When to plant cucumber seeds in open ground. Planting cucumbers in the open ground

Plant common cucumber, or seed cucumber (lat. Cucumis sativus), is a grassy annual species of the genus Cucumber of the Pumpkin family, a vegetable crop widely grown throughout the world. The name of the plant comes from the Greek word aguros, which means “immature”, that is, at the etymological level, the name has the concept that the cucumber is eaten unripe, that is, in green, as opposed to, for example, a tomato that is not eaten green. Cultivated vegetable cucumber for more than 6000 years. He hails from India, where he still grows in the wild at the foot of the Himalayas.

In the Bible, cucumber is referred to as "the vegetable of Egypt." The ancient Greeks grew cucumbers, then the Romans, and throughout Central Europe, cucumbers spread during the time of Charles the Great. From the notes of the German ambassador in the Moscow state of Herberstein, it is known that in 1528 cucumbers in Russia already grew.

Planting and caring for cucumbers

Landing: sowing seeds for seedlings - in April, planting seedlings in the ground - in early or mid-May.
Lighting: bright or partial shade.
The soil: highly fertile, well-drained, low in nitrogen, neutral or slightly alkaline.
Predecessors: the best are siderates, onions, cabbage, tomatoes. Unwanted - lagenaria and any pumpkin crops.
Watering: the first time after transplanting seedlings into the soil is frequent, after rooting - once every 5-7 days at a flow rate of 3 to 6 liters of water per m², during flowering - once every 2-3 days with a double water flow for the same unit area.
Feeding: 6-8 times per season with organic and mineral fertilizers. Do not feed during a cold snap.
Garter: horizontal and vertical. Tie the whips to the supports begin almost immediately after the landing of cucumbers in the ground.
Pinch: in open ground to stimulate the growth of the side lashes, the shoots are pinched over 5-6 leaves.
Stepson: at the stage of development of 3-4 leaves, then at the stage of development of 8 leaves, then in the phase of formation of 12 leaves.
Reproduction: seed.
Pests: aphids, gall nematodes, scoops, bears, tobacco thrips, spider mites, sprout flies, wireworms.
Disease anthracnoch, ascochitosis, verticillosis, powdery mildew, peronosporosis, blackleg, gray rot, black rot, olive spotting and the virus of circular mosaic.

Vegetable Cucumber - Description

The stalk of a cucumber is rough, creeping, reaching two meters in length and ending with a mustache, with which the plant clings to a support. The leaves are five-lobed, heart-shaped. The fruit is emerald green, bubbly, juicy, multi-seeded, with a structure characteristic of Pumpkin. The shape and size of the fruit varies depending on the variety.

Despite the fact that cucumber is 95% water, it contains useful trace elements - iron, magnesium, phosphorus and calcium and vitamins - C, B1, B2, provitamin A. Cucumber juice is a structured liquid that perfectly removes toxins and toxins and is beneficial affecting the state of the human body. Cucumbers are a source of iodine in compounds that are easily absorbed.

Growing cucumbers from seeds

Sowing Cucumber Seeds

Growing seedlings of cucumbers allows you to accelerate fruiting in the open field for 2 weeks, and also prolongs the period of fruiting. Even if you know how to grow seedlings of cucumbers by reading the recommendations in this article, you can compare your experience and knowledge with ours, and maybe you will learn something that you did not know.

Sowing seeds for seedlings is carried out in April. When stored properly, cucumber seeds do not lose their germination within 8-10 years, but three or four-year-old seeds are considered the most productive. Seedlings for seedlings should consist of full-bodied large seeds that have been heated for a month near heating appliances at a temperature of about 25 ºC. This does not apply to seeds of hybrid varieties - they do not need to be warmed up before planting.

Planting cucumbers on seedlings is also preceded by disinfecting the seeds by immersing them for an hour in an infusion of 100 g of water and 30 g of garlic pulp. After disinfection, the seeds for swelling are wrapped in a damp cloth and kept at 20 ºC for 48 hours, after which they are placed in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator for the same period.

The seeds ready for sowing are laid out in peat or plastic cups 10-12 cm high, filled to the top with coconut substrate or soil, which must be prepared in advance: thoroughly mix 2 parts of humus, 1 part of wood sawdust, 2 parts of peat and add 2 to 10 liters of such soil mixture tablespoons of wood ash and a half tablespoons of nitrophosphate. In each cup, spread one hatching seed with the nose up, so that when the seed peels germinate, the seed remains in the soil.

It is not necessary to deeply seed the seeds, it is enough to cover them with a layer of soil mixture with a thickness of 5-10 mm, after which the crop should be moistened, covered with paper and kept at a temperature of 22-28 ºC. Seedlings will be ready for transplanting into the open ground in 3-4 weeks. If you spread the seeds not in plastic cups, but in peat or peat pellets with a diameter of 41-44 cm, you will not have to bother with picking, but it should be noted that cucumbers do not like this procedure.

Growing seedlings of cucumbers

Caring for seedlings of cucumbers involves watering, top dressing, picking seedlings, if you grow it in boxes, cassettes or plastic glasses, and almost certainly artificial illumination is required. When seedlings appear, the temperature in the room is lowered to 20-22 ºC during the day and 15-16 ºC at night and additional seedlings are arranged with fluorescent or agro-lamps to prevent seedlings from stretching.

At the stage of formation of seedlings of two true leaves in the ground fertilize for cucumbers of this composition: 3 teaspoons of nitroammophoska are dissolved in three liters of water at a temperature of 20 ºC. And a day or two before planting seedlings in the ground, it is fed with a solution of 10 g of urea, 10 g of potassium fertilizer and 40 g of superphosphate in a solution of 10 l of water, spending this amount of fertilizing about 2 m² of soil.

Concerning watering seedlings, then during the entire growing period it is carried out once a week, and the soil is completely shed, and the excess liquid must be drained - for this it is convenient to keep the containers on a pallet. If the seedlings grow quickly, but you do not intend to dive them, pour a little soil into the cups for stability.

