Cucumber, this crunchy vegetable is a welcome guest on any table, and therefore cucumber plants grow in almost every garden. They are grown both through seedlings and by simply sowing seeds into the ground, both in protected ground and in a greenhouse. Cucumber has been in cultivation for quite a long time, a huge number of varieties have been bred, and it would seem that we should know everything about growing cucumbers, but in reality this does not work out. Gardeners, especially beginners, as a rule, make a number of gross mistakes when growing cucumbers, which nullifies dreams of a high yield, and often the plants die altogether. In order to avoid mistakes, you need to know them, so in this article we will analyze in as much detail as possible the most common mistakes when growing cucumbers on our site.
1. Incorrect ventilation
Let's start with the greenhouse, here the most common mistake is not quite proper ventilation of the room. Some, fearing that the cucumbers may suffer from too high a temperature, open all the windows and doors of the greenhouse at once, thereby cooling the air in it, but at the same time creating a draft in the room, which cucumbers really do not like. In fact, you can ventilate the greenhouse if the temperature in it rises above 30 degrees; at the same time, it is impossible to open the vents and doors from all sides, but to do this in turn so that the air does not “walk” around the room.
2. Too much moisture
This error is relevant for both greenhouses and open ground. Gardeners, in the hope of getting record yields of cucumbers, sometimes literally flood the plants, excessively moistening the soil, and even carry out such watering only from time to time, first testing the plants for drought resistance, and then pouring tens of liters of often ice water on it.
You can’t do this, excess moisture combined with heat can lead to outbreaks of various fungal diseases, and simply cause shock in the plant, and it will stop developing. Remember: cucumbers like moderate and constant watering, that is, without long breaks.
The main thing is to remember that the soil cannot be overdried and flooded. Before flowering, cucumber plants need to be watered quite abundantly, pouring a couple of buckets of water at room temperature per square meter of soil once a week. Again, if it rains, it is already humid, then watering is not needed, of course this is true for open ground.
Further, during the flowering period of cucumbers, you need to water carefully, trying not to fall on the flowers and half the volume of water. After the fruits are tied, the volume of moisture poured out can be restored (two buckets per square meter). During the period of active growth of cucumber fruits, it is desirable to keep the soil in a slightly damp state.
3. Non-observance of crop rotation
The logic of each gardener: when cucumbers gave an excellent harvest in one area, they should be planted here the next year - is fundamentally wrong. Ideally, every year you need to change the area reserved for cucumber plants. You can make an exception only if you cultivate the site perfectly, apply a full range of fertilizers and use reliable protection against pests and diseases, but even in this case, you should not grow cucumbers in one place for more than three years, they can start to hurt and give reduced crops.
Crop rotation is also important, and not following it is a real mistake. So, for example, you can’t plant cucumbers in the area where pumpkin crops grew last year, but if legumes, greens, tomatoes and radishes grew, then it’s quite possible. Tolerably react cucumbers to such predecessors as cabbage, onions and potatoes.
4. Worship the calendar
The lunar calendar of a gardener and gardener is wonderful, but only if you do not blindly follow his numbers and advice, but include logic. For example, if according to the calendar it's time to sow seedlings of cucumbers or sow seeds, and it's rather cold outside because of late spring, then in this case it is better to retreat from the calendar. The advice in the calendar should be combined with your own observations - wait for the heat, the warming of the soil, the period when night frosts are excluded, and only then carry out sowing and planting.
5. Poor soil will not work
Blindly ignoring all the advice, including fertilizer application due to fear of nitrate accumulation in the fruits, or simply because of hope for a chance, is not a way out at all. For example, if you sow cucumber seeds in poor soil, you are unlikely to get full-fledged plants and a good harvest. The soil must be fertilized using both organic and complex mineral fertilizers. For example, it is better to prepare the soil for cucumbers in the fall, add 2-3 kg of well-rotted manure or humus per square meter for digging the soil, 250-300 g of wood ash and a tablespoon of nitroammophoska.
