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Cucumbers are so loved by gardeners that only the lazy do not grow them on their plot. After all, they are good and fresh directly from the garden, and for use in salads, and for the manufacture of cosmetic masks. And what wonderful preparations for the winter can be prepared from cucumbers. But growing them is not always easy. After all, not only people love cucumbers – all kinds of pests and microorganisms are also not averse to eating crispy greens. Yes, and the cucumbers themselves are quite demanding to care – they need both abundant watering and regular feeding. And many do not want to use chemical fertilizers and protective equipment on their site – after all, they grow cucumbers for themselves and their families. So gardeners turn to old, time-tested folk recipes.
Processing cucumbers with milk is one of these procedures that copes with several tasks at once. This is both a wonderful top dressing and effective protection against various misfortunes that await cucumber plants at every turn.
Milk properties
The use of milk and its derivatives in the garden is not a new technique invented recently. Humans have been eating milk for thousands of years and have been growing vegetables throughout this period. Therefore, they could not fail to notice the beneficial effect that milk has on many plants. Why is this happening?
Only of those elements that may be of interest to cucumbers should be mentioned:
- calcium,
- magnesium,
- potassium,
- manganese,
- iron,
- nitrogen,
- phosphorus,
- sulfur,
- copper and more.
In addition, milk has several special properties that make it useful for gardening.
- Not a single pest is able to digest milk sugar (lactose), because insects simply lack some organs in the digestive system. Therefore, processing cucumbers with milk can build a barrier for many pests who want to feast on juicy cucumber lashes.
- When the leaves are sprayed with a milky solution, a very thin film is formed on them, which prevents various pathogens from penetrating inside.
- Milk can help the cucumber plants absorb other nutrients that are found in the soil or applied along with top dressing.
Hence the conclusion – feeding cucumbers with milk can solve several problems at once:
- Providing plants with nutrients
- Protection against diseases and pests
- Saturation of the soil with useful substances that enhance microbiological activity.
Ways to use milk
Of course, it is desirable to use raw milk for processing cucumbers. Pasteurized and even more so sterilized milk will not always bring the desired effect, since heat treatment destroys many useful vitamins and minerals, no matter what the manufacturers of these products say.
In this way, you can not only not help, but also cause real harm to plants, in particular, cucumbers.
To use milk in the garden, it must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1:5 or even 1:10. It all depends on the purpose for which you are processing.
Irrigation with milk solution
If you want to mainly feed cucumbers in 5 liters of water, dilute 1 liter of not very fat milk, mix thoroughly and water the cucumber bushes with the resulting solution so that each plant gets about 0,5 liters of milk solution.
It is better to dig a shallow groove 10-15 cm from the base of the bush around the entire circumference, so that the root is in the center of this circle, and water directly into this recess. Usually the roots of cucumbers are located near the surface and are able to find all the substances they need.
By the way, cucumber plants can also be watered from above, thus the milk solution will be absorbed by the leaves and additional protection against diseases and pests will be provided.
Spraying with milk solutions
Most often, a milk solution is used for preventive treatments of cucumbers. It is known that any problem is much easier to prevent than to deal with its consequences.
The most common and unpleasant diseases of cucumbers are true and downy mildew. These diseases begin to rage especially if the summer turns out to be rainy and cool. Contribute to the occurrence of diseases and abundant fertilizing with nitrogen-containing fertilizers. On the leaves of cucumbers, white spots first appear, similar to those that remain from sprinkling with flour (hence the name), and then the leaves turn yellow and die.
It is best to start preventive treatments of cucumbers when 5-6 true leaves form on them and repeat them regularly every two weeks. In this case, outbreaks of diseases can be prevented altogether.
To prepare the necessary solution in a 10-liter bucket, dilute 1 liter of milk, 30 drops of ordinary iodine, 20 grams of laundry soap, grated. Shake everything well and spray the cucumber bushes.
In general, it is iodine that is known for its beneficial effect on cucumbers. It is able to prevent yellowing of leaves on cucumber lashes and creates a rejuvenating effect when many new buds and ovaries wake up on the stems. Therefore, the processing of cucumbers with iodine should be carried out very carefully, not forgetting to spray the underside of the leaves. It is advisable to spray not only the plants themselves, but also the ground around them.
Spraying should be carried out in cloudy weather or in the evening after sunset. Otherwise, cucumber leaves may get burned.
The same solution is quite effective against bacteriosis and root rot. And he is able to help cope with the invasion of various types of aphids.
It should be noted that not only milk, but also various dairy products have a similar effect on cucumbers: whey, kefir, yogurt. In particular, the following recipe is popular among gardeners, which can cope with late blight.
For 10 liters of water, take 1 liter of whey, 40 drops of iodine and a tablespoon of hydrogen peroxide. With this tool, you need to carefully process all parts of cucumber plants several times during the season.
Conclusion
Thus, the use of milk, dairy products and commonly available means such as iodine or hydrogen peroxide, allows you to cope with many problems in growing cucumbers and get a good harvest.
