Technologies of year-round cultivation of cucumbers in the home have long been tested, are not particularly difficult and are successfully used by thousands of fans.
Cucumbers are grown on the windowsill, on the balcony, loggia and even in the basement.
Growing cucumbers in the apartment: seeds, varieties, place, capacity
We describe in detail all the stages how to grow cucumbers at home in the winter?
Correct seeds
For growing cucumbers in the winter at home, the seeds must meet stringent requirements. Home cucumber should be:
- Short-fruited, with a length of green leaves from 6 cm to 25 cm.
- Shade-tolerantnot afraid of changes in temperature.
- Early or mid-season, with a fruiting period of 4 to 6 months.
- Productive.
Preference is given to parthenocarpic F1 hybrids. These self-pollinating plants have only female flowers. For the cultivation of cucumbers at home the most popular early and ultra early:
- April;
- Benefit;
- Zozulya;
- Carmen;
- Goosebump;
- Sail;
- Regina;
- Schedryk;
- Crunch.
From the mid-early varieties of cucumbers for growing houses are preferable:
- Athlete;
- Full house;
- Balagan;
- Bianca;
- Berendey;
- Urban;
- Far Eastern;
- Claudia;
- Courage;
- Marinade;
- Masha;
- Manul;
- Romance;
- Solar.
IMPORTANT! Hybrids of late-ripening cucumbers are not suitable for home cultivation.
Bee pollinated cucumber hybrids, for indoor and greenhouse cultivation, require manual pollination.
The process requires certain skills and additional time.
But despite this, growers are grown at home bee pollinated cucumber hybrids:
- Gribovsky 2;
- Dawn;
- Manul;
- Surprise;
- Little farm;
- Relay race.
Grow and bee pollinated cucumber varieties:
- Rytov's Room;
- Marfinsky.
Female single flowers grow separately. Male form groups in the axils of the leaves.
Pollinating cucumbers continue the entire period of flowering, until the first ovaries appear. To increase the yield of cucumbers experienced amateurs advise pollinating female flowers with different types of pollen.
Choosing a place
Growing cucumbers in the apartment is better on warm light balconies, loggias, verandas, windows oriented to the south, east, west.
The north side is not suitable for growing. Indoors should not be drafts.
What to grow?
There are many options: hanging baskets, buckets, containers, boxes, flower pots, tubs. The main thing is that the volume of the tank was not less than 5 liters.. Drainage is laid out on the bottom - small pebbles, pieces of expanded clay, large sawdust. Make holes to remove excess water.
How to grow cucumbers in the apartment: step by step instructions
Landing dates
Timing depend on the selected cucumber varietygrowing conditions. Take into account the area of the room, the ability to provide the optimum temperature and light, air humidity, climate zone.
To the New Year's table ripen cucumbers planted in late October. From January plantings begin to harvest in March. The average time of onset of fruiting from the appearance of the first shoots is 40-50 days. The February saplings are ripening for the May holidays.
Soil preparation
In the store buy universal soil or mixture for growing pumpkin crops.
Independently prepared according to proven recipes:
- Equal shares of peat, humus. A glass of wood ash on the bucket mix.
- 1/3 part of turf, garden land, compost with the addition of a small amount of river calcined sand, ash, rotten sawdust.
Earth is disinfected in one of the ways:
- Steamed.
- Spill hot (+ 90 ° C) solution of dark pink manganic acid potassium.
- Warm up in the oven.
- Process special industrial preparations.
- Nitrofosku or bring a full complex fertilizer. They are poured in containers, they are plentifully spilled, they are left for a day for compaction.
Sowing
- Cucumber Seeds pickle 20-30 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate. Washed. Dried. Leave for 2-3 days for swelling in a saucer with warm water, wrapped in a damp gauze, spread on cotton pads. Read more about seed preparation before planting.
- Crouched Cucumber Seeds sown to a depth of about a centimeter. Plant 1-2 seeds in a volume of one liter at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other. Watered.
- Expose to a bright place. Maintain a temperature of + 22-25 ° C during the day, + 16-18 ° C at night.
- To maintain the necessary moisture covered with foil, glass.
- At emergence of shoots of cucumbers shelter is removed. Remove the weak sprout. Begin to light the lights.
Lighting
It is impossible to grow cucumbers in winter at home without lighting. Light day should last 12-14 hours. In the central zone of Russia, in the Urals, in Siberia, from December to February, luminescence is carried out from 16 to 20 hours.
Lighting devices for lighting (energy-saving, fluorescent, LED) are fixed at a distance of 30-40 cm.
To enhance the effect, light-reflecting sheets of foil and mirrors are installed.
Temperature
Until the plants form plants, the temperature is maintained not higher than + 16 ° С. After the formation of lashes, the temperature on sunny days is maintained at + 24-26 ° С, in case of cloudy weather and at night + 18-20 ° С.
Watering
Watered on a sunny day every day, on a cloudy day every other day.. Water must be defended, brought to room temperature. Several times during the season, they are watered with a weak pinkish solution of potassium permanganate.