6. The more powerful cucumber seedlings, the NOT better.
It is a global delusion to grow seedlings for as long as possible, and to plant grown-up plants, almost with ovaries, on the site. In fact, there are much more minuses than pluses: overgrown seedlings of cucumbers also have an overgrown root system, and when transplanted, it will almost certainly be injured; in addition, overgrown, powerful seedlings are already so accustomed to "home" conditions that even in a greenhouse it will take a long time to recover, and in open ground it can simply die.
You should not keep cucumber seedlings for more than 32-33 days, ideally, their age can generally be from two to three weeks. If you plant older seedlings, then you will see all its shock from the transplant with your own eyes: it will look lethargic, as if it has little nutrition or moisture, it will take root in a new place for a long time and, as a result, will simply lag behind in development. Gardeners even set up an experiment: they sowed cucumber seeds and planted overgrown seedlings, and so, it took so long to come to its senses that even seedlings managed to catch up with it, that is, the whole point of growing seedlings in this case was lost.
7. Sustainability first
Another mistake is to grow "organic" vegetables without the use of growth regulators and any protection against pests and diseases, choosing only the newest varieties and hybrids. Alas and ah, this will not lead to a good result. Even the novelties of the breeding world are not immune from the attacks accumulated in your soil over the years of cultivating various crops, pests and diseases on it, and from the vagaries of nature - heat or severe cold, when the plants seem to fall asleep and without growth stimulants do not want to wake up.
Remember: everything is good in moderation - and the use of fungicides, insecticides, acaricides, growth regulators in accordance with the instructions on the package, which indicates the optimal processing time, frequency, and dosage - all these measures will not do anything wrong, but only save you from disappointment, in view of the gift of time spent by you.
8. Don't plant too much
Another mistake and a common misconception is that the more cucumber plants are planted on the site, the higher the yields will be. In fact, the developed schemes for planting all plants without exception, including cucumber plants, are not taken from the ceiling. They are based on the optimal nutrition scheme for a particular plant, that is, the growth of its root system, the above-ground mass and the absorption of substances necessary for the plant per unit area.
For example, with regard to cucumbers, which, as we all know, have long lashes, then everything is exactly the opposite: rather, the fewer plants on the site, the higher the yield. You should not plant seedlings every 25 cm with row spacing of 30 cm, you need to place only a couple of plants per square meter, and you will be happy in the form of a solid harvest.
Better take care of the growth of the lashes in height by installing supports. In thickened plantings, the plants will literally fight for their existence, taking food from each other, they will become intertwined with whips, the air will not be able to circulate normally and there will be a risk of a fungal infection. In such conditions, you will not get smooth and tasty cucumbers, they will be rather crooked and bitter.
9. Too much sun
An open area is good, since the risk of a fungal infection is lower, but in this area the plants will require twice as much moisture, sprinkler watering will not be possible, because burns form on the leaf blades, the flowering period will be shorter, and the life of the plant itself will be shorter. The most optimal place for planting cucumbers is a light shade, partial shade, then all troubles can be avoided. If you combine a light shade with a sparse planting and moderate watering, then nothing bad will happen.
What about those who do not have a shadow on the site? There is a way out - a week before planting cucumbers, sow corn, stepping back from future cucumber beds about one and a half meters. Corn is a good neighbor for a cucumber, and it can just create the necessary partial shade.
10. Cucumber shaping is a must
Incorrect formation of cucumber plants or its complete absence is another mistake of the gardener. In this case, you can only count on a mediocre harvest, but the "harvest" of green mass in the form of lashes and leaf blades will definitely be excellent. Formations are necessary, and you should not be afraid of them. Take a closer look at the plant, are there many shoots, do they shade each other? If so, then competitors can be carefully pinched, thereby thinning the bush. This is especially necessary to do at the very beginning of plant development, paying attention to the base of the bushes. After 2-3 leaves from the soil surface in the morning, when the cucumbers are in turgor, you can remove the axillary shoots, this will allow you to direct the food in the "right direction".
For those who think that shaping a cucumber is a very difficult task, you can use the advice of experienced ones, it says - remove all stepchildren from a cucumber until the fourth internode, and just pinch all those shoots above.
