Cucumbers have become one of the most popular vegetable crops for growing in the garden. The fruits of the plant have low nutritional value, but they contain a number of vitamins and minerals. The vegetable is cultivated due to its high palatability. Gardeners pay deserved attention to such a variety as cucumbers Libella F1.
The main characteristics of the variety
Libella F1 is a German hybrid cucumber variety with good yield. It is widely used in Russia. Experienced gardeners collect up to 10 kilograms of fruit per square meter of beds. Fruits best in late summer.
It goes well in the garden with other hybrids. You can plant it together with the early-ripening varieties Annushka F1, Saltan F1 and others. A distinctive feature of the hybrid is accelerated growth. The stem forms quickly, sprawling, has many leaves and fruits.
Libella cucumber: characteristics of the fetus
The fruit of the Libella F1 hybrid is called the gherkin. It looks like a small spindle (elongated ellipsoid). It grows in length to 15 centimeters. The mass of each fruit is about 100-150 grams. The peel has a dark green color, there are few ribs and tubercles on it, but there are soft white spikes.
Fruit ripening occurs one and a half to two months after the appearance of the first seedlings. The pulp is light in color, dense and juicy. Inside there are several chambers with seeds. The fruit has a pleasant cucumber smell and taste.
97% of the fetus consists of water, there are also some fats, proteins and carbohydrates. In the cucumber you can find essential oils and organic acids.
The use of cucumbers grade Libella F1
Unripe fruits of cucumber are used in writing - Zelentsy. In salads, the vegetable is used fresh. For the winter it is pickled, salted, canned. Libella cucumbers received mostly good reviews: they are delicious, crispy, beautiful for canning.
Variety Libella F1 has a high iodine content in the fruits. Cucumbers can lower the acidity of a person’s gastric juice, so the process of assimilation of food is accelerated. Doctors recommend eating fresh fruit to patients with rheumatism and diabetes. Also, cucumber is useful in diseases of the kidneys and liver.
Growing system
Seeds of this variety are recommended to withstand several years. Gardeners usually wait 3-4 years for planting. In weather conditions in the northern and western regions, the seeds are laid in special containers. Recommended depth should not exceed 4 centimeters. Usually the seeds are planted 1.5-2 centimeters in the ground. After 20 days, seedlings should appear. Libella cucumbers should be moved to the ground no later than mid-June. The frequency of planting should be no more than 3-4 plants per square meter of soil.
A bed about 90 centimeters wide is pre-dug. A trench is formed in the middle along the entire length, which is filled with manure, straw or sawdust. Top pour the mass with a weak solution of manganese, add a small amount of lime or ash. After that, they fill the trench with a layer of earth.
Most varieties need insects to breed. Libella F1 is a cucumber, which is a parthenocarpic hybrid that bees can pollinate. Plants have an underdeveloped root system, and the upper part is quite massive. Therefore, experts recommend tying up shoots, and fertilize the soil with mineral additives.
For feeding use a special composition. No more than two tablespoons of nitrophoska and a glass of ash are consumed per meter of bed. Mineral fertilizers must fall into the soil to a depth of 10 centimeters, so the soil is carefully loosened and leveled. Care must be taken not to form a crust on the topsoil.
Growing problems
There are several problems in growing this crop. Gardeners note some periodicity in fruiting in the variety Libella F1. The yield of Libella cucumbers can vary dramatically by year. The key factors affecting plant development are environmental conditions. Cucumber is extremely whimsical to temperature and humidity. Pests can also reduce the number of fruits.
Care Features
To accelerate plant growth, greenhouses or film shelters are used. In open ground, it is recommended to plant Libella cucumbers in the southern regions with favorable weather conditions. The optimum soil temperature should be 20-22 degrees, and the air should be warmed up to 25 degrees.
To ensure the necessary humidity, you need to regularly water the plants with a sufficient amount of water. To do this, use warm water. The recommended frequency of watering is 2-3 days. With a lack of moisture, irregularly shaped greenbacks with a bitter taste can form.
Once every ten days, top dressing is added to the water for irrigation. It can be urea or manure. The concentration of the active substance should be low. For manure, this is 100 grams per liter of liquid, and urea will require no more than 1 gram per liter capacity. Watering and top dressing is usually carried out in the evening.
Libella F1 Cucumbers: Disease Control
The main threat to the crop of cucumbers is powdery mildew, olive spotting. Many hybrids, including Libella F1, are resistant to these diseases. In practice, he showed his immunity to peronosporosis and cladosporiosis.
It is necessary to protect the beds from hypothermia. Because most of the cucumber diseases are activated when the temperature drops below plus 10 degrees.