Pickling cucumbers in the open field
In order for the plants to grow and develop correctly, it is necessary to carry out pinching of cucumbers in the open field. There are some nuances of its implementation, but if the procedure is carried out correctly, you can significantly increase the amount of the crop.
Pickling cucumbers in the open field
What is pinning
2 seeds are placed in one hole, if both germinate, then one of them is immediately removed. Those that remain are usually simply tied to a wire or guided in the right direction along the garden bed.
We can say that a cucumber is a vine, it itself is fixed to a natural or specially installed support. In order for the plant to develop correctly and well, they carry out the pinching procedure.
Stepsons are extra shoots that take away nutrients and moisture from the plant.
It is believed that a stepson 25-30 cm long can reduce the amount of the crop by 1 kg. Therefore, they resort to the pinching procedure - removing unnecessary ovaries. There are different ways to carry it out, they are used both when growing a vegetable in a greenhouse and when growing in an open field.
When stepchildren cucumbers
For the procedure to have a good effect on plants, you need to know how to pinch cucumbers in the open field. You can start when the plant has already reached 5-6 cm in height. There is no point in doing this earlier. If you are late, you can lose fruits, since the plant will spend resources only on the development of stepsons, and not fruits.
Let's take a cucumber in the open field in the first week of July. But if you carry out the procedure later, you need to leave a couple of shoots that will bear fruit when the main stem dries up and the harvesting period of the vegetable will increase. If the procedure is carried out correctly, the cucumbers will ripen earlier and will bear fruit better.
Single-stem varieties do not need pinching, varieties with many female flowers and species with a large lush bush.
Cucumber pinching rules
If the vegetable is grown in the open field, it must be pinned. For the result to be positive, one of two types of pinching must be observed:
- Remove excess shoots, leaving one main stem that will bear fruit. This method is effective if the cucumbers are planted close together and the branches are upright. This will make harvesting easier and give the garden a more well-groomed look.
- The second way is to remove stepchildren up to 5-6 sheets. The plant will bear fruit better, and the bush will take on a well-groomed lush appearance. But you need to pinch the top in time to form shoots with female flowers.
Method one
Excess processes can simply be broken off
Before you start pinching, you need to know that the main stem forms male flowers, and female flowers grow on the neighboring ones. Therefore, when a bush is planted, you need to take care of the conditions for the development of side branches.
You can start when the length of the plant has reached 6-7 cm. On young shoots, you can remove excess shoots without special tools.
If the plants grow at a short distance and twine around a vertical structure, then it is better to remove all shoots except for one main stem.
Method two
If the vegetable grows horizontally, you need to remove the shoots up to the first 5-6 leaves. When 5-6 leaves grow, the procedure is carried out in a different way. One leaf and one ovary remains on the side of the shoots, the main shoot is pinched.
When 8-10 leaves grow, the shoots that are in their axils are pinched again, but you need to leave two leaves and two ovaries. When the 11th leaf appears, you need to remove all the processes, leaving only three ovaries and three leaves.
As a rule, when the 11th leaf grows, the plant is already quite tall. If it is tied up, you need to let the main stele grow about 50 cm more, when new fruits are tied, cut off the top.
After that, you need to inspect the plant, if new shoots appear, then immediately remove them. You can not feel sorry for them, since these are extra processes that give an additional load on the main stem.
Pinching scheme
One of the most common schemes for pinching cucumbers:
- conditionally divide the main stem into 4 equal parts;
- from the first, you need to remove the shoots that are in the axils of 4 leaves;
- in the next part, you need to leave one ovary and one sheet;
- in the third part, leave two leaves and two ovaries;
- on the fourth part, you need to leave three ovaries and three leaves.
When the first fruits begin to appear on the stem, you need to pinch the main growth point and leave only the shoots on the side. It is advisable to remove unnecessary shoots earlier, so that the plant receives more nutrients, and its growth accelerates.
If the vegetable has already grown, special scissors or a knife are needed. They must be well sharpened, and the procedure is carried out very carefully so as not to damage the main stem.
How to prolong fruiting
In order for the cucumbers to bear fruit longer, remove the leaves, which turned yellow and the stepsons who fruited. But it is also impossible to remove the sheets before the first cucumber. The main stem should be stripped as needed. There should be at least 1-2 leaves under the first cucumber. In order for fruiting to last for a long time, you need to form one strong trunk, remove stepsons and do not pinch the top. As the stem becomes bare, curl it into loops. But you need to remember that with this method, the vegetable will bear fruit longer, but the number of cucumbers will be less than usual.
Conclusion
Pickling cucumbers is an important but painstaking step in growing a vegetable. But its correct implementation contributes to good fruiting. Various methods are used for its implementation, but there are also varieties that do not need it.
If you follow the above tips correctly, remove excess shoots in time, the fruits will ripen earlier, and the harvest will be plentiful.