11. Maybe it will pass by itself
Hope for chance often leads to trouble. This applies to everything, including ignoring various cucumber ailments. Often, the gardener simply lets everything take its course, and then complains about the variety: they say, breeders bring out "whatever." In fact, any deviation from the norm in the appearance of a cucumber plant should already alert: some element may be missing in the soil, or a disease or pest is progressing.
By the first signs, one or another ailment can be identified and measures taken until the plant or the entire plantation has died. Usually, cucumber plants can be treated for diseases and pests right after planting seedlings, then before flowering, then a couple of weeks after the second treatment, and finally, a couple of weeks before the greens appear.
12. Once fed - enough
Ever wondered why we eat three meals a day? That's right, because this is how the body receives enough food and functions normally. So why does half of the gardeners make such a serious mistake as the only top dressing in the season? Imagine that the season is a day, so you need to feed the cucumbers at the very beginning of the season, in its middle and almost at the very end, only then the crops will be full.
At the beginning of the season, cucumbers can be fed with nitroammophos by dissolving a tablespoon of this fertilizer in a bucket of water (2-3 liters per square meter). During flowering, plants can be sprayed with boric acid (1 g per 5 liters of water, the norm per square meter), in addition, you can add a teaspoon of superphosphate and potassium sulfate, and during the ripening period of cucumber fruits, feed again with the same doses of potassium and phosphorus fertilizers.
13. Don't chase mass
Another serious mistake is waiting until the cucumbers gain a solid mass and only then collect them. Cucumber is not a pumpkin, here such numbers are not in vain. If you leave even a couple of fruits on the plant, then the plant sees this as an opportunity to grow a fruit containing seeds, so it turns off the transfer of nutrition to other fruits and begins to intensively feed the ones you left. Thus, having received a couple of large cucumbers, you will lose a significantly larger crop.
The same thing happens when suddenly there is a desire to leave one cucumber fruit for seeds. So, if you have already decided to collect seeds from a variety, then leave the fruit for this at the very end, when you do not plan to harvest more.
As for the collection in general, then produce it every other day and at least, and if you like small cucumbers, then you can harvest at least every day.
So, we have listed the most basic and most common mistakes of gardeners, but there may well be those that we have not touched on. For example, errors associated with the choice of a variety of cucumbers and its unsuitability for cultivation in a particular region, errors with sowing seeds for seedlings and planting seedlings in the ground, again based on the specific conditions of your particular climate.
If you have made certain mistakes, then do not be upset, they are possible even for real professionals. Remember that you can always fix everything, and if you make a mistake, get invaluable experience and not repeat it again. If you have any questions, then ask them in the comments, we will definitely answer.
Whether the cucumbers were sown directly into the ground or planted there already with seedlings, care for them from some point becomes the same: watering, fertilizing, hilling (especially if cucumbers were grown in a seedless way), loosening the soil, protection from weeds and diseases, as well as some special tricks that the cucumbers themselves do not need to feel good, but they help increase the yield.
Watering cucumbers
Watering for cucumbers is perhaps the most important process. With a lack of water and fruits, there will be less, and their quality will noticeably deteriorate. In the open field, it is with this that such a nuisance as the bitterness of Zelentsy is most often associated. Therefore, cucumbers should be watered regularly, on average once every 6 days, even more often in hot weather, but watch not so much the calendar as the earth, because, unlike greenhouses, the beds are open to all rain. In other summers, cucumbers not only do not have to be watered, but on the contrary, they must be protected from waterlogging by laying drainage grooves, because when the water stagnates, the roots can begin to rot. The most reliable signal that it is time to water is the drying of the soil.
