Is it possible to plant cucumbers. When to plant cucumbers in June. When to plant cucumbers in the open ground, the advice of gardeners. Sowing seeds for seedlings. We use the lunar calendar

Cucumbers are grown in open ground, in greenhouses, greenhouses and even on window sills. This is a fairly unpretentious culture that does not require complicated care and special conditions. Everyone wants to grow juicy, tasty, fragrant cucumbers on his plot, with which he will delight his relatives and friends. But first you need to know when to plant cucumbers  in open ground in 2019.

When to plant cucumbers in open ground in 2019?

Planting seedlings of cucumbers in 2019 - timing

In order to get the crop as soon as possible, you need to grow seedlings in advance. In the spring, when the earth is not yet sufficiently warmed up, it is time to plant the seeds in the pots. It is in the room, in conditions when the air temperature that is comfortable for seeds is observed, two weeks are enough and the seedlings will be ready. To seedlings turned out strong and formed in a short time, the seeds are pre-soaked in saline, then they are washed in potassium permanganate and only then sown in the ground.

You need to plant ready seedlings in the ground no earlier than May 15. You should pay attention to the lunar calendar of the gardener, in order to plant seedlings on time. In 2019, May 15,19,24,25,31 is considered to be favorable days for planting cucumber seedlings in the ground, and as for June, the following dates are well suited - 1,2,11,16,20.

It will be wrong to look at the lunar calendar and immediately take out the seedlings on the street. First you should start preparing the beds.

For planting cucumbers, usually two types of beds are built:

Vertical : this type of beds is perfect for climbing varieties that tend to go up. The only condition for such beds will be the presence of a support, which will help the shoots to smoothly go up.

Horizontal:   these are ordinary beds, slightly rounded, to plant seedlings on which, you need to be at some distance from each other, because cucumber bushes tend to grow and crawl around.

An important point - two days before the seedlings are transferred to open soil, you need to pour the soil with cool boiling water, and then cover it tightly with polyethylene. These actions are needed in order to overcome pests that have been sleeping peacefully in the land cool since winter. Of course, do not forget that the land must be loosened up, and from the autumn treated from pests and fed with fertilizers. And cucumbers should be planted in the area where onions grew last season. It is in this case that the soil will be rich in minerals necessary for a good crop of cucumbers.

If seeds are planted in the soil, it is important to plant them to a depth of not more than ten centimeters, not forgetting abundant watering. For transplanting seedlings, it is important not to wait for the moment when it will outgrow, otherwise the cucumbers will take root for a long time and poorly in a new place. In the process of transplanting seedlings in open ground, you need to act very carefully. The fact is that the roots of cucumbers are still very young and fragile, they can be easily damaged. Freshly planted seedlings should be covered with plastic wrap. The most suitable time for planting cucumbers is evening or cloudy weather.

How to get a good crop of cucumbers in 2019?

To enjoy a good harvest, it is important to observe some conditions:

• It is very important to help the branches produce new shoots and leaves. To do this, wait until three pairs of leaflets appear on the trunk, and then fill it with earth to the first pair and pour plenty of water. In this case, additional roots will appear on the vine, and it will become much stronger.
• To increase the yield, you must definitely pinch the stalk of a cucumber, just below the fourth or fifth leaves. After this procedure, additional shoots appear on the stem.
• After watering, it is important to thoroughly loosen the soil, thereby ensuring constant access of oxygen to the roots.
• Harvest cucumbers need immediately. Do not wait until they begin to turn yellow. As soon as the ripened fruits are removed, new ones begin to be tied.

So, now you know when to plant cucumbers in the open ground in 2019. We hope you use our tips and grow a rich harvest of juicy, delicious cucumbers.

Growing cucumbers is not considered the most difficult activity among vegetable growers, but it has its own nuances. If you make an effort and study these features, but you can get the result in the form of a significant increase in yield. Cucumbers are quite undemanding to soils, but they like warmth and light.

When to plant cucumbers?

Cucumber is a heat-loving vegetable, so the timing of planting varies in different regions depending on the time of the onset of warm days. If plant cucumbers with seeds, then in the suburbs the period from mid-May is considered optimal for closed ground, and early June for open ground.

In the Middle Volga region, you can plant cucumbers a little earlier, open ground is ready to receive seeds at the end of May. In the Rostov region and other southern regions, the best option for cucumber beds is the end of April or the beginning of May.

General rule - night temperature should be at least +15 degrees Celsius. Dates can be shifted a few days later if sown soaked seeds.

Planting cucumbers with seeds for seedlings

When to plant cucumbers for seedlings? When planting cucumber seeds, one must remember that 25-30 days must pass from the moment the seeds are laid, until the young plant gives three or four leaves and will be suitable for planting on the garden bed. For central Russia, landing is made in early May or a little earlier. In the case of using greenhouses, the best option is the beginning of April.