Pickled cucumbers

Cucumbers really do not like picks, so follow our advice and grow cucumber seedlings in peat pots or tablets, but if for some reason you decide to sow seeds in boxes, picks cannot be avoided, and they are carried out in the development phase of the seedlings of two real leaves . Before diving cucumbers, the soil in the box is well watered, then the seedling is very carefully taken out, trying not to shake the soil from the roots, and transplanted into a separate container, immersing the root and part of the stem in the hollow made from the soil in cotyledon leaves.

After a dive, the soil around the seedling is compacted so that the seedling cannot be easily pulled out of the soil. When transplanting, bent and diseased plants are rejected, however, it should be remembered that picking delays the development of seedlings for 5-7 days. If weather conditions and the level of development of seedlings allow, dive seedlings directly into the open ground at a constant place. Or dive seedlings into peat pots so that they can be transplanted into the open ground when the time comes, can be carried out together with the container.

A week before the seedlings are planted in the ground, they begin to accustom it to the external environment, daily taking it out for several hours to fresh air, not forgetting at first to protect it from wind and drafts. It is also advisable to treat seedlings for prophylactic purposes with Immunocytophyte Go Epin before planting in the ground.

Growing cucumbers at home

For the cultivation of cucumbers at home, you should choose varieties that do not require pollination, and bush and mid-cucumber cucumbers are best located on the windowsills. The varieties Domashny, Rytova, Masha, Room, Marfinsky, Bianka, and the hybrids of Claudius and Marind are optimal for the conditions of the apartment. If you want to get fresh, personally grown gherkins for the New Year's table, you need to sow cucumber seeds at the end of October, and if you need them by March 8, sow cucumbers in January.

From the moment seedlings appear until the first cucumbers ripen, usually 45-50 days pass.

Before sowing, the seeds of the cucumbers are processed: they are disinfected in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for 15-20 minutes, after which they are washed with running water. Then the seeds are laid out in individual seedlings with a diameter of 6-8 cm with a drainage layer in the form of coarse sand or expanded clay and a light nutrient mixture seasoned with overripe organics - it is best to purchase ready-made soil mix for cucumber seedlings in the store.

The soil is poured directly into the cups with boiling water, then the substrate is allowed to cool and after that the seeds are laid out on the surface, covered with moist gauze and placed on the southern or eastern windowsill. Contain containers at a temperature of 17-22 ºC at night and 22-26 ºC during the day, protecting from drafts and constantly maintaining gauze in a wet state. A few days later, when tiny seeds appear on the seeds lying in the cups, make a hole 1 cm deep in the center of the soil surface, put a sprouted seed in it and cover it with soil, and cover the glasses so that moisture does not evaporate from the soil, cover with paper or film. After emergence, the coating is removed.

If you do not have the ability to lighten up the seedlings, you will have to lower the temperature in the room to 15-17 ºC during the day and 13-15 at night so that they do not stretch out. Watering seedlings is carried out as the topsoil dries.

At the stage of development of three leaves, seedlings are carefully transplanted one at a time into more spacious containers - flower pots with a diameter of 25 cm or buckets, for example. The transplant is carried out on a cloudy day, after which plants are shaded from the sun for 2-3 days. As soon as the first ovaries are found, fertilize the cucumbers: 100 g of wood ash are thoroughly mixed in one liter of hot water and insisted for 24 hours, after which the composition is watered with soil in a pot.

The lateral processes appearing on the central lash should be pinched. One plant should carry no more than two lashes that need to be tied up: it is easiest to pull a coarse-mesh building mesh over the window, for which the growing lash will cling to a mustache.

Cucumbers are watered after drying of the top soil layer in the early morning or evening with warm water at about 27-30 ºC. It is very important to maintain a balance of moisture in the soil, because of its excess in the roots, rot may develop, and from a lack of moisture, the fruits will be bitter. When the cucumbers appear, do not let them outgrow, and then the following fruits will begin to form and develop faster.

Planting cucumbers in the open ground

When to plant cucumbers in the ground

Landing of cucumbers in the soil is carried out not earlier than 3-4 real leaves will develop in the seedlings, and the soil will warm up to 20-24 ºC and warm weather will be established. Usually, all these signs appear in mid-May. The area reserved for cucumbers should be protected from the wind, well lit by the sun, although partial shade is also acceptable. If there is a likelihood of night frosts or a sharp cooling, the cucumbers planted in the soil will have to be covered with a film, for which metal arcs are dug around the entire bed, onto which, if necessary, a covering material is sprayed. Also, close to the holes along the beds, a trellis is installed or a coarse wire mesh is dug, along which a cucumber vine will climb up.

Ground for cucumbers

The soil for cucumbers should be drained, highly fertile, with a low nitrogen content. Acidic soil before planting seedlings must be liming. Best of all, cucumbers grow in a mixture of 6 parts of peat, to which one part of humus, sawdust and sod land are added, but in principle any soil is suitable for cucumbers. The main thing is that it be loose and warm, and for this it is necessary to arrange beds of 25 cm in height, directed from east to west with a slight bias to the south. A day before planting cucumbers, formed beds are poured with a solution of a teaspoon of copper sulfate in 10 liters of almost boiling water, spending three liters per 1 m².

The best predecessors for cucumbers are green manure, tomatoes, onions and cabbage, but plants such as pumpkin, watermelon, melon, zucchini, zucchini, lagenaria and other pumpkins as predecessors for cucumbers are undesirable.

How to plant cucumbers in open ground

How to plant seedlings of cucumbers and is it necessary to fertilize the soil on the site before this? Since the root system of cucumbers is unbranched, fertilizers are applied directly during planting: in the beds they make holes 40 cm deep at a distance of 60 cm from each other, fill them with a layer of soil mixed with compost or humus, then add a layer of fertile soil without fertilizer, transship seedlings with an earthen lump or place a peat pot with seedlings in the hole, fill the hole with soil and water at the rate of 3 liters of water per plant.

In the future, the site with cucumbers can be mulched with peat or grass, which will attract earthworms supplying the soil with humus, and you can cover the aisles with black ground cover material to reduce evaporation of moisture from the surface of the site and slightly increase the temperature of the soil.

