How to soak cucumber seeds before planting?

Presowing treatment of cucumber seeds often contains such a function as soaking.This method of treatment can help to awaken a huge potential in a small seed, and contributes to its more rapid germination. Different techniques and methods are used - from new research to agricultural technology to popular methods. To collect a good crop of cucumbers, seeds are best to soak in advance. Many are interested in how to soak the seeds correctly.

Before planting the grain of cucumbers, it is desirable to soak water. This action allows sprouting in a short time and detecting unsuitable seeds at the primary stage. When the seeds are high quality, they provide excellent seedlings and without soaking at a temperature of +23 to + 27ºС for 2–3 days. In this case, the soaking will damage the seeds, because all the necessary procedures have already been done - the seeds are warmed and disinfected. The next soaking will wash the protective layer from the grains.

But if the seed was stored in a humid, cold or hot room, then these seeds must be prepared before sowing. The time of awakening in dried seeds prohibitively prohibits - slowly absorb the liquid, seedlings will grow intermittently. Before planting, these seeds need to be awakened - soaked. You can not buy cucumber seeds every season. By the way A good percentage of spitting is seen in seeds of two or three years. It is necessary to keep the seeds in a dry and warm place, wrapped in paper, and when the planting season comes, take them to work.

Seeds for planting, processed correctly, will not let you down and after a time will give a good harvest. It is better to plant cucumber, strengthened seedlings in the ground. Soaking procedure is performed to achieve the following objectives:

• helps to ensure seed germination;
• provides the most harmonious shoots;
• helps not to re-sow.

Before germination, the seeds must be heated, calibrated, disinfected, destroy microbes and pathogens that provoke cucumber disease. There are two ways to disinfect.

For raw seed processing, hydrogen peroxide solution, boric acid crystals or manganic acid salt are used. Each component is diluted in water, the resulting liquid is treated with grain. It is worth considering the use of each solution in more detail.

• Seed treatment with hydrogen peroxide solution. You need to buy a pharmacy solution with a hydrogen peroxide content of at least 3%. This solution pickles the seeds of cucumber for 25–35 minutes.

• When processing the grains with boric acid, two grams of crystals are dissolved in ten liters of water, in the produced composition they are soaked for half a day.

• A well-known method of disinfection is 1% potassium permanganate solution. Then take 5 grams of potassium permanganate, diluted in 250 ml of water. A gauze bag is made for the grains, which is tied with a thread, placed in a container with the resulting composition and contain from 25 to 30 minutes in it.

Annual cucumber seeds must be heated to + 50ºС for 1.5–2 hours, but not overcooked. The destruction of viral infections occurs during warming up. To warm the seed, you need to spread them on a baking sheet. You can put the seeds in a woven bag or tie up around the main heating battery. If possible, it is worth warming up on the stove, in the oven or in another household heating appliance. At a temperature of + 40 ° C, it should be heated for 6–7 days, if the temperature is + 25 ° C - about one month.

One of the easiest methods is to warm the kernels in the sun for about two or three days. If possible, use an ultraviolet light bulb.Dry disinfection will take 3-4 hours. Seeds that are heated, give strong greens and bear fruit for a long period, they almost have no barren flowers.

Pre-sowing work allows you to select high-quality grains of cucumbers. First of all, they do the calibration - the seeds are sorted by size, color and appearance. For planting requires benign material - dense, elastic, large. For further selection of the best seeds, pour them with a mixture of table salt (1 teaspoon per 200 ml of water) and stir. Unusable pips will be at the top in a short time, and the quality ones will stay at the bottom.

Floated grains are drained simultaneously with the solution, and those below are washed with flowing water and dried, but not in the direct rays of the sun, but in the shade.

Pre-sowing disinfection is done by synthetic dressing, which is carried out in two ways - moisten the grains with liquid and then treat them with pesticides or dry the grains with pesticide powder. With the dry method, the seeds of grain sow a glass container and cover it with Granozan antiseptic powder, tightly cover it with a lid and shake vigorously for several minutes. Then the powder will lie flat on the seeds.

