How to feed cucumbers in a greenhouse
Content:
The question of how to feed cucumbers in a greenhouse is asked by many gardeners. Moreover, the question is for both experienced summer residents and those who are just starting their long journey in gardening. This article contains the most complete and relevant information that concerns the most important aspects of feeding cucumbers at various stages of their development.
How to feed cucumbers in a greenhouse
In order for the cucumbers to bear fruit abundantly, the aboveground part must develop correctly, be healthy and complete. To form it, the soil needs additional inputs of minerals and components. Therefore, in the summer, summer residents are very actively involved in fertilizing the soil, introducing nutrients that are so necessary for the plant. But feeding must be done on time and correctly, otherwise you can only harm the cucumbers, their external characteristics and properties (taste).
Firstly, it should be carefully attributed to the feeding of cucumber seedlings. The first feeding is recommended before the cucumbers have been planted in the greenhouse. It is at this stage that you can form a correct, branched and strong root system, as well as a leafy part that will meet all the requirements. At the same time, it is recommended to introduce mineral complexes with a high content of nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus. Before planting in the spring - about 5-7 days before the seedlings are planted in the greenhouse, it is best to dig up the soil on the site and add a certain amount of ammonium nitrate, potassium sulfate and superphosphate to it. These components regulate acidity and increase soil fertility and air permeability.
In order to disinfect the beds, they should be treated with the simplest warm water diluted with potassium permanganate. After that, the soil is covered with a film and is not removed exactly until the moment when the cucumber seedlings are planted in the ground.
Top dressing after planting in the greenhouse
After planting cucumbers in the greenhouse, they need a new wave of fertilization. About 2 weeks after the seedlings have been planted, they can be fed with diluted superphosphate, potassium sulfate or potassium chloride. It is also recommended to use small amounts of ammonium nitrate. This solution should be watered evenly over the plants.
Top dressing of cucumbers during the flowering period is carried out approximately three weeks after the first top dressing. Around the same time, plantings begin to bloom en masse, ovaries can already be seen on them. In addition to the fact that the plant always needs to provide nitrogen and potassium, it also becomes necessary for them to introduce magnesium and boron so that the ovaries are strengthened and filled with vitality. Also, at the same time, it will not be superfluous to introduce mullein or bird droppings, that is, organic matter. Poultry droppings are proposed to be diluted in a ratio of 1:15, and also to add a glass of ash to the resulting solution. Half a liter of liquid mullein and a glass of nitrophoska are diluted in ten liters of ox. It is also recommended to add ash or potassium sulfate here - the components are very useful for cucumbers.
Fruiting is a special period in the life of a plant, the most important one. How to feed cucumbers in a greenhouse: with the same composition, it was used during the flowering period, but only by adjusting the dose in accordance with the fact that fruiting is still largely different from flowering as a process.You can also try some other formulations and preparations that will also be useful in the fruiting process of the plant. For example, potassium nitrate, urea, ash and mullein, which are separately diluted in water and applied in accordance with the required proportions. Since ash and mullein are organic fertilizers, the gardener may not be particularly worried about exceeding their dose, although, of course, he still needs to focus on the fact that the measure must be followed in the introduction of any drugs.
In the next part of the article, we will also tell you some of the intricacies of feeding cucumber crops if they are faced with some negative phenomena - yellow foliage, and we will also mention some other methods that are recognized by experienced, professional gardeners as methods that are really effective in processing cucumbers.
How to feed cucumbers for growth in a greenhouse
Even if the gardener regularly applies all the fertilizing and fertilizers, creates all the most necessary conditions for the further growth and development for the cucumbers, organizes a favorable microclimate, they can still turn yellow quite suddenly, signaling any not very positive processes. In order to prevent this phenomenon, you can use several methods, and one of them is foliar feeding.
A loaf of bread must be placed in a ten-liter bucket, leave to infuse overnight. Then the composition is filtered, a liter of the composition is also diluted with 10 liters of water and the plants are treated, tracing their condition and dynamics. It is also recommended to prepare a tincture based on nettle, because it can have a beneficial effect on the plant, removes the yellowness of the leaves, giving them a fresher and more attractive, lively and healthy look.
In greenhouses, the color of the leaves can also change from green to pale. This is due to the fact that cucumbers lack such components as nitrogen and iron, as well as the fact that the plant develops any diseases that can lead to the death of cucumbers or to a decrease in the level of their fruiting. In order to correct this situation, to prevent other negative consequences, it is important to use one of the following recipes:
- mullein (about one liter) can be diluted with water and pour this mixture over each bush of cucumbers;
- chop the weeds, make a tincture on them. Usually, the solution settles for about 12 hours, after which it can be used to fertilize cucumbers;
- urea - a couple of tablespoons, not less, - should be diluted in ten liters of water, and also treat plants with this solution;
- to make ammonium water - ammonium nitrate is diluted in water in proportions depending on which part of the site is occupied by the cucumber planting.
Often, gardeners give preference to fertilizing based on folk recipes. These funds are used in order to return the plants to a healthy look, as well as allow them to bear fruit abundantly. For example, feeding with ash diluted with water is very useful. it is used to prevent disease. Also, ash can not be diluted - it will be enough to powder some parts of the shoots with it, the lowest ones and those that are preparing for fruiting.
Onion peels are another nutrient that can be used to feed cucumbers. To do this, add a little onion peel to a bucket of water, bring this whole mixture to a boil. After that. As the broth has cooled down, you can water cucumbers with it. Yeast is a component that contains very useful micronutrients and macronutrients, which also play an important role in the growth and development of cucumbers. For example, these are nitrogen and potassium, phosphorus and iron, manganese and many other substances. You can also use chicken manure, and both fresh and rotted will work equally well. It is diluted with water and the beds are thoroughly watered.At the same time, it is very important not to burn the root system with this infusion, so you should be extremely careful and careful.
Thus, having considered how to feed the cucumbers in the greenhouse, we came to the conclusion that the cucumbers should be fertilized at least four, or even five times. All these stages should be performed one after another, because careful and attentive care of the plant will definitely pay off in the form of a rich harvest, in the form of fresh and very tasty fruits. Top dressing is also determined in accordance with which variety the cucumber belongs to, what are the features of its flowering and fruiting, in what conditions it grows best and gives a crop. Many subtleties must be taken into account by the gardener when carefully studying the instructions. If you give the cucumbers the wrong care, then they simply will not enter the stage of their fruiting, which will negatively affect the impression of the gardener himself. Due to the fact that today there is a huge amount of funds, fertilizers, complexes, dressings, the gardener can independently decide for himself what he wants to use, choose an individual complex for fertilizing plants. Also, he, in general, can build on price preferences, because everyone wants to get a good result at minimal cost.