How to feed cucumber seedlings?

Cucumber - is one of the most popular vegetables of the middle band. Unpretentious culture is quite easy to grow and cook.Some grow cucumbers even on windowsills and on balconies in large wooden crates of soil. Like other plants, cucumbers need water and sunlight, but this will not be enough for rapid growth and a rich harvest. In order for the stems to be strong, and the fruits to be formed elongated and long, it is necessary to feed the plants in a timely manner.

Despite the popular belief that a cultivated plant can get all the nutrients directly from the soil in which it is planted, any vegetables need fertilizing. However, the rule “the more the better” in this case does not work. It is necessary to clearly understand whether fertilization is needed or there are too many of them. To do this, you should pay attention to the state of the plant and correctly recognize the signals that it sends.

• Little feeding. In the case of nutrient deficiencies, the very first thing that happens is that cucumber leaves slow down and stop growing. The color changes from bright green to pale and a yellowish border or specks appear. Some leaves begin to turn blue and curl around the edges. Fruits of an undernourished vegetable grow deformed, having thickening and bending in those places where healthy fruits should not have them.
• A lot of feeding. An excess of fertilizer in the initial stages may be signaled by too dark leaf color and a thickening of an arbitrary shape on the stems. If the amount of feeding is not reduced, the internodes begin to lengthen, red veins and mosaic staining on the leaves of cucumbers appear. As a result, such overfed plant turns yellow and dries out, and ripe fruits become unsuitable for food.

Feeding itself can be done in two different ways.

• Foliar fertilizer. In this case, the plant is fertilized with nutrient fluids, which are sprayed on the stems, leaves and the ground around the cucumber bush. Most often, this method is used when growing vegetables in greenhouse conditions. It is best to process the plants from the sprayer early in the morning or late in the evening, while the sun is still not too hot in the tender green. Since the rays falling on small drops of liquid, can cause burns in seedlings. The result of this feeding can be seen after a few hours - the plant straightens and stretches, the leaves are filled with juice and straightened to the very tips.
• Top dressing under a plant root. To feed the cucumber seedlings under the root, it is necessary to pour the fertilizer into the place of the soil from which the stem comes out. So, the root system will get nutrients faster and process them. Watering is conducted around each bush after sunset, so that the moisture does not evaporate under its rays.

Low-growing seedlings can be fed every 10–12 days after the first shoots. But with such feeding, there is a high risk of introducing an excess amount of fertilizer, from which the already weak seedlings will simply die. The best is considered a three-time introduction of nutrients, namely:

• the first feeding is carried out with the appearance of two initial leaves on the seedlings after planting in the greenhouse or on the open ground;
• the second feeding is carried out when the first flowers of the plant begin to grow and bloom actively;
• the third dressing is put on the bed, as soon as the beginning of the formation of tiny cucumbers is noticed.

All variety of fertilizing for cultivated plants can be divided into three large groups.

• Organic fertilizer. Such fertilizers can be easily found on the site or made independently.This may be animal manure humus, rotted compost from last year's tops, remnants of fresh or burnt wood.
• Mineral fertilizers. Such feedings can be bought at any store selling seeds or plant seedlings. They may contain such useful elements as potassium, phosphorus, ammonia or saltpeter. Their convenience is due to the fact that after the acquisition, they are always “at hand” and ready for use at any stage of top dressing.
• Complex fertilizers. Unlike conventional minerals, several nutrients are found in complex fertilizers. This may be nitrogen with phosphorus, potassium and nitrate, or all substances together. It is convenient to apply them at the preparatory fertilizer of the soil in the autumn period, since all these elements are required for the earth.

Proper use of ready-made mineral mixtures allows you to quickly gain green mass of cucumbers and form a large number of fruits. On sale there are many different options for such bulk fertilizers. This is the "Barrier" for protection against pests, and "Fertility" to increase the number of fruits, and "Breadwinner" for faster growth of cucumber bushes.