Thermal disinfection is most effective for cucumber seeds, when they were stored for less than six months. However, chemical and thermal disinfection methods destroy not only pathogenic, harmful, but also healthy microflora. Therefore, these methods need to be applied with caution, if there is no special need for this, then you need to take it up.

Hardening helps to make the seeds more resistant to negative circumstances. It is easier for enduring seedlings to undergo chilled soil and resist root rot. Seeds, which need to be hardened, are placed on a wet cloth, wrapped and spread on a glass plate, a small tray and removed in a cold space - a refrigerator or cellar for two days. Acceptable temperature is + 3ºС.

During this period, look to keep the fabric moist. Some time after this operation, the seedlings are processed in the feed solution or planted directly into the ground so that they do not dry out.

Sorted and disinfected in solutions of potassium permanganate or hydrogen peroxide, the seeds are now desirable to wet. When deciding to use any kind of stimulator, it is first necessary to wet the grains in water for 1–1.5 hours at room temperature. This is necessary so that the grains expand and then are not soaked with excess fluid with a stimulant. For this procedure it is necessary to take some water separated from the crane or rainwater. As a result, in order to strengthen, various biostimulants are introduced into the water, which contribute to the subsequent best growth of powerful and viable seedlings.

It is worthwhile to take a closer look at several growth stimulants:

• "Zircon" - This medicine is made on the basis of chicory acid, which is secreted by Echinacea. The tool is a powerful activator of the increase and development of the roots. To make a mixture based on "Zircon", you need to dissolve 2 drops of the substance in 300 ml of water. Grains should be soaked for 9–17 hours, at the end of time sprouts will appear with a strengthened immunity.

• "Epin" - It is a catalyst for the increase, consisting of plant components. This drug contributes to the seedlings in the shortest time to adapt to the external situation and to counteract the circumstances - lack of sun and rapid temperature changes, viral infections, fungi, depletion of ground cover.In "Epinay" cucumber seeds are soaked from 16 to 24 hours. It takes only 2 drops per half glass of water.

• Humate - this is potassium or sodium sulphate of humic acid, formed by the interaction of alkaline hydrolysis of brown coal deposits. Apply 0.01% of a mixture of potassium humate or sodium. Soaking time - from 10 to 12 hours.

For soaking you need a tray or an extensive saucer, cloth, water and seedlings. On the tray fit a layer of soaked gauze, then the kernels and again a layer of damp cloth. Sunflower seeds are covered with warm water, with a temperature of +29 to + 35ºС. Moisture should barely cover the fabric, the resulting structure is installed in a dark place. But at the same time, it is necessary to observe the level of moisture content all the time and not to allow it to dry out, otherwise the grains will disappear.

In order to maintain a stable level of humidity close to the gauze is to put foam rubber, sponge, cotton wool, which perfectly restrain the liquid. For stable humidity, the following method is used - the tray with the seed is placed in a plastic bag, but not completely closed, left slightly open. The process of soaking lasts about a day. But everything is due to how soon the grains are saturated with moisture. Sometimes 9-16 hours is enough.

Soaking in solutions of physical active elements "Zircon", "Appin", humates contains practical action. They activate an increase in the premature stage. It should not be treated with only one drug. The result of soaking in a solution with fertilizers shows itself when it is sown on poor soil and is practically not visible in the sowing in the planted seedlings. Soaking seedlings is possible in natural growth stimulants, such as aloe juice, honey, and wood ash.

To prepare the catalyst with aloe leaflets, gently cut the leaves, place in a dark bag and put in the freezer for 2 weeks. Under these circumstances, increased production of increasing hormones is launched in the leaves. Then with the help of gauze from the leaves you need to squeeze the juice and dilute it in equal portions with water. Aloe nectar awakens the sowing of seeds and boosts the immunity of cucumbers.

When working with leaves and aloe juice you should not use metal devices, for example, a knife or a bowl. In order to obtain a honey preparation, 1 teaspoon of honey is diluted in 200 ml of warm water and moistened for 5 or 6 hours. Honey is a carrier of antimicrobial qualities and activates the growth of plants.

Cucumber seeds are distinguished by their excellent germination. The rate of spitting at first-grade grains is 89%. The grains stored correctly, the duration - 5-7 years. The correct environment for the preservation of the seed used material is a cool, dryish room, where the temperature is approximately from +12 to + 15 ° C and conditional dampness not exceeding 60%. The pips can take out a freeze at a temperature just below zero.