Greenhouse cultivation

To grow early cucumbers in a greenhouse, hybrid varieties for indoor use are used, such as Ant, Marinda, Twixy, Hally, Murashko, Bidretta and Buyan. In order to get the crop of cucumbers as early as possible, in the greenhouse arrange manure beds, which are called hot, or compost beds - warm.

If you have fresh cow manure, put it in a high bed in a greenhouse, and cover it with a layer of fertile soil at least 25 cm thick and water it abundantly, then spread the seeds of cucumbers at the rate of 4 plants per m². Hybrid seeds do not need presowing treatment. Close up the seeds of cucumbers 1-2 cm, after which support arcs are installed on the bed, on which light covering material is laid.

Thanks to manure, warming the soil, the first seedlings appear after 3-4 days. During the day, you need to briefly raise the shelter to ventilate the shoots. Keep track of the temperature of the soil and air in the greenhouse - it can change dramatically and unexpectedly with the weather. The optimum temperature for the development of seedlings in the greenhouse is 18-30 ºC. If the temperature rises above, the cucumbers simply burn out. In addition to the lower heating of the beds, seedlings may need additional lighting.

If you don’t have manure, instead of a hot bed, you can make warm one by the same principle, only under a layer of soil in this case instead of manure put garden compost. Since the temperature of the soil will not be so high, the planting of cucumbers in the greenhouse is carried out by sprouted seeds, directly in peat cups or tablets. In cold regions, it is better to arrange manure beds, and in warmer areas, compost will be enough. Further care for cucumbers in the greenhouse is carried out in the same way as for plants in the open ground.

Cucumber Care

How to grow cucumbers

The first time after planting in the ground, cucumber seedlings need frequent watering and shading from sunlight, and in the event of a sharp cooling, it will need shelter - when the temperature drops to 15 ºC, cucumbers slow down growth, and at 10 ºC development stops altogether. After irrigation, it is advisable to loosen the soil in the area while hilling the bushes, but this should be done carefully, since the root system of cucumbers is located in the upper soil layer. The mulch that covers the site allows you to loosen the soil not so often, or even do without loosening the soil, and also reduces the need for frequent watering and inhibits the growth of weeds. It is advisable to pinch cucumbers for open ground over a 5-6 leaf to stimulate the growth of side lashes.

Watering cucumbers

Before flowering, cucumbers are watered every 5-7 days at the rate of 3 to 6 liters per m². When flowering begins, you need to water the cucumbers more often (once every 2-3 days) and more abundantly (6-12 liters per 1 m²). Watering is carried out with settled warm water (about 25 ºC) early in the morning or in the evening. If the water will not be well absorbed into the soil, puncture the rows between the rows with a pitchfork to a depth of 10-15 cm - the water should soak the soil to a depth of 20-30 cm. You need to water the cucumbers under the root, trying not to fall on the leaves.

So that the water jet does not erode the soil, and the roots are not exposed, watering is carried out with a watering can with a nozzle-divider. The main thing in watering is balance: remember that due to insufficient moisture cucumbers grow bitter, and fungus diseases arise from excess moisture, so before you water the cucumbers, make sure that they really need it.

How to tie cucumbers

Cucumbers are grown in open ground in two ways - horizontal or vertical. Among the vertical methods, there are several witty and even exotic ones. For example, growing cucumbers in holey barrels, in plastic bags, in a hut or under a black film. Since cucumbers are creepers, they need a garter, a procedure that saves space, avoids infection with certain diseases, and makes harvesting easier. Tie cucumbers to the support begin in the phase of development of 3-4 leaves, almost immediately after planting in open ground.

Like the methods of growing cucumbers, the garter is also horizontal and vertical. At horizontal way tying between two-meter posts driven in at the beginning and end of a row stretches several rows of a strong rope or wire, along which the lashes will rise as they grow.

Vertical way involves installing a structure in the shape of the letter P on the garden bed, which consists of two dug up strong vertical supports with a wire stretched between their upper points, to which ropes will be tied around the stems of cucumbers growing below. These ropes can be pulled up as the lashes grow, but there is no need to pull them tightly. Instead of ropes, it is better to use wide ribbons of fabric - they will not injure plants in strong winds. Cucumber lash is captured with a rope loop under the first or second leaf.

How to form a cucumber bush

Since cucumbers are divided into varieties with strong, moderate and limited lateral branching, this should be taken into account when planting seedlings on the site: the more branched the variety, the less often the bushes should be planted. Varieties with strong branching require formation, which must be carried out in a timely and phased manner. At the first stage, when the plant has only 3-4 leaves, it is necessary to remove up to the fourth leaf all stepsons and ovaries, so that the plant expends its strength exclusively on the formation of the root system. When 8 leaves have already grown on the seedling, leave one or two ovaries on the branches from the fourth to eighth leaves, and pinch the next branch after it.

Repeat this procedure after a time from the eighth leaf to the twelfth, leaving already two ovaries and removing the rest of the lateral branch. As a result, the bush will take the form of an inverted Christmas tree, which will allow it to better absorb nutrition and develop, as well as positively affect the quality and quantity of fruits.

Feeding cucumbers

In order for cucumbers to grow healthy and large, they are fed an average of 6-8 times per season. The first feeding is carried out at the beginning of flowering, and each subsequent two weeks after the previous one. How to fertilize cucumbers? From organic matter, cucumbers perceive the solution of bird droppings in a ratio of 1:25 or mullein 1:10 best of all. The consumption of the solution is 4-6 liters per 1 m². Fertilizers are applied on moistened soil, being careful not to get on the leaves and stems of plants. Do not fertilize cucumbers during a cold snap, as heat-loving crops at a low temperature are not able to absorb nutrients.

Cucumber Processing

Readers sometimes complain that ground cucumbers are often exposed to fungal diseases and ask how to process cucumbers to increase their immunity to various rot. We offer you a folk method that increases the resistance of cucumbers to diseases. Grease the bottom 10 cm of the stems of cucumbers growing vertically with diluted water in a ratio of 1: 2 with iodine or brilliant green - plants treated in this way do not need fungicides. To protect cucumbers from rot, a preventive treatment of plants with a solution of 10 ml of iodine in 10 l of water is carried out.