Many vegetable growers are guided when working on the position of the moon in the vault of heaven. When to plant cucumbers in 2017  according to the lunar calendar? Favorable days are considered in April 9, 18, 22, 27 and 28, in May - 4, 15, 19, 24 and 31, in June - 1, 2, 11, 16 and 20.

How to plant cucumbers?

One common option is planting with seedlings. Cucumber seeds are pre-stored for four weeks at a temperature of +25 degrees Celsius.

After warming, it is recommended to soak the seeds to speed up germination. A mixture of humus and peat is prepared with the addition of wood sawdust.

The formation of the first "real" leaf in seedlings of cucumbers

The mixture is placed in small pots. Seeds are instilled to a depth of 1-2 cm and watered. Pots are kept in a warm place in the light. After the plants have sprouted and formed a few leaves, cucumber seedlings  transplanted into a greenhouse or open ground.

Determine when to plant seedlings of cucumbers  in open ground, it is possible to measure nighttime temperatures. If you reach +15 degrees Celsius, and every day the air is steadily warming, then it's time to transplant seedlings.

Is it possible to plant cucumbers  at lower temperatures? No, this is fraught with plant disease, but at +10 degrees Celsius and death.

Planting seedlings of cucumbers in the ground

How to plant cucumbers in open ground seeds? It is necessary to pre-prepare the bed, fertilize it. Cucumbers are not too picky about the fertility of the land, but fertilizing will increase the yield.

A large amount of manure will make the bed soil warmer, which will accelerate plant growth. We dig the earth with a bayonet shovel. We make rows at a distance of about 60 cm., Lay the seeds a few centimeters from each other to a depth of 4 cm. If we we plant cucumbers in the open ground, you must remember about the possibility of night frosts.

What varieties of cucumbers are best planted?

What cucumbers to plant  in difficult climatic conditions, are all varieties productive when grown in open ground? There are some general tips for growers.

Hybrids (they are marked with F1 symbols on the package) are more resistant to various diseases. The vegetative period in medium and late cucumbers is longer. Early vegetables are not always suitable for canning, later vegetables are more preferable.

Choice what varieties of cucumbers to plant, depends on the preferences and experience of each grower. Consider some common varieties suitable for cultivation in central Russia.

Benefit F1. Fruits ripen 6-7 weeks after seedling formation. It does not require pollination by bees. Fruits are suitable for all kinds of food.

Fast and the Furious F1. Early self-pollinated variety. It grows well in greenhouses and open ground. Fruits up to ten centimeters long.

Ant F1. It is considered one of the most precocious, optimal for open ground. Self-pollinating, high-yielding. Fruits without bitterness. Unpretentious and resistant to many diseases.

Phoenix. Late-ripening variety, fruiting to frost. The fruits are long, good for salads and canning.

Solar. Late variety, 7 weeks from the time of germination to the first fruits. Pollinated by bees and other insects. The fruit is elongated, well suited for salting. Resistant to disease.

What cucumbers to plant in a greenhouse? You can recommend a high-yielding variety Emelya F1 or Dynamite F1. Greenhouse varieties are usually self-pollinated, as it is difficult to provide access to an enclosed space bees  and bumblebees.

For the greenhouse, you should choose self-pollinated varieties of cucumbers

Cucumber Care

Cucumber is a less demanding vegetable compared to or peppers. The most important condition for obtaining a good harvest is timely watering. Drying of the soil will lead to wilting of leaves and loss of taste.

The root system of the cucumber spreads in breadth, so you need to water it not under the root. The best time is evening or early morning. Water should be warm enough, otherwise various diseases occur. Consumption rate - a bucket on a large bush, frequency - once a week at normal time, every three to four days - during fruiting.

After watering, it is useful to mulch the soil, usually straw or grass is used. A bed with a similar coating retains moisture well, no crust forms. Excess moisture is also harmful.

If it rains too often, you need to do a little drainage to drain excess water. Periodically loosening the soil and removing weeds. With such procedures, you need to remember about the vulnerability of the root system.

Fertilizing can be done both with organic mixtures and mineral fertilizers. As organics, manure or bird droppings are used, 1 liter is bred in a bucket of water.

Mulching seedlings of cucumbers

As an alternative, you can take 10 gr. saltpeter and potassium salt plus 45 gr. phosphate fertilizer and dilute in water. The consumption rate is a bucket of mixture for ten to twenty bushes. During the fruiting period, saltpeter and potassium salt are added more, depending on the needs of the plants.

Features of growing cucumbers in a greenhouse and in the open ground

It is necessary to remember some differences in growing greenery in a greenhouse and in open ground. In the greenhouse, the cucumber bush must be correctly formed to obtain a large crop. Usually part of the side shoots is removed. In the open ground there is no such need.

In an enclosed environment, cucumbers need to be tied up, otherwise real plant chaos will result. There is more space on the bed, cucumber lashes can grow freely. In a greenhouse, it is not necessary to use bee pollinated varieties, since the access of insects to the premises is limited or impossible.

