Fertilizing before sowing cucumbers. Top dressing for cucumbers: from preparing the garden to harvesting

Cucumbers are frequent guests in personal plots, since the ripening period occurs within 50-60 days, and the fruiting itself takes place within a month.

The yield of cucumbers, of course, depends on the variety, it is better if the varieties are planted differently for the possibility of consuming fresh vegetables for a long time.

For example, of the early varieties of cucumbers, Chernobrivets is considered the best, and of the middle and late varieties: Nezhinsky, Borschagovsky, Berlizovsky.

How to properly grow cucumbers

The harvest of cucumbers directly depends on the correct selection of a place for planting them, the choice of a planting method and fertilization of the soil. This will be discussed further.

Choosing a landing site

The optimal place for growing cucumbers is on the lower level, preferably flat or with a slope to the south. The planting of cucumbers is shallow, so it is quite difficult for the plant to select all the necessary nutrients from the depths of the earth. It is imperative to use fertilizers for cucumbers, otherwise you can not expect a large yield from them.

Top dressing of the soil

In general, for a start, it would be good to fertilize the soil with good quality. Fertilizers for cucumbers can be used both in ready-made purchased form and in natural form, for example, manure from the ratio per 1 sq. M. 6-8kg combined with 1 glass of ash. If fertilized with humus, then it is applied 4-5 kg \u200b\u200bper 1 sq. m or use small decomposed peat at the rate of 8-10 kg. The difference between such fertilizers for cucumbers is that manure is introduced into the soil when digging a site in the fall, and humus is already before planting seedlings or. Be sure to feed the cucumbers with phosphorus or potassium fertilizer, if, of course, your soil has a sufficient amount of humus. The calculation is made as follows: for 1 sq.m. 1 cup ash or ½ cup potassium salt with 1/3 cup superphosphate.

Planting cucumbers

Growing cucumbers can generally be done in many ways.

• If you plant in the ground, then only when the frost has already passed your area. Do not forget that the row spacing of the early varieties of cucumbers reaches 70-90cm, and the later ones - 100-120cm. if you plant cucumber seeds, then the sowing depth is 2-3cm. the distance between plants is 12-15cm.
• If the planting of cucumber seeds is done by marking the area for the early 90x90cm, for the late ones - 100x100cm, then where the intersection of the hole marker must be made with a diameter of 25-30cm with the addition of fertilizers for cucumbers. You can use a mixture of mineral and organic. 8-10 seeds are sown in the prepared and fertilized well.

Important: carry out the first feeding of cucumbers two weeks after germination, the next feeding during the period of bud formation or at the beginning of flowering.

Cucumber is a tasty and healthy vegetable widely used in salads and preserves. It is classified as a rather capricious agricultural crops, therefore, obtaining a rich harvest requires compliance with several rules for choosing a place for planting and feeding them at various stages of cultivation. The introduction of fertilizers into the soil before planting cucumbers is the key to their rapid growth and active fruiting, therefore, it is worth paying special attention to the preliminary preparation of the soil in the garden allotted for them.

Fertilizing cucumbers before planting allows you to get excellent yields in the future

Autumn preparation for growing cucumbers in the open field

There are different opinions regarding the method of replenishing the land before planting seeds, and each summer resident independently chooses which technologies to use to fertilize the land before planting vegetables. Most gardeners are of the opinion that fertilizing the soil in the area intended for growing cucumbers is best in the fall, since it will take several months and a large amount of moisture to completely dissolve the mineral mixture used to saturate the soil with nutrients.

Top dressing for cucumber seedlings grown by the open method is prepared taking into account the squaring of the plot, based on the calculation that for each square meter of future beds, 3-4 buckets of ripe manure, 3-4 glasses of wood ash and 80-100 g of nitrophoska are required. In autumn, the mixture is evenly applied to the area, which must be dug up in the spring and covered with a 15 cm layer of black soil.

Quail manure is applied to the garden in the fall

Spring preparation for growing cucumbers in the open field

If it was not possible to fertilize the soil in the fall, in the spring, at least a week before planting the seeds, in the place of the future cucumber bed, it is necessary to dig a groove about 40 cm deep, fill it with ripe manure, and cover it on top with a 16-centimeter layer of fertile soil, after which the soil must be leveled, form sides and cover with a thick film.