Pests and diseases of cucumbers

The fight against diseases of cucumbers and their pests is too serious a topic, and there is no way to fit into one section, so we will present detailed information about all cucumber enemies in a separate article. In it we will talk about why cucumbers dry, why cucumbers turn yellow and how to process cucumbers when infected with a particular disease. Now we’ll just name the diseases and pests that you have to deal with if you start to neglect the rules for growing and caring for cucumbers. So, what does cucumber have?

Of the diseases, cucumbers are anthracnose, bacteriosis, ascochitosis, verticillosis, powdery mildew (real and false), black leg, black mold, gray rot, olive and brown spots and ring mosaic.

There are also a lot of insects capable of harming cucumbers: aphids, gall nematodes, the bear, scoop, sprout fly, tobacco thrips, spider mites and wireworms.

Dangers are also slugs.

To combat diseases and pests of vegetable plants used in food, it is advisable not to use chemicals, especially at the stage of formation and development of the fruit. There are many time-tested folk ways to get rid of this kind of trouble, and we will tell you about them.

Collection and storage of cucumbers

Cucumbers are harvested as they ripen, and when fruiting has begun, you need to do this at least once every two days, otherwise the cucumbers outgrow, turn yellow and prevent the formation of new greens. In addition to collecting ripened fruits, you must remove all unsuccessful and ugly fruits. The more often you shoot greenhouses, the more new ones will grow. Since cucumbers 8-12 cm in size are used for canning, from 8 to 18 cm for pickling, and larger cucumbers are suitable for salad, the frequency of collection can be used to control the number of fruits of the desired destination.

For example, during the daily harvesting of greens, pickles for canning will begin to grow intensively, when harvesting once every two days there will be more raw material for pickling. After the first frosts, you will have to collect all the fruits.

You need to remove the greenbacks early in the morning or in the evening in such a way that the stalk remains on the whip, so it is better to cut off the cucumbers, and not pull or pull. When taking out a cucumber growing in the depths of a bush, try not to turn the lashes over. Do not keep the collected fruits in the sun, immediately place them in a cool shadow. Unfortunately, fresh cucumbers are stored for a short time, which is why they are pickled and salted in large quantities, but for a week or two, greenhouses, if properly handled, can also lie down.

You can place the cucumbers in a pot of water and store them there for up to ten days, tightly covering and changing the water daily. You can beat egg white slightly, cover them with cleanly washed cucumbers and allow this coating to dry - after this treatment, cucumbers can be stored without refrigerating them. It is good to store cucumbers in the village or in the country, if there is a deep, frost-free stream in winter nearby: thick-skinned cucumbers are put in a barrel and lowered into running water. With this storage method, cucumbers will be fresh until mid-winter.

Types and varieties of cucumbers

By destination, the varieties of cucumbers are divided into salad, canning and universal. In canned cucumbers, the skin is thin, they are characterized by a high sugar content, which is very important for salting and canning. Coarser and thicker peel of salad varieties prevents the penetration of brine and marinade into the vegetable, however, these cucumbers are much tastier in fresh form than canned vegetables. Universal cucumbers can be preserved and consumed fresh.

The following varieties belong to canning cucumbers: Business, Brigantine, Rodnichok, Favorit, Voronezh, Pickle, Harvest 86, Reliable, Nezhinsky local, Competitor, Cascade.

Salad varieties: Adam, Elegant, Movir, Saltan, Phoenix, Parade, Synthesis, local rust.

Universal varieties of cucumbers: Stork, Epilogue, Marinda, Regia, Duet, Cruise, Crane, Farmer, Sagittarius, Moravian gherkin, Khabar and others.

By maturity, cucumbers are divided into early ripening, ripening in 32-45 days, mid-ripening, which need 40 to 45 days for full maturity, and late ripening varieties ripening up to 50 days or longer.

Early varieties and hybrids include: Liliput, Graceful, Zabiyaka, Emelya, Zadavak, Blizzard.

Medium-sized varieties of cucumbers: Picas, Athlete, Stepnoy, Solnechny, Unity, Far East 27, Competitor, Topolek.

Later varieties: Nezhinsky, Phoenix, Crunch, Secret, Chinese climbing, Spring, Chinese miracle, Parisian, Mother-in-law.

Cucumbers are divided into hybrids and varieties: hybrids during seed propagation do not retain their properties, like varietal cucumbers that can transmit the characteristics of a variety after several generations. But hybrids begin to bear fruit earlier and more abundantly, in addition, they are stored longer and much later than varietal cucumbers turn yellow, therefore the seeds of hybrids are more valuable and much more expensive than the seeds of varietal cucumbers.

Hybrid varieties include: Buyan, Marinda, Othello, Parker, Regina, Pasadena, Business, Ajax, Brigantina, German, Emelya, Katyusha, Swallow, True friends and others.

According to the type of pollination, cucumbers are divided into bee pollinators, which are grown in open ground, and self-pollinated, or parthenocarpic, grown in both greenhouses and the garden.

Bee pollinated varieties of cucumbers: Athlete, Crane, Table, Graceful, Pet, Slavic, Katyusha, Competitor, Casanova, Nugget, Swallow and others.

Self-pollinated varieties: Adam, Aelita, Stella, Juventa, Russian style, Romance, Picnic, Navruz, Marta, Pasadena, Voyage, Danila, Amazon, White angel and others.

By the size of greens, cucumbers are divided into gherkins, whose length is not more than 8 cm, and salad-type cucumbers intended for raw food.

The varieties of German breeding belong to gherkin: Adam, Graceful, Othello, Libelle and others.

By the nature of the surface, cucumbers are finely tuberous and coarse, and the spikes on them can be white or black.

White-Ship Salad Varieties: Emerald Stream, Chinese Snakes, Chinese Heat Resistant.

Black-chipped pickling varieties: Nightingale, Real Colonel, Pickle, Liliput, Aquarius and others.