Dilute such a mixture should be according to the manufacturer's instructions, strictly adhering to the designated grammes For the first feeding, it is best to use urea fertilizer. To make it you need the following ingredients:

• 50 g of urea;
• 10 liters of water.

Water should be allowed to stand for several hours and carefully dilute the mixture in it. For one seedling you need about half a glass of nutrient fluid. A whole bucket is enough for 45 young cucumber bushes. Care must be taken to ensure that other types of fertilizer do not combine with urea so as not to damage the plant. To protect cucumbers from diseases and pests perfectly suitable mixtures containing boric acid. And during the active formation of the fruit, root dressing is carried out with a solution of nitrate (10 g of the mixture per 5 l of water).

In order to saturate the soil with nutrients, a mixture called ammofosk is perfect. It does not contain chlorine and nitrates, so the finished fruit will not contain their residues. Ammophoshka is scattered between the formed cucumber beds and the earth is loosened so that the substance penetrates deep into. If the growth of seedlings has slowed down or stopped, you can feed them with the help of ready-made fertilizers containing superphosphate and two types of nitrate: ammonium and potash. It should be 40 g of the dry mixture diluted in 10 liters of distilled warm water. The solution is sprayed over the plants before sunrise or after sunset.

Fresh sawdust is used in vegetable gardens to mulch the soil. It can be not only crumbs of the wood itself, but also crushed bark, needles, pieces of cones and shells. In the mulch soil, moisture remains longer, and various pests do not start. It does not allow young and fragile shoots of weeds to sprout and serves as an excellent fertilizer for cultivated plants. In order for the sawdust to give the nutrients that cucumber seedlings need, it is necessary to let them rot for 10 years or more. Then the bacteria will process dry wood fibers into a nutrient substrate rich in various elements.

It is very difficult to wait for the conversion of chips into fertilizer at home, therefore it is necessary either to purchase ready-made mass or to reduce the waiting time by turning ordinary sawdust into compost. To do this, mix them with manure and place in a warm, moist place. Most often the mixture is placed in a small pit and covered with plastic wrap on top. Additionally, you can enter ashes, fresh or faded grass and any organic waste. A compost pit is made at the very beginning of summer, and are used as needed.

With fresh sawdust, you can mulch the soil while applying fertilizer to it. To do this, make a dry mixture of the following ingredients:

• 40 g of ammonium nitrate;
• 120 g of hydrated lime;
• 30 g of superphosphate;
• 10 g of calcium chloride.

Iodine supplementation is the simplest, but no less effective. Make it at home easy. It is enough to dissolve 20-30 drops of iodine in a bucket of distilled water and spend the evening watering cucumbers as usual. This tool will accelerate the metabolic processes of the plant and its growth, as well as increase yields. Cucumbers fertilized with iodine are much tastier and richer in vitamin C than ordinary fruits.

In addition to the usual feeding of iodine, you can prepare an effective remedy for the rot of cucumber bushes and the yellowness of old leaves. For this, the medicine is mixed with water in proportions of 1: 2 and smeared on the stems.

Cucumbers are watered with liquid fertilizers either under the root or sprinkling the leaves on top. Do not pour liquid food on the stems and fruits of cucumber. This action can damage the fragile plant and spoil the young cucumbers. After making any fertilizer it is necessary to water the plant with clean warm water. Especially carefully you need to water the stems in order to wash off possible drops of solutions from them.

For the first time, cucumbers are fed up even when planting seeds in wooden or plastic boxes for breeding seedlings. As soon as several tiny leaves appear on the sprouts, fertilizer can be applied. The second dressing is made before planting in open ground. If planting is carried out not by seedlings, but by seeds in greenhouse beds, then top dressing is best done on the tenth day after the first shoots appear. After 10 days from the first fertilizer application, the procedure can be repeated.

If desired, can be used for fertilizing cucumbers folk remedies. To do this, ash, bread, onion peel and even yeast diluted in plenty of water will do. Many gardeners use honey or grass, ground to a state of gruel.

About how to feed cucumber seedlings, see the following video.