This article is devoted to all technological processes in order to grow healthy and strong seedlings of cucumbers for their further planting in open ground, a greenhouse or a greenhouse.
First of all, you should decide on the timing of sowing cucumber seeds for seedlings. Cucumbers that are grown directly for fresh use are best grown through seedlings in order to get fresh vegetables to your table as early as possible. For central Russia, the optimal time for sowing cucumber seeds for seedlings is late April – early May. But the owners of capital greenhouses, where you can plant seedlings of cucumbers already in early May, are quite allowed to shorten this period by sowing seeds at the end of March. Cucumbers are a very thermophilic culture. It should be borne in mind that for planting seedlings of cucumbers in the soil, the ambient temperature during the day should be 20 - 26 degrees, and at night it does not fall below 14 degrees. In any case, it is not worth rushing to start growing cucumber seedlings, as overgrown seedlings take root worse. If the mark on the thermometer for a long time falls below, young plants of cucumbers begin to hurt, their growth slows down, the edges of the leaves turn yellow and then dry.
For the cultivation of cucumbers intended for harvesting with seedlings, you can not bother, and sow the seeds directly into the already warmed open ground at the very beginning of summer, since the ripening period of the fruits is not so important here, because we always have time to make harvestings for the winter.
Sowing seeds of cucumbers for seedlings.
As mentioned earlier, in order to get your own fresh cucumbers as early as possible, it is better to grow them in seedlings. It is best to plant the seeds immediately in separate plastic or peat cups, providing for good drainage in advance, since you will have to water the cucumbers often. At the bottom of the cup, it is necessary to put good drainage and make several holes so that the water in the soil does not stagnate after irrigation. In order to make it later convenient to water the plants and sprinkle fresh soil, the soil in a glass should be 3 cm short of the top edge. The soil mixture for cucumber should be very nutritious and light in mechanical composition.To grow cucumber seedlings, the minimum volume of each pot should be 400 ml, and the height should be at least 12 cm, otherwise the root system of the cucumber will not have enough space for full development and plant growth will slow down significantly, which means that the yield will decrease in the future. Glasses need to be placed on a deep pan where excess water will flow. Immediately before sowing the seeds of cucumbers, we spill the ground with warm water for sufficient moisture and slightly compact. We sow the seeds of cucumber in the moist earth to a depth of 1.5 - 2.0 cm. After sowing the seeds, put the cups or peat pots in a warm place with a temperature of 26 - 30 degrees and additionally cover them with glass or plastic wrap on top. Once a day, to air and collect condensate, remove the film for 2 hours. Under these conditions, cucumber seeds will sprout in 2 to 5 days.
Some gardeners complain that they have very poor germination of cucumber seeds. As a rule, they also blame it on the “incorrectly chosen lunar day”, “heavy hand” or bad seeds (although the seeds of cucumbers emerge within 10 years), but not their own mistakes. Very rarely, on sale, you can buy substandard, expired seeds.
Here are the most common mistakes when sowing seeds:
1. Make the soil for growing cucumber seedlings yourself. Or buy ready-made soil from well-known manufacturers, adding additional ingredients to it and checking the acidity of the soil.
2. Another, most common mistake when sowing cucumber seeds is waterlogging, due to poor drainage or highly compacted soil. Although cucumbers love moisture, they will not be able to live in wetlands. The soil should be friable, loose and pass air well to the roots. As excess moisture is harmful to seeds, drying out is equally detrimental to them.
3. It happens that, due to inexperience, beginning gardeners, when sowing seeds of cucumbers, do not spill the soil in advance and poorly compact it. This mistake is often made by those who first sow the seeds in the soil, and only then water it. This leads to the fact that the soil sags and the seeds go deep into it.
4. The temperature for the germination of cucumber seeds should not be below +22 degrees. If cups with crops are in a cold place, then you should not wait for the emergence of friendly shoots. And in this case, in the moist earth, the seeds of cucumbers simply rot in ten days without rising.
Growing seedlings of cucumbers.
For the cultivation of seedlings of cucumbers, windows of the southern orientation are most suitable. As soon as the first shoots appear, transfer the pots with seedlings of cucumbers to a warm and well-lit place. If young plants lack light, they will begin to stretch out and weaken. However, even with plenty of lighting, one should not forget to regularly turn the cups 180 °, as the sprouts of the cucumbers will tilt towards the light source. If the sunny day is still short enough, you should definitely think about additional artificial lighting.
It is recommended to water the seedlings of cucumbers, depending on the conditions, at least once every two days with warm water purified from chlorine filter, or simply settled at room temperature for a couple of hours. Drying of the soil is unacceptable. When growing cucumber seedlings with the appearance of the first true leaf
A week before planting cucumber seedlings in a permanent place, measures should be taken to train the plants in direct sunlight and their hardening. To do this, in the absence of a threat of frost, regularly take out containers with seedlings to the sunny balcony, gradually increasing the time the seedlings stay there. If weather conditions permit, a week before transplanting the seedlings of cucumbers into the greenhouse, transfer them there, controlling the night temperatures.
Cucumber seedlings are planted only after the first true leaflet appears on the plant, but also not later than the appearance of the third one, otherwise the seedlings will “outgrow” and will ache for a long time (transplant).