Only old manure can be added to the soil, since the fresh mullein contains highly concentrated urea and nitrogen, which are capable of burning young cucumber sprouts. When fertilizing the soil, it is important to observe the proportions recommended by farmers, since an excessive amount of droppings on the site can provoke the formation of voids in cucumber fruits and a decrease in yield.

Fresh hay, fallen leaves or sawdust are excellent top dressing, which, when planting cucumbers, can replace manure and fully fertilize the earth. Any of these substances is introduced into the prepared groove, compacted and covered with fertile soil, on which it is already possible to form beds.

In cases where it is not possible to fertilize the soil in advance before sowing cucumbers, 3-4 days before planting the seeds, it is necessary to sprinkle the soil with ash mixed with superphosphate in the proportion: 2 tablespoons of fertilizer per 1 glass of ash, after which one bucket of humus is applied to the soil and rotten sawdust. Then the treated area is dug up and watered with 3-4 liters of humate solution prepared from 1 tbsp. tablespoons of this fertilizer concentrate and 10 liters. water. This amount of feeding is enough to process 1 sq. meter of the garden. After all the manipulations, the soil is covered with a film to warm the earth.

In addition to the fertilizer made by the gardeners themselves, ready-made complex fertilizers based on phosphorus and nitrogen, such as ammophos or diammophos, are also used. Due to their high mobility in the soil and easy solubility, phosphorus-nitrogen growth stimulants can be applied immediately before planting cucumbers.

Diammophos is suitable for fertilizing cucumbers before planting

We plant cucumbers in the greenhouse

Most often, cucumber seedlings are planted in greenhouses, which have 4-5 true leaves. Usually, this number of leaves appears in the third week after the seeds are hatched. Growing seedlings includes:

• warming up the seeds;
• moisturizing and fertilizing cucumber seeds;
• cooling;
• introduction of seeds into pots.

Seeds intended for growing seedlings are kept in a warm room for a month at a temperature not lower than + 25 ° C, which will allow in the future to get a friendly sprout, earlier fruiting and a minimum amount of barren flowers. Before germination, heated cucumber grains must be placed for an hour in a disinfecting solution made from 100 g of cool water and 30 g of garlic pulp.

After the destruction of pathogenic microbes, the seeds are folded for 12 hours in a tissue flap soaked in a nutrient solution, for the preparation of which you will need 1 tablespoon of water, 1 teaspoon of fine wood ash and the same amount of nitrophosphate.

Then the grains are placed on a damp cloth, where they are kept for 2 days at a temperature of about + 20 ° C. When the seeds are swollen and slightly hatched, they are transferred to the refrigerator for 24 hours. These manipulations allow you to harden future shoots. Note that the seeds of hybrid varieties of cucumbers do not need pre-sowing preparation.

For growing cucumber seedlings, small containers 10-12 cm high are used, filled with a nutritious soil mixture. This substance is obtained from 1 part of rotten sawdust, 2 parts of humus and 2 parts of peat. 10 l of the preparation for the soil mixture is fertilized with 1.5 tablespoons of nitrophoska and 2 tablespoons of wood ash. Place 1 sprouted seed in 1 pea. Seedlings are watered at least once a week. The presence of intense lighting is a prerequisite for the normal growth of cucumber seedlings.

Before planting cucumber seedlings, the soil must be disinfected with potassium permanganate and sprinkled with phosphate fertilizer

You can plant seedlings in greenhouse soil 27-30 days after sowing. Immediately before planting, the sprout must be fertilized with a solution obtained by mixing 3 liters of water and 3 teaspoons of nitroammophoska or nitrophoska.

Cucumber shoots are planted in warm ground, previously watered with a weak solution of potassium permanganate and sprinkled with a teaspoon of any phosphate fertilizer. When planting between seedlings, it is necessary to maintain an interval of 30-35 cm. This distance is enough for the full growth of the cucumber root system.

