Content
Cucumbers are grown in almost every homestead and summer cottage. Gardeners who have been cultivating crops for many years understand perfectly well that vegetables need fertile soil and timely fertilizing. The cucumber root system is designed in such a way that it is able to receive nutrition from the surface of the soil. The fact is that the fibrous root grows not in depth, but in width.
Cucumber nutrition during the growing season should be balanced. The plant needs many microelements, but potassium fertilizers for cucumbers are the most important. Potassium ions are present in the cell sap of vegetables. Their shortage negatively affects the yield and quality of the fruit. A cucumber vine looks something like this in the photo if the plant does not receive the required amount of potassium.
Important microelements for cucumbers
Cucumbers, unlike many cultivated plants, are extremely demanding in terms of nutrition. To get a rich harvest in the garden beds in the greenhouse or open ground, you need to take care of the balance of microelements. They must be kept in the soil during planting and provide additional nutrition to the plants during the growing season.
What microelements do cucumbers need:
- Nitrogen is involved in the growth of green mass; the need for it is great at the beginning of growth.
- The need for phosphorus is not so great, but in its absence, cucumbers “freeze,” and the growth of the plants and fruits themselves slows down.
- Cucumbers need potassium to a greater extent than other microelements. After all, he is responsible for the movement of juices, for growth and fruiting.
In addition, plants require zinc, manganese, boron and other microelements, which plants must receive with balanced feeding.
Mineral or organic fertilizers are applied at different times with strict adherence to dosages.
Symptoms of micronutrient deficiency
Potassium is one of the most important microelements that cucumbers grown in a greenhouse or open ground need. Experienced gardeners determine potassium deficiency by the condition of the plant. Beginners do not always succeed due to lack of knowledge. Therefore, we will dwell on this issue in more detail.
Main symptoms:
- A large number of lashes and leaves appear on the vine, but the ovaries are practically absent.
- The leaves become unnaturally green, the edges turn yellowish-gray, and the edges dry out. This process spreads to the middle of the leaf, it dies.
- Potassium deficiency affects not only the presence of barren flowers, but also a change in the shape of the fruit. They most often resemble a pear. In addition, these cucumbers do not contain sugar, so they are bitter.
What is potash fertilizer
Potassium fertilizer is a type mineral supplements to improve the quality of crops grown in the garden. Application allows improving plant immunity, which, in turn, has a positive effect on resistance to many diseases. The presence of potassium in the soil is a protective barrier against many insects. Moreover, cucumbers get sick less when the temperature and humidity fluctuate.
Types of potash fertilizers
There are two types of potassium-based fertilizers: chloride and sulfate. To feed cucumbers, it is better to use fertilizer without chlorine. In addition, potash fertilizers come in the form of raw salts (carnallite, sylvinite, polyhalite, kainite, nepheline) or concentrates (crystals, granules).
Types of potash fertilizers for feeding cucumbers:
- potassium sulfate (Potassium sulfate).
- Potassium salt.
- Potassium nitrate
- Potassium carbonate.
- Calimagnesia.
- Wood ash.
Potassium sulfate
From this list, potassium sulfate, half consisting of this microelement, is most often used to feed cucumbers. In addition, it does not contain chlorine. It is a white or grayish crystalline powder that is completely soluble in water. It can be applied to cucumbers as a root fertilizer in spring or autumn. If there is insufficient lighting in the greenhouse or under unfavorable weather conditions, this potassium fertilizer can be used for foliar feeding to improve photosynthesis.
Kalimag
Gardeners immediately appreciated the appearance of Calimagnesia on the market. This potash fertilizer can be powdered or granular. It includes:
- magnesium - 10-17%;
- potassium - 25-30%;
- sulfur - 17%.
Magnesium and potassium are sulfates, easily soluble in water, and are well absorbed by cucumbers.
The use of a drug such as Kalimag allows you to obtain products with excellent taste. This fertilizer can be used to feed not only cucumbers, but also potatoes, beets, zucchini, pumpkins, fruit trees and shrubs.
