Treatment of cucumber seeds before planting
To promote germination and develop immunity against fungal diseases and insect pests, cucumber seeds are treated before planting.
Treatment of cucumber seeds before planting
Seed storage
Often, novice farmers do not attach due importance to this important aspect. In the meantime, germination and how healthy the cucumbers will grow depends on the storage conditions. In addition, observing the norms, the gardener is able to keep the seeds in good condition for about 6-7 years. A dry, dark place with an air temperature of about 10-12 ° C and an air humidity of no more than 60% is suitable for storage.
Cucumbers do not tolerate prolonged exposure to a cold room (less than 0 ° C) and rot. You should not keep seeds in too hot conditions: near the battery and under a roof. At 25 ° C and above, the germination of cucumbers will not last longer than a year.
Selection of the best specimens
Those who grow seeds with their own hands or purchase planting material from other farmers have a calibration process ahead of them. Store products are usually processed prior to sale.
Seeds of irregular shape and color are sifted out: dark and spotted. For planting, the farmer chooses large, straight white specimens. In order to optimize the process, salt calibration is recommended:
- 3 g of salt is mixed in 100 ml of water (30 g per 1 l);
- the seeds are dipped in a solution and mixed until the bubbles disappear from their surface (usually no more than 10 minutes is required);
- the floating seeds are thrown away, the remaining ones are rinsed and dried.
This test is only suitable for young seeds (no older than 2 years). The old ones are likely to pop up.
Disinfection
Dried cucumber seeds must be processed before planting.
In manganese solution
The seeds are immersed in manganese tincture for 25-30 minutes, after which they are thoroughly washed. To prepare the mixture, you will need 1 tsp. 2.5 cups of liquid. The color of the finished mixture ideally turns out to be bright purple. If the liquid is translucent, the solution is not suitable for disinfection.
The method is suitable for removing bacteria from the surface layer of seeds. If you process them beforehand, the effect obtained with is reduced.
Drugs
Fighting diseases that form in the embryo of the seed is much more difficult. Modern gardeners use bacterial preparations for baiting. Such means are a double-edged sword. In addition to destroying bacteria, they also tend to suppress beneficial microflora.
Tracheomycosis and other infections are eradicated with Baxis and Fitosporin. Cucumber seeds are soaked in a solution of a bacterial preparation for 1.5 hours, then dried.
Preheating
Warming up disinfects the seeds
This method of treating cucumber seeds before sowing is widely used in industrial plants for the purpose of disinfection. They are heated for 70 hours at a 40-degree mode.If the process needs to be accelerated, the 80-degree mode turns on, then you can handle it in a day.
At home, the procedure is not recommended, since it is difficult to maintain the desired mode in the oven (and sometimes farmers use both batteries and ordinary lamps), and heating negatively affects the embryo and future cucumbers.
Soaking seedlings
This is one of the most popular procedures used by gardeners before planting. The main purpose of soaking is to accelerate seed germination. There is one "but": in this case, the protective layer of the bactericide is washed off, if it was previously applied. As a result, the seedlings become defenseless against various kinds of infections. Cold snap or drought can destroy the soaked seeds, so the method makes sense only in good weather or indoors.
For soaking, a plastic container is used, a cloth wrapped several times is laid on its bottom. Seeds are poured over it, then water is poured so that it does not cover them. The seed is processed for two days until the shell cracks.
Pre-germination
This method is used to check the germination of seedlings. The temperature regime during germination should be kept around 26-27 ° C.
The seeds are laid out on a plate, placing a folded paper sheet under them, wrapped in a tight bag and hidden in a dry dark room for 2 days.
Soaking in nutrients
Activating substances have a good effect on the growth of seedlings. Processing is carried out according to the familiar principle:
- the seedlings are laid out on paper / cloth;
- fill with solution;
- cover with a lid on top.
It should be kept for about 17-18 hours at a temperature of 25-28 ° C. The swollen seed is spread on cheesecloth and germinated until it is covered with a crust. Each preparation, be it Epin or Zircon, has its own holding time required for germination.
Oxygen treatment
For those who deal with seeds over 6 years old, it is really possible to accelerate their germination by means of bubbling - oxygen enrichment. Plant seedlings are placed in rolled gauze on the bottom of a jar of warm water.
You will need an aquarium compressor to supply air, the tube of which is placed under the seeds and kept in this position for 24 hours. If necessary, the water can be changed once. The sparged seed is immediately planted in the soil; it does not need additional processing.
Hardening method
In order to develop immunity in seeds to environmental conditions, they must be properly prepared before sowing. How to process seedlings for hardening?
- The seedlings wrapped in a damp cloth are placed in a container and refrigerated for 48 hours. The fabric should remain slightly damp all this time.
- After two days, the already processed cucumber seeds are smeared with a nutrient and planted in the ground. Drying is not required.
Hardening allows you to accelerate the growth rate of seeds and increase their yield.
Summarizing
The treatment of cucumber seeds before sowing must be safe for the future harvest, therefore, preparations containing chemicals should be used with caution. Correctly carried out measures will contribute to the timely receipt of a high-quality harvest of vegetables.