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Experienced gardeners know how to speed up the growth of cucumbers in a greenhouse. Plants grow rapidly when favorable conditions are created for them. The condition of cucumbers depends on many factors. Low temperature, disease, frost, excess or lack of moisture can slow down the development of cucumbers and even cause their death. If you carefully monitor the condition of the seedlings and respond in time to any changes in conditions in the greenhouse, the first cucumber can be picked as early as May.
Correct temperature
Knowing how to grow cucumbers correctly, you can get an early harvest. Cucumbers love warmth and cannot tolerate sudden changes in temperature. On sunny days, the air in the greenhouse should warm up to 25 - 30 degrees.
If the sky is covered with clouds, the plants will be comfortable at a temperature of 20 - 22 degrees.
At night, the air should not cool below 18 degrees.
If the low temperature lasts for several days, you will not be able to get a good harvest.
Critical cooling of the air in the greenhouse for more than 5 days will cause the death of seedlings.To maintain the required level of heat, experienced gardeners recommend heating the greenhouse premises.
In the garden bed you need to make several holes with a diameter of 40 - 50 cm and a depth of 30 cm. They should be located at a distance of 2 meters from each other in order to evenly warm the air in the greenhouse.
The holes are filled with a mixture of fresh straw manure with sawdust, dry grass and straw. The mixture must be poured with a hot solution urea.
To prepare the solution, add 10 tablespoons of urea to a bucket of water (10 l).
Cucumbers are afraid of frost. In case of a sharp and strong drop in temperature, it is better to cover the greenhouse with sheets of roofing material or rags. Plants can be hidden under newspaper covers. To heat the greenhouse during a period of sharp drop in temperature, you can use electric heaters, heat guns or containers with warm water.
Ensuring optimal carbon dioxide levels
In order for cucumbers to grow, develop and ripen quickly, it is necessary to ensure a sufficient level of carbon dioxide in the greenhouse. In outdoor air its concentration is approximately 0.2%. The greenhouse air contains even less carbon dioxide. By providing a concentration of 0.5%, you can achieve a significant acceleration of plant growth and an increase in yield by 45%.
They increase the carbon dioxide content in different ways:
- Containers with mullein are placed in the greenhouse.
- Pieces of dry ice are laid out around the perimeter of the area with seedlings.
- Using a water soda siphon, the liquid is carbonated and left in containers near the planted plants. The room should be carbonated twice a day, morning and evening. It is advisable to do this a couple of hours after sunrise and 3.5 hours before sunset.
Ventilation of the greenhouse
Using the advice of gardeners on how to grow cucumbers quickly, you can avoid many mistakes. The greenhouse must be ventilated to prevent air stagnation. Its presence is indicated by highly moist soil. High soil moisture significantly slows down plant growth. The soil in the greenhouse must dry out before the next watering.
In extreme heat, it is especially important to ventilate the greenhouse so that the air in it does not heat up to high temperatures. In extreme heat, plants slow down.
It is better to open doors and windows in the evenings. At the same time, you need to make sure that there are no drafts.
How to water plants
Cucumbers do not tolerate too much or too little moisture.
Immediately after planting the seedlings in the greenhouse and before they bloom, the garden should be watered moderately. Plants need daily watering. About 5 - 10 liters of water are poured per 1 square meter. On cool days, the amount of water is reduced to 2 - 3 liters.
When flowers appear, the intensity of watering is reduced to 4 - 5 liters per square meter. With this regime, the seedlings will not grow excessively, devoting energy to the formation of ovaries.
If you had to skip more than two waterings, the soil should be moistened more than usual.
Regular feeding of plants
One of the main reasons for stunted growth of cucumbers is insufficient nutrition during the growing season. To grow a large number of fruits, regular feeding is needed. Fertilize the soil immediately after planting the seedlings.Ammonium nitrate (15 g), potassium chloride (15 g) and double superphosphate (20 g) are mixed, then diluted with water (10 l). A bucket of fertilizer is enough for 10 - 15 plants.
The second time you need to feed the plants during flowering and formation of ovaries. To prepare the fertilizer, 0.5 liters of liquid mullein is dissolved in water (10 l). It is worth adding 1 tablespoon to the solution nitrophoska, 0.5 g of boric acid, 0.3 g of manganese sulfate and 50 g of potassium sulfate. The prepared solution is enough to treat 3 square meters of area.
To increase the yield of cucumbers, after 2 weeks you need to fertilize the plants again with a less concentrated solution of mullein. This time, only 1.5 - 2.5 tablespoons of fertilizer need to be dissolved in a bucket of water (10 l). A bucket of fertilizer should be poured onto 1.2 square meters of soil. After 2 weeks, the procedure must be repeated.
Yeast will help speed up plant growth. Once in the soil, they release substances useful to the plant: vitamins, phytohormones, auxins. During irrigation, carbonic acid is released, phosphorus and nitrogen are formed.
One package of yeast (40 g) is diluted in a bucket of water (10 l) and left to ferment for 3 days in a sunny area. The solution must be stirred periodically. 0.5 liters of the composition is poured under each plant.
Knowing how to increase the yield, you need to adhere to the recommended dosages. An abundance of yeast can cause excessive growth of tops and a small number of ovaries. Wood ash can partially neutralize the effect of yeast. Add 1 cup of ash to the solution. It is better to take the ash of fruit trees.
Fertilize the roots of the plants after generous watering in the evening on a cloudy day.
Recommendations from experienced gardeners
To stimulate the growth of cucumbers and obtain a bountiful harvest, you need to follow several rules:
- It is necessary to hill up the bushes after the formation of the third leaf.
- After the 5th leaf appears, the shoot must be pinched with a knife. The formation of side shoots will help speed up the appearance of fruits.
- To grow a good harvest, plants need to be loosened regularly. In this case, you must try not to damage the root system.
- The soil under the plants is covered with compost or peat. This will allow the cucumbers to accumulate nutrients and use them for rapid growth.
- Artificial pollination will speed up the formation of ovaries. It is carried out using a soft brush, transferring pollen from male flowers to female ones.
- The cucumber harvest in the greenhouse must be harvested in a timely manner. Regular harvesting of vegetables will stimulate the ripening of new fruits.
Method for enlarging female flowers
To produce more female flowers, experienced gardeners “smoke” cucumbers. It must be started before the flowering period. 5 days before the “smoking” procedure, you need to stop watering. Iron portable stoves without pipes are installed in the greenhouse. Burning coals are placed in them and the door is tightly closed. Firewood is placed on the stove. High temperatures cause wood to smolder and release carbon monoxide. Smoke provokes the development of female flowers.
Smoldering firebrands can be placed in an old iron baby bath or basin. It is important to prevent open flames and ensure that no fire occurs. The procedure is done in the morning on sunny days, when the temperature rises to 30 degrees.