At the same time, it is necessary to make an allowance for the fact that young plants need relatively small amounts of water, and adults need significant amounts, and if for the former there is often enough buckets for 1 m 2, then for grown-ups - under each bush. True, young plants need to be watered a little more often than adults. In any case, water should well saturate the ground to the entire depth where the roots live, although it is not recommended to pour it specifically under the roots; it is best to use furrow irrigation or sprinkling. But there is one important limitation here: if in greenhouses plants are not only possible, but sometimes even necessary, completely doused with water, then in open ground, if water gets on the leaves on a hot day, they will get severe burns, so you need to make sure that this does not happen. It is better to water cucumbers either in the evening, when the sun stops burning strongly, or early in the morning. The condition remains in force that cucumbers cannot be watered with water with a temperature below + 10 ... 12 ° C.
Soil loosening
It is desirable to loosen the ground around the cucumber after each watering or heavy rain, but it is impossible to shift the lashes - they can only be carefully lifted or temporarily set aside, returning to their place after the soil crust is loosened.
Top dressing of cucumbers
To get a good harvest, cucumbers must be fed, on average 5-6 times per season, otherwise they will start to hurt from a lack of nutrients, and the fruits will become small and ugly. The first top dressing should be carried out even after the first thinning of seedlings (and for seedlings - during its cultivation) with solutions of organic and mineral fertilizers. From organic fertilizers, you can use mullein (1 liter of a thick solution per 10 liters of water) and chicken manure (the same amount of fermented solution), best with the addition of ash (2 cups per 10 liters of water). From mineral fertilizers (if used separately from organic fertilizers), 15 g of urea, 50 g of superphosphate and 15 g of potassium sulfate should be taken for top dressing per 10 liters of water. During the fruiting period in dressings for cucumbers, it is desirable to additionally increase the amount of nitrogen and potassium fertilizers by 2-2.5 times.
In addition, it is advisable to spray cucumbers with the same mineral fertilizers every 15-20 days, taking 5 g of ammonium nitrate, 10 g of superphosphate and 8 g of potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water for foliar feeding (this amount is enough for 30 m 2 trellis). In addition, at least a couple of times, in addition to them, cucumbers should be fed with micronutrient fertilizers in the same foliar way, it is especially important to give them to cucumbers growing on a trellis.
By the way, about trellises - when growing cucumbers on them, the lower side shoots must be cut off so that they do not creep along the ground
Methods for increasing the number of female flowers
Since the yield of cucumbers depends on the formation of female flowers, in addition to the usual care when growing varieties with a mixed type of flowering, it is also worth doing something to increase their number. Some methods - pre-sowing heating of seeds, pinching the apical bud in late-ripening varieties at the seedling stage with four or five true leaves, reducing the amount of watering during the budding period and pinching lashes with male flowers - have already been mentioned here. In addition, ringing of the stems can also be used. To do this, make a shallow annular cut around the stem with a sharp knife just below the two upper leaves. Ringing can only be done in dry weather. There are also special preparations - growth hormones, some of which are designed to increase the number of female flowers on cucumbers and other vegetables with fruits.
The desire to get a crop faster sometimes turns sideways for a summer resident. Due to the vagaries of the weather, a hasty gardener often does not know how to shelter cucumbers from the cold in the open field. Delay in the upcoming frosts at night threatens with a complete loss of the crop.
Each garden crop has temperature thresholds, if it is violated, the plant stops growing, can get sick and die. The summer resident needs to know at what air temperature of a heat-loving cucumber problems can begin, and the vegetable does not grow.
The table shows temperature thresholds (air, soil) and related problems:
Waiting for frost
In the spring, the problem of night frosts is especially relevant for summer residents who live in the city all week. All garden work must be done over the weekend and make sure that the cucumbers do not freeze.
It is easier to protect cucumbers in a greenhouse from freezing. If there is electricity in the greenhouse, you can put an electric heat gun. If it is not available, use other types of fuel and install for frost protection:
- gas heater;
- air heater on diesel fuel;
- wood burning stove for greenhouses.
Protecting cucumbers in open ground is more difficult. When early planting cucumbers in the garden with seeds or seedlings, it is worth equipping not ordinary ridges on the ground, but warm ridges that have been fashionable lately or easier to build - manure.
dung ridge
A dung bed in cold weather will provide not only heat, but also the nutrients necessary for growth. It must be done wisely. In the garden in the phase of its active burning, young plants can be destroyed.
