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Cucumbers, originating from the tropics and subtropics of India, are a moisture-loving, light-loving crop. It is believed that they have been cultivated for over 6 years. Cucumbers began to be grown first in India and China, then in the third century AD through Afghanistan, Persia, Asia Minor they got to Greece, and from there they spread throughout Europe. Cucumber came to our country from Byzantium, in the tenth century Suzdal and Murom became centers for their cultivation.
Cucumber is very demanding on fertilizers, which is not surprising, given its growth rate. In one season, about 2 kg of greens can be harvested per square meter in open ground, and up to 35 kg in a polycarbonate greenhouse. Growing cucumbers in a personal plot or in the country, we want to provide our table with environmentally friendly products, so we are increasingly thinking about what mineral fertilizers can be replaced. Feeding cucumbers with folk remedies does not present any particular difficulties. We will give you several fertilizer options that are reliable and time-tested, and also do not require significant material costs.
What do cucumbers like?
Before moving on to top dressing, you need to find out what conditions cucumbers need for successful life and fruiting.
Cucumbers prefer:
- Humus-rich soil with a neutral or slightly acidic reaction;
- Wet warm, not lower than 15 degrees, the soil;
- Fertilizer infusion of fresh manure;
- Warm air with a temperature of 20-30 degrees;
- High humidity.
Cucumbers react negatively to:
- Poor, acidic, dense soil;
- Watering with water with a temperature of less than 20 degrees;
- A sharp change in temperature;
- transplants;
- Temperature less than 16 or more than 32 degrees;
- Loosening of the soil;
- Drafts.
At a temperature of less than 20 degrees, cucumbers will slow down development, at 15-16 – they will stop. High temperatures are also not beneficial – growth is suspended at 32 degrees, and if it rises to 36-38, pollination will not occur. Even short-term frosts lead to the death of the plant.
Like all pumpkin crops, cucumber has a weak root system and its poor regeneration. When transplanting, loosening and removing weeds, sucking hairs break off, and they are no longer restored. It will take a long time until a new root grows, on which sucking hairs appear. The soil should be mulched to avoid loosening, and the weeds that have appeared are not pulled out, but cut off at ground level.
What substances do cucumbers need
Cucumbers need a lot of fertilizer. In a short growing season, which, depending on the variety, is 90-105 days, they are able, under favorable conditions, to form a fairly large crop. In addition, cucumbers are forced to feed on long shoots and leaves, and their roots are in the arable horizon and are not able to get nutrients from the lower layers of the soil.
The need for key nutrients changes with development. At first, nitrogen should prevail in fertilizers, at the time of formation and development of lateral lashes, the plant absorbs a lot of phosphorus and potassium, and during active fruiting, the vegetative mass increases strongly and the cucumber again needs high doses of nitrogen supplements.
Especially a lot of potash fertilizers are needed – they are responsible for flowering and fruiting. If this element is not enough, you will not wait for a good harvest.
Fertilizer cucumbers folk remedies
It is preferable to feed cucumbers with organic fertilizers than with mineral fertilizers – they have low salt tolerance, and most purchased preparations are just salts. In addition, organic or organic food is exactly what we strive for when growing vegetables on our own.
There are many folk ways to feed cucumbers without the use of chemicals. We will give you some folk recipes, and you yourself will choose the most suitable fertilizer.
Ash as fertilizer
Ash is a universal fertilizer, it is an invaluable source of potassium, phosphorus and trace elements, but contains vanishingly little nitrogen. If you do not give potash fertilizers to cucumbers, there will be no harvest. If there is not enough phosphorus in the top dressing, the already weak root system will not be able to deliver either water or nutrients to the leaves and fruits.
Even when planting seeds in a hole, as a fertilizer, it is worth adding 1/2 cup of ash, mix it well with the soil, and water it well. Further ash cucumbers are fed in one of the following ways:
- fertilize under the root immediately before watering at the rate of about 2 tablespoons under the bush;
- dissolve a glass of powder with a liter of water, when feeding, spend 2 liters of fertilizer under the plant.