Features of feeding various types of soil

You can fertilize depleted or clayey soil with a mixture made from 5-6 kg of mullein, 30 g of superphosphate, 18 g of potassium-magnesia and 50 g of nitroammophoska, which can be replaced with 18 g of ammonium nitrate. All components of the fertilizer are thoroughly mixed and evenly applied to a planting area of \u200b\u200b1 sq. m. Also, before planting cucumbers, 5 g of granular superphosphate are poured into each meter of the garden.

For full development on sandy loam soil, the cucumber sprout requires additional fertilizers in the form of magnesium, therefore, when planting seedlings and seeds on such soils, the soil is enriched with appropriate organo-mineral mixtures.

Kalimagnesia - fertilizer for clay and depleted soils

Important to remember

For planting cucumbers, it is better to choose slightly darkened backyards. The soil allotted for planting this crop should be thoroughly fertilized and warmed up with a film. The seeds must be pre-soaked and disinfected in order to avoid the development of various diseases.

Remember, cucumbers "love" phosphate and nitrogen fertilizers, as well as abundant watering.

Record What fertilizers should be applied when planting cucumbers? SeloMoe first appeared.

Cucumbers are traditionally Russians' favorite vegetables. They are certainly planted on the site by every self-respecting gardener. However, a rather whimsical culture requires careful care - just throwing seeds into the ground, periodically watering the plantings and harvesting a bountiful harvest will not work. Top dressing is a procedure that occupies the most important place in the process of growing cucumbers.

Fertilizers - the key to a bountiful harvest

It is almost impossible to grow cucumbers without correct and timely feeding.

Any soil in a garden with cucumbers, with the exception of black soil, needs additional fertilization to obtain a crop. Provided that the fertilizing is correctly applied, the bushes will form much faster, the harvest can be removed earlier, the fruiting period will be significantly "stretched", and the resistance to diseases and pests will increase. You can even improve the palatability and increase the number of fruits removed from one bush.

The root system of cucumbers is fibrous, superficial, goes into the ground by a maximum of 20 cm. The roots can only "pull" something useful from the upper layers of the soil, quickly depleting them. Top dressing in the form of watering helps to compensate for the resulting deficit. Spraying with an emphasis on the underside of the leaf plate, which is responsible for suction, is also useful.

You should not rush to feed the cucumber bushes immediately after transplanting seedlings into the ground. Give them 12-15 days to adapt, otherwise the root system will not cope with several stresses at the same time.

Top dressing of cucumbers is carried out both with folk remedies and with mineral fertilizers - both methods have their adherents, but most often gardeners combine organic and mineral dressings

Young seedlings are not able to assimilate everything that gets into the soil; most of the fertilizer will simply disappear. Wait until some real leaves appear on the bushes. 15–20 minutes before the procedure, cucumbers must be watered with heated water, which has been left to stand for at least a day.

All cucumbers, regardless of the variety, are in dire need of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. But there are other important micronutrients as well. With due care in the appearance of the bush and fruits, it is easy to determine what is lacking in the plantings, and which fertilizers have been applied too much.

Table: how to determine what is missing in cucumbers, what is the excess

The necessity and frequency of feeding cucumbers is significantly influenced by the fact that the soil is properly prepared in autumn or winter, the quality and characteristics of the soil.

When fertilizing cucumbers with superphosphate, remember that you need to take a simple one twice as much as a double

If the leaves turn yellow

Yellowed leaves on cucumber bushes are a problem that every gardener has faced. Before taking any action, you need to establish the cause. Otherwise, the activities you carry out may not only fail to bring the desired effect, but also significantly harm the plant.

The list of the most common reasons is quite wide:

• Wrong location. Cucumbers need sunlight and warmth, but the brightest midday rays should not fall on the plants.
• Weather. Sudden frosts, cold cloudy summer. The former especially affects outdoor cucumbers. Cover the landings with lutrasil, spunbond, similar breathable material.
• Too much watering. Observe an interval of 2-4 days, depending on weather conditions. Spray the leaves daily in hot weather. Use only warm, settled water.
• Lack of moisture. The plant "saves" it by reducing the supply of leaves. To increase the humidity in the greenhouse, the walls are sprayed from the inside with a weak solution of chalk.
• Pollination barriers. In a permanently closed greenhouse, it is difficult for insects to access. When buying, carefully study the description of the varieties - at least one must be self-pollinated. The honey plants planted nearby (dill, cucumber grass, hyssop), spraying the leaves with water with sugar or honey, boric acid solution, Ovary, Bud preparations will help attract bees.
• Excess ovaries on the plant. Almost all nutrients get to the future fruits, leaves on a residual basis. For harmonious development, no more than 20-25 future cucumbers are left on each bush at a time. Many modern hybrids are capable of forming 4-5 times more. Therefore, the lateral shoots must be pinched in a timely manner.
• Chlorophyll deficiency. This indicates pathologies in the development of the plant or a lack of the necessary minerals. Water the plantings with a solution of complex liquid mineral fertilizer for cucumbers containing nitrogen, iron and magnesium.
• Excessive thickening of the bush. The lower leaves simply lack light. In principle, yellowness in this case is normal.
• Diseases and pests. In each case, yellowness manifests itself in different ways. Carefully inspect the plant for the presence of pests (the most common are aphids, sprout flies, whiteflies, spider mites) or other signs associated with fungal, viral diseases. Then apply an appropriate insecticide or folk remedy.
• Root rot. The roots affected by the fungus are not able to sufficiently nourish the plant, the bush dies. The yellowness of the leaves is only one of the accompanying signs. For prevention, correct timely watering is important.
• Aging plants. Any culture has a certain growing season, cucumbers are no exception. You will not be able to do anything with this, you cannot trample on nature.

Video: why cucumber leaves turn yellow

In some cases, the yellowness of the leaves appears even on seedlings. In this case, the reason is most likely in poor-quality seeds, unsuitable soil for cucumbers, nutritional deficiencies, low temperatures and the presence of sharp drafts in the room.

The yellowness of cucumber leaves can be the result of a variety of reasons - first find out what exactly your plantings are suffering from

Experienced gardeners, in order to cope with the problem and not harm the plants even more, are advised to use folk remedies.

The following recipes are most common:

• 2-3 handfuls of onion skins are poured over 10 liters of water, brought to a boil. After 5-10 minutes, remove from heat, cover tightly and leave for several hours (preferably a day). Then the infusion is filtered, diluted with water in a ratio of 1: 4 and the plants are watered. "Side effect" - a product containing a complex of essential trace elements helps to get rid of many pests.
• A 0.5-liter can of wood ash is poured into 5 liters of herbal infusion. Cut the nettle greens, fill the container with it by about a third, then add water to the brim. The future fertilizer is kept in a warm place under a tightly closed lid for 3-4 days. Then they filter and pour ash into it. Top dressing is well mixed, diluted three times with plenty of water.
• A liter of milk (preferably homemade and in any case unpasteurized) is mixed with 20 ml of iodine and a small amount of small shavings of household or green potash soap. The resulting solution is sprayed on the underside of the leaves.
• A loaf of black bread with cut crusts is poured over 5–7 liters of warm water and left for 8–10 hours. Grind the pulp, put it back in the container, add 10 ml of iodine. Mix the liquid, add twice the amount of water, spray the bushes.
• Water and kefir of maximum fat content or milk whey are mixed in a 5: 1 ratio, the leaves are sprayed.

Fertilizers specially designed for cucumbers are widely used to stimulate fruit ovaries and reduce the number of barren flowers.

What can be fed during fruiting?

During fruiting of any crops, whenever possible, only natural means are used, minimizing the amount of chemicals introduced. At this stage, 2-3 additional dressings are enough.

Choose one of the following schemes:

• Watering with infusion of cow dung at the beginning of fruiting, distribution of dry rotted manure or humus over the garden bed after 7-10 days (1 liter per 2 m²), followed by abundant irrigation and the use of granules of carbamide and superphosphate (10-15 g / m²).
• Watering the beds with a solution of chicken manure (200 ml per 10 liters of water) with the addition of 10–15 g of complex nitrogen-potassium-phosphorus fertilizer, in which there is the least percentage of nitrogen. After 10-15 days, use fresh manure (0.5 l) and potassium sulfate (8-10 g), dissolving fertilizers in 10 l of water. After waiting for the same amount, they prepare a third feeding, similar to the first. You can also use an infusion of fresh manure. In all cases, the norm per m² is 5 liters.
• Three times application of urea solution (5 g per 10 l of water). It is impossible to exceed the concentration, so as not to harm the health of those who will eat these cucumbers. Immediately after fertilization, the beds are watered abundantly.
• Infusion of nettle greens, dandelion leaves, plantain or any herb at the beginning of fruiting and potassium nitrate (20–25 g per 10 l of water) after 2–3 weeks to prolong it.

