When to grow cucumber seedlings at home

Cucumbers are one of the most popular vegetable crops. And it seems like an unpretentious plant, simple, but no, and to grow it you need to know a few secrets. Just considering them, you get healthy, seasoned seedlings, and then - a rich harvest of crispy, sweet cucumbers. So, read on about growing cucumber seedlings at home.

Features of growing seedlings

Cucumbers can be successfully sown in open ground, but still the highest and earlier harvest can be achieved if ready-made seedlings are planted in the soil. Moreover, seedlings can be grown in different ways, which we will discuss below in the article. The main principles are correct preparation of seeds, soil and good care.

Seed preparation

Purchased seeds are pre-processed well, so they are easy to prepare for sowing. It's another matter if the gardener decided to reproduce in the beds the same variety of cucumbers that grew with him in the previous year.

Here it is already more difficult with the preparation of seeds: they need to be disinfected by soaking in a solution of potassium permanganate (1%) in order to protect future seedlings from diseases. Further steps will be the same for both your own and purchased material.

Selection

Seed preparation begins with the selection of empty seeds. To do this, carry out the following procedure: dissolve 1 