How to grow cucumber seedlings

Cucumber seeds take root well in the open field, so gardeners prefer to plant this crop directly on the garden bed. Garden owners or greenhouses who want to get a harvest in May, and not wait until summer, are engaged in growing seedlings. The plant can not be called too whimsical or whimsical, but it requires proper care.

Homemade preparations

Seed material is better to buy in stores, and give preference to well-known manufacturers. Seeds from the package are treated with disinfectant solutions, and some are fed with growth-enhancing substances. Such blanks enough to germinate in warm water, and landed in pots.

But with the purchase of cucumbers you need to consider a few nuances:

1. Select zoned varieties that are more resistant than exotic varieties.The latter can be grown in greenhouse conditions, but if they are planted in open ground, they will wither and die, or give a poor harvest.
2. You can buy varieties for salting: the fruits of these varieties are small and crispy. There are options for salads, when two cucumbers are enough for the whole family, but they are unlikely to fit in a jar.
3. If you have to grow a culture in greenhouse conditions, it is advised to give preference to self-pollinating specimens.
4. For beginners who have minimal experience in garden affairs, it is better to focus on hybrids that do not need pruning and bush formation. Such varieties do not need to stick, or pollinate.

Classical methods
Often, cucumber seeds are obtained from a grandmother or a good neighbor, some have been harvesting them themselves since summer. If the plant seed is carefully checked and processed before bagging, then you will have to tinker with your home:

1. Be sure to sort out and throw out small and deformed copies. You should not expect that they will sprout in a miraculous way, and will turn into a healthy plant. Such seeds there is only one use - to lie peacefully in the trash.
2. Pour the remaining seed with brine, vigorously beat for a few seconds, and then let it brew for 5–10 minutes. Remove pop up sunflower seeds. There is no “living” middle in them, such seeds are pacifiers.
3. Rinse the remaining seed in distilled water, wrap in a damp cloth, and dip in a concentrated solution of potassium permanganate to protect future seedlings from fungus.
4. Enough for half an hour, after remove, rinse with clean water, and put in a refrigerator for a day, wrapped in a damp cloth. In this way, cucumbers are hardened so that they can better withstand temperature changes.

How to prepare cucumber seeds for planting

Both store and home varieties need to be germinated.

1. Wrap in a wet cloth, gauze is desirable not to use, because it stuck young shoots.
2. Put in a stainless container, and put next to the battery or other heating device. Seeds should germinate at a temperature not lower than +25 degrees, and better at +30.
3. Regularly moisten a rag, but it is impossible for cucumbers to float in water.They begin to rot from excess moisture, and the risk that the seedlings will become ill with a fungus, such as a “black leg,” increases.
4. After 2–3 days, when the seeds hatch, and thin white threads appear from them, the billet should be immersed for 3-4 hours in a solution of wood ash. Such fertilizer feeds them with useful substances, and will accelerate growth.

Recipe: To prepare the solution, you need to mix a teaspoon of dry matter and a liter of liquid.

Soil features

Cucumber seedlings are advised to grow in separate pots; plastic or cropped milk or cream bags can be used. The shops sell peat tablets and glasses. If you put the seeds in a box, during a picking, there is a high probability of damaging the root system, which will cause a poor harvest. In addition, cucumbers, growing in a handful, take away from each other nutrients, and shield the neighbor from the light.

There are several soil recipes that are ideal for cucumbers:

1. Combine the usual 10–12 liter ground from the garden with ash (one faceted glass), add 15–20 g of superphosphate, and mix everything thoroughly.If the soil is clay, it is recommended to pour into the workpiece 2 liters of river sand.
2. To grow cucumbers without using chemicals, you can try a combination of black soil (30 l) with fine sawdust and manure compost (10 l each).
3. Some prepare the basis for seedlings from peat, which must be neutralized with ash: 50 g of the second is enough for a bucket of the first component. Add nutrients: urea (matchbox) with superphosphate (2 box) and potassium sulfate (1.5).

The structure of the mixture, which is filled with cups, must be dense. Otherwise, during the transplantation, the roots can be injured due to the fact that the ground will crumble in your hands.

Tip: Experienced gardeners are advised to try the option of black soil, humus and old alder sawdust to get a strong and healthy seedlings.

Capacities for cucumbers

In the cups bought in the store, there must be holes for oxygen to flow into the soil. Self-made options from milk bags or plastic bottles should be pierced with a thick needle at the bottom. There are enough 5–6 small holes to make the roots “breathe”.

Place the dishes on a tray and fill them with a 1–2 cm drainage layer. Above - the ground, which is tightly tamped. In the ground, make a recess of 1.5–2 cm, and pour in some water to moisten the chernozem before planting cucumbers.

