Content
Until recently, summer residents and gardeners knew well by name which variety was intended for planting in greenhouse, and which one is for open ground. Today, breeders have developed so many new varieties that it is really difficult to understand them. The question is what cucumbers for greenhouses to choose is often asked on search engines and forum pages. Let's look into this issue.
Introduction
To choose the right cucumber varieties for planting in a greenhouse, you need to decide:
- with the taste of the fruit;
- with how exactly the plant will be pollinated;
- with which hybrids and varieties are preferable;
- with ripening period.
All this is necessary in order to better understand the seeds of the plant and get a rich harvest. This doesn’t always work out, especially for beginners.
What types of seeds are there?
Everyone who is faced with the choice of cucumber variety wants to achieve high yields and fruit quality. At the same time, there are often industrial varieties on the market that are unlikely to be useful to summer residents.
Cucumbers are a crop that is especially popular in Russia. The variety of varieties allows you to be guided when choosing also by personal preferences. To ensure that the summer resident’s work is not wasted, the choice must be made correctly. Please note that all seeds are divided into:
- varieties;
- hybrids.
They differ in that varietal cucumbers are the heirs of all the positive and negative qualities of their ancestors. That is why the cost of such cucumbers is slightly lower than hybrid ones. The positive qualities of such a purchase are that you can subsequently obtain the seeds yourself, select them and re-apply them to the soil. This cannot be done with hybrids.
A hybrid is a created version of a cucumber that has completely new characteristics.
Hybrids on the packaging are marked as follows - F1. All the characteristics of a hybrid are preserved in only one generation; you won’t be able to get such cucumbers from seeds a second time, don’t waste your time on this.
Of course, the hybrid has a number of qualities that justify their high cost:
- disease resistance;
- high productivity;
- resistance to temperature changes (you can get early cucumbers);
- fast speed of fruit ripening.
If you are just starting to plant cucumbers, choose hybrids. Also important for greenhouses is the method pollination of cucumbers.
Pollination method
All cucumber seeds (varieties and hybrids) are divided into three types according to the method of pollination:
- pollinated by insects;
- self-pollinating;
- parthenocarpic.
Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse, which are pollinated by insects, is very difficult. This method is very long and complicated.
Flowers self-pollinating cucumbers They have both stamens and pistils, so they can pollinate themselves. And here parthenocarpic varieties They set on their own, since their flowers have predominantly female characteristics.
Before choosing which cucumbers are best to plant in a greenhouse, decide what kind of harvest you are expecting:
- for salads (consumed fresh);
- universal;
- for pickling.
All information is contained on the packages. Having dealt with the nuances, you can move on to choosing a variety.
The most popular varieties
When choosing a variety closely, you need to proceed from your own preferences and carefully study the information on the seed packaging. After studying the information presented above, it will be much easier to decide.
Since the range of seeds is huge, it is impossible to list all those that can be grown in greenhouses. We present to your attention the best varieties. Among them:
- Zozulya F1;
- Courage F1;
- Hercules F1;
- Adam F1;
- Legend F1;
- Blagodatny F1;
- Claudia F1;
- Buran F1.
All of them are listed in the table below with a description of the variety. This is only a small part of a large list of cucumber varieties and hybrids for greenhouses.
Variety | Group | Pollination method | Advantages | How to plant | Productivity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hector F1 | hybrid | parthenocarpic | long shelf life, very early variety | to a depth of 3-4 centimeters according to the 90x50 pattern | 6 kilograms per 1 m2 |
Buran F1 | hybrid | parthenocarpic | very early variety, ripens in 43 days | to a depth of 1.5-2 centimeters no more than 4 plants per 1 m2 | Up to 23 kilograms per 1 m2 |
Legend F1 | hybrid | parthenocarpic | high yield, early cucumbers | to a depth of 3-4 centimeters according to the 50x30 pattern | up to 20 kilograms per 1 m2 |
Hercules F1 | hybrid | bee-pollinated | high yield | to a depth of 2-3 centimeters according to the 60x15 pattern | On average 30 kilograms per 1 m2 |
Zozulya F1 | hybrid | parthenocarpic | early variety, gives high yield | depth 1.5-2 centimeters according to the 50x30 pattern | 8-16 kilograms per 1 m2 |
Courage F1 | hybrid | parthenocarpic | early ripening, gives high yield | depth 3-4 centimeters according to the 50x50 pattern | 6-8.5 kilograms |
Claudia F1 | hybrid | parthenocarpic | early cucumbers, bountiful harvest | depth 3-4 centimeters according to the 50x50 pattern | 25-27 kilograms per 1 m2 |
Adam F1 | hybrid | parthenocarpic | early with high yield | to a depth of 2-3 centimeters according to the 30x70 pattern | Up to 10 kilograms per 1 m2 |
You can also pay attention to these varieties: Moscow Dude, Makar, Masha, Anyuta, White Angel, Pyzhik, Tsarsky and others. Today the choice is huge. Please note that no matter what varieties end up in your shopping basket, it is important to plant them correctly.
Planting patterns and rules for growing cucumbers
Seeds should be planted in cups at the specified depth. After this, they begin to prepare the soil in the greenhouse. Cucumber is a heat-loving crop; the soil for it must be fertile. Fertilize with mineral fertilizers in advance, having previously added a choice of:
- peat;
- humus.
This will allow you to achieve a good result. When the plants grow up, they are transplanted to beds in the greenhouse. The cucumbers are first watered and replanted together with a lump of earth from a glass. It is better if the soil warms up to a certain temperature. Each package contains information on this issue.
Additionally, it is necessary to maintain high humidity in the greenhouse, because cucumbers love this very much. If everything is done correctly, the harvest in the greenhouse will delight you with its abundance and speed of return.
Ripening time
As for the timing of ripening, this parameter is also important to take into account. The information is briefly indicated on the packaging. Let's look at this issue.
All cucumbers are divided into several groups according to the degree of ripening. Even if the package does not indicate the number of days, but a group, the buyer will easily understand what it means.
So, there are four groups in total:
- early varieties (up to 42 days);
- early ripening (from 43 to 45 days);
- mid-season (up to 50 days);
- late (over 50 days).
There is a direct relationship between the degree of ripening of cucumber fruits and climatic conditions, even if you decide to plant seeds in a greenhouse.
Late varieties are better suited for warm areas and planting directly in open ground. In the middle zone and northern regions they are almost never used, except as an experiment. Early and mid-ripening varieties are perfect for these climatic zones. It is believed that the earliest harvest can be expected from varieties such as Anyuta, Evita, Buran, Masha and Kurazh.
Having bought late-ripening cucumber seeds in central Russia, do not rush to throw them away. When planted early, they can produce an excellent harvest. Many gardeners also prefer winter greenhouses, which involves planting cucumbers all year round, taking short breaks.
In order to give a clear example of choosing cucumber varieties for growing in greenhouses, we invite you to watch the video, where everything is explained in detail.
Conclusion
By following the rules, you can avoid standard mistakes due to which the gardener’s work is wasted. The richest harvests are reaped by those who devote a lot of time to the preparatory process.