Cucumber Harvest

Cucumbers are eaten unripe, the overripe vegetable is suitable only for receiving seeds. For salting, usually choose fruits of 5-8 cm, for salads - larger. The frequency of harvesting - at least once every two days, otherwise there is a rapid overgrowth. Cucumbers are harvested in the early morning or evening, carefully cutting the fruit with a knife. Shoots can not be turned over, and the leaves stomped.

No matter how we like cucumbers, but by the middle of summer, we’ll eat enough of them and give preference to other vegetables, but by autumn the desire to crunch with a young cucumber appears again. To provide yourself with an autumn crop of cucumbers, you can plant them in July, since all the conditions of this period will favorably affect their growth and development.

Firstly, the area for planting cucumbers has already been freed up after harvesting radishes, early potatoes and lettuce.

Secondly, the earth needs only top dressing, and moisture is well retained in it.

Thirdly, the weather conditions become optimal: it is already not so hot, but there is enough light and heat for the full development of the fruits.

  Planting cucumbers in July is a great way to extend spring freshness on our tables.

  Plus, planting cucumbers in the summer in July also lies in the fact that the soil is already mulched, and moisture is better held in it. And when the first cucumber sprouts appear, it is usually not so hot, but still warm enough for the fruit to grow and ripen

July landing methods

The determining factor in choosing the method of planting cucumbers in July is the climate of the region. In the southern regions, plants have enough time to mature and bear fruit until the frost, so it is easier to grow them, sowing seeds immediately in open ground.

If the climate is quite cool, it is likely that summer planting cucumbers will not have time to produce crops when planted with seeds. In this case, the seedling method is preferred when the plants are pre-grown at home in peat or plastic cups. As a soil mixture, you can use ready-made universal soil or specially designed for seedlings.

For both methods, the seeds are decontaminated and soaked before planting. It is better to select varieties that are ripe with a vegetative period of 45-50 days and must be zoned, then the crop will be provided to you.

Video: Summer planting of cucumber seeds

We prepare beds

If it is still very hot, it is better to plant cucumbers in July in shaded places or next to high-stalked plants, for example, corn or sunflowers, which will be good protection against gusts of wind and burning sun rays.

When the cucumbers are planned to be planted on vacant beds, the remains of plants are removed from them, they dig and feed the earth with organic matter, pouring out 1-2 buckets per m2. This may be a garden compost, and rotted mullein, and peat mixture.

For mineral top dressing, you can use double superphosphate, ammonium nitrate or replace them with a complex nitroammophos.

Landing and care

Cutting furrows and planting seeds is carried out as usual: in rows or nests, deepening the seeds by 2-3 cm. In rows, plant 2 seeds in one recess for subsequent thinning, and 4-5 seeds in nests.

Planting seedlings should be in cloudy weather or in the evening with a lump of earth from a glass. Wells are shed with a hot weak solution of potassium permanganate, a bush is planted, moistened and then mulched with dry soil. Weak plants can be covered with agrofibre, lifting it for air circulation. When they gain strength, the covering material is removed. How to feed seedlings with cucumber can be read.

  Cucumber beds should always be clean of weeds. During the first 3 weeks, carefully loosen the soil to a depth of 2-4 cm

  Watering cucumbers is best in the evening, and the water for irrigation should be warm. It is recommended to collect water in containers in advance and allow it to warm up in the sun

It’s easy to take care of “summer” cucumbers. Watering is carried out only with settled warm (+ 25 ° С) water in the evenings, directly under the root. Be sure to loosen after moistening the earth (irrigation or rain). Thinning is carried out in 2 stages: limited - when the first leaf grows, thorough - when the fourth leaf appears.

It is also necessary to carry out podkuchivanie bushes, mulching the soil and tying lashes to supports. When loosening, weeds are removed that take moisture and nutrients from the soil. In order to prevent freezing of plants in early autumn, they can be covered with agrofibre.

Experienced gardeners sow cucumbers all summer, maintaining an interval of 3 weeks: such a cucumber conveyor will deliver cucumbers to the table and will run smoothly for winter harvesting.

Video: Latest cucumber planting in summer

Cucumber is such a frequent and familiar guest on our tables that it would never occur to anyone to call this vegetable capricious and wayward. In the article, we will tell not just about how to grow cucumbers, but also how to do it quickly and correctly. Planting cucumbers in June has its own characteristics.

The benefits of planting cucumbers in June

June is considered the most suitable month for the summer planting of cucumbers. Novice gardeners are often interested in whether it is possible to plant seeds in open ground at this time? In June, you can plant any seeds, but in the middle lane or in the north of Russia it is better to do this from the middle of the month or at the end of June. In the first half of the month, temperature fluctuations can occur, there is a high risk of frost. And from the middle of the month the weather has stabilized. The seeds of cucumbers sown at this time, will quickly sprout and after 45-50 days will please the first fruits.

Suitable varieties for planting in June

Choosing early varieties, you can get an early harvest. The fruits are consumed fresh and used for pickling. You can plant early varieties from the beginning of June.