It is necessary to build a ridge of manure 2 weeks before sowing seeds. Manure needs to be folded into a high ridge, shed. To make it burn faster, you can cover the structure with cellophane.
When the ridge is working, it will be visible from the steam coming from it. After 2 days of active burning, seeds can be planted in holes filled with earth. The thickness of the soil should be at least 30 cm. As long as there is a threat of low temperatures, cover young shoots with a film or spunbond so that they do not freeze. Cucumber lashes grown on manure rarely suffer from disease.
warm ridge
A warm ridge is an analogue of manure, only as a biofuel can be:
- food waste;
- leaves;
- branches;
- grass;
- tops.
Seedlings of cucumbers on an organic pillow, covered with a film on top, are not subject to frost. The effect of the design made is observed in a rainy summer. Organics overheats, releases the necessary heat and nutrition for growth.
A decoratively decorated warm ridge will facilitate the care of cucumbers and at the same time decorate the summer cottage.
The advantage of warm beds:
- it is convenient to fix arcs and covering material;
- the soil warms up much faster, so you can sow the seeds earlier;
- less weeds;
- drainage in the form of large branches eliminates stagnant water, promotes the development of the root system;
- decaying organic matter heats up the soil at night, which stimulates night growth.
Arches plus covering material
Cheap sets for summer residents, equipped with plastic arcs and covering material, can protect cucumber lashes in cold weather, not only in a greenhouse.
By installing them in the spring over the holes, the gardener copes with the task of how to protect cucumbers during the May frosts. Saves seedlings from freezing dense covering material.
How can cucumbers hide from the cold in the open ground arcs and covering material, summer residents share on forums and in their videos. Their advice can help many save heat-loving plants.
You need to buy white spunbond to shelter plants from spring cold snaps. Optimum density of nonwoven material is 23 g/sq. m. Such strength is enough to protect from the cold and withstand the pressure of the wind.
Save cucumbers
If you are unlucky and the frosts grabbed the cucumber leaves, you need to reanimate them. For such a case, each summer resident should have "Epin". A drug that will help if cucumbers:
- frozen;
- the leaves turned yellow for some reason;
- which day it is raining and noticeably colder;
- attacked by aphids or other pests.
How to help cucumbers with Epin is indicated in the instructions. A single treatment restores the immunity of the plant. The main thing is not to use fertilizers for two weeks until the plant itself leaves. Be sure to buy a growth biostimulant.
Help cucumbers with any popular remedy:
- Zircon;
- Narcissus;
- Charm;
- Silk.
With the help of these products that are harmless to people and vegetables, you will quickly restore cucumber lashes. It is important that during processing the solution gets on most of the leaves.
Most vegetable growers face yellowing leaves. Experienced gardeners know how to feed cucumbers during an illness, how to save lashes from rot and pests.
fertilizers
Protracted summer cooling is bad for cucumbers. The tips on the leaves brighten, the formation of ovaries slows down. In this case, they are fed with a solution of carbamide or urea.
The solution is prepared right before use. Bred 1 tbsp. l. drug in 10 liters of distilled water. The weather during processing should be dry, cloudy.
We reanimate this way several times. The interval between dressings is 3 days. When the leaves turn dark green, the rescue of cucumbers can be stopped.
Simple folk ways
For beginner vegetable growers, it will be interesting to learn how to care for cucumbers using simple folk methods. Did you know that the temperature will be below zero at night? What to do if there is no covering material at hand and time to build a shelter?
You can pick up grass or branches, you can take straw and throw it on young cucumbers, and lower those that are higher and tied to the trellis. A layer of mulch will keep you warm. Remove it in the morning, but do not remove it from the ridge. It is needed for further care, it will help retain moisture in the soil and prevent the soil from freezing.
If somewhere in the barn there is an unnecessary roll of roofing material, you can use it. Build bags to shelter young cucumber seedlings. In the morning they will need to be removed, and at night they will serve as excellent protection against a slight sub-zero temperature.
