +12 degrees), as well as when thrips and aphids are affected.

Treatment in this case is reduced to planting seedlings in accordance with the required area of ​​\u200b\u200bnutrition. If this is an open soil, there should be no more than five pieces per square meter, but if greenhouse cultivation is planned, two or three seedlings.

We must also remember about the formation of lashes of cucumbers, the timely pinching of shoots from the side, the arrangement of a garden in well-lit areas, away from buildings and trees.

Barrel-shaped and pear-shaped cucumbers: how to ensure proper treatment?

As for constrictions, they can occur on cucumbers due to watering with ice water or drying the soil. It is these two factors that influence the formation of a barrel-shaped fruit. Many of these greens can also be obtained with irregular collections, when many overgrown fruits can be found on the plant. In this case, one cannot help but recall the lack of moisture.

Pear-shaped cucumbers are observed in the fruits of bee-pollinated varieties with a lack of pollinating insects on the site. And in parthenocarpic hybrids, when pollen is transferred to flowers from cultures of other varieties, as well as in case of an insufficient amount of potassium.

It is advisable to open bee-pollinated varieties and hybrids of cucumber for insects by growing honey-bearing plants near them - lemon balm, catnip, oregano, mint, phacelia, sunflower, buckwheat to attract bees and bumblebees.

It is expedient to cover parthenocarpic ones at the time of flowering with a thin non-woven fabric. If the problem is a lack of potassium, fertilizers based on potassium and ash will provide effective help.

Pointy fruits and "Siamese twins": how to treat?

Pointy cucumbers are the result of a lack of nitrogen. If we talk about drying out of the tips, it is provoked by a lack of calcium. For high-quality treatment and prevention, fertilizing with fertilizers that have calcium and nitrogen in their composition can be considered.

Merged fruits, or as they are also called "Siamese twins", can be the result of stressful situations, improper use of funds that stimulate the growth of seedlings.

Here, the genetic predisposition of certain varieties to such behavior is of no small importance. It is possible to grow good fruits, subject to compliance with agrotechnical rules, maintaining a constant temperature and humidity without drops, and using high-quality growth stimulants.

When we plant any vegetables in our gardens, we expect that in the end, they will grow the same as in the picture with seeds. But, to such “beauty” they often simply do not reach, and look much less attractive. This applies to many vegetables, the same tomatoes, which often just burst right on the bushes. Often cucumbers also do not please us with their regular shapes. They take various forms, just not the way we would like to see. Ugly cucumbers quite often lie on our beds and they do not decorate them at all. Somehow you don’t even want to pick such cucumbers. That is why many of them are left lying until the garden is cleaned. And how insulting it is when you come to the market to see that all the cucumbers there are even and almost the same shape. How do people manage to grow such beauty? Let's try to figure out what your cucumbers lacked, since they have grown so "beautiful".

If cucumbers grow irregularly. Reasons for this phenomenon

So, why do your cucumbers do not meet the "beauty standards" and differ greatly from them for the worse? Cucumbers are vegetables that must be eaten well, that is, the soil must give them all the necessary substances. There should be enough of them. But, at the same time, they love the norm, that is, there should not be an excess of the concentration of such substances. So based on this, they need to be fed more often when compared with other vegetables. Once a week, for example. But, here it is necessary to do this only in small portions, and apply mineral fertilizers for this. If something important is missing in the soil, or you seriously overdo it with the application of some fertilizers, then the fruit itself will definitely “tell” you about this, your task is to learn to understand this difficult language of cucumbers. Right now we are just going to study this "cucumber" language.

If you added little nitrogen to the soil, then the fruits of the cucumbers will be light green. This color does not depend on the variety. With such a color, where there was a flower, that is, the top of the cucumber, it usually narrows and sharpens. Often this upper part of the cucumber is also bent, and often reminds us of the beak of some exotic bird. The very shape of the cucumber is close to a shape resembling a conical carrot. The lack of this rather important element is reflected not only in the shape of cucumbers, but also in the leaves of the plant itself. The leaves below simply turn yellow, the stems and side shoots seriously slow down their growth.