There are some tricks you can use to prolong fruiting. Watering cucumbers:

• Infusion of sifted wood ash (a glass of 5 liters of water, infuse for a day).
• An infusion of last year's rotted hay (the raw material is crushed, poured three times with a lot of warm water, left for two days).
• A solution of baking soda (25-30 g per 10 liters of water).

Yeast fertilizer

The common expression "is growing by leaps and bounds" is not a metaphor or hyperbole, but advice to summer residents, which has every reason. Cucumbers really grow sharply. For feeding, both pressed fresh yeast and dry powdered yeast are suitable. A significant advantage of the product is its absolute naturalness. The benefits of the product for plants are due to its unique composition. Yeast is a unique combination of amino acids, sugars, vitamins and phytohormones, as well as nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. The benefits of the product are to stimulate cell division and differentiate their functions.

Yeast is a completely natural product sold in any store, successfully used by gardeners as a universal fertilizer

Feeding with yeast makes cucumbers more resistant to the vagaries of the weather, diseases and pests due to the "shock" dose of vitamins, stimulates the development of the root system, reduces the growth time of cucumber bushes, accelerates the process of ovary and fruit ripening.

As in all other cases, it is important to know the measure, observing a certain frequency of feeding. If you fertilize more than once every 10 days, you can harm the plantings. The optimal interval is 14-16 days. Over the summer, at least 4–5 dressings are carried out, starting when the ground warms up enough and the probability of recurrent frosts is minimized. Depending on the region, this is the beginning or the second half of May.

Excess yeast greatly impoverishes the soil and causes oversaturation of plants with nitrogen. As a result, you have powerful sprawling bushes with almost no cucumbers.

Yeast is not a universal substitute for other fertilizers. It is rather an addition to them. Therefore, you should not hope to get by with them alone.

Fertilizer is prepared as follows:

• Cut five packs of compressed yeast into small pieces, pour 5 liters of heated water up to 30–35ºС water. The liquid is stirred until the yeast dissolves, left in a warm place for 3-4 hours. After this time, the fertilizer is intensively mixed again, its volume is brought to 50 liters. The rate for one plant is 0.5 liters.
• A bag of dry yeast (8-10 g) is mixed with 50 g of sugar, dissolved in a liter of warm water. Fertilizer is infused for 1.5-2 hours, diluted with water before use, increasing the volume to 20-25 liters.

As an addition to yeast, experienced gardeners recommend using freshly cut grass, nettle greens, and potato tops. Yeast is poured not with plain water, but with a pre-prepared infusion from the indicated ingredients.

In the absence of yeast at hand and the need to urgently feed the cucumbers, you can replace the raw materials with ordinary bread of any kind, soaked in water and squeezed. The liquid is used as fertilizer.

As you know, yeast is used when baking most types of bread - if there is no bag or briquette at hand, soaked crumb will be a worthy alternative

In general, you can start a large enough container in the garden area, fill it halfway with water and throw stale or moldy bread there. Be sure to provide for the presence of a lid - the smell of such a fertilizer is specific. Before using it for its intended purpose, the agent is intensively mixed, filtered and half diluted with water.

A bountiful harvest of cucumbers requires time and effort from the gardener, but it's worth the work.

Growing cucumbers is a challenge even for novice gardeners. Competent feeding, strict adherence to the recommended dosage of natural organic matter and mineral fertilizers will help to get the maximum possible yield. It is better to underfeed than to overdo it with fertilizers. Cucumbers are quite demanding to care for, but nothing beats the taste of home grown vegetables - this is a worthy reward for the gardener for his work.

Cucumbers are a very tasty, aromatic and healthy vegetable crop for the human body. This vegetable is often added to salads and canned in order to feast on it in the winter. The culture is quite capricious and requires regular maintenance. It takes a lot of strength and patience from a gardener to get a bountiful harvest. However, there are several planting rules, the observance of which will greatly facilitate the cultivation of this vegetable. This is especially true for fertilizers.

