With the onset of spring, a huge number of summer residents are thinking about what to plant in their personal plot. In our country, such a vegetable as a cucumber is in great demand. But, despite the fact that it has become quite widespread, it is a very moody culture. It’s easy to plant her, but it’s difficult to take care of her. And if the cucumbers begin to hurt and dry out, it will be difficult to save them. Experienced summer residents know that even bright green juicy thickets can literally turn into drying ugly loops in just a few days. From how the seedlings of cucumbers are prepared, it will directly depend on what kind of crop you get during the season.
When to start planting seedlings?
This issue should be given special attention. So, when to plant seedlings of cucumbers? There are two extremes to this process. Some gardeners prefer not to mess with germination and plant directly in open ground. Seeds germinate very quickly and grow right before your eyes. This is especially noticeable in the early days.
Another disadvantage of growing seedlings is the difficulty in transplanting a large climbing plant into the ground. Culture is extremely difficult to tolerate such stress. Novice summer residents often try to plant cucumbers for seedlings at the same time as other crops - peppers, tomatoes, eggplant. As a rule, this is the end of February - the beginning of March. As a result, they are faced with the problem described above. Experts recommend planting seedlings three to four weeks before the intended transplantation into the open ground. In this case, the vegetables will form much faster than most others.
Planting seeds in open ground
This method has a number of disadvantages. Firstly, in fact, you lose a few weeks of time. This is important if you want to get an early harvest. In stores, vegetables can still be quite expensive, and when planting seedlings, you can get a crop of cucumbers already in the early summer. Plus, diseases and pests usually appear in mid-summer, when really dry days come. Thus, the best time to get young and sweet cucumbers is June. Secondly, when planting seedlings on a bed, you can immediately see how many full bushes you have. In this case, you can easily distribute them at the right distance from each other. By sowing seeds, you run the risk of getting seedlings too tightly spaced towards each other. They still have to be seated. The inverse problem is the gaps formed in the places of not sprouted seeds.
Favorable conditions for growing seedlings
What is worth considering? It is not enough to know when to plant cucumbers for seedlings. It is still necessary to create favorable conditions for development and growth. First of all, such conditions include temperature, light and humidity.
Let's dwell on this in more detail:
- Light mode. Proper seedlings of cucumbers should receive a lot of light. Consider in advance where you can put boxes with seedlings to create the appropriate conditions. Strong good bushes will be formed only on the condition that if enough sunlight falls on them, starting in mid-April, when the daylight hours will already be long enough. Cucumbers in this regard create much less trouble than members of the nightshade family. During a cloudy spring, when it is hard to find a well-lit area, seedlings can be highlighted using artificial light sources. To highlight seedlings, you need to use krypton or neon lamps. They gently act on young leaflets of seedlings, and are also relatively economical. On sale you can still find special phytolamps. Seedlings should not be constantly illuminated; light can only be turned on during cloudy hours. How to understand that the seedlings of cucumbers are not sufficiently lit? Plants begin to reach up. The stems are very thin and frail. Well-lit sprouts look healthy against their background.
- Humidity and temperature. Seedlings of cucumbers at home require special conditions. It is necessary to create optimal temperature conditions for plants. Cucumbers love heat, but at too high degrees the seedlings can form weak. Of course, in a warm room, seedlings will appear faster, but with respect to growing cucumbers, this is not always good. Culture sprouts quickly enough. Until the first cotyledonous leaves appear, containers with seedlings must be kept at a temperature of up to 30 degrees Celsius. When sprouts occur above the surface of the earth, you can significantly reduce the temperature. Cucumbers should be grown at 19-21 degrees during the day and 15-17 degrees above zero at night. Plants at higher temperatures will grow weak and sick. If you do not use a greenhouse for growing, it is better to keep seedlings at a temperature corresponding to the lower values of this range. Plants should initially be prepared for harsh conditions.
- Humidity. One of the most important aspects, which includes planting cucumbers on seedlings. In most crops, it develops normally with humidity from 60 to 70%. With cucumbers, everything is a little more complicated. For them, the optimal humidity level is from 70 to 80%. If the air at the same time will be more moist, then the seedlings will turn out too tender. She can not tolerate dry days. With a lack of moisture, the ripening rate of the crop decreases markedly. Also in this case, the seedlings may wither even before planting in the soil.
Choose soil
How to plant seedlings of cucumbers? There are several options for soil that can be used for this purpose. The easiest way to buy a special mixture for cucumbers.
Here are some of the options:
- "Gardener";
- "Gardener";
- "Flora";
- "Special soil No. 2";
- "Fortress".
To improve the result, you can add sawdust to the soil in a ratio of 1: 1 to the soil volume. You can also make biohumus in the amount of half of this volume. Soil can be prepared with your own hands. But for this purpose you will definitely need turf land. This is a real fertile soil, which in its quality is not inferior to compost. Prepare it for about three years. For this purpose, you will need an old perennial meadow with grass. From it you need to cut about 10 cm of the upper soil. It is passed grass to grass every two layers, then it is spread with humus, sprinkled with ash and watered with liquid manure throughout the summer. You can also dig and cover with straw for the winter. A year later, the procedure should be repeated. Only after 12 months the land can be used.
To prepare the soil mixture you will need:
- peat and humus - in equal parts with the earth;
- caked wood sawdust;
- river sand.
In the event that you used fresh sawdust, they must first be scalded with boiling water. The resin that they contain is completely unnecessary for the soil. Some summer residents process the finished mixture with steam. However, it is undesirable to do this, since the natural microflora, necessary for plants as well as any other living organisms, perishes as a result. It is also recommended to add wood ash to the mixture (about 1 glass per 10 liters). A pinch of urea, superphosphate and nitrophosphate also does not hurt.