"Competitor"  Resistant to bacterial diseases. It is applied to winter preparations. From sowing to fruiting takes 1.5 months. The variety has excellent taste, but is demanding on the composition of the soil and abundant watering.

"Universal"  Early and prolific variety. Mildly tuberous cucumbers. Small sizes make it easy to fill cans.

"Elegant"  Good for summer salads. Can be grown in greenhouses. Fruit mass - 120 g. Not prone to yellowing.

"Cascade"Lumpy crispy cucumbers. Small fruits can be harvested for 45-50 days.

Altai  Cucumbers are light green in color and small in size, ripening by day 37–39. Very useful in the form of vegetable salad.

Seed and seedling preparation

In regions with a warm climate, you can safely grow cucumbers in the open field. Seedlings need to plant cucumbers in cold regions in order to have time to get a crop before the onset of cold weather.

Planting seeds

Despite the fact that in the package you can find just a dozen seeds, you need to remove empty ones from them. To do this, they are immersed in a solution of salt water and pop-ups are removed. It is better to use two-, three-year-old seeds, they have excellent germination. You can disinfect the seeds in a solution of potassium permanganate, holding for 15-20 minutes. To get fast and friendly shoots with a large number of female flowers, the seeds can be warmed up for several days at a temperature of 24-29 ° C or several hours at 45–55 ° C. Good results are given by top dressing in a solution of nitrophoska or wood ash. Seeds need to withstand in a warm place for two days. The last step is hardening. To do this, sprouted seeds for a day are placed on the lower shelf of the refrigerator. When planting, you need to consider the size of the seed and the depth at which they are laid (at least 1-1.5 cm).

Growing seedlings

Planting cucumbers in June using seedlings will accelerate fruiting by 2 weeks. So that the seedlings do not outgrow, planting can be done according to the lunar calendar. To do this, the seeds are sown on the growing moon. If you can’t plant cucumbers on the most favorable days (from June 8–9 and from 3-4), you can plant in others. The main thing is not to engage in landing on adverse days. For June, these are numbers from 12 to 14 and 29th. Seeds for growing in a greenhouse are prepared in the same way as for planting on garden beds.

But there are certain rules for growing and caring for greenhouse residents.

1. To obtain a quick harvest and prevent infections, all planting material must be disinfected, warmed, germinated and fed.
2. By the time of planting in open ground seedlings should be 20-25 days.
3. A constant temperature should be set at 16-18 ° C.
4. The soil must be chosen light and nutritious.
5. The superficial root system requires planting seeds in separate containers, otherwise diving will cause stress to the plant.

Planting cucumbers in the open ground in June

In order to get a big crop and spend less time and effort on the care and treatment of cucumber lashes, you need to familiarize yourself with the rules for planting cucumbers in open ground.

Seeding scheme

So that cucumbers do not interfere with each other and do not spend energy on competition for a place in the sun, you must follow the rules of planting. To measure the area necessary for an adult plant, you need to consider: its needs for lighting and irrigation, the timing of vegetation and the degree of overgrowth. Producers usually indicate planting patterns on seed packs.

On 1 m² no more than 3-4 plants should be planted.

If the bushes are planted crowded, this will lead to defeat by fungal diseases, the spread of pests, multiple empty flowers, poor development due to lack of light, water and nutrition.

Planting seedlings

You can plant seedlings in open soil after June 10. In order not to harm the root system, you need to stop watering 3-4 days before the transplant. And before planting, water abundantly, this will betray the earthen coma uniformity. If you can cut the container with a sprout, then it is better to do so. The less injured the roots, the faster the plant will take root. Planting seedlings is advised in the holes, previously doused with hot water. Do not make holes deeper than 10 cm. Below this level, the soil is colder.

Cucumbers need to be planted in a permanent place, having previously treated the soil from pests and having applied fertilizers. A week before planting, hardening of seedlings begins. To do this, you can lower the room temperature or make seedlings on the street in the shade. So the plant will quickly get used to street conditions. To know how much land to allocate for each bush, you need to decide which way the curl will curl: horizontal or vertical. The first option will occupy a larger area than the second.

To get a good harvest, it is not necessary to plant and care for the whole lot of cucumber lashes all summer long. Having picked up adapted varieties and creating the necessary conditions for them, you will save yourself from unnecessary worries, and you will get no less crop.

Cucumbers are heat-loving plants, but they are grown almost throughout the territory of our country. In most cases, they are sown with seeds directly in the garden, but for the early production is quite popular and the preliminary cultivation of seedlings at home. To do this is not too difficult, seedlings are on the windowsill for about a month, the conditions in a city apartment are usually quite suitable for its growth.

Seedling soil

For sowing seeds of cucumbers for seedlings, you must pre-prepare the seeds themselves, the soil mixture and containers in which the seedlings will spend a month of their life. As for the containers, everything is clear: you can’t grow cucumbers in shared crates, they categorically do not tolerate transplantation in violation of the root system. Therefore, they require individual cups. Their volume should be from 300 to 500 ml; True, some gardeners grow seedlings of cucumbers even in egg shells.

