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Grassing cucumbers in the greenhouse, in the open field
If the plant has abundant greenery, but does not yield a crop, it makes sense to pinch the cucumbers. This is the removal of excess lateral shoots, which take up the strength for the development of fruits. It is important to distinguish stepchildren from the main branch, otherwise you can harm the plant.
Rules for pinching cucumbers in a greenhouse
In a greenhouse, pinning is especially important due to the limited space. Excess shoots shade already formed branches, which leads to an additional decrease in yield. We remove stepsons according to the following rules:
Pickling cucumbers is a mandatory procedure to increase the yield
- it will be easier for the plant to endure the procedure if the shoots do not exceed 6 cm in length;
- you need to start forming if there are 5-6 true leaves on the plant;
- remove all flowers and emerging shoots from the lower 4-5 sinuses. Ovaries close to the root are weak, fruits develop on them very slowly. Therefore, they should be removed so that they do not take away strength from stronger fruits developing at a height of 70-100 cm;
- in the interval of the next 5 leaves, remove only extra shoots, leave the ovaries with flowers;
- on the next section of the stem, we leave the ovaries and stepsons with two leaves. We pinch all large shoots above the third leaf;
- when the main stem outgrows the trellis for 5 sheets, it must be pinched. The axils of the upper leaves will produce shoots that must be left behind. If they exceed 1 m in length, they also need to be pinched.
If you are afraid to remove the first flowers and ovaries at the bottom of the stem, you can experiment. Do this with 2-3 plants and leave the rest intact. Then compare the result, which of them gave the highest yield.
Open field cucumbers: how to pinch
If you sow cucumbers in dense rows, and place the stems along the trellises, you can remove all excess shoots along the entire length. This form of cultivation of cucumbers looks neat, takes up little space and is very easy to harvest.
Another way is to remove stepchildren up to 6 leaves from the root. In this case, you will need to pinch the top of the main trunk. This will give the lateral branches the strength to develop and form a rich harvest.
Varieties pollinated by bees are stepchild according to a different scheme:
- pinch the crown after the 6th sheet appears. Leave the sinuses intact;
- We leave the 4 lower lateral stems that have grown from the sinuses – the bulk of the harvest will be concentrated on them.
For better pollination, we will leave the tops of 1-2 plants – they will give many male flowers for pollination.
Stealing is a necessary measure. But if it is carried out incorrectly, you can harm the plant and not get a crop at all. Therefore, follow the rules and get the desired result.