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Forming cucumbers in a greenhouse, a scheme for giving a certain shape to a bush and controlling the growth of shoots - all these are elements of caring for the most popular vegetable plant. Cucumber is a fast-growing vine. In order to get a good harvest, it is necessary to constantly direct the growth of shoots in the right direction, to encourage the plant to concentrate its energy on ripening the fruits.
Formation of cucumber vine
The cucumber bush is an annual vine that, in favorable conditions, is capable of developing very long and branched shoots. For the humid tropics this may be good, but where the growing season lasts 6-7 months, increasing green mass is not always necessary.
Forming cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse is an optimization of the structure of the entire vine in order to increase productivity.
In order for cucumbers not to go into leaves, but to bloom and bear fruit as actively as possible, you must follow these rules:
- Periodically remove everything that does not work for the harvest.
- The placement of bushes should be as rational as possible.
- Cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse can produce a decent harvest only if they climb along trellises.
- Using a rational pattern of pinching and pruning, the cucumber bush is given the desired direction of growth in connection with the requirements of light, branching and growth restrictions.
It is necessary to remove first of all leaves that are in deep shade - they do not fully carry out photosynthesis, but at the same time they take up water and minerals. The lowest leaves must also be removed; leaves and shoots beginning to wither and turn yellow. Finally, mustaches and male flowers are often classified as superfluous and unnecessary. This issue is controversial, but worthy of attention.
The most rational placement of bushes means that the formation of cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse significantly depends on the abundance of sunlight and the duration of its exposure to all parts of the cucumber vine. The formation of the bush must be done in such a way as to provide maximum illumination with a minimum of occupied space.
You can do without trellises only if there is excess space and the temporary nature of the land use.
Thus, the formation of a cucumber vine is a set of measures to remove excess and optimize the placement of shoots relative to the light source. Everything else is in the nature of secondary actions.
Rules for cutting and pinching
The fundamental difference between pruning and pinching is the radical nature of the effect. In the first case, we are talking about removing part of the lash, leaves, fruits, flowers and whiskers. In the second - most often about removing the growing point on the main or side shoot. Pruning and pinching are the main methods aimed at forming a bush.
The scheme for pruning and pinching consists of the following actions:
- At the stage of the appearance of the first 6 leaves, you need to pinch off the tip of the shoot. This stimulates the plant to undergo additional branching, which increases yield. If time is lost and the vines are already large, then pinching is pointless - this will only lead to growth inhibition.
- Removing excess whiskers and male flowers. If you have chosen the strategy of carefully hand tying all the lashes, then the mustache, of course, needs to be trimmed. However, you should not remove all the male flowers - pollen must come from somewhere to fertilize the female flowers.
- Some leaves of cucumbers in a greenhouse must be removed.
- If you are not going to leave cucumbers for seeds, then remove all overripe fruits immediately. As they continue to mature, they will take over resources.
The strategy for forming cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse depends on your desire, ideas about feasibility and features of the greenhouse design. This is especially related to the permissible length of the lash. If the vine is too long, it can be cut or bent down, where it fills the voids of the lower floors of the trellis.
Optimizing the placement of vines in space
In order to understand how to properly form cucumbers, it is not necessary to focus on widespread trimming and pinching. Sometimes you need to allow the plant to have what at first glance is superfluous. We're talking about mustaches. Growing cucumbers with mustaches can be not only acceptable, but even profitable. It all depends on the strategy you choose for placing bushes in the greenhouse.
The presence or absence of a mustache makes its own adjustments to the process of formation of cucumber bushes.However, no matter how you decide to grow vines, you must follow the following rules:
- Once every 3 days you need to check the position of the shoots and tie up the falling lashes.
- With the same regularity, you should wrap the shoot around the twine clockwise. After all, this is exactly what a vine does in natural conditions. The top of any shoot should be free, since this is where the growth point is located. Twisting occurs using that part of the shoot that is approximately 5 cm below the apex.
- When we form lashes with the help of mustaches, the process becomes simpler and more complicated at the same time. During the period of active growth, the vines will form themselves with the help of their tendrils, actively clinging to everything that comes their way. However, this is only good if the plantings are sufficiently sparse and the trellises are well equipped with thick wire weaves. Otherwise, someday you will find that everything is tangled and mixed up.
Of course, everyone has their own answer to the question of how to form cucumbers in a greenhouse. The gardener can decide for himself how to grow cucumbers - with or without mustaches, sparse or as dense as possible, with high and complex trellises or with single twines. However, it is highly desirable to know the basic rules for forming cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse, which have absorbed the experience of more than one generation of farmers.