And yet, to get high-quality seedlings, you should not be limited in the size of the cups. Their design should be such as to allow seedlings to be extracted without damaging the soil coma. Reusable cups with a retractable bottom are great in this regard, but they are ideal - peat pots that are buried in the garden along with all the contents.

Each plant has its own personal glass

Light, neutral in acidity, moisture- and breathable soil are placed in the pots. Since the matter may not reach the top dressing in a month, the soil should immediately contain a sufficient amount of nutrients. When growing a dozen seedlings, it’s easier to buy ready-made soil in the store, but it should be designed specifically for cucumbers. No need to rush to the cheapest options: unfortunately, in such packages they still often sell land “from the fence”. Soil from a serious manufacturer is not required to be additionally prepared.

In the case of self-preparation of the nutrient mixture, the best option is turf land, good compost, peat and sand (ratio 2: 2: 1: 1). Of course, there are options: not always in the farm there is everything you need. Sawdust is also used as components of the mixture, sand is replaced with vermiculite, etc. Good compost or humus have enough fertilizers, but if these components could not be obtained, any soil should be spiced with wood ash (a glass on a bucket of soil) and add about 50 g azofoski.

If the earth is taken directly in the garden, the soil must be disinfected. The easiest way is to generously pour a pink potassium permanganate solution a week before sowing the seeds. If suddenly it is not, you can replace copper sulfate. After drying to a comfortable working condition, the soil is poured into cups, placed on the bottom of a centimeter layer of drainage, and allowed to settle for a day.

Dates of planting cucumbers for seedlings

Calculating the optimal timing of sowing seeds in cups is very simple, but it is impossible to give a specific recommendation. From the moment of sowing the seeds until the seedlings are planted in the soil, 30–35 days should pass.  And then it all depends on what kind of climate region we are talking about and where they are going to grow cucumbers: in a greenhouse or in unprotected soil.

If we talk about the middle lane and consider planting seedlings in open ground, then without fear you can do this only at the beginning of summer. So, seeds should be sown at the very end of April. If temporary film shelters are expected, everything can be shifted for a couple of weeks and sow seeds in mid-April. Well, if there is a good greenhouse, it will be possible to plant seedlings in it already in early May, which means that seedlings start about April 1.

In more northern or southern regions, the terms, respectively, are somewhat shifted in one direction or another. But in the south, seedlings of cucumbers are grown only for very early consumption of products: to eat cucumbers at normal times, they are without hesitation sown in a bed of seeds.

When to plant cucumbers for seedlings in 2019 according to the lunar calendar

Many gardeners check the dates of their summer cottages with the phases of movement of celestial bodies. Since about 1990, many newspapers and magazines, and later Internet portals, have published numerous lunar calendars that list favorable and forbidden dates for this or that work with a specific garden or garden culture. The trouble is that these dates vary greatly between different editions. Therefore, you have to analyze many sources and make for yourself some right decision.

For example, many sources refer to May 18, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28, and 31 as favorable dates for planting cucumbers in 2019.

If you still want to link sowing with the phases of the moon, you should know that sowing cucumbers is recommended during the growing moon, closer to the days of the new moon. It is believed that during such periods, the growth processes of many crops are activated, which is good for both seed germination and the size of the future crop.

Growing cucumber seedlings

Since in many modern varieties and hybrids the first cucumbers ripen 33–38 days after emergence, the need for growing seedlings is often thought up. But if you want to crunch your own products as early as possible, at least a few bushes of seedlings will be prepared by our summer resident.

Unlike, for example, cabbage seedlings, which require cool rooms for growth, the cucumber feels good at the same temperature as a person, so seedlings can be prepared at home. But if there is a greenhouse or a hotbed nearby, to which there is daily access, gardeners prefer to grow seedlings in them.

Preparing seeds for sowing

Fortunately, cucumber seeds do not need to be bought annually: they retain germination capacity for 7–8 years. Moreover, fresh seeds are slightly worse than those that have been lying for two or three years: they have more "empty flowers". Optimum seeds at the age of 2–4 years.  True, modern hybrids may not be all right, but this is a rather complicated story, like the story of how several hundred varieties and hybrids suddenly appeared on the shelves. Are they really so different from each other?

Therefore, the current summer residents are divided into two groups. Some people firmly believe that hybrids (F1) are many times better and plant only them, annually trying out all sorts of new products. Others, from year to year, grow old proven varieties and store their seeds from them, selecting for this purpose necessarily tetrahedral rather than trihedral seed plants (yes, if you look closely, ripe cucumbers are not quite cylindrical!). Which of the summer residents is right? It seems that the truth is somewhere in between. It is only clear that most hybrid seeds are sold ready for sowing, and you have to tinker a bit with your own first.

