How And What To Fertilize Cucumbers

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

The use of fertilizers when growing cucumbers

Cucumbers contain relatively few nutrients, fruits contain up to 95-97% water, therefore they are not classified as food products, but as flavoring products. However, in terms of calorie content, they are not much inferior to white cabbage.

Green cucumbers contain vitamin C and tonic enzymes. Due to the significant content of iodine salts, they are of great prophylactic importance for the prevention of atherosclerosis. The content of vitamin C in the fruits of cucumbers depends on the degree of their ripeness: small ones have more vitamin C than developed large ones, and in overripe cucumbers it is almost completely absent.

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Cucumbers are very demanding on the food regime, since their root system, located in the upper layer of the soil, poorly uses the nutrients of the lower layers. They also differ from other vegetable plants in that they have a high rate of absorption of nutrients and are highly sensitive to an increased concentration of soil solution. Therefore, the skillful use of organic and mineral fertilizers for this crop provides an increase in yields and an improvement in the quality of fruits. Fertilization is especially effective on sod-podzolic soils.

When applied under cucumbers N9P9K9 g / m², the yield of fruits increases by 30-40%, the content of total sugar increases from 3.82 to 4.40%, and vitamin C - from 8.4 to 15 mg%. The content of dry matter in fruits changed little. The cucumbers were of good quality both fresh and salted. Pickled cucumbers had a higher content of vitamin C. Their taste and smell were better than those collected from plots without fertilizers. The effect of certain types of mineral fertilizers on the yield and quality of the fruits of this crop is manifested in different ways.

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Nitrogen fertilizers stimulate the growth of tops, delay the growing season. This, in a short summer, leads to a shortage of crops, especially when early frosts occur. With nitrogen-potassium fertilization, cucumbers developed well, had a large number of ovaries. With nitrogen fertilizers, their yield was lower compared with phosphate-potassium fertilizers. Therefore, when growing cucumbers on well-cultivated sod-podzolic soils, preference should be given to phosphorus-potassium fertilizers. At the same time, excess nitrogen nutrition, accelerating growth, contributes to the formation of voids inside the fruit, both in fresh and during salting.

The use of nitrogen fertilizers alone increased the yield of cucumbers from 25.3 to 28.4 kg. The total sugar content increased from 2.41 to 2.65%, while the amount of dry matter and vitamin C did not change.

Manure greatly increases the yield of cucumbers, especially in the northern regions on sod-podzolic soils. When it is introduced, the vital activity of microorganisms in the soil increases, and the nutrition of plants with carbon dioxide improves.

Usually, on soddy-podzolic soils, the increase in cucumber yield from manure is higher than from mineral fertilizers. However, the quality of cucumbers when using organic fertilizers is somewhat reduced in comparison with mineral fertilizers. With the introduction of 4 kg of manure, the yield of cucumbers was 21.5 kg, with the introduction of 6 kg - 31.5 kg and 8 kg - 38.2 kg per 1 m². The dry matter content in fruits decreased from 4.4 to 4.0%, and the amount of sugar did not change.

Fruits grown on plots fertilized with manure contained less vitamin C, had soft pulp, and sometimes had an off-odor. When using full mineral fertilizer in doses equivalent to their content in manure, the yield of cucumbers increased by 9 kg, and the amount of dry matter and total sugar in the fruits practically did not change.

High yields of cucumbers with good product quality can be obtained with the combined use of manure with mineral fertilizers. When applying 6 kg of manure and N6P9K9, the yield of cucumbers was 33.1 kg, and when using one manure - 30.2 kg, some mineral fertilizers - 31.9 kg. The content of dry matter and total sugar in fruits in all cases was approximately the same, and ascorbic acid was 3.0 mg% more with complex fertilization.

Microfertilizers have a positive effect on the yield and quality of cucumbers. Microfertilizers were mixed with macrofertilizers and introduced into the soil for digging from the following calculation: boric acid, zinc sulfate, 0.55 g per 1 m², ammonium molybdate - 0.1 g. The highest yield increase was obtained from the use of molybdenum and boric fertilizers. All tested microfertilizers significantly increased the dry matter content in fruits, and slightly increased sugar content; did not reduce the amount of ascorbic acid.

When applying manure 6 kg / m², urea 20-25 g / m², superphosphate 25-30, potassium chloride 20-25 g / m², boric acid and copper sulfate 0.5 each, ammonium molybdate 0.1 g / m² costs the purchase of fertilizers will be 5-7 rubles / m². Half of the crop costing 100-150 rubles / m², created through the use of fertilizers, fully pays for all costs. In this case, the profit can be more than 100 rubles. from each square meter of sowing.