Planting and caring for cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

To get a bountiful harvest of delicious cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse, you should know and adhere to the general rules of planting and caring for them. Particular attention should be paid to the formation of the bush.

Cucumber varieties for planting in a greenhouse

Home-grown vegetables without additives or harmful chemicals are prized for their natural taste. The choice of seeds should be approached thoroughly, because the varieties are different. Before landing, you need to familiarize yourself with all the nuances.

There are proven cucumber varieties that are ideal for planting in a polycarbonate greenhouse, producing good seedlings and a healthy harvest. The most famous among them:

1. Aristocrat F1. Mid-season. Differs in high productivity, strong growth and developed root system. Ideal for fresh consumption.
2. Form F1. Hybrid early ripening variety. Short-fruited cucumbers with long fruiting times. Suitable for both pickling and fresh consumption.
3. Herman F1. High-yielding variety with early ripening. Universal hybrid, fruit without bitterness.
4. Zozulya. Ideal for greenhouse planting. Suitable for salting for the winter, fresh consumption, of the advantages - self-pollination of fruits.
5. Courage F1. An early ripe variety, from the moment of planting in the ground and until the first harvest, it usually takes about 45-50 days. Medium-fruited, versatile in use.

Important points when choosing seeds for planting: ripening period, expiration date (you need to look on the package), yield, purpose of the crop.

Interesting! When to plant cucumbers for seedlings in 2021 in the middle lane

The main stages of planting

The volume and quality of the yield depend on the correct planting and further care of the vegetable crop. Pay attention to these rules:

1. Seed preparation. For better pecking, the seeds are soaked for 12 hours, or better for a day in Epin's solution. Then they are moved into wet gauze.
2. Sowing and growing seedlings. For good germination, cucumber seeds are grown in boxes with sawdust treated with boiling water and a weak solution of manganese. They are covered with plastic wrap, since a favorable temperature for growing must be observed - 25-28 ° C. Seedlings appear in 7-10 days. After 3-4 days, the seedlings are sown in the greenhouse upon reaching 4 cotyledons.
3. Disembarkation scheme. In the center of the ridge, the distance between the bushes is 30-35 cm.
4. Soil composition. Cucumbers "love" when humus and peat are added to the soil.
5. Soil cultivation. Before planting, the soil is spilled with a warm manganese solution.
6. Seedling protection. Caps with a height of 8-10 cm are cut out from the necks of plastic bottles, in hot weather the caps are unscrewed. The caps are removed when 2-3 true leaves are formed. During frosts, the young plant is additionally covered with newspapers, cloth or film.

Greenhouse seedlings are more protected than seedlings outdoors. To achieve the desired rate of soil acidity, it is recommended to introduce a lime solution before planting.

Timing and methods of planting seeds

Greenhouse cucumber varieties can be grown in 2 ways:

1. Seedling. This option is more problematic, seedlings in indoor conditions are more susceptible to diseases. Plus - earlier harvest.
2. Seeds in the ground. The preferred planting method for gardeners. There are no risks of damaging the root system when transplanting seedlings into the ground, comfortable conditions for the growth of seedlings.

The optimal time for planting cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse is the end of April - the first days of May. Subject to all the rules for planting and leaving, the first fruits can be harvested in the second half of June.

Basic rules for forming a bush

An important rule for growing cucumbers is the correct formation of the bush. If you skip this stage, cucumbers will grow in random order, many unpleasant diseases may appear, and the yield will decrease.

Fundamental rules:

1. Blindness. In the area of the first three leaves, you need to remove the buds and shoots that have time to set. This contributes to a healthy harvest.
2. Removing shoots on the sides of the plant. When the plant reaches half a meter, all side shoots are removed. There should be 1 sheet each, above - no more than three.
3. Removing barren flowers. Executed immediately. If there are a lot of them, you should reduce watering, allowing the soil to dry out.
4. Topping. Shoots on the second level are removed by pinching, but not completely, leaving 1 sheet. The stem is thrown over a trellis or other auxiliary device (the length of the shoot should be no more than half a meter).
5. Removing unnecessary parts of the plant. These include male inflorescences, whiskers, and damaged fruits. It is recommended to delete them immediately after detection. As for a healthy crop, it should not hang for a long time, since the fruits absorb the nutrients and minerals needed by young shoots.

The formation of the lashes of the bush should begin when the seedling reaches 8-10 fully formed leaves. It is important to constantly monitor that the whips of the plant do not crawl on the ground, and that the greenhouse is well ventilated.

It is enough to check it once a week. The time for the procedures is early morning, by the evening all the "wounds" will heal, and the plant will have time to recover.

Correct tying

Another of the important and mandatory points that should be considered when planting and caring for cucumbers is the correct tying. Consists of the following steps:

1. Installation of trellis. At a height of approximately 1.8 m, thick wires or dense ropes are pulled along each ridge, which the plant will twine around in the process of growth. As soon as the shoots reach the desired length, they should be tied with twine, pulling them to the trellis.
2. Garter rules. In no case should the top of the plant be tied. If it comes off, the plant will die. At the end of the twine, a lasso loop is made, which is attached under the second or third leaf of the shoot. The bushes should be alternated so that they do not come into contact with each other. Tie one to the left of the trellis, the second to the right.
3. Garter methods. There are 4 possible options: horizontally, vertically, grid, V-shape.

Garter manipulations can begin a week after planting cucumbers. Each new internode must be tied up, otherwise, due to tension, the plant may break.

Watering

Cucumbers are a thermophilic crop requiring moderate watering. Irrigation conditions:

• in the first 10 days after planting, you need to water every day at the root;
• after the plant has formed up to 2-3 true leaves, watering can be reduced to 2 times a week, focusing on soil moisture;
• during the fruiting period, watering is moderate, carried out at the root as the soil dries up.

Water for irrigation of cucumbers planted in a polycarbonate greenhouse should be extremely warm, since the likelihood of developing diseases and yellowing of the foliage is high, which will adversely affect the health of the crop.

At high air temperatures, watering should be performed more often than usual, well moistening the root system, aisles and the edges of the beds - this is where the accumulation of rhizome processes is located. If the watering was abundant, and the water stagnated, then with the help of a fork, carefully so as not to damage the stem and roots, make punctures in several places.

Top dressing

For a better bush formation and a healthy, abundant harvest in a short time, you should take care of the necessary dressing for cucumbers. Best remedies:

• organic fertilizers - infusions of cow dung (1:10), chicken manure (1:25), nettle;
• mineral fertilizers - nitrophoska, azofoska.

Before feeding, the ground around the seedling is watered with warm water. Fertilizers are applied at a distance of 10 cm from the stem, so as not to damage the delicate root system. One plant will need 1 to 2 liters of liquid fertilizer.

The first feeding is carried out with the beginning of flowering and is repeated once every 2 weeks. When the mass ripening of cucumbers begins, the introduction of complex fertilizers should be increased to 10 liters per bush.

Treatment against diseases and pests

In addition to proper planting, cucumbers need proper care and protection from diseases and pests. Experienced gardeners do not recommend the use of chemicals at the time of fruiting crops.

The following folk remedies are used for the most common insects and diseases:

• powdery mildew - treatment with a 1% solution of Bordeaux liquid or urea;
• spot, cucumber mosaic - 1 liter of milk + 10 drops of iodine per 9 liters of water;
• rot - sprinkle with ash, crushed chalk or charcoal;
• aphid, whitefly - fumigation of the greenhouse with makhorka and chamomile.

If help to cucumbers is provided out of time and many bushes are affected, chemical control agents should be used, guided by the instructions.

Cucumbers, planted in a polycarbonate greenhouse, require attention and care, you cannot let the situation go by itself. If done on time, the result will not be long in coming.

It should be remembered that cucumbers are a delicate vegetable crop, all manipulations when working with them should be carried out carefully, trying not to damage the shoots and tops of the plants. Natural vegetables are tastier, they crunch well, they retain nutrients and essential vitamins.

Summarize

To get a healthy and good harvest, you should adhere to some rules:

1. A thorough approach to the selection of seeds, viewing the ripening dates, shelf life, and purpose of the variety.
2. Seeds before planting for seedlings must go through a mandatory stage of preparation - soaking in Epin.
3. The last decade of April - early May is considered a favorable period for planting seeds in the greenhouse.
4. The formation and tying of lashes, timely watering and collection of an already ripe crop are considered mandatory stages in caring for seedlings.
5. Fertilizing begins immediately after flowering and continues once every 2 weeks. For this, mullein, bird droppings or mineral fertilizers are suitable.