Cucumbers In The Greenhouse: Feeding And Watering, Light Mode

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

Cucumber by June. Part 3

Plant care during fruiting

Temperature regime

In sunny weather + 26- + 28 ° C, but not higher than 30 ° C, in cloudy - + 18 ° C, at night - + 12 ° C … + 16 ° C. The flowers of cucumbers are not durable, in the northern regions they usually open in the morning at 6-7 o'clock, live for 1-2 days, and then close. In the south, in hot weather, they are open from 4-5 o'clock in the morning until noon.

The stigma of female flowers is especially susceptible, and the pollen of male flowers is most viable in the first hours after their opening, when fertilization occurs. Cucumbers bloom at temperatures not lower than + 14 ° C … + 16 ° C, anthers crack at + 16 ° C … + 17 ° C. The most favorable temperature for fertilization is + 18 ° C … + 21 ° C, these temperature conditions for fertilization are one of the reasons for me to open a greenhouse early, so that there is no heat there.

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Top dressing

After planting the seedlings of cucumbers, I spend the first feeding after about two weeks, because the ridge has already been filled with superphosphate and full mineral fertilizer, I water it as the soil dries up. At this time, prolonged cold snaps begin, and on such days I do not water or feed.

What is freezing? It is -2 ° C … -6 ° C at night, and the sun during the day. This means that on a sunny day I heat the water up to + 24 ° C and water it. Before the beginning of fruiting, I feed the feeding taking into account the ratio of the batteries NPK = 1.5: 1: 1. Here, there is more nitrogen in the top dressing, and potassium is already added. You can feed during this period "Kemira-combi", where N-32%, P-12%, K-53% + 9 microelements, but better "Kemira-lux", where N-32%, P-20%, K -27% + trace elements. There are readily soluble fertilizers in small bags with different formulas for the content of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, such as "Kristalon" and "Aquarin".

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For example, a plant does not develop well and blooms. It was determined that there is not enough phosphorus, i.e. did not fill the ridge with superphosphate or sprinkle it less than the norm, then you can give top dressing "urea phosphate" - this is an easily soluble fertilizer N-17%, R-44%, 25 g sachet for 20 liters of water, consumption for 4 m². Or another example - "Crystal-yellow" - also an easily soluble fertilizer N-13%, P-40%, K-13% and microelements, 20 g per 20 liters of water, such fertilizer can be used to feed seedlings if the soil is not prepared applied no fertilizer.

For all the years of working with cucumbers, I have never noticed a lack of phosphorus, probably the superphosphate that I bring to the ridge, it is enough for my cucumbers, but I also add it in dressings. Before fruiting, after planting seedlings, I feed once with Irkutsk humate or Ideal and once with Kemira-Lux. During fruiting, the formula for the ratios of the elements is N-P-K = 1: 0.5: 2. Very well suited "Kemira-wagon" (I used to use Finnish fertilizer), where N-32%, P-14%, K-54% + microelements. But "Kemira-universal" should not be dissolved in water, but it is better to be embedded in soil.

I use an easily soluble fertilizer "Solution" grade A, where N-10%, P-5%, K-20%, Mg-5% + microelements, sometimes I use "Solution" grade B. My cucumbers grow on biofuel from hay, therefore, nitrogen and potassium are strongly washed out. In this regard, the soft fertilizer "Solution" A alternates with "Solution" B, where N-18%, R-6%, K-18%, there is no magnesium in it, there are trace elements. 15 years ago, the range of fertilizers for gardeners was not so diverse. I used a nitroammophoska, but twice a season I did foliar feeding with microelements.

According to the standard, fertilizing is carried out after 7-10 days, but I determine by the leaves, by the fruits, whether the plant has enough of everything. In order not to get confused in feeding, I keep a diary for each crop, and if you compare the records for several years, then the year does not look like a year, it all depends on the weather conditions.

I calculate something like this: I planted the seedlings on May 3, and before planting I fed them, which means that I will spend the first about May 15-17. If the weather is cold, then Irkutsk humate or "Ideal", or fertilizer "Ripen-ka", what will be at hand. By May 26-28, I have fruits, which means I need "Solution A" or "Solution B", I look at the leaves, fruits. In early summer, June 7-8, I use strong raspberry-colored potassium permanganate. I feed the cucumbers with slurry on June 15-18, and 10 days later again with "Solution A" or "Solution B".

In the first week of July, on the 7-8th, I use an infusion of herbs for feeding, and on July 16-18 - Azofoska. A decade later, I repeat the feeding with slurry. At the beginning of the last summer month, August 6-8, I use potassium permanganate with boric acid. After another ten days, "Solution A" or "Solution B" are used. The last feeding of cucumbers is done on August 26-28 with slurry or herbal infusion. In September, I no longer feed the plants, I only water them.

I do not use stimulants for growth and fruiting, since proper care: airing, loosening, feeding - give a good harvest. If the soil in the greenhouse is scarce, especially among novice gardeners, then humates can be fed, and more than once. I don’t have manure as such, but a bedless mullein is brought by car in bags, so manure feeding is provided. Manure or weeds in the tank (the tank is in the greenhouse) ferment, emitting carbon dioxide, and this is an additive to the crop of 20-30%, next to the peppers and tomatoes receive carbon dioxide.