It is useful to spray the plants twice a day, but the leaves should dry out by night. Watering cucumbers spend under the root or pour water into the trays.
Support
Home-grown whips reach a height of two meters and require garters. The garter is made using a sliding loop. Use twine or nylon cord.
Forming a bush
After the appearance of the fifth true leaf, pinch the top to form a bush in two stems. When the next five leaves grow back, the procedure is repeated.
Pinching of the side lashes is carried out in the side lower nodes above the 1-2-3 leaf.
Top dressing
The first dressing spend after the appearance of two true leaves. Feed a solution of 3-4 g nitrophoska per liter of water. The consumption rate per plant is a glass.
Can be used solution of one teaspoon of urea in 5 liters of water. Feed once every 2 weeks.
With the advent of Zelentsov, the plant is fed every week, alternating between mineral and organic fertilizers. As organic additives use 20% solutions of chicken manure or superphosphate. For minerals, 30-40 g of nitrophosphate are dissolved in a bucket of water, a teaspoon of Agrolife or 2 caps of the Growth preparation are added with the watering.
Alternatively, after a week spend feeding of cucumbers with biohumus means. Twice sprayed bushes with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Tip! Perfect organic matter is a solution of fermented crushed banana peels, rye bread.
Diseases
Cucumbers grown in the apartment suffer from spider mites and whiteflies. Spraying with soapy water helps, it is dangerous to use insecticides in the apartment.
Harvesting
Zelentsy collected every day, not allowing them to grow. This contributes to the formation of new ovaries, eases the load on the lash, prevents depletion of the plant, the deterioration of the taste of cucumbers.
Growing in a private house
No different agricultural technology from growing cucumbers in the apartment. However, villagers, cottage owners have more opportunities for the successful cultivation of cucumbers in heated greenhouses all year round.
Features of greenhouse farming
- Stop picking on greenhouse varieties cucumbers.
- When planting seedlings, be sure to bring into the well at least a bucket of well-rotted compost or manure, with the addition of 10 g of phosphorus, 5 g of nitrogen, 15 g of potassium per 1 m².
- When landing have the seedlings of cucumbers at a distance of 40 cm from each otherleaving the meter between the rows. Abundantly watered.
- Equip lanes, supports.
- Shrub cucumbers form as when grown at home.
- Remove yellowed and deformed leaves..
- First feed after 4 weeks. Each plant consumes 1-2 liters of a 0.3% aqueous phosphorus-potassium solution. During the fruiting period, fertilizing is carried out every week.
- At optimum air temperature, watering is carried out at the rate of 2-3 liters of water per bush.
Disease Prevention and Control
- Should change soil every year. Develop a useful microflora. Introduce drugs such as Fitosporin M, rotted manure, nettle infusion.
- Observe ventilation mode.
- To combat spider mite, whitefly, ants, the soil is disinfected. Once every 5 days spray bushes karbofosom.
- Dill, mustard, coriander, garlic, basil, tobacco are planted between rows. They scare away the pests of cucumbers.
- Aphids and whitefly are washed off with a stream of cold water. Wipe cucumber leaves with soapy water.
Is it possible to grow in the basement?
In the equipped basement remove up to 200 kg of cucumbers from 1 m².
The main costs are accounted for the provision of optimal light and thermal conditions.
Requirements for a basement room for growing cucumbers
- Temperature should not fall to negative indicators throughout the year.
- The absence of rodents, mold, fungus.
- Tightness, security from drafts, penetration of ground waters.
Basement Equipment
- Insulate the floor and walls. insulating materials.
- Install heaters, heat and lighting devices. As lamps most suitable arc mercury lamps or incandescent lamps. For convenience, use a time relay.
- Organize a ventilation system.
- Choose a growing medium: hydroponics or soil.
- Soil requirements are the same as for growing cucumbers at home and in greenhouses.
Features of growing
- Cultivate rassadny way.
- Cucumber seedlings planted at any time of year.
- Comply with the general requirements of farming cucumbers.
- To combat insects, rodents, they change dust, smoke bombs, poison bait traps, special paints with insecticides.
- From fungal diseases, mold, moss ground walls with anti-fungal formulations.
The advantages and disadvantages of basement cultivation
The undoubted advantages include high yields, pickling cucumbers regardless of the season, weather conditions. The shortened period from the emergence of seedlings of cucumbers to harvest. Two months after the disembarkation of the seedlings, the first greens ripen.
The main disadvantage is the high cost of cucumbers.
Is it possible to grow cucumbers in winter at home? If desired, grow cucumbers all year round. From home-grown bush enthusiasts get 35-40 pieces of cucumbers.
Useful materials
Check out other helpful cucumber seedlings articles:
- Tips for growing in various containers, particularly in peat pots and pills.
- The reasons why the seedlings are pulled out and the leaves turn yellow?
- All the secrets of picking young shoots and their landing in open ground.