You can help the plant during a period of protracted bad weather with the help of boric acid. Dilute a sachet of powder (5 g) in hot water and pour into 10 liters of water. Cucumbers can be sprayed with this solution after sunset.
This treatment will protect cucumber plantings from diseasesthat occur in bad weather:
- bacteriosis;
- powdery mildew;
- root rot.
Variety selection
You need to think about how to grow cucumbers in the open field not in the spring, when it is time to sow seeds, but in autumn or winter. To do this, the summer resident needs:
- In autumn, prepare a place for planting. Build a warm ridge or greenhouse for early production.
- Before the onset of spring, purchase covering material of the desired size and density. For weather protection, spunbond 35 microns thick is suitable.
- Select cucumber seeds with characteristics that are suitable for the climate.
You can choose from the ten most popular, bred specifically for open ground:
- April F1 - cold-resistant, mid-season, the fruits are not small, they are used to make light salads.
- Masha F1 is the queen of the market. This variety is loved to be grown for sale because of its precocity, good taste and excellent immunity. The fruits are tuberculate, good in marinades.
- Zozulya F1 is a cold-resistant, early maturing hybrid that gives good yields in the exhaust gas and in protected ground.
- The spring F1 - a hybrid has long been used by summer residents of different climatic zones. The variety is cold-resistant, fruitful, rarely gets sick, good in harvesting.
Conclusion
Using modern biopreparations and fertilizers, we grow cucumbers in any weather. Covering material, plastic arcs, PVC film will help to cope with spring cold snaps and summer bad weather.
Many gardeners complain that in recent years, heat and drought have prevented stable yields of cucumbers. We have collected for you, our dear readers, the most important conditions, providing that your cucumber beds will delight you with tender juicy greens.
We protect planting cucumbers from heat and drought
Not every year is favorable for growing cucumbers. And if in rainy weather with moderate temperatures, inexperienced gardeners can still hope for a decent harvest, then heat and drought can ruin all work in the bud. In order not to be left without a crop, you need to know a few subtleties of working with cucumbers. And what is most important for a cucumber is moisture and temperature conditions. We will try to provide them.
loosening
The easiest way to retain moisture in the soil is loosening. The fact is that the entire soil is permeated with tiny capillaries through which water can easily rise from the deep layers to the surface, where it will quickly evaporate.
In the process of loosening, these capillaries are destroyed, so that the water can no longer rise up as quickly. Only dry surface layers should be loosened so as not to damage the roots of plants. If you carry out this procedure at least three times a week, then cucumbers will easily endure drought.
Mulching
You can keep moisture in the soil by mulching the bed around the cucumber bushes. The layer should be no thicker than five centimeters, otherwise pests may start in the soil. You can cover the soil with weeds that have not given seeds or cut grass from a lawn mower.
You can also use sawdust, but before watering, they should be moved aside. In addition, such a mulch will not let water into the soil during rain. It is not recommended to use parts of deciduous plants as mulch, but conifers are welcome. If there is nothing suitable at hand that could be used to mulch the plantings, then the soil can be temporarily covered with newspaper, cardboard, but they are also moved away before watering.
During a drought, it is important to monitor the weeds growing in the garden. Plants grown in a garden with cucumbers can draw water from the soil, damage the roots of crops.
Instillation of lashes
In drought, cucumbers age quickly and may stop fruiting before the end of the summer season. To avoid this, you should periodically rejuvenate the landing. They do it this way: they add a cucumber lash at the base, and when it takes root, the old plant, which has already ceased to bear fruit, is cut off from the young one. Thus, you can take several crops from one cucumber bed.
Treatment with anti-stress drugs
During a drought, the plant suffers from a lack of moisture, both in the soil and in the air. they should be periodically treated with anti-stress drugs. These drugs include, for example, Epin, Epin-Extra, Ecopin. It is an inexpensive, safe and very effective preparation that allows plants to survive drought, light frosts and soil salinity.
shading
You can protect cucumbers from the harmful effects of direct sunlight using a special fine-mesh net. You can find it in almost every hardware store, but if you were unable to buy a suitable shelter, then you can use agrofibre. However, this material is short-lived and can only be used for one season. Ordinary fabric should not be used for this purpose, as it will get very wet after rain, dry for a long time and can bring down the supports with its weight.