The entire list of seed preparation steps looks like this (but not all of them are required):

• Calibration This can be done manually: the seeds of the cucumber are quite large, and the most feeble ones are easily determined with the fingers. It is even easier to dip the seeds in a solution of sodium chloride (half a tablespoon in a glass of water), shake and wait 3-5 minutes. The weakest will pop up, they should not be sown.

  The seeds of cucumbers are large, you can touch each seed individually

• Warming up. If you have just bought fresh seeds on your hands (or their origin is unknown), before sowing they should be held for a couple of days by the heating battery, which reduces the proportion of male flowers on which there are no fruits.
• Disinfection. For the seeds of reliable companies bought in a specialized store, this operation is optional. Hold your own seeds or from neighbors for 15–20 minutes in a strong solution of potassium permanganate. After this operation, rinse the seeds well with clean water.

  A strong potassium permanganate solution, almost 1%, is required for seed disinfection

• Soaking in fertilizer solutions or growth stimulants. It is not a mandatory procedure, but some lovers use various drugs for this. The most natural - ash infusion or agave juice, diluted 5 times with water.

  Epin and Zircon - one of the most convenient stimulants in use

• Swelling in water. Even those seeds that are not processed in any way, many gardeners try to soak at least until swelling before sowing. The seeds are kept in warm water for a day (from 20 to 30 ° C), after which they are slightly dried so that they are easily poured during sowing. This measure can accelerate the emergence of seedlings except for a day, therefore, it is also very controversial if necessary.
• Hardening. But this is reasonable. Although many scientists are not unanimous in this matter, believing that hardening of seeds to hardening of plants themselves is almost irrelevant. It does not make sense to plant seeds in a greenhouse, but this operation is popular for open ground. Hardening in the case of cucumber seeds is carried out by keeping the soaked seeds in a wet cloth in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
• Germination. This is done most often in wet sawdust until the appearance of the primary root - half the length of the seed. True, germinated seeds are harder to sow, but a couple of days is won.

  Sometimes the matter is even brought to the appearance of leaflets, but it will be very difficult to plant such seeds

Is it possible to not do anything from the above list? You can, the seeds will sprout and dry, only a little later. Therefore, you need to choose only those steps that seem necessary in each specific situation.

Sowing Cucumber Seeds

Sowing seeds of cucumbers in cups with the soil mixture poured into them is not difficult.

1. They put 1-2 seeds on the surface of the soil poured with water (how much it is not a pity: after all, other seeds are now sold even individually!).

   Expensive seeds are sown one at a time: most likely, they have good germination

2. They fall asleep with a layer of soil about 1.5 cm thick.
3. Spray the surface from the spray bottle with water.

   The gardener always needs to have the simplest spray gun on the farm

4. Place the cups in any convenient tray, cover with glass or film and transfer to a warm place (optimally with a temperature of 25–28 ° C).

   Glass will create a greenhouse effect and will not allow the soil to dry out.

The emergence of seedlings of cucumbers can be expected in 4-8 days, depending on the variety and conditions. A few days after this, the worst plants must be carefully removed, and preferably cut with scissors.

Care for seedlings of cucumbers

Before the emergence of seedlings, it is necessary to ensure that the soil does not dry out. Slightly opening the glass, slightly air the crops, and, if necessary, spray from the spray gun. The best place for seedlings of cucumbers is a well-lit warm window sill. As soon as the shoots appear, the glass must be removed, and the temperature managed to be reduced to 18 ° C, at night several degrees lower, and keep it for five days. This is the most difficult: by this time, as a rule, it is already getting warm, but if you do not find such conditions, the seedlings will stretch and will be very weak.

Subsequently, the optimum temperature is about 24 ° C during the day and 18 ° C at night. And - more light. If the sun is not enough, obligatory illumination with fluorescent lamps or diode lamps. Cucumbers on the windowsill need room, the bushes should not touch each other, so the glasses need to be moved apart from time to time. The rest is in the care of seedlings - as for any vegetable plants.

When the windowsills are over, tables are also forced to seedlings, but here you can’t do without lighting

Watering seedlings after emergence

Watering cucumber seedlings only with warm water (about 25 ° C). At the same time, the soil should always be slightly moist: any stagnation of excess water, especially in case of insufficient heat, will necessarily lead to decay of the root system. The frequency of irrigation depends on the nature of the soil and temperature conditions, but this should not be done daily.

After watering, experienced gardeners always pour dry, clean sand closer to the roots. It does not need much, just a millimeter layer: the sand, as it were, performs the function of mulch, and at the same time prevents decay of the lower part of the stem.

Top dressing

Often when growing cucumber seedlings do without feeding. If the soil mixture was made up correctly, cucumbers lack nutrients up to planting in the ground. Top dressing is needed only if the seedlings have stopped growing, the leaves have acquired an unnatural color, etc. Of course, this may be due to diseases (mainly from a violation of water and temperature conditions), but, most likely, food was consumed.