Why do this?

For a short growing season, cucumbers need to achieve the formation of a powerful leaf apparatus and a large number of vegetables. This culture develops more actively when grown on fertile soil. In sod-podzolic soil, planting of cucumbers is recommended only in the third year, after organic fertilizer has been abundantly applied to the soil.

Planting cucumbers in fresh, freshly added manure to the soil is also not recommended, since strong vegetation will damage the germination of fruits. However, it is possible to pour five to ten kilograms of fresh manure per square meter when digging the ground in the autumn. The emitted carbon dioxide during the decomposition of fresh manure has a positive effect on soil fertility.

Due to the fact that this vegetable crop does not like oversaturation with minerals, fertilizers must be handled extremely carefully. As a rule, the first feeding is carried out in the fall. This allows you to prepare the soil, saturating it with the main complex of useful and nutritious substances. The main feeding is carried out when planting plants in open ground. This is necessary in order for the seedlings to quickly adapt to the new land. Therefore, fertilizing the wells is an important step in growing a capricious crop like cucumbers.

Also worth noting separately is the usefulness of root fertilizer for cucumbers. If the weather is warm in your area during the summer, the root system of cucumber bushes will develop rapidly and intensively. And the top dressing introduced into the hole when planting seedlings will contribute to the formation of juicy and ripe cucumbers of the correct shape.

What fertilizers should be applied?

Fertilizing the soil before planting cucumbers is a prerequisite. This is the only way to grow healthy and healthy vegetables. This process must be treated carefully, having engaged in the preparation of the soil in advance for the further planting of seedlings. Gardeners and summer residents disagree about which of the soil preparation methods is most effective. In this case, you need to focus on your own experience and experiment periodically, noting the positive results.

Most of the experienced gardeners agree that it is advisable to do soil fertilization in the autumn.

Mineral dressings, which are used to saturate the soil with useful microelements, give a positive effect only if there is abundant moisture and after several months.

For intensive growth and development, cucumbers need regular nutrition with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It is worth noting that the latter is not found in organic supplements such as manure or dung. Therefore, the vegetable crop needs the following fertilizers:

• saltpeter;
• sulfurous top dressing;
• chloride top dressing;
• molybdate feeding.

In addition to potassium, onion peels are a popular dressing for cucumbers. Both elements are applied directly to the hole just before planting. For each of the listed dressings, some features of the application are characteristic. Let's consider them in more detail.

Onion peel

Before the cucumber seedlings are in the garden, it is recommended to prepare the holes. One of the best solutions is the use of onion skins. As a rule, they store it from the beginning of winter, pre-drying it and putting it in a box. After that, the onion husks are laid out in each hole intended for cucumber bushes, adding a small amount of humus. The resulting mass is mixed. Only after this procedure can you start planting cucumber seedlings. In this case, the plants must be planted along with the soil that was in the cups with seedlings.

The popularity of onion skins is largely due to its reusable use. In addition to directly adding to the garden, an excellent decoction can be made from the husk. The resulting liquid is replaced by water when watering the plant. After receiving the broth, the onion husks are not thrown away, but dried and, as necessary, added to the wells to the cucumbers. Onion dressing is often referred to as a fertility biostimulant. It is also a good antiseptic that helps in the fight against harmful bacteria and microorganisms.

Many gardeners note that the husk can be used as compost, as it repels some types of insects that can lead the plant to death. By placing the husks next to the vegetable crop, you thereby create protection against pests that cannot tolerate the specific smell of onions.

When deciding to use onion peel without compost, it is recommended to soak it for two hours beforehand. Only after that it is possible to "fill" the beds with it.

The onion husk contains a whole range of nutrients useful for vegetable crops (vitamin C, E, PP, B, A). You can also note the presence of a large amount of phytoncide, which endows the onion with bactericidal properties, quercetin, which is a strong antioxidant, and useful organic acids (potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, manganese and iron). If you spot any insect feasting on the leaves of a cucumber bush, it is likely that spraying a warm decoction of onion husks will help get rid of the pest.