To stretch the net, you need to put a strong support. Metal pipes are dug into the ground at the corners of the beds. Their height above the ground should be 1.5 - 2 meters. At the same time, the racks located on the north side should be made slightly higher than those facing the sun. Now it is necessary to weld in pairs two bent at right angles so that corners are obtained. We firmly drive the welded parts into the upper parts of the pipes.
Next, we put on the opposite ends of the branches four more pipes, cut off exactly to size. Sharp parts that can damage the mesh are filed down and wrapped with several layers of waterproof fabric. Next, a mesh is stretched onto the frame and tied along all the ribs with a thick wire or polypropylene twine.
All these measures are simple, reliable and time-tested. A little care and attention - and cucumber beds will thank you with an excellent harvest.
The heroes of our section are diligently growing their first crop. As if to test their character, the weather now and then throws tests on them. But together with the curator Pavel Trannua, the newcomers are trying to avoid the surprises of this summer by saving cucumbers and soil from rain and excessive moisture.
Project curator
Throughout the season, Pavel Trannua, a well-known scientist, author of many books and encyclopedias on gardening, will work as a curator and adviser to our beginners. A practitioner who prefers to test any theory first on his site, and then carry it to the masses.
Our bad weather strategy
- On the advice of our curator, I left part of the frozen tomato seedlings in the garden. She came to life! Looks good, blooms. The stem is strong. I regret that I threw out the rest, as the varieties were good. And out of hopelessness, I bought and planted the remains of someone's seedlings.
Now the problem is different - cucumbers. It rains, and although cucumbers love moisture, they do not tolerate waterlogging. I have them under the film in the greenhouse. What to do with them - water, or is there enough moisture from the sky? So far they look good, but I want to be proactive. And then last year I already poured my tomatoes and was left with nothing.
PAUL TRANNOY:
- With cucumbers, you should always remember that it is undesirable for them to wet the root neck itself, it can rot. For this reason, they usually try to water them at some distance from the bush, so that water does not once again fall on the root collar. And they are planted initially so that it is above the soil level. For example, seedlings in a pot without a bottom are placed directly on the bed, or the plants are placed on a fairly high bed, at least 20-30 cm.
With such a landing, even heavy rains are not terrible for cucumbers.
If the plants were planted on a surface close to flat, then I recommend promptly digging a temporary drainage groove on both sides of the bed, 5-10 cm deep, this will slightly lower the water level, which is quite enough.
And if planted competently, on an elevated position, how to determine whether it is necessary to water?
In short, even with proper planting, when a situation arose with prolonged rains, little sun and cold weather, a situation that threatens to rot the root neck, I advise you to adhere to the following watering regimen.
Early in the morning it would be good to check if there are droplets of water along the edges of the leaves: they hang characteristically in the form of beads, a beautiful sight and, moreover, indicating that there is plenty of water for plants, watering is not needed. If the leaves look, as usual, only slightly damp from dew (greenhouse or greenhouse perspiration), then it is better to water. And here you have to be careful, give water "from below", that is, water the roots from the aisle. I note that the best watering is in the evening, when the water is heated in the sun.
Another tip, already for the future, if again there will be such a cold and damp summer as the current one. Now gardeners are seeing an unimportant picture with cucumber seedlings planted in May: it seems to be retarded, it barely develops, the leaves turn yellow. In such cases, it is recommended to do a decisive reseeding of the cucumber somewhere in a new place. You can sow cucumbers of early and mid-season varieties throughout June, with soaked and heated seeds. As a rule, this second wave sprouts well and develops so well that it soon overtakes those unlucky ones both in size and in fruiting. This year is just for such a tactic, it justified itself even with a pumpkin. Pumpkin and cucumbers belong to the same family and often react similarly to weather conditions: this year, pumpkin seedlings planted on time also did not take root well.
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