So cucumbers can be fertilized every 10-14 days.
Manure, bird droppings, green manure
All pumpkin crops, including cucumber, like fertilizers with fresh manure, but only in the form of liquid top dressing; applying it under the root is unacceptable. Very well, all plants react to green fertilizer – an infusion of weeds. By introducing nitrogen, we risk increasing the amount of nitrates in vegetables and fruits. This is especially dangerous for cucumbers that require high doses of this substance. Green manure is remarkable in that even if we unwittingly exceed the norm, the risk of nitrate formation in fruits is minimal.
Mullein contains all the nutrients needed to feed the plant, but most of all it contains nitrogen. The main differences between bird droppings are that there is more nitrogen in it and there are no weed seeds at all.
Infusions for fertilizing cucumbers are prepared as follows: 3-4 buckets of water are taken for a bucket of manure or litter, insisted for several days, stirring occasionally. At this time, top dressing ferments, uric acid escapes from it – it is she who burns the roots of cucumbers or other plants. Weeds insist, laying them in barrels and pouring water.
After the mixture has fermented, the mullein is diluted with water 1:10, litter – 1:20, and green manure – 1:5. Fertilize every two weeks at the rate of 2 liters under the root.
Yeast
Cucumbers are fertilized with yeast 2-3 times a season. There are many ways to prepare such dressings. Here is one of the best:
- Yeast – 1 pack;
- Sugar – 2/3 cup;
- Water – 3 l.
A jar of solution is placed in a warm place and infused for 3 days, stirring occasionally. A glass of the mixture is diluted in a bucket of water, cucumbers are fed 0,5 liters under the root, or filtered and processed along the leaf.
Lukovaâ Husk
An infusion of onion peel is not so much a fertilizer as an immunostimulant and protection against pests and diseases. It contains nutrients, cucumber tonic vitamins and quercetin, a flavonoid that has a beneficial effect on living organisms.
For these purposes, prepare infusions and decoctions, spray cucumbers or fertilize under the root. The best thing:
- a handful of onion peel pour 1,5 liters of boiling water;
- cook for 5-7 minutes;
- leave to cool;
- add up to 5 l
and spray on the leaf.
Features of fertilizer in greenhouses
In polycarbonate greenhouses, cucumbers are fed in the same way as in the open field, they are just carried out more often and in no case are missed. Closed ground allows you to get almost 15 times more greens per square meter than closed ground. Accordingly, there should be more fertilizers.
Signs of nutritional deficiencies
It is not uncommon for cucumbers to lack some kind of nutrient and need to be given in an increased dose outside the feeding schedule. But, before applying fertilizers, it is necessary to determine by external signs what the vegetable needs.
Lack of nitrogen
Light small leaves signal that cucumbers urgently need to be fed with infusion of bird droppings, manure or green manure. The beaked, narrow, light tip of the greens also indicates a lack of nitrogen fertilizers.
Lack of potassium
A brown border (marginal burn) on the leaves is a sign of a lack of potassium. This is also indicated by the spherically swollen edges of the cucumber. Extra top dressing with ashes is needed.
Phosphorus starvation
Leaves pointing upwards indicate a lack of phosphorus fertilizers. Cucumbers are fed with ashes, and they must be sprayed over the leaf.
Signs of a micronutrient deficiency
Most often, cucumbers lack magnesium. In this case, the leaves acquire a marble color. Dilute a glass of dolomite flour in a bucket of water, fertilize the soil with the resulting “milk”.
If the leaves turn yellow-green, then the cucumbers lack trace elements. It must be remembered that plants do not absorb them well from the soil; perhaps you simply neglected foliar feeding. Urgently fertilize the cucumbers on the sheet with an extract from the ash. To do this, pour a glass of powder with 5 liters of boiling water, let it brew overnight, and process it in the morning.
Conclusion
By feeding cucumbers with folk remedies, you will not only save money, but also grow environmentally friendly products. In addition, organic fertilizers are much more difficult to overfeed the plant.
