Features of the use of soda for cucumbers

To get a good crop of cucumbers, to protect them from diseases and pests, it is not at all necessary to use ingenious shop preparations for processing plants.It is enough to use an inexpensive and affordable means available in any kitchen - baking soda. Its use does not depend on which cucumbers need help - greenhouses or growing under the open sky.

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) has a mass of beneficial properties. People find its use in various spheres of life - from domestic use to solving complex medical problems. Present to garden works without the use of this tool can not any summer resident with experience. The use of this substance in the garden solves many problems. Under the influence of water with baking soda, the following occurs:

• cucumber seeds are disinfected;
• survival rate of seedlings increases;
• leaves of cucumber bushes remain in force for a long time and do not wither;
• plant immunity increases, in particular, resistance to fungal diseases, harmful insects and caterpillars;
• the time when new fruits appear increases;
• the number of cucumbers on the bush increases;
• their taste gets better;
• fruits ripen faster.

Sodium bicarbonate makes the soil less acidic, and this is exactly what cucumbers need for normal growth and rich long-term fruiting. At the same time, such an effective substance is completely harmless both for humans and for “necessary” insects.

Soda is used for cucumbers in different periods of development of the garden crop and for a variety of purposes. Feeding plants with sodium bicarbonate will result in a large yield. It is only necessary to know the measure and not to use a concentrated solution of this substance, otherwise the cucumber bushes can simply be burned. First, fertilizing should be applied to ensure the formation of ovaries, and then to make the period of fruiting longer.

Also, soda solutions, prepared using a number of other components, are an indispensable tool in the fight against pests and various diseases that are susceptible to plants. Often the problem of the garden and cucumber beds are ants, usually adjacent to the aphids, which they "gather in the herds and graze." Therefore, the appearance of hardworking insects next to cucumbers requires immediate measures to expel pests. And soda, which reacts with formic acid, is the best remedy here. You do not even have to specially prepare soda to deal with uninvited guests. Sodium bicarbonate is simply sprinkled over the places where the ants have settled.

Their recipes using soda exist for the manufacture of anti-aphids. These small bugs arrange "flats" on the underside of the leaves and the tips of the shoots. They suck the juice from cucumber vines. Around the bites left by insects, yellowness is formed - a sign of the death of plant tissue. These places lose their protection and turn into "open doors" for the penetration of all kinds of viruses. Plants are gradually losing strength.

In 10 liters of water it is enough to dissolve only 50 grams of soda powder, add a handful of ash infused in water for several days, laundry soap - and the weapon against the "occupants" is ready. If their number exceeds the limit, the treatment with such a composition can be carried out in 2-3 days, closely observing the reaction of cucumbers - if the medicine does not turn out to be more harmful than pests. Cucumbers are treated with a similar composition (without wood ash), and if there is a white coating on the leaves - powdery mildew. This fungus is able to destroy all the tops, but if you use soda immediately, you will not have to worry about the fate of the harvest.

In addition to the above method against this scourge, use a combination of 10 grams of iodine, 2 tablespoons of soda and 3 liters of water with the addition of potassium permanganate (you need to give the liquid a pink tint). Instead of potassium permanganate, you can take 100 grams of soap, crushed on a grater, and increase the amount of water to 5 liters. With weekly use of such compounds from the disease can get rid of after 3-4 sprays. But keep in mind that you can not spend more than 6 such procedures in a row.

If time was lost, and mealy dew captured large areas of cucumber culture, 2 teaspoons of any liquid detergent, aspirin powder obtained from 2 tablets and 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil are added to 2 tablespoons of soda. All this is dissolved in a 10-liter bucket of water and sprayed once a week until the healthy appearance of the cucumbers.

Sometimes cucumber bushes are affected by downy mealy dew, in a scientific way - peronosporosis. This infection spreads mainly on the leaves of cucumbers. They form angular yellow spots, and on the lower side - whitish or grayish bloom. Normal photosynthesis becomes impossible. If you run this process, cucumbers can die in just a week. At the beginning of the attack of downy mildew, you can also use recipes with soda and laundry soap. However, if the disease has become widespread, then copper sulphate will have to be added to the soda solution, treating the plants with this compound every 7 days.

When summer is given raw and cold, the leaves and tops are often affected by gray rot, which can in principle deprive the owners of the crop - cucumbers with their tender shoots are especially sensitive to the attacks of this fungus. Here too, soda comes to the rescue. 80 grams of powder is taken for 4 liters of water. Spray this solution on greenhouse bushes every 2 days until rotting leaves just the memories. In dry and hot weather, cucumbers can attack spider mites. Traces of his presence - the web on the leaves, which are beginning to turn yellow, and the general signs of slowing plant growth. Here will rescue a solution of 80 grams of soda per 5 liters of water. They need to regularly spray cucumbers until they can survive from the bed of the parasite.

Sometimes it is not possible to accurately determine the cause of plant disease. They just turn yellow leaves. To prevent further development of the problem, it is better to add a little soda powder (at least a tablespoon) to the watering can. You need to water at the root every other day.

There are a number of rules that should be followed when preparing a soda solution:

• soda should not be diluted in a container made of polyvinyl chloride and polystyrene;
• aluminum dishes for the solution is also not suitable, as well as any contact with metal surfaces;
• for the manufacture of treatment based on soda need to use clean distilled water;
• shelf life of the solution - 3 hours;
• for watering is to use water at room temperature;
• if the liquid heats up above 55 degrees, the soda will lose its beneficial qualities;
• when preparing solutions for one purpose or another, for example, for fertilizer or treatment against a fungus, one should strictly follow the recipe.

To properly measure one or another amount of soda, as well as other components of useful mixtures, you can use a teaspoon or tablespoon. For example, a teaspoon contains 12 grams of soda with a slide and 7 without a slide. In a tablespoon fit 22 grams of soda without a slide and 28 grams with a slide.

It is possible to process cucumbers only in two ways - to spray or water.Spraying on open ground is carried out only in the absence of wind and when there is no direct exposure to the sun - on a gloomy cloudy day or in the morning (evening) time. In the greenhouse, such restrictions are not taken into account. Under the influence of sunlight, water droplets will act like a magnifying glass, heating the foliage. With this effect, it can get burned. When processing plants need to use a spray. Then the effectiveness of the procedures will really be noticeable. It should be borne in mind that the impact of soda will stop after a heavy rain or the first watering with ordinary water from a hose.

Watering with soda should also be carried out wisely. Often do not recommend it. The optimal break between treatments is a week. Water the plants so that the liquid falls strictly under the root around the stem. The temperature of the water with soda powder dissolved in it should be around 25-30 degrees Celsius. If it is hot in the yard, one should refrain from such treatment. If there are no special problems with cucumber bushes, you can feed them 3 times over the summer. Many do this for the first time at the beginning and at the end of July, and then in the middle of August. Due to this, cucumber lashes do not dry out for a long time, and new cucumbers appear until the coldest days.

You can apply another approach - to water a couple of weeks after the bushes are determined “for permanent residence”, and then another 3 weeks later. After this process every 10 days, if necessary.

Despite all the positive qualities of soda, its use may not be so harmless for cucumbers. The excess of this substance in the soil, arising from the unjustifiably frequent use of it in solutions or independently (as in the cases of fighting ants), lengthens the period of fruit ripening. In addition, cucumbers are curled from the increased sodium content in the land. Instead of direct on the garden you can find curled fruit. Not only do they look ugly, they are also uncomfortable using them in the kitchen. And the problem of such deformed cucumbers is that they could not assimilate potassium.

On the use of baking soda in the garden, see the following video.