Growing Chinese Cucumbers for the Greenhouse
Alligator, Emerald Stream, White Delicacy are the best parthenocarpic (self-pollinated) Chinese cucumbers for the greenhouse. These vegetables, with a thin skin, small seeds and a sweet flavor, have a short ripening time. Fruits reach 80 cm. The cultivation of foreign species is not much different from the cultivation of ordinary pumpkin relatives, but it has some peculiarities.
Growing Chinese Cucumbers for the Greenhouse
Growing
Chinese cucumbers are grown in a greenhouse using seedlings.
The timing of sowing seeds depends on the type of cultivation room. For example, in heated greenhouses, sowing is possible all year round, and in ordinary greenhouses - with the arrival of the spring-summer period.
The soil
In cultivation, the soil is of great importance, which should be harvested in the fall.
If you compose a nutrient mixture for cucumbers, then during the entire growing season, they will not need additional feeding.
Soil mix (10 kg):
- sod land - 3 kg;
- sawdust - 3 kg;
- humus - 5 kg;
- wood ash - 250 g;
- superphosphate - 40 g;
- potassium magnesium - 15 g;
- urea - 10 g.
For this soil composition, it is advised to soak sawdust, for 2 weeks, with a solution of water (10 l) and ammonium nitrate (20 g).
Seedling
Sowing begins in early spring. Separate containers for seedlings are used, with a diameter of 10 cm, which are filled with prepared soil. Before planting, the seeds are treated: they are soaked in a solution of potassium permanganate, sprayed with growth stimulants. After, planted in 2 pieces. into moistened soil to a depth of about 1 - 1.5 cm, cover with foil. The temperature for quick emergence should be between 25 - 30 ° C.
After the first shoots appear, the film is removed. The optimum temperature for seedling formation is 22 - 25 ° C. Watering is carried out as the soil dries up, often sprayed. After the appearance of the third leaf, the plants are thinned out: one seedling is left, small and weak ones are removed.
Transplanting
Seedlings are planted in the greenhouse soil after 15 - 30 days, after the appearance of the 9th leaf. The distance between seedlings during transplantation is 20 cm.
Instructions for planting seedlings:
- The day before planting, containers with cucumbers are watered abundantly;
- Prepared holes are poured with a warm solution of potassium permanganate;
- As soon as the potassium permanganate is absorbed into the ground, it should be watered with plain water;
- Seedlings with an earthen clod are carefully moved into the holes;
- The root collar of the plant should be 1.5 - 2 cm above the soil level.
During transplantation, strong, durable supports for the shoots are installed. Such cucumbers have a stem length of up to 3 - 3.5 m. In order for the fruits to grow beautiful and even, they must hang down. As the stems grow, they are systematically tied up with reliable material. The first five lateral processes extending from the root should be removed.
Watering
Leaves must be sprayed daily
Irrigation of cucumbers is carried out twice a week with warm and settled water. Leaves need daily spraying (warm water). During the fruiting period, the amount of watering is increased: the soil should always be moist.Water consumption for 1 young plant is 0.5 l, for a mature plant - 1 - 1.5 l.
Regular loosening of the soil and removal of weeds is recommended. For a longer preservation of moisture, the soil is mulched with sawdust, straw or nettles. Nettle in this case will also serve as a fertilizer, it has a high nitrogen content.
Harvesting
The first crop ripens 15 to 25 days after planting. The picking of cucumbers is carried out 1 time in 3 days. Regular harvesting of fruits stimulates the formation of new ovaries.
There is an opinion that if you cut off half of a Chinese cucumber, then this part will grow back. This judgment is only 50% true, since the plant continues to grow slowly, and the cut site dries up, shrinks a little.
Chinese cucumbers are capable of being on the stem for a long time, after full ripening. They will not overripe: they will not turn yellow, they will not become bitter. But only after harvesting, vegetables are not stored for a long time, after a day, they become soft and wrinkled. Recommended fresh consumption, use for salting, canning (for this they will have to be cut into smaller parts).
Top dressing
Based on the external condition of Chinese cucumbers, you can determine what fertilizing vegetables are required and when they need to be carried out:
- fruits become small - potassium deficiency;
- long and thin - lack of boron;
- twisted - lack of nitrogen;
- pear-shaped - little potassium.
With a noticeable lack of potassium, cucumbers must be watered with a solution of water (10 l) and wood ash (1 tbsp.). Long and thin plants are sprayed with diluted boron (5 g) with water (10 l). For saturation with nitrogen: dilute calcium nitrate (20 g) with water (1 l), apply to the leaves. You need to carefully feed vegetables with nitrogen, an overdose can ruin them. All treatments are carried out in the evening to avoid chemical burns of vegetable crops.
As an additional fertilizer, use mullein solution or horse manure. The use of fresh chicken manure is not recommended, it burns the root system of plants. After root dressing, the vegetables are watered abundantly.
Diseases and pests
When grown in a greenhouse, Chinese cucumbers are very rarely affected by any diseases or insects. Under unfavorable cultivation conditions, they can suffer from downy and powdery mildew, anthracnose, alternaria, aphids.
When powdery mildew appears on the inside of the leaves, a white bloom forms. The fruits are bent, the taste deteriorates. For treatment, the drug Topaz is used: 1 ampoule of the fungicide is diluted in 10 liters of water, the plants are sprayed 3 times, every 14 days.
Alternaria - small, convex brown dots that quickly spread throughout the leaves. Cucumbers are sprayed 2 - 3 times, every 2 weeks, with a solution: Ridomil gold (50 g) and water (10 l).
Anthracnose - depressed areas of a dark color appear on the stems, brown spots on the leaves. The fruits are rotting. Treat with the fungicide Oxyhom: 20 g of the drug and 10 liters of water, repeat as needed.
Aphids are small black or light green insects that drain the plant. No fruits are formed. When fighting insects, Fitoverm is used: 5 ml of insecticide per 1 liter of water.
Conclusion
Chinese cucumbers love favorable climatic conditions, systematic spraying and nutritious soil. Growing in greenhouses has many advantages: a high yield rate, early maturity, the possibility of cultivation at any time of the year. The fertility of one bush reaches 40 kg, so 3-4 plants will be enough for home consumption. Almost all varieties of cucumbers are self-pollinated.