But it is not necessary to leave the seeds in the frozen housing, a sudden drop in temperature adversely affects them. For the same reason, it is undesirable to keep the grain in very warm places, for example, near the ceilings in cabinets, mezzanines, near heating radiators. At temperatures above + 25ºС, they will save germination only for a year. The germination of grains takes place when the temperature is from +21 to + 27ºС, after 3 days sprouts approximately grow. Proper seed preparation for planting is a guarantee of significant yield.

It is necessary to consider the main requirements for the preparation of grains, which are necessary for the purpose of growing cucumbers in both closed and open ground.

• Seedlings of 2–3 years of age are chosen for this purpose; they usually have plants with a riotous ovary. If the seed keeps germinating for 8 years, vitality becomes significantly lower.Sowing of grains older than 6 years will give a small collection.
• Young one-year grains also do not provide a bountiful harvest, just as there will be a large number of barren flowers on the seedlings. Although with the necessary procedures one-year can provide a good collection. It is just necessary to keep a new young generation of grain in the warmest area, where there will be a constant temperature from +25 to + 35ºС and before sowing it is necessary to warm them for three hours at + 50ºС.

• It is necessary to select smooth, strong, high-grade grains for the purpose of sowing. Tiny, with the changed form and incorrectly tinted grains will not provide a normal collection. You can sort the grains in salt suspension for 10–15 minutes. The rejected seeds will float upwards, so it is easy to merge them with water, and those that stayed at the bottom at the bottom need to be rinsed in flowing water.
• In order to soak the cucumber grains, it is more correct to use distilled, thawed or wetted water. Chlorinated water from the tap is not very suitable for the purpose of soaking grains. Voditsa for soaking should not be cool, the optimum temperature for germination of grains - from +26 to + 28ºС.
• Before soaking, it is more correct to subject the processing of cucumber grains to a catalyst of magnification, it has been written about them before. For the quickest germination and war with rottenness, you can soak the grains in the fertilizer solution.

Along with the usual types of cucumbers, bags appear where the F1 mark is written. Often they think that these are genetically modified seeds and therefore do not acquire them. In fact, they stand out from the traditional. The inscription F1 denotes that it is a hybrid, eventually obtained by combining two different species.

As a rule, breeders keep secret information about varieties, forming unique products in a similar way, and do not want to be reproduced. The seeds, which are obtained as a result of such a crossing, are called the first generation hybrids or F1 (briefly from Italian Filli, guys).

Grains of hybrids of the first generation are bred with the goal of acquiring virtues that any of the crossed species has, the mixture of the most resistant and high yielding. The hybrids produced in the original generation are distinguished by extraordinary actual strength, rapid growth and great yield. Hybrids take the best properties from the two types of parents and are less exposed to diseases and attack of photoreactors.

They are easier to undergo negative atmospheric requirements and easily yield a crop, even in the low-yielding period. One of the significant disadvantages is that it is impossible to purchase seeds from mixed species. The problem is that in the future they do not germinate healthy offspring of cucumbers, because they are not capable of reproduction and in no way possess the features that their parents had.

Large harvest of cucumbers is guaranteed, if the selection of cucumber seeds to follow the following order:

• Be sure to give preference to first-generation hybrids (F1), although they are more expensive, but the costs will certainly come true; hybrids exceed the usual species according to yield, they confront better diseases, lack of moisture, parasites, frost and as a result, the taste properties are much better;
• on the packaging of seeds must be information about the manufacturer (the commercial symbol of the company, the exact name, postal address and mobile phone);
• It is necessary to choose domestic manufacturers, which have already proven themselves in the market for a long time; on the package there should be a note on suitability according to GOST;
• the seed bag must be hermetically sealed, it indicates the number of seeds, and not the weight, in addition, an idea of ​​the variety is attached, tips on caring for seedlings; if the packaging shows the expiration date, not the number of harvesting - these seeds should not be purchased;
• Last year’s seedlings should be chosen, as they give the best germination result.

To dunk cucumber seeds before planting, see the next video.