We select seeds for sowing
What you should pay attention to? How to sow cucumbers for seedlings? First of all, it is necessary to prepare planting material. Planting cucumber seeds requires knowledge of many subtleties and secrets. They can be stored up to 10 years, subject to storage conditions (humidity 50-60%, temperature not higher than 15 degrees). This does not mean at all that from such sowing the crop will be the same throughout all 10 years. The formula “fresh is the best” in this case does not always work. The seeds collected last year will grow splendidly and form a large number of flowers. The only problem is that most of these buds are male. Ovaries do not form on them. They are absolutely not interesting in terms of yield. Seeds are characterized by optimal germination in the third and fourth year of storage. If the seeds were kept in a warm and dry place in winter, then tall plants would not grow from them. But on them a large number of ovaries form. Seeds stored in the cold at high humidity will form long shoots. In this case, the ovaries form poorly.
Seed preparation
After you choose planting material, you can begin to prepare it. First, the seeds should be warmed up. There are several options. You can simply leave the envelope with the seeds near the heat source. A cooker or battery is suitable for this purpose. This procedure is especially necessary for seeds that have been stored in the cold for a long time.
There is another option for seed preparation - accelerated. To do this, it is necessary to withstand them for a couple of hours in hot water. To prevent its temperature from falling, you can use a thermos. Seeds prepared this way will show better productivity.
How to get rid of marriage
If you have decided when to plant cucumbers for seedlings, then before preparing it is necessary to sort low-quality seed. For this purpose, the seeds will be mixed in a weak saline solution or water. After this, you need to wait a while and select all that do not sink to the bottom. They will not rise.
Choose varieties
What types of cucumbers are popular? Here are just a few of the options:
- "Meringue";
- "Fontanel";
- "Hector F1";
- "Siberian garland";
- “Crispina F1”;
- "Emerald Earrings";
- "Taganay";
- "The real colonel";
- "Finger";
- "Masha F1."
Inspected material must be decontaminated. For this purpose, the seeds are dipped for half an hour in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. You can also use the infusion of garlic or aloe vera juice. After dressing, the seeds are washed and dried. But the processing process is not limited to this. To improve seed germination, you can hold them in a special solution that stimulates growth for 10-12 hours. Such a tool can be found in specialized stores. In extreme cases, an infusion of wood ash and melt water is suitable. The temperature of the liquid should be at least 28 degrees. With the termination of soaking, it is better not to rush: wait until the seed hatch. At the end, a spine similar to a small white worm should form. In this case, you see which of the seeds is guaranteed to sprout.
The main thing is not to tighten the fit. Otherwise, you risk destroying the seeds of cucumbers, seedlings from which will not work. What other recommendations can be given to those who want to harvest a rich harvest? For best results, experienced gardeners are advised to harden seedlings with seeds, placing them on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator in wet gauze. There is a more sophisticated option - arrange contrasting procedures. For this, the seeds during the day alternately withstand several hours in the refrigerator, then get out of it. You can hold the hatched seeds for some time at low temperatures, so they can be preserved for some time. This is especially useful if for some reason you cannot start landing right now.
We plant seedlings
How to approach this process? When the seeds are ready, you can proceed. Previously prepared containers must be filled with soil mixture and poured with hot water. This will further disinfect her. Before planting, wait a while for the soil to cool. After the seeds have passed all the necessary processing steps, you can carefully plant them in containers. If you did not wait for the bite, then you can put two seeds in a seedling glass . However, this option is still undesirable. The fact is that the root system of cucumbers is very delicate. In a subsequent transplant, if you try to separate one plant from another, you can damage them. For this reason, in the case of planting two seeds, it is better to remove what is weaker, immediately after the appearance of the sprout. Otherwise, you risk getting two weak plants. The word "delete" does not mean complete uprooting. Simply cut off the extra seedling with scissors.
We select containers
Growing seedlings of cucumbers - this is the topic that many gardeners are interested in with the beginning of the summer season. How to choose the right containers for planting? Since cucumbers have a weak root system, peat glasses are ideal for them. Experienced summer residents who can transship without damaging the earthen lump can also use plastic dishes for this purpose. There is another interesting method: a newspaper bag is placed in a container prepared for seedlings. After that, it is filled with soil, a seed is planted and taken care of, as usual. After you decide when to plant seedlings of cucumbers, you only need to carefully extract the bag with the newspaper. You need to move it to the hole and just fill it with earth from above and on the sides. The newspaper will gradually decompose during watering, and cucumbers can easily take root through soft paper. Experienced summer residents also recommend lubricating the edges of the pots with Zvezdochka balm. So cucumber seedlings will be protected from pests and pets.
Care
The quality of the crop directly depends on it. If you have chosen the right time to sow seedlings of cucumbers, then caring for it should not cause you much trouble. The main thing is to remember that during the first weeks it is not recommended to water the seedlings. It is enough just to spray the soil from the spray, so that it does not dry out.
Until the first shoots appear, the seedlings of cucumbers should be covered with a film. It must be removed periodically so that the soil breathes. Seeds germinate very quickly. At a room temperature of +25 ... 28 degrees, leaves from seeds sprouted on the surface of the seeds will appear after three days.
Conclusion
In this review, we examined how to grow seedlings of cucumbers, how to properly care for it, and also got acquainted with the recommendations of experienced summer residents. As it turned out, everything is not so complicated. If you follow all the recommendations above, you are guaranteed a good harvest.