If you are interested in exotic varieties and hybrids, then among cucumbers there are a lot of them. For instance:

Chinese long cucumbers

whose stem reaches 3.5 m in length, and fruits - from 40 to 90 cm, but they strike not only with their size and excellent taste, but also with the ease of cultivation, unpretentiousness in care and high productivity. The most common varieties: Chinese miracle, Chinese long-fruited, Chinese farmer, Chinese white, Emerald flow, Lio Ming, Chinese disease resistant;

Armenian cucumbers

have a very unusual appearance: ribbed fruits up to 50 cm long and up to a kilogram in weight are covered with a silver-white fluff. The stems of Armenian cucumbers reach a length of 4 meters. They grow this wonder both in the open ground and in the greenhouse. Varieties: Melon silver, Athlete white, Chalk on Flechu Ozus;

Italian cucumbers

They are called so because they are the result of the work of Italian breeders. Outwardly, they look like Armenian cucumbers - the same ribbed. But the color of the peel, depending on the variety, can be light green, like the variety Arbuzze, or Tortorello, the taste of which at the same time resembles both watermelon and cucumber, or dark green, which eventually becomes orange-yellow, like the variety Barrese, cucumber with a touch of watermelon;

Crystal apple

The English breeders managed to bring out an amazing hybrid of cucumber, outwardly more like a lemon, although it is an ordinary cucumber to taste. For some reason this miracle is called a Crystal apple. These cucumber lemons, called apples, grow on a six-meter stem;

White cucumbers

Equally well growing both in greenhouses and in the garden, they form long lashes, they are not afraid of diseases and fifty-degree heat. The most delicate sweet cucumbers reach a length of 20 cm, the only drawback of white cucumbers is that they quickly outgrow. The best varieties: Italian white, Snow leopard, Bride, Snow White, White angel, Three white leaves;

Mini cucumber

Or rough melotria - a decorative perennial creeper from Africa with rich green leaves that do not change color until October, and small fruits up to 2.5 cm in diameter, similar to watermelons, but to taste they are ordinary cucumbers that can be eaten fresh or can be salted or canning;

Indian cucumber

Or momordica it is easy to grow both in a garden, and on a window sill. The foliage of the plant is decorative, the bright yellow flowers smell like jasmine, and the lumpy elongated fruits gradually change color from dark green to bright orange as they grow. When the fruit ripens, it opens and becomes like a crocodile that has opened its mouth, which is why the vegetable is often called: "cucumber-crocodile";

Serpentine Cucumber Trihozant

Also a pumpkin plant widely cultivated in South-West Asia. The trihozant is unpretentious in care and immune to diseases, its fruits, reaching a length of 120 cm, have a cylindrical shape, and they wriggle like snakes, changing color from green to orange as they mature. Trichozantum flowers resemble weightless snowflakes with a diameter of 4 cm;

Dodger's red cucumber dubious

Perennial vine up to 5 m tall originally from Southeast Asia. The leaves of the tladiant are light green, heart-shaped, tulip-like flowers of bright yellow color, the fruits are small, suitable for canning and salting, until they grow 15 cm and begin to blush. Overgrown and reddened fruits become sweet, and they make an excellent jam;

Antilles Cucumber Anguria

A plant with watermelon leaves, stems up to 4 meters long and small fruits weighing 30-50 g, tasting like cucumber and suitable for pickling. Often, anguria is grown as an ornamental plant.

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According to experts, the process of growing cucumbers is simple in itself. But without knowing the nuances, you will not wait for a large number of delicious and crispy cucumbers. Novice gardeners who plan to collect at least several kilograms of cucumbers from each plant need to know that this vegetable crop loves a warm and humid climate, as well as good lighting.

Cucumber is unpretentious to the earth layer, but grows better on light sandy and loamy soils with low acidity. This type is distinguished by breathability and the ability to quickly absorb water. Cucumbers do not like the presence of groundwater near the root system, just as they do not like planting on those beds where beets and pumpkins previously grew.

List of the best varieties for growing with photos

Temp F1
Fontanel F1,
Moscow Nights F1,
April F1,
Competitor,
Levin,
Sugar kid F1,
Prestige F1,
Dasha F1,
Pinocchio,
Zozulya F1,
Kid,
Marinda F1,
Ajax
Buran
Masha F1,
Hector
Orpheus,
Son,
Goosebumps
Bathory
Aquarius,
Claudia F1,
Diva,
Kolenka,
Concord
Fervor F1,
Parade.

Parthenocarpic varieties:

Ajax
Angel,
Petrel,
Hermann,
Gosh,
Crispin
Marcella
Parker.

Dates of work

Planting cucumbers in the ground has its own nuances. It is better to do this when the soil has already warmed up, and the temperature has reached about 15-17 degrees of heat. Therefore, in central Russia, in Belarus, depending on the weather, cucumbers seeds in open ground, as a rule, begin to be sown from May 5, and finish this work no later than June 10. If cucumbers are grown by seedlings, then they are planted in a permanent place 20-25 days after sowing:

Correctly choosing the best time for planting cucumbers in the open ground is not quite simple. An excellent help for gardeners in solving this problem can be the lunar calendar. See what gardening events are recommended from May 5 to June 10. Focusing on the phases of the moon, it is possible to determine the most favorable time for sowing or planting seedlings of cucumbers with an accuracy of 1-3 days.

Methods and schemes for planting cucumbers in open ground

It will be correct if you prepare holes for sowing seeds at a distance of about 50 cm. It is better to place them in 2-3 rows at a distance of 90 cm from one another.

You can grow cucumbers using a trellis, then the necessary distance between the holes is 20 centimeters, and between rows - 30–40. In this case, the sowing depth should be approximately 2 centimeters, and 4-5 seeds in the hole.

And the general rule for growing cucumbers in a seedling-free way is to plant seeds that are previously soaked in water and even hatching, and put 2-3 dry seeds in each hole with them. Treated seeds sprout faster, untreated later. This insures the vegetable grower against the complete death of seedlings in case of night frost return.

When planting cucumbers in soil in the form of seedlings that have reached the age of 20-25 days from sowing, one plant is placed in the wells.

Wells are arranged in two lines, called a tape. The distance between the ribbons is 90 cm, between the lines - 30 cm, the seeding density between plants is 25 cm. With this method of planting, seven plants are placed on 1 m2 of beds.