In most cases, it is enough to pour cucumbers with ash infusion. If there is no ash, use any complete mineral fertilizer (preferably with a trace element of boron). It is safer to apply foliar top dressing. To do this, spray the leaves of seedlings with a weak solution of any complex fertilizer (as written on the package). At the same time, the concentration of the solution must be carefully monitored so as not to burn the leaves. After any top dressing, the seedlings are well watered, not forgetting to add a little sand after that.

There is no place to take ash in a city apartment, so it’s worth stocking it up since the next barbecue since autumn

Is it possible to pickle cucumber seedlings

The picking of cucumber seedlings in the classic version (with pinching the central root) is categorically unacceptable. But sometimes you still need to transplant the seedlings into another container. This can be done no earlier than when the first true leaf is cut. Such a need may arise in cases:

• too small containers taken during sowing;
• very elongated seedlings;
• overgrown seedlings due to incorrectly calculated seed sowing time;
• diseases of seedlings.

In the first three cases, the transplant is carried out by the method of transshipment: after a good watering of the seedlings, the ground is allowed to dry somewhat so that the soil lump “seizes” and the entire contents of the cup are transferred into a larger pot, adding ground. Since the root system is almost not affected, the probability of success is high; sometimes cucumbers do not even stop growth. With such a transplant, it is possible to slightly deepen the seedlings (especially if it is extended) by placing it in the ground with almost cotyledon leaves. Of course, after transplanting, it must be well watered and transferred to twilight for a couple of days.

In the case of the disease, the soil is also likely to be infected, so the plants will have to be replanted almost without an earthen coma, and the likelihood that everything will go fine is small. But gardeners often try to save seedlings in this way. After watering, it is carefully removed from the cup with a minimum amount of soil, but trying to keep the roots as much as possible. For such seedlings, care is required more thorough. For the first time, it is placed not only at partial shade, but also slightly increase the temperature. If everything went well, after a week the seedlings return to normal conditions.

Planting cucumber seedlings in open ground

Seedlings of cucumbers at home is not more than a month. From this time, the first few days it is kept at a low temperature, then in comfortable conditions, and in the last week they begin to accustom themselves to living conditions in the open ground. To do this, the seedlings are first taken to the balcony for 15-20 minutes, then the time of walks is gradually increased. But the temperature should not be too low, 10-12 o With a day - this is stress. By the time of planting in the garden, seedlings should be on the balcony for up to half of the daytime.

Good seedlings of cucumbers, ready for planting in the garden, should have at least three large dark green leaves and a powerful, but short stem. It is very good if buds have already been outlined on it (which, of course, does not happen with three leaves), as well as the antennae. But it is undesirable to open flowers at home.

Before transplanting into the soil, seedlings are well watered. Landing patterns are offered different, it depends on the variety, but thicken the landing should not be.  Most often, cucumbers are planted in an ordinary way, leaving 40-50 cm between rows, and 25-30 cm between plants in a row. A denser planting does not always lead to an increase in yield, and vice versa. Naturally, the bed should be ready long before planting: it is well seasoned with fertilizers, primarily organic.

The time for planting cucumber seedlings in open ground is determined not so much by specific dates as by the state of the weather, and seedlings are resettled in the garden without shelter in the middle lane no earlier than the beginning of summer. They try to plan a landing on a cloudy day. The transplant process is simple:

1. Before planting, loosen the bed again and level the soil with a rake.

   Before the last leveling, the bed can be sprinkled with ash again

2. In the places designated according to the chosen scheme, they dig a hole with a scoop a little deeper than the size of the cups with seedlings.
3. As a local fertilizer, half a glass of wood ash and a tablespoon of azofoska are added to each well, mixed well with the soil and 1-2 liters of warm water are poured.

   Often they dig even holes with a shovel to make more local fertilizers

4. Carefully removing the seedlings from the glass, lower it into the hole. Peat pots are buried along with all the contents. Perhaps a small deepening of the seedlings, up to the cotyledonous leaves, but in this case they try to place it obliquely so as not to bury the root system too deep.

   When the seedlings are good, they are almost not buried.

5. Gently water the plantings with warm water, mulch the soil with any loose material, and if the weather is still not quite summer, cover the bed with spanbond or lutrasil for a while.

Planting cucumber seedlings in a greenhouse

Preparing a greenhouse for planting cucumbers is more difficult than preparing beds in open ground, and may include:

1. Disinfection of the greenhouse, carried out in the fall. If there were no diseases, the soil is simply watered with a solution prepared from copper sulfate and malathion (1 tablespoon per bucket of water). If the disease raged, the entire soil is replaced with a new one.
2. Filling the beds with fertilizers (in April). The amount of fertilizer in the greenhouse is even greater than in unprotected soil.
3. Formation of high beds (up to 30 cm high) of convenient width (usually 80 cm).
4. Heated beds a week before transplanting. The bed is watered with hot water with the addition of small amounts of mullein or bird droppings (1-2 handfuls per bucket of water) and covered with a film.
5. Arrangement of trellises: in the greenhouse you need to save space. And if in the open ground not all gardeners grow cucumbers in a vertical culture, in a greenhouse this is a generally accepted approach.

