To grow beautiful cucumbers in a greenhouse, you need certain knowledge and skills. After all, a cucumber is a moody and tender vegetable, which, for favorable growth and fruiting, is important to create all the necessary conditions. And of great importance in this is not only the timely application of fertilizers, fertilizing, proper and regular watering, but also the proper formation of the plant initially.
It is not a secret for gardeners that the cucumber is a "mustachioed" culture, and therefore it must be taken into account, and moreover, it is simply necessary to use it for your own purposes.
Although the most common practice is picking off the mustache of cucumbers grown in greenhouses, this is due to the fact that they cling to neighboring plants and interfere with each other's growth and fruiting.
How to shape cucumbers in a greenhouse
Why form a bush of cucumber? This is a necessary operation not for all varieties. The formation of the bush is determined by the morphological and biological characteristics of the variety. First of all, you need to find out the number of male and female flowers.
In the bulk, late-ripening varieties need to be formed, since more male flowers are formed on them. How to distinguish male flowers from female? It is very simple that they differ with the naked eye: female flowers show an ovary inside the flower, which, after pollination, grows.
To begin the formation of a bush, it is necessary to start even before the flowering begins. So, when there will be at least 6-7 leaves on the sprout, you need to pinch the top of the main shoot about half a centimeter. And with proper care, cucumbers in your greenhouse will let out new side shoots, on which there will be much more ovaries than on the main stem.
How to tie cucumbers in a greenhouse
One of the methods of garter is the formation of a bush of three to four stems of the plant. Whiskers are used for gartering lateral branches. This is done as follows, the main stem is tied with a thread to the trellis, and when the first ovary is formed on the lateral stalk, it must be pulled to the main one at an angle of 60 degrees. Then the mustache from the main stem is wound on a tightened shoot. As the plants grow, this procedure is repeated, and of course, over time, there become a lot of mustaches and one can’t refrain from removing the mustache anyway.
This kind of bush formation is possible with frequent planting of plants - no more than half a meter. And the mustache, even when dry, perfectly holds the bush.
However, the most common way to grow cucumbers in a greenhouse is to remove mustaches and side shoots half a meter from the ground. First, the main stem is tied up, and then all unnecessary is removed. This site is called a zone of "blinding". A pinch is made above the designated zone, 1 meter from the ground above the first leaf of the lateral shoot, a pinch is made and only one ovary is preserved. After half a meter, another pinch is done over the second sheet and 2 ovaries are left. And so cucumbers are formed in the greenhouse to the top with the addition. One ovary should be on one leaf.
Nipping is done only with young shoots, if time is lost, and the length of the plant was more than 20 cm, then it is too late and this, of course, will not affect the harvest for the better. Therefore, do not miss the moment. And be careful.
When the cucumber reaches the main stalk of the wire to which it is tied, it is also pinched, leaving 3-4 leaves above the wire itself and wrapped around it, tying the stalk in two places.
After the appearance of lateral shoots of upper leaves from the sinuses, they are lowered to the bottom and pinched at a level of 1.5 m above the ground.
If you do everything right and pay attention to the formation of the bush in a timely manner, then you will have every chance of a great harvest from May to October. Good luck to you.