How to properly use the new series of potassium fertilizer for feeding cucumbers? Calimagnesia is usually used in autumn or spring when preparing the soil. In autumn, a larger amount of nutritious potassium preparation is required - from 135 to 200 grams. In spring, 110 grams per square meter is enough. After watering, the soil is carefully dug up.
During the growing season, cucumbers can be fed with Kalimag at the root, especially during the period of the emergence of embryos and flowering of the plant. To obtain a nutrient solution for a ten-liter bucket, 15-25 grams are enough.
Calimagnesia can also be used in dry form. Sprinkle the powder under the plants and water with warm water. Up to 20 grams per square.
How to apply potash fertilizers
Several days pass from flower to full-fledged fruit. While cucumbers ripen in some internodes, ovaries appear in others. The process continues continuously. It is clear that it is impossible to do without fertilizing. Particularly important for stable fruiting potassium.
Fertilizing cucumbers with potassium fertilizers should be done in a timely manner. Flaw microelement reduces the productivity of your beds. Experienced gardeners never feed all plantings at the same time. Check the potassium needs of cucumbers on 1-2 plants.If after three days they show an improvement in growth and ovaries have formed, then you can start feeding the cucumbers throughout the greenhouse.
The dosage of potassium fertilizers for cucumbers depends on the degree of soil preparation in autumn or spring. If for some reason the soil has not received the required amount of potassium, then fertilizing should become mandatory during the period of plant growth.
Usually, cucumbers are fertilized potassium fertilizers 3-5 times at equal intervals. But in case of potassium deficiency, it is necessary feed plants without following a schedule.
Rules for preparing fertilizers
Each gardener, taking into account the condition of the soil, uses store-bought fertilizers or prepares them himself. Let's consider the most common options for potassium fertilizers, which are used to feed cucumbers during different periods of the growing season.
- When the first embryos appear in the internodes, the need for complex fertilizers increases. For a ten-liter bucket you will need a solution of mullein (chicken droppings) - 200 grams, a teaspoon each of superphosphate and potassium sulfate. Watering is carried out at the root from a watering can.
- The second time cucumbers will need fertilizer is when mass fruiting begins. Plants use up nutrients from the soil very quickly. If you do not feed them in time, the ovaries may dry out and crumble. For root feeding, use mullein - 150 grams, nitrophoska - 1 large spoon per 10 liters of water. Instead of mullein, you can use herbal infusions of plants such as nettle, chickweed, and chickweed. The infusion takes a week to prepare. For every sq.m pour 3 liters of solution. The use of such a solution will enrich the plantings with nutrients, including potassium.
- If complex fertilizers are not available, you can prepare such a composition yourself (recipe for watering 1 sq. m). For 10 liters of water you will need 10 grams of potassium sulfate and urea, and 20 grams of potassium magnesium. You can add 30 grams of ash. Cucumbers are fed with this fertilizer at the first sign of potassium deficiency.
- Potassium fertilizer for feeding cucumbers can be prepared at home from wood ash alone. This substance is useful because it contains not only potassium, but also many other trace elements necessary for growth and fruiting. When preparing an aqueous solution, add one and a half cups of ash to a ten-liter bucket. The resulting solution is used to perform root and foliar feeding of cucumbers.
The use of ash in dry form is also allowed. It is sprinkled onto moist soil over the entire surface of the bed. Then lightly water the cucumbers.
If cucumbers are grown in open ground, the need for fertilizers is higher due to the leaching of microelements by rain.
About potassium and its role:
Is it necessary or not...
Gardeners are always faced with the question of what fertilizers to use to feed cucumbers. It should be noted that a high yield of green fruits can be obtained with an integrated approach. Vegetable growers with extensive experience already select a feeding scheme without our recommendations. Newbies will have to adapt. The main thing to remember is that plants always give the “sos” signal when they lack something. You need to learn to “hear” cucumbers and come to the rescue in time.
