Rules for growing cucumbers on a trellis in the open field
Growing cucumbers on a trellis in the open field is a fairly practical solution for creating favorable conditions for a cucumber culture in order to fully develop them. Special trellis structures make it possible to maintain the cucumber bushes in an upright position and serve as a guarantee of good yields.
Growing cucumbers on a trellis
Method description
Many summer residents know firsthand that when growing a cucumber crop in a spread, vegetable bushes come into contact with the surface of the soil. Cucumber tops are located directly on the ground, as a result of which the causative agents of multiple diseases, among which the main enemy of the cucumber crop is powdery mildew, quickly fall from the soil onto foliage and vegetables. High humidity, which is created inside the cucumber thickets, is a contributing factor for the rapid development of diseases.
The risk of disease from simple spreading of cucumber crops increases significantly in the rainy summer season.
Benefits
Growing cucumber on trellises allows:
- to provide airing of the plantings and their uniform warming up by the sun's rays during further care, which acts as the prevention of fungal infections and putrefactive damage to plants without the use of special chemicals,
- rationally use the sown area, which will certainly affect the amount of the harvest received in the fall,
- create optimal lighting for the entire cucumber planting as a whole,
- establish the necessary microclimate, which will not be affected by daily temperature drops,
- accelerate the ripening time of vegetables by actively using the process of photosynthesis,
- reduce the loss of the cucumber crop by reducing the amount of spoilage of vegetables,
- prolong the stage of fruiting of vegetable crops,
- create comfortable conditions for caring for the bushes.
As summer residents note that cucumbers are grown on trellises, the yield through this method can be at least doubled.
Installation of the structure
The trellis structure for growing cucumbers involves the use of support posts and a metal wire (wire) attached to them, a wooden lattice or a trellis net. For the construction of a trellis structure, a place on a personal plot is chosen so that the surface of the soil layer is even, preferably from the south side, where wind and drafts are rarely observed.
Column structure
Most often, to create a trellis support for cucumbers, summer residents take metal or wooden poles and reinforced concrete racks as a basis. The height of the pillars is calculated so that the selected variety of cucumbers has enough growth in height. Typically, the length is at least 2m with a depth of 0.5m in the ground.The pillars are buried at a distance of 3 to 4 meters from each other, pulling the wire horizontally in the gaps between the pillars, to which a plastic mesh is attached.
Instead of wire, you can use a wooden bar. Its expediency is explained by the fact that, unlike a wire thread, it will not bend under the weight of cucumber vines.
Rack construction
A frame made of wooden slats is also often used as a basis for trellis growing of cucumbers in the open field. To make such a trellis, you will need slats with cells of 15-20 cm. The rack-and-pinion method of growing cucumbers is the least laborious, since you can make the main garter of cucumber shoots once, the branches subsequently independently stretch upward along the wooden slats, clinging to the support with the antennae.
For a wooden rack structure, the slats of 2.5-3 centimeters are hammered together in the form of a lattice square.
Landing on trellises
When planting, keep the distance between the bushes
It is recommended to plant cucumbers when grown on a trellis in the open field with seeds or seedlings in one row (row), placing them in the center with a distance between rows no more than 1.5 m and a gap between cucumber seedlings no more than 15-20 cm. when planting highly branching cucumber varieties, the intermediate distance between the bushes is increased to 0.5-0.7 m.
Sowing
Open field sowing begins when the soil warms up to 12-15 ° C. The planting depth of seeds should not exceed 5cm. The planted seeds and young shoots are initially sheltered to provide the necessary warmth. The covering material is not removed until 5-6 leaves grow on the seedlings.
You can accelerate the ripening process of cucumbers on trellises in the open field by planting a seedling culture. Cucumber seedlings are planted in the ground with 2-3 developed leaves on the seedling.
Watering
Cucumbers are watered when grown on a trellis in the open field by irrigation. The vertically placed cucumber bushes are irrigated in the evening, unlike those grown in the greenhouse, which should be watered in the morning. During irrigation procedures, watering cans with sprayers are used, trying to water at the root, without falling on the foliage. Water for watering cucumbers on trellises is heated to 25 ° C, and the frequency and volumes depend on the stage of the growing season and adheres to a certain scheme:
- until the first inflorescences appear, watering should be moderate, 3-6 liters per square meter of sown area, with a frequency after 5-7 days,
- at the stage of flowering, formation of ovaries and when vegetables appear, watering becomes abundant, 6-12 liters per 1 square meter of sown area, with a frequency of every 2-3 days,
- in cold weather and with the onset of autumn, the frequency of watering procedures is reduced so as not to provoke the appearance of rot on the root system.
Top dressing
When growing cucumbers on a trellis in the open field, fertilizer is applied at the same frequency as in the usual cultivation of a vegetable crop:
- initially, the cucumbers are fed when the flowering process begins,
- secondary and subsequent feeding is carried out with an interval of 2 weeks.
The total number of dressings for cucumbers is 5-6 for the entire gardening season.
Garter and shrub formation
When growing cucumbers with trellis, the technology of garter and the formation of bushes on a support is of no small importance.
Garter
Correctly tie the cucumber lashes to the trellis support - do this using long bundles or cords to the upper bar. Synthetic twine is often used as a suitable material. To do this, every 3-4 days, the regrown branches are twisted around the garter in due accuracy.
The generally accepted fastening methods are a slip knot or a bow, which can be easily untied as the plants grow and at the end of the season.
Formation of bushes
It depends on the process of the correct formation of the bushes how much by the stage of fruiting the cucumbers on the trellis in the open field will fold into a single leaf mass and grow to the desired size. The pinching process involves the removal of stepsons, flowers and ovaries on the lower part of the stem. With the further growth of the cucumber bush, only lateral processes remain, pinched when they reach a certain length.
Pinching rules imply following the scheme in several stages:
- if there are at least 5 leaves, excluding cotyledons, remove all stepchildren, inflorescences and ovaries without exception,
- 6-9 leaves that have grown on time, the stepsons are removed, and 1 ovary remains,
- at the growth stage of 10-15 leaves, only the first stepson with two leaves and all the ovaries are left, all other shoots are removed,
- on 16 or more leaves, 1 stepson with three leaves and ovaries remain, the rest of the shoots are removed.
While the main cucumber lash reaches the top of the trellis support, it is tied around the trellis and lowered down for further growth towards the surface of the earth. For 0.8-0.9 m before the soil ground, the top of the cucumber whip is truncated.