One of the most common summer vegetables is cucumber. Without it, it is difficult to imagine summer food: it is consumed fresh, used for salting, preservation. According to the reviews, the description, the cucumber Meringue F1 is one of the best.
Description
Meringue F1 is a new self-pollinating hybrid bred by foreign breeders. The fruits of the variety have the shape of a cylinder, a dark green color, which does not change throughout the ripening period. Zelentsy reaches ten centimeters in length, weight - about a hundred grams.
Judging by the description and reviews of the Meringue F1 cucumbers, it becomes clear that they have good taste. There is no bitterness inherent in some other varieties. The fruits are ideal for sale, have an attractive presentation, dense structure, no voids.
Disadvantages and advantages
According to reviews and descriptions, Meringue F1 cucumbers F1 have their advantages and disadvantages. The first include:
- high yield varieties;
- the fruits are stored for a long time, and without loss of appearance;
- a short period of ripening greens;
- excellent taste;
- Zelentsy does not tend to outgrow.
The disadvantages include the susceptibility of Meringue F1 to certain types of diseases.
Growing Features
Like all varieties, the Meringue F1 cucumber has cultivation features. They prefer to grow on clay soils. It is best to grow a crop in a place where potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, onions were previously grown.
For the best germination, it is recommended to fertilize the soil. To do this, for every ten square meters, one hundred kilograms of manure or 420 g of superphosphate and 270 g of nitrogen are added. You should not use all types of fertilizers at once, you should choose between natural and mineral.
A place for planting cucumbers is prepared in the fall. For this, the bed is dug up to the depth of the shovel. With the onset of spring, fertilizers are applied.
As the reviews and description of Meringue F1 say, cucumbers can be grown in two ways: by direct seed sowing and through seedlings. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages.
With direct sowing, time and effort are saved, and with seedlings, the first crop is removed earlier.
Seed preparation
Planting seeds of cucumbers is carried out in late April - early May, when the earth warms up to a temperature of 12-15 degrees. Before sowing the seeds are pre-treated. This process is carried out in several stages.
- First, seeds suitable for sowing should be separated. To do this, dissolve a spoonful of salt in a liter of water. Seeds are placed in this solution. Those that sink to the bottom of the tank are washed under running water and used for sowing. Dummies floating on the surface of the solution are disposed of.
- Before sowing, seed disinfection is carried out. To do this, prepare a pink solution of potassium permanganate. The seeds are soaked in it for twenty minutes. Then the seed is removed from the solution, washed under running water, dried.
After processing, you can sow. To improve the quality of seeds, it is recommended to put them in the refrigerator for a day.
Direct sowing
Characteristics of F1 Meringue cucumber attract gardeners. Early maturity, high productivity, ease of care - all this attracts vegetable growers.
With direct sowing of seeds, holes 2-3 cm deep are prepared in the soil. Aisles are left at a distance of 60 cm. 1-2 seeds are laid in these holes. The distance between the holes 10-15 cm. Sprinkle the seeds with soil. To speed up germination, it is recommended to cover the bed with a film. In such a greenhouse, plants will sprout faster.
After the first leaves appear, the soil is loosened. As soon as the first true leaves appear, weak plants are removed, leaving one bush every 20-30 cm.
At this point, you should feed the plants. To do this, use bird droppings, mullein. For top dressing, take a working solution, diluted 1: 5 with water. The composition is watered with cucumbers: the flow rate of the solution is 10 liters per 20 plants. After two weeks, top dressing is repeated. For the second fertilizer application, you can use solutions of mineral fertilizers, diluting 20 grams of nitrate and the same amount of phosphorus-potassium fertilizer in 10 liters of water.
Seedling method
Growing seedlings has its own characteristics. First, it is planted in a container with a height of at least 10 cm. For sowing, a ready-made substrate for vegetable seedlings is used or the composition is made independently by mixing sawdust, peat, humus in a ratio of 1: 2: 2. For ten kilograms of the composition, two tablespoons of ash and the same amount of nitrophoska are added.
Sowing tanks are filled by two-thirds. One seed is planted in each pot. As soon as two true leaflets appear on the seedlings, they feed her, introducing fertilizer.
After 25 days, seedlings are planted in a permanent place.
Plant care
In order to obtain the declared yield of Meringue F1 cucumber, it is necessary to provide good care to the plants. First you need to organize the correct watering.
This culture refers to hygrophilous plants. Before flowering, for every square meter, 2-3 liters of water will be needed. She must be warm. During flowering and fruiting, watering abundance increases to five liters per square meter.
Fertilizer application
Cucumbers are gluttonous plants. To get a good harvest, you need to feed them at least once a week. For this, solutions of natural fertilizers or minerals are used.
Good results are shown by adding a mixture of a spoonful of ammonium nitrate, superphosphate, potassium fertilizer diluted in 10 liters of water. As soon as all the components are completely dissolved, 3 grams of iron and 2 grams of boric acid are added to them.
You can use another composition made from 10 liters of water, a spoon of urea, half a spoon of potassium fertilizer and the same amount of superphosphate. For 10 square meters, you need 2.5 liters of fertilizing.
Bushes
In order for cucumbers to get enough light, you need to know how to properly cucumber. The procedure begins with the removal of all stepsons and flowers to a height of 50-60 cm. All shoots are removed, the length of which is more than 2 cm. The lower leaf and the first fruit are removed to a stem height of 1 m.
Bushes must be tied up. As soon as the lashes reach a height of 1.5 m, they are nipped.
Diseases and Pests
From the leaves of a cucumber, you can judge the health of the plant. The following diseases most often affect this culture:
- Root rot. The disease affects seedlings, adult plants. The reason for its appearance is considered poor-quality seeds, planting in too dense soil, irrigated with cold water. With this ailment, the root system dies. The disease should be combated by harvesting weeds, as well as soil treatment with bleach. All affected bushes are removed.
- With high humidity, cucumbers are affected by white rot. It provokes the appearance of mucus on the leaves, ovary, stems. You can overcome the disease by treating the soil with a composition of urea (10 g) and copper sulfate (2 g), diluted in 10 liters of water. Processing is carried out at the rate of 1 liter of solution per 10 square meters of land.
- Anthracnose. With this disease, yellow-brown spots appear on the leaves, spread throughout the plant. The fruits darken, wrinkle. To treat plants, the bushes are treated with bleach solution prepared from 40 g of a substance diluted in 10 liters of water. If necessary, the drug is reused after 10 days.
Typical pests for cucumbers are: whitefly, slugs, aphids, spider mites. To control pests, various drugs are offered in the garden store. They are bred strictly according to the instructions and carefully process the whips. Well-proven folk remedies. For example, to combat aphids, use an infusion of onion husks or garlic prepared from 200 grams of the product and 10 liters of water. processing is carried out three times with an interval of 5-7 days.
More information about the variety is shown in the video:
Follow preventive measures, and cucumbers will not suffer from pests and diseases. And proper care will help to collect a large crop of tasty, juicy and healthy greens over a long period.