It happens that we, on the contrary, went too far with nitrogen. Then, accordingly, the cucumbers become dark green in color, and the leaves themselves and all the whole lashes grow very rapidly. Here the situation needs to be corrected. To do this, cucumbers will need another top dressing - superphosphate or an even simpler option, wood ash. There is no need to hesitate here, otherwise you will not get any fruits at all, even an irregular shape. But there will be a lot of tops.

There are problems with potassium. When it is small, the fruits narrow, and this narrowing occurs towards the stalk. But the top at the same time, on the contrary, expands and takes on a spherical shape. As a result, the cucumber itself, as a whole, looks like a light bulb or a pear. Leaves also feel a lack of potassium. A light-colored border appears on them, along the edges, starting right from the lower leaves. In the heat, such a plant may also fade a little.

Cucumbers received less phosphorus, then expect their general slowdown in growth. The lashes themselves almost stop growing, the leaves become very small (dark green in color), and often dry out very quickly.

It happens that fertilizers have nothing to do with it. Often the fruits narrow in the middle, and acquire a "wasp" waist when the temperature differs significantly at night and during the day, or when you water them with very cold water. When the cucumbers are curved and resemble a certain arc in shape, it means that the soil is very dry, or you watered them extremely unevenly

Try to remember these signs, then it will be easier for you to figure out what your cucumbers are missing at the moment. How to feed them or what to change when caring for them.

And here is a good video where they will tell you once again why cucumbers grow in irregular shapes. We look.

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Evgeny Sedov

When hands grow from the right place, life is more fun :)

Content

Among gardeners, cucumbers are considered the most unpretentious, non-capricious vegetables. They are actually easy to grow if you follow certain rules of care. Otherwise, they may grow irregularly shaped and taste unattractive. Such vegetables are difficult to roll up, they can only be used for pickling or for salad.

Why do cucumbers curl in a greenhouse

The main sign of the quality of vegetables is their appearance. The smoother and greener the cucumbers, the better for and for fresh consumption. However, it happens that people plant the same variety, take care of the fruits in approximately the same way, but get a different harvest. So why do uneven cucumbers grow? Many factors influence the formation of fruits, so it is impossible to give a definite answer. Much depends on the degree of illumination of the greenhouse, moisture, nutrition, and the selected variety.

Potassium deficiency in the soil

During the fruiting of cucumbers, it is necessary to give priority to potassium. If this mineral is not enough, the fruits begin to grow crochet, the leaves turn dark green. In addition, one can notice such characteristic signs as stretching of plants and a large number of barren flowers. Often this happens through the fault of gardeners who like to treat cucumbers with nitrogen-containing fertilizers, which causes a violation of potassium metabolism.

Why do cucumbers grow crochet in the second half of summer? The fact is that since the end of July, the temperature drops at night and it is difficult for plants to absorb potassium due to the cold. If before that there was a lack of minerals, the situation becomes even worse - cucumbers are deformed even in a greenhouse. Active root dressing with potassium-containing substances will help to solve the problem.

Different varieties of cucumbers in one greenhouse

Another reason for the formation of crooked fruits is the neighborhood of different varieties. Although all cucumbers love moist air, frequent watering, there are differences between them. For example, some varieties are bee-pollinated, others are hybrids that do not require pollination. For this reason, one should know the biological characteristics of cucumbers in order to avoid the appearance of irregularly shaped cucumbers. It is impossible to grow together unsuitable varieties within the same greenhouse. At a minimum, you can try to isolate the plants with non-woven material, gauze.

Watering cucumbers with cold water

Why are cucumbers uneven? They may not be watering properly. Both cucumber seedlings and adult plants love room temperature water in the range of 18-23 degrees. If watering is carried out with colder water, the vegetables react painfully: their development is inhibited, diseases appear, the fruits begin to grow crooked. To prevent this, cucumbers must be watered with water at room temperature. This should be done carefully so as not to wash out the roots and break the stems. It is advisable to water not with a hose, but with an ordinary garden watering can.

Variety features

Irregularly shaped cucumbers can grow as a result of an incorrectly selected variety. If a gardener has planted light-loving, heat-loving types of hybrids, at the end of summer they will certainly respond to a decrease in temperature and a decrease in daylight hours by changing their shape. Such varieties of cucumbers must be planted early and harvested before autumn (end of August).

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