Tip: As a drainage, you can use coarse sand, expanded clay or vermiculite, and sunflower husk, which is endowed with absorbing properties, is also suitable.

Phased cucumber care

In a pot to plant 2 seeds. Cover with glass or plastic bag, clean in a warm place. In the first 5–7 days, until shoots appear, indoors, you must maintain a positive temperature within 23–26 degrees.

Pickled cucumbers? Time to remove the package, or glass, and put the pots on the windows. Plants love sunlight, so when there is not enough ultraviolet light, they stretch out and become thin and fragile. If it is overcast in the street, you can warm up the seedlings with a table lamp. Place the device at a distance of about 50 cm from the pots, so that artificial light does not overdry the ground.

The optimum temperature for seedlings is + 20–22 in the daytime, and from + 19–18 degrees at night, but you should not lower it below +16, otherwise the development of the root system slows down.

Tip: A week before planting it is useful to take out cucumbers on the balcony or in the yard, but place them in places protected from wind and drafts. Thanks to the "walking" plants are better adapted to natural conditions after planting in open ground.

If cucumbers look weak, it is advised to install mirrors on the window, which will reflect the sunlight on the seedlings. The pots must be spaced apart. Heaped plants close their neighbors with wide leaves and select ultraviolet light.

Correct watering
Seedlings need to be watered, but in moderation. Water should not stagnate in pots. It’s bad if the earth looks too wet and it crumbles. So, you need to limit the number of waterings, and it is better to spray the seedlings at the roots of the spray.

In the mixtures prepared with the addition of urea or superphosphate, enough nutrients. Fertilizer can be made after the appearance of the first sheet. Usually use nitrogen solutions, which are poured on the roots, trying to prevent moisture from falling on the leaves.

After 2 weeks after the first feeding, you can apply another nutrient fluid, consisting of a part of nitrogen, and two parts of phosphorus and potassium.

You can not water the seedlings too often, because a large amount of liquid and high temperatures are ideal conditions for the reproduction of the fungus. It attacks the root system, and quickly spreads to adjacent pots.

You can not feel sorry for the germ, which appeared black raid. The problem cannot be solved by traditional methods or with the help of special preparations. You need to throw out the plant to save the others. It is advisable to treat healthy seedlings with fungicides that will not allow the fungus to multiply.

Tip: Water cucumbers better in the morning, protecting the earth from direct sunlight. Cucumbers should not “sleep” with wet leaves.

The main thing is to choose the time
Usually, the seedlings are planted on the beds in the middle or near the end of May; therefore, it is recommended to start growing them in early April. To form healthy and strong shoots, it will take 25-30 days.

Victimless
Plants ready for planting have two broad leaves with a rich green tint, a thick stem, and a developed root system. But even healthy and strong cucumbers can not get acclimatized in the garden, if they are not properly removed from the pot.

In order not to damage the roots, they are taken along with the ground. Seedlings are no longer watered 3-4 days before transplantation into open ground, so that the soil in the pots has dried and firmly adhered to the plants. Take out carefully, without sudden movements. If disposable cups were used, you can remove the bottom from them, or cut them in half to facilitate retrieval of the seedlings.

Recommendations

1. Seeds obtained from F1 hybrids cannot be used for growing seedlings. Such plants do not yield.
2. Planting material should rest for at least 2 years. The best option is considered cucumber blanks under the age of 4 years.
3. Owners of aquariums can carry out an additional procedure of seed bubbling. Place the bag with planting material in a deep container filled with water. Immerse the aquarium processor in the liquid, and turn on the air bubbles to pass through the fabric. 15 hours is enough to saturate the planting material with oxygen.
4. If both seeds, placed in one pot, germinated, you need to leave stronger seedlings. Not to pull out the second sprout, but to cut off or break off the top, leaving the root in the ground. Over time, it will decompose and turn into an additional fertilizer for growing cucumber.
5. In the shops you can find special lamps called "Flora", which are used to illuminate the seedlings.
6. Sometimes at low temperatures, male flowers appear on cucumbers, which need to be carefully picked.
7. Weak plants, which due to lack of light stretched upwards, should not be thrown away. They are planted in warm soil, sprinkling with earth to the leaves, and the first flowers are removed to make the cucumbers stronger, and only then they begin to bear fruit.

Caring for this culture is not as difficult as it may seem at first glance. Cucumbers are an excellent option for beginners who want to master the subtleties of growing seedlings, and get rewarded for their work in the form of an early harvest.

Video: growing cucumber seedlings