A curious idea for a landing (video)

Proper care after sowing

Cucumbers planted in the ground require constant attention and the implementation of all agrotechnical measures that ensure their normal growth and development.

Cucumbers are thermophilic and hygrophilous plants. Therefore, gardeners will certainly take measures to ensure plants such conditions.

Cucumber beds do not tolerate frost; when the temperature drops to + 15ºС, they slow down their growth, and at + 10ºС and lower they completely stop growing. Optimum for cucumbers are air temperature + 25 + 30ºС and humidity not lower than 70%. Therefore, when grown in central Russia and regions with similar climatic conditions, the beds after planting are covered with spanbond or other non-woven material. Sometimes for the same purpose use plastic bottles with a carved bottom.

As for watering, the most important thing in this business is regularity. Before flowering, cucumbers should be watered sparingly, using 3–6 liters of water per 1 m². Such irrigation is carried out every 6-7 days. During flowering and the appearance of fruits, watering should be plentiful - every 2 days, about 6-12 liters of water per 1 m².

Weeds are regularly thrown out on the bed.

If the roots of the plants appeared on the surface of the soil, they are sprinkled with fertile soil with a layer of 2-3 cm. This will ensure normal growth of the lateral roots of the plants.

As necessary, thin out the seedlings of cucumbers so that weak plants do not take away moisture and nutrition from stronger ones. Weakened sprouts are better not to pull out, but cut, so as not to injure the root system of neighboring plants.

In late varieties, in the stage of 4-5 leaves, you need to gently pinch the apical bud. This will greatly accelerate the appearance of inflorescences and ovaries.

For plant nutrition, the most effective use of organic fertilizers - tinctures of mullein or grass. With the appearance of ovaries, the demand for cucumbers to the presence of nutrients in the soil increases, but young plants are still very sensitive. For the first feeding, 1 part of the mullein infusion is bred in 10 parts of pure warm water. Later, a more concentrated solution is made for grown stronger plants, taking only 6 parts of water. Top dressing of cucumbers is repeated every 10-12 days and at the same time plants are necessarily watered simultaneously.

What to make plants grow fast

It is better to water cucumbers using a watering can with a spray. If you start spraying, you can damage the root system. By the end of summer, it is not recommended to water cucumbers abundantly, and the frequency should decrease at times.

And do not think that ordinary cucumbers do not require top dressing - this should be done regularly at the beginning of flowering (first fertilizer) and every 10 days when fruiting. It is believed that during the season there should be 6–8 root top dressings.

Between them must abundant watering, which is easy to combine with the introduction of organics. A solution of bird droppings in water in a ratio of 1 to 25, or mullein 1 to 10, is ideally suited. The application rate of the solutions is approximately 5 liters per 1 m².

Another desirable procedure is weed control. And weeding, and loosening the soil cucumbers are simply necessary. But keep in mind that the root system of a cucumber can be easily damaged, as it is located very close to the topsoil. Therefore, if you are afraid of harming your crop, you can use simply mulching the soil. If you do everything right, you will get a good harvest. By the way, it is also necessary to be able to collect it correctly - it is necessary to prevent the fruits from drying out and to collect as they ripen.

In our latitudes, the cultivation of cucumbers in the open field is very common, with the right selection of seed varieties, planting on the site and proper care for them, the result of the work will be very good. At the first stage, before planting seeds for seedlings, you should choose a place on the site, the conditions of which will best meet the needs of this garden crop.

Soil selection

The best type of soil for planting cucumbers is neutral, and slightly alkaline and slightly acidic can be suitable. A great option is fertile loam or sandy loam soil. Other types of soil should be specially prepared for growing cucumbers: add compost to the sand, add peat to the clay; adding sawdust will also give a good result. The area where you are going to plant cucumbers should be well lit, as a lack of sunlight will negatively affect the yield of plants.

On the other hand, scorching rays are also harmful and can burn leaves and harm shoots, so in the southern regions it is better to plant cucumbers on the eastern or western slopes of the garden. In the northern latitudes, the optimal conditions for planting cucumbers are the beds located on the south side. No less important when choosing a place for planting cucumbers is the level of standing groundwater. If it is tall and the roots of the plant are in constant moisture, they die off, leading to the death of the bush.

In this case, the only way out may be the construction of bulk ridges. Start their creation should be in the fall. The best direction for the ridge is considered to be west-east, especially for areas whose conditions are characterized by low temperature values \u200b\u200bin the winter season and long frosts in the spring.

Soil preparation

Before planting cucumbers in open ground, it should be properly prepared. In autumn, the soil is dug up and disinfected with solutions that kill pathogens.For this purpose, the site is irrigated with a 0.5% Bordeaux liquid or a solution of copper sulfate. If the soil is very depleted, you can add compost to it before planting cucumbers. Fertilizer of fertile soil is performed in the spring, shortly before sowing seeds or transplanting seedlings.

First, the ground is leveled with a rake, removing the weeds that have sprouted, and then, about 10 days before planting, it is dug up with compost or manure (per 1 m2 about 10-15 kg) and complex fertilizers. If the garden is small and every square meter needs to be used economically, a good way to grow cucumbers is to use some kind of support, for example, tying lashes to trellises.

It is advisable that the cucumbers are planted in open ground with a change of place every 2-3 years, otherwise the yield of this crop may decrease. Cucumbers are recommended to be planted in the beds where legumes, cabbage, and pepper used to grow. It is undesirable to have potato beds nearby. The bed on which cucumbers will be planted in open ground by means of seeds or seedlings should be 15–20 m high and protected from wind gusts by a small earthen rampart.

Methods of sowing seeds in open ground

Planting cucumbers in open ground can be performed:

Sowing dry seeds;
Planting sprouted seeds;
Seedlings.

The first method is sowing dry seeds. It is most suitable for early sowing, when the earth is still slightly warmed up and previously sprouted seeds can begin to rot. Dry seeds should be planted when the air temperature is stably kept at a value of 15 degrees, and the soil warms up to 12 degrees.

Before planting seeds, you need to make a groove in the soil with a depth of 2-3 cm, or holes at a distance of 20 cm from each other. In the hole, the seeds are laid flat 3 pieces each, their distance should be approximately 10 cm. Cucumbers do not tolerate a thickened planting, the side lashes of plants in this case develop poorly. Therefore, it is necessary to thin out the plants when several real leaves appear in the seedlings that have sprouted from the seeds.

The second way to grow crops is to plant sprouted seeds. It is necessary to ensure that the sprouts do not outgrow, their length should not exceed 0.5 cm, since the grown plants will be weak and will give a poor harvest. The conditions for thinning of the stands are the same as in the first method, the developing bushes should be located at a distance of 30 cm from each other.

Immediately after planting, watering should be done every day with warm water. After the emergence of seedlings, the frequency of irrigation is somewhat reduced - it is performed with an interval of 1-2 days. With a significant decrease in air temperature, seedlings do not need to be watered.

Growing seedlings for open ground

Planting cucumbers in open ground with pre-grown seedlings contributes to an earlier harvest compared to sowing through seeds (for about 15 days). For its cultivation from seeds, you can use a greenhouse or unshaded windowsill. Cucumbers should be planted directly in the ground or in special paper cups, distributing the seeds at a distance of 8-10 cm from each other.

This method of growing seedlings from seeds is good because the plant does not need to be removed from a paper container when transplanting to a permanent place in the garden, so injury to the root system is excluded.

At a sufficient depth of fertile land, seedlings sprouted from the seeds give a lot of lateral root lobes, providing endurance of the future seedling.

To prepare the nutrient soil, peat and humus can be mixed in equal proportions by adding a couple of glasses of wood ash and a quarter cup of superphosphate to 10 liters of the mixture. You can start sowing seeds on the 20th of April, distributing one per pot. Until seedlings appear, watering is done daily. Usually the seeds germinate after 4 or 5 days, after another 10 days it will be possible to plant the grown sprouts of cucumbers in open ground.

By the time of planting, the seedlings should be tempered with a slow decrease in temperature until the conditions of its maintenance correspond to those in which the plants will grow in a constant place. It must be borne in mind that cucumbers are highly demanding of ambient temperature, bed lighting, soil moisture. Seedlings can be planted in open ground after reaching daytime temperatures of 22–25 ° C and nighttime temperatures of 17 ° C.

Features of cucumber care in the open ground

Cucumbers are planted in the open ground in the evening, after watering the plants. Caring for cucumbers includes hilling a bush of bushes.

Falling asleep to the bottom of the trunk contributes to the appearance of additional fibrous roots, ensuring the fertility of the shoots.

Hilling is recommended when 2–3 knees are allowed, and also during flowering. You should avoid turning the lashes and shifting them to another place - this can lead to a decrease in yield and even to drying out of the shoots.

In industrial regions, the air is polluted with harmful emissions, so the dew falling in the morning can negatively appear on the development of cucumber bushes. Morning watering from a watering can to flush the dew from the leaves will eliminate its adverse effect.

It is advisable to protect the whips from gusts of wind in order to increase the concentration of carbon dioxide in the air necessary for the formation of flowers and ovaries.

The introduction of organic matter before planting cucumbers using seeds or seedlings will also increase its content in the surrounding atmosphere.

Popular varieties of cucumbers for open ground

Varieties of cucumbers, the seeds of which can be planted directly in open ground:

Goosebump F1;
Benefit F1;
April F1;
Masha F1;
Fontanel F1.

Diseases of cucumbers in the open ground

Plant care includes the prevention of damage to seeds and growing bushes by pathogens. Before planting cucumbers, you can disinfect dry soil with boiling water or a solution of potassium permanganate. As prevention, you can use dusting seeds with wood ash, spraying leaves with infusion of garlic or tobacco.

The cultivation of cucumbers in open ground by direct sowing does not provide for pre-planting seeds for seedlings and the presence of long-term protective structures (greenhouses, greenhouses) on the site. In order to get a high yield of ground cucumbers, they must be sown correctly.

Conditions for growing cucumbers in the open ground

To obtain the desired crop of ground cucumbers, you need to familiarize yourself with the requirements of the culture to the growing conditions.

Cucumber refers to hygrophilous vegetables, prefers frequent and plentiful watering.
The culture grows well in sunny areas, and also bears fruit normally in a light openwork shade. The optimum temperature for growth and fruiting ranges from + 24 ° C to + 28 ° C. At higher (as well as at lower) temperatures, a stop in development occurs.
Cucumbers for harmonious growth and development need good nitrogen nutrition. Smaller amounts consume potassium and phosphorus.
The culture prefers to grow on loose soils. Good air permeability of the earth will not allow excess moisture to accumulate.

If you provide cucumbers in the open ground with all of the above conditions, then the plants will be healthy, and the crop will be high.

Outdoor Cucumbers

When to sow cucumbers in open ground

In various regions of the country, a specific landing date is directly dependent on weather conditions. In general, sowing is carried out from mid-spring to July.

To choose the most suitable day for planting ground cucumbers with seeds, it is important to focus on the weather in the region. So that cucumbers rise well and together, the temperature of the soil should not be lower than + 13 ... + 15 ° С.

Most experienced gardeners, when conducting an event on a site, rely on the recommendations of the lunar calendar of a gardener and gardener. In such a calendar, depending on the phase of the moon and the sign in which it is located, the most favorable as well as unfavorable dates for the work are set. The lunar calendar for 2018 recommends sowing cucumbers:

in April: 2, 3, 20 ... 21, 24 ... 26, 29 numbers.

in May: 6, 9 ... 11, 18 ... 19, 24 ... 28 numbers.

in June: 3 ... 5, 10 ... 11, 15, 23 ... 24 numbers.

Important!According to the lunar calendar, it is not recommended to sow cucumbers on the day of the Full Moon or New Moon, therefore in 2018 15.04 ... 17.04, 30.04, 14.05 ... 16.05, 29.05, 12.06 ... 14.06 and 28.06 seeds do not plant - their germination will be low, and the plants themselves will be weak.

Preparing seeds for planting in open ground

If the planting material was purchased at the store, then it is unlikely that preliminary treatment will be required - most manufacturers disinfect and cover the seeds with a protective coating, so it is not recommended to soak them. Such seeds are planted dry.

If planting material was personally collected from previously grown varieties of cucumbers, then it is advisable to carry out a full complex of its preliminary preparation, consisting of several stages.

Calibration

At this stage, it is proposed to select the largest, smoothest and naturally colored seeds of cucumbers for planting, and to reject all deformed and diseased seeds. After that, you can use a saline aqueous solution, which is prepared at the rate of 30 g / l of water, place the seeds there and mix. Those that have surfaced on the surface of the liquid are not suitable for landing. The rest must be decomposed and dried. The disadvantage of this calibration method is its narrow application - the method is suitable only for freshly picked planting material of cucumbers with a maximum shelf life of 2 years.

Disinfection

You can pickle seeds in various ways: soaking in solutions of potassium permanganate or special preparations or by heating. In the latter case, it is necessary to maintain certain processing temperatures for a long time (+800 for unambiguous heating and +400 for three days), otherwise you can just spoil the seeds, so disinfection by soaking is more widespread. To do this, the seeds are immersed in a 1% potassium permanganate solution for 0.5 hours or in a drug solution for 1-2 hours.

Manganese solution

Germination

Sprout cucumber seeds in water or in a stimulant solution. In general, they are placed in containers on paper or cloth, poured with a small amount of liquid and the warm place is removed (+ 25 ... + 280 ° C). After 1 ... 2 days, the cucumbers sprout. When using a solution of the drug, the seeds are kept in it for about 12 hours, then transferred to paper (or other material) and wait for the roots to appear.

Quenching

Immediately before planting, the seeds are placed in a well-moistened cloth and put in the refrigerator for 2 days. This treatment helps to increase the resistance of cucumbers to drops and drops in temperature and, according to many gardeners, allows you to get an earlier crop.

On a note. Proper preparation of seeds of the crop will have a beneficial effect on plant growth.

Everything you need to know about planting cucumbers in open ground with seeds

How to plant cucumbers in open ground seeds? In order for the sprouts to sprout quickly and together, it is necessary to take into account several nuances when sowing.

The depth of seed placement is 1.5 ... 2 cm. Usually, the planting dimple is made with a finger, and a cucumber seed is placed on its bottom.
How many seeds to put in a hole? If it is planned to grow one bush in one hole, then when sowing, 2 ... 3 seeds are placed in it, if 5 ... 6 cucumbers grow from one planting hole, then 10 ... 12 seeds are put (with a square-nested pattern).

There is a lot of controversy on how to properly place the seed of a cucumber in the hole: blunt or sharp side up. The root of the plant emerges from the pointed tip, and the rounded side, revealing, releases cotyledonous leaves. Most gardeners have a cucumber seed flat - the flat side in the ground, in which case it will definitely germinate.

Landing pattern

Before sowing cucumbers, you need to decide on the planting scheme. In open ground, the following types of schemes are most often used:

1) ordinary. The row spacing for this planting option should be at least 1 m. The distances between adjacent cucumbers after thinning are 8 ... 15 cm.

Important!For early cucumbers, the distance between the specimens in the row is 8 ... 10 cm, for later - 12 ... 15, and for long-capped - 20 ... 25 cm.

Thicker planting for parthenocarpic varieties and hybrids is allowed - 70 × 70 cm. Most often, this option of sowing cucumbers is used on high ridges-ridges;

2) two-line. This scheme provides for the arrangement of two planting rows on the same bed with a gap width between the tapes of 30 ... 50 cm. The row-spacing can be up to 150 cm. When planting by this method, it is convenient to cover and water the cucumbers;
3) square-nested. At a distance of 65 ... 70 cm from each other, planting holes with a diameter of about 10 cm are dug and placed in them up to 12 seeds, of which after thinning the seedlings are left for more than 6 pieces. When planting in this way, the yield of cucumber bushes decreases slightly.

You can grow cucumbers in the open ground vertically, letting the bushes of the bushes on the grid or tying them to the trellis. A variant of growing plants between ridges is popular: their height is about 30 cm, and the distance from the bases is up to half a meter. After sowing, the covering material is pulled onto the ridges and sprinkled with earth along the edges. Planting between the ridges allows for early sowing of cucumbers - 2 weeks earlier than usual.

Trellis Cucumbers

Covering material

Immediately after sowing, temporary shelters are installed on the beds. What covering material to choose? Non-woven white material of various densities is pulled for cucumbers. First, cover with a dense, preferably in two layers. When the sprouts appear, the structure is opened for ventilation.

Watering

In addition to the fact that the seeds of cucumbers are sown in well-spilled soil, it is necessary to monitor its moisture content until emergence. Then, until the flowering stage, cucumbers should be watered sparingly, spending 5 ... 7 l of water per 1 m2, with a frequency of 1 time in 5 ... 6 days. Of course, these recommendations are general, therefore, in conditions of prolonged heat and when the soil dries, they are watered more often. Cucumbers are watered only with warm water in the evening.

Thinning

After the emergence of seedlings (when sowing dry seeds, you will have to wait about a week, if after 2 weeks the seeds do not germinate, you have to replace them with new ones), the extra shoots are thinned out by pinching: often the roots of the adjacent cucumbers grow together so that the root system of the growing shoot is not damaged , the stalk of a weak sprout is simply plucked with fingers, and not torn out of the ground.

Mulching

Loosening and weeding are needed for cucumbers to ensure air permeability of the soil. But, as practice shows, very often gardeners even with careful loosening damage the roots of the bushes. The fact is that the bulk of the root system of the cucumber lies close to the surface of the earth. Therefore, it is recommended to mulch the plantings with compost or humus (wood mulch for cucumbers is rarely used, since it draws nitrogen from the soil). In addition, mulching the beds allows you to slightly reduce the amount of watering.

Top dressing

It is recommended to feed cucumbers with proper preparation of beds only 3 weeks after seed germination. As fertilizers, you can alternately apply mineral and organic fertilizers, make nutrient mixtures from them, or use ready-made complex top dressings. The interval between further feeding is about 1 week.

By following these recommendations, you can collect a rich harvest of crispy greens.