If you have cucumbers growing on manure, then you do not need to feed the slurry with slurry, and you do not need to put a tank with weeds in the greenhouse, because the manure decomposes, carbon dioxide is released, and this is enough for the plants. In the process of decomposition of manure or biofuel, in addition to carbon dioxide, methane and ammonia are formed, which inhibit plants. Therefore, it is necessary to open the greenhouse early, especially small greenhouses. If cucumbers grow on manure in a greenhouse, then it is better not to put weeds there for fermentation, and if you do, then the film at the greenhouse must be opened early in the morning after 7 o'clock.

In the open ground or with the use of temporary shelter, cucumbers require 4-5 times less nutrition, some scientists believe that 10 times less (I agree with them), since food is obtained from the soil, from the air, but also the yield in the open soil from 1 m² will be 4-5 times less than in closed ground.

Preventive measures against diseases

When growing seedlings, I spray it once with this solution: I pour 1 glass of skim milk into a liter jar, add water to a liter there, add 2-3 drops of iodine. I spray the leaves on both sides, the soil. Before transporting the seedlings to the site, including tomato, I spray the peppers with the homeopathic remedy "Healthy Garden" according to the instructions. If the spring is very cold, protracted, but then the heat suddenly sets in, then I once again spray the cucumber plants with "Healthy Garden" - this is already in the greenhouse. There are other drugs as well, but I have been using Healthy Garden for over 10 years.

After laying hay, hay remains in the ridge, which I use against powdery mildew. I pour the dust into a bucket, fill it with hot water, wrap it up, let it brew for 1-2 days, filter it, pour 1 liter of infusion into a watering can, add warm water and pour it over the plants, soil, the passage in the greenhouse. This can be done when the plants have 4-6 leaves.

Airing, and I have 2 doors, does not allow the air to stagnate, because rot appears in the stagnant air. I open it at about 7 o'clock in any weather. In the afternoon, the wind rises on the Karelian Isthmus - this is in the daytime, I close one door so that there is no strong draft. If I am leaving or leaving, then the neighbors open one door. The gables of my greenhouse are completely open after the last frost and close before the first autumn frost (about 15-16 August). Even in a rainy, windy summer, they are open, i.e. in the upper part of the greenhouse everything is blown out.

A craftsman in our gardening made removable frames on the leeward side of the greenhouse. At the end of June, he took them off, the harvest was excellent, and in mid-August he put the frames in place, but by that time the cucumbers had been completely prepared for the whole winter. I close the door earlier in the evening to keep warm. If you open earlier in the morning, close earlier in the evening, then the drops are less.

All "surgical" operations on plants - various cuttings - are carried out early in the morning, so that the wounds are dry by evening.

Light mode

Cucumber is a short day plant. At the end of May we already have a long day, a light night, and late sown cucumbers, when they start flowering, fall into white nights. But most often gardeners are advised not to rush to sowing. I knew that some kind of failure in the development of female flowers appears. Therefore, growing through seedlings is a way to get away from the influence of the white nights, i.e. when growing seedlings, I needed a short day.

Only in 2001 did I receive an exact answer to my questions. In a brochure published by Manul, I read: “Factors such as a short day, low night temperatures, high solar radiation, optimal or increased levels of nitrogen in the soil, carbon dioxide increase the expression of the female sex. Long day, high day and night air temperatures, low air and soil humidity, excess potassium shift the sex towards the male side."

Often people turn to me with the question: "Cucumbers bloom, but all barren flowers". If it turns out that the gardeners were reseeding cucumbers, and the reseeding happened at the end of May, and the cucumbers rose in the first ten days of June, then I always answer: "Wait for dark nights." For example, once in Rostov-on-Don I also had a plot, and there I did not think about a failure in flowering, since there night is like night, day is like day. According to the observations of scientists, the length of the day affects in the initial period, and then the cucumber plant is considered a neutral day plant. To some extent, this is so. I calculated the yield of cucumbers at different ages. And from my practice I conclude that more of them are tied on dark nights.

When growing cucumber seedlings, I use a backlight (60 W fluorescent lamp), turn it on at 10-11 am, and turn it off at 20-21 hours. On cloudy days, I turn on the backlight for seedlings, but I try to lower the temperature to + 18 ° C (I cover the battery with a blanket, open the inner sashes of the window). I do not turn the seedlings on the windowsill, they grow in one direction, leaning towards the window. When disembarking in a greenhouse, it already on the second day stands flat, straight.

Water mode

I water the seedlings so that the clod of earth does not dry out, but is moist, but not wet. It depends on the temperature in the apartment. If you are afraid to overflow, then it is better to once again spray the plants with water. I have a hand sprayer on the table, next to the seedlings, I can humidify the air at any time, but I also spray the plants. If, for some reason, you dry out the soil, and the seedlings have grown strongly, then do not immediately fill it, but gradually water it in several steps.

I sometimes use this technique. The heating of biofuel in the greenhouse is going well, the spring is warm, early, and the sowing was slightly delayed. Then for the seedlings I skip 1-2 watering so that it will plant. There is an expression "hanging ears." By doing this I accelerate flowering. Once, in her lectures, V. V. Perezhogin. This should not be done during fruiting.