To prepare the onion broth, you will need two glasses of onion skins and water. Pour onion husks into a deep container, then fill it with the required amount of water so that the container is completely filled. Switch on the hotplate on the medium setting. Wait until the broth begins to boil. Remove the container from the stove, leaving the contents to infuse for two to three hours. After the broth has cooled, you can process the plants with it. Pour the fertilizer over the leaves and directly onto the root system. The leftover broth can be used for compost.

Potassium

Determining that cucumbers need mineral feeding is quite simple. Plants with a deficiency of minerals are characterized by darkening and folding of the leaves, you can also notice small "burns" around the edges. The presence of these signs is a signal for immediate feeding of the cucumbers.

The availability of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium is essential for the successful growth and development of cucumbers. However, as mentioned earlier, potassium is not found in bird droppings or manure. This element can be obtained from sulphide and chloride nitrate, potassium molybdenum. When using the listed fertilizers, the soil is also saturated with other elements in their composition. It should be noted that potassium chloride must be placed in the ground only in the autumn.This will allow the precipitation to wash away the chlorine in the composition, leaving the potassium necessary for the cucumbers.

Cucumbers equally do not tolerate both a deficiency and an excess of potassium. In the latter case, the leaves of the vegetable crop are randomly colored in a yellowish-greenish tint. This also indicates a decrease in magnesium. The appearance of a light green edge on the leaves indicates that the cucumbers are in great need of potash fertilization.

If the gardener ignores the signs and does not feed, the leaves turn bright yellow, starting to bend inward. The lack of potassium insignificantly affects the growth of vegetable crops. However, the number of fruits and their quality are significantly reduced. When the lower leaves die off, the disease is transmitted to the upper ones. Hot weather can speed up this process. As a result, the plant may die.

Being an early ripening type of vegetable crop, cucumbers bloom and bear fruit much more intensively than others. You can grow them all year round if you wish. However, regular and careful monitoring of the necessary complex of microelements missing by the plant will be required.

Take your time to fertilize each cucumber bush. It is recommended to start feeding two or three plants. After two days, mark the changes. Correctly applied fertilization activates the growth of cucumbers.

The preparation of potash dressing consists in mixing several ingredients. It:

• 10 liters of clean water (rainwater is recommended if available);
• 200 grams of manure or poultry droppings;
• one teaspoon of superphosphate;
• one teaspoon of potassium.

The resulting solution is poured into a garden watering can and abundantly watered each hole, prepared in advance for a cucumber bush. Adding this element to the soil is effective at high moisture levels. Therefore, it is advisable to do this before planting seedlings in the holes. In case of unprepared soil for planting, it is recommended to fertilize it three to five times in the summer.

Today, there are a large number of recommendations for growing nightshade crops. Let's consider the most useful and having a positive result in practice.

• The optimal conditions for planting cucumbers in open ground is an air temperature of twenty-five to thirty degrees above zero. The relative humidity should be at least seventy to eighty percent. If these indicators are ignored, seedlings planted in open ground may not take root and soon die.
• Keep in mind that nightshade vegetables like cucumbers love warmth. Therefore, watering is carried out exclusively with water warmed up in the sun. By the way, when preparing a fertilizer, the recipe of which requires the addition of water, it is also advisable to use warm water. Watering plants in the open field is carried out in the evening, when grown in a greenhouse - only in the early morning. If moisture is insufficient, the fruit will acquire a bitter taste.
• Cucumbers have a negative attitude towards chlorine, which is often one of the ingredients in potash fertilizers. In order not to injure the plant with an element that is unpleasant for it, it is advisable to use products such as potassium salt and potassium magnesium when preparing mineral fertilizers. Their composition, as a rule, contains a minimum amount of chlorine that is unable to harm the plant.
• Before planting, the well is not only fed with the aforementioned fertilizers in the form of onion husks or potassium, but also watered abundantly to moisten the soil. In order to provide the vegetable crop with the necessary supply of calcium, it is also recommended to put ground eggshells in the hole. After that, the hole is lightly sprinkled with earth. Then mineral fertilizers are applied, and cucumber seedlings are planted. The surface covering of the soil with mulch will reduce the number of germinating weeds and improve the quality of the soil. Fresh cut grass, hay or straw are used as mulch.

For information on what to put in the hole when planting cucumbers, see below.