The seedling planting itself is no different from that in the case of unprotected soil and is possible when the daytime temperature in the greenhouse is about 20 ° C.

In greenhouses for cucumbers must provide support

Further care for cucumbers

In cucumbers, the root system is located at a depth of 5 to 25 cm. With increasing air temperature and in the absence of rain, the ridges dry out quickly, so cucumbers require regular watering with water heated in the day in the sun. Cucumbers are watered in the evening hours, usually every other day.  It is best to water with a watering can without a strainer so that the water does not splatter and does not fall on the leaves. After each watering, the soil needs to be slightly loosened, and if necessary, plants should be pulled up. Constantly fighting weeds.

After the appearance of the fifth true leaf, pinch the plant to cause the development of side shoots, on which the bulk of the crop grows. True, for many modern hybrids, pinching is optional, but it will not hurt.

By the time the cucumbers begin to bloom, their first feeding is timed. To do this, take nitrophoska (30–35 g per bucket of water) and pour at least a glass of such a solution under each plant. The second top dressing is carried out when they see that after a friendly growth of the fruit, the lashes noticeably slow down the growth and the fruiting fades.

It is most convenient to grow cucumbers on trellises, but they do not always climb to where the owner would like, so periodically you need to send lashes and sometimes even tie them up. Harvest must be removed systematically, sometimes it has to be done daily.  Otherwise, cucumbers will outgrow, and new ovaries will stop forming.

Do not let the cucumbers overripe, otherwise the yield will drop sharply

Diseases and problems in growing cucumber seedlings

When growing cucumber seedlings at home, it is necessary to comply with all the rules in terms of temperature, light and soil moisture. If something was broken, diseases are possible, sometimes they end with the complete death of seedlings. So, stretching seedlings cannot be considered a disease, but it can be lost even because of this completely harmless option, which is very easy to avoid. Sometimes, so that the plants do not stretch out, it is enough just to wash the windows.

Signs that something is wrong with the seedlings may include:

• yellowing of leaves;
• stem thinning;
• twisting leaflets;
• stunting;
• withering leaves.

In each case, it is difficult to pinpoint a specific disease, since there can be many, and the symptoms often overlap. The entire possible list looks impressive:

• blackleg;
• root rot;
• white rot;
• fusarium
• powdery mildew;
• white mosaic.

These are far from all diseases, and for the diagnosis and treatment of seedlings it is necessary to delve into the literature: in some cases, you can try to save the plants, but often this is impossible. The most common options found at home look like this.

Cucumber seedlings fall and wilt

This is not always a disease. Perhaps the plants simply do not have enough light. It is necessary to put a powerful fluorescent lamp over them, and everything can return to normal. Perhaps the grown bushes are already obscuring each other, then the glasses just need to be arranged more freely.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of reasons for seedling wilting, but in some cases it can still be helped

Of course, withering is possible simply in hot weather and lack of moisture, then seedlings need to be watered well. Sometimes she does not have enough nutrition, which means that it is worth adding a little complex fertilizer to the irrigation water. But even from an excess of nutrients, oddly enough, seedlings can die, therefore, it is also impossible to overdo it in this matter.

In the case of Fusarium wilt, that is, a dangerous disease, unfortunately, help will no longer be possible. But in any case, you can try to transplant the plants that are just starting to fall into fresh soil.

Why do the leaves of seedlings turn yellow

Yellowing leaves can also indicate a whole range of problems: from banal non-compliance with agricultural technology to dangerous diseases. At home, most often the leaves turn yellow due to poor soil, in which there is an elementary lack of nitrogen. If so, simply spraying a weak urea solution over the leaves can save the situation. But yellowing occurs not only due to a lack of nitrogen, but due to an improper balance of all nutrients, and here nothing can be done without analysis.

Yellowing seedlings is not always a disease, sometimes she simply does not have enough nutrition

Yellowing of the leaves is possible due to too low temperature, especially at night, and also due to lack of natural light. This is very easy to fix. Other reasons for the yellowing of seedlings are so diverse that it is impossible to cover them in a short story.

What if pests appeared

The most common pests of cucumbers are:

• melon aphids;
• ants
• gall nematodes;
• whiteflies;
• spider mites.

However, they mainly attack plants in the garden, and they can only get home with soil, which is not possible with proper preparation for sowing. At home, miniature collembola worms that gnaw on small roots of seedlings can also be found. In any case, various insecticides are effective against pests, the most universal of which is Actara.

Video: we plant seedlings of cucumbers in the garden

Growing seedlings of cucumbers is not always an obligatory measure, they resort to it to get earlier crops. Since the bulk of cucumbers can be obtained from direct sowing of seeds in the garden, for an average family it is enough to grow no more than a dozen copies of seedlings. Every summer resident can afford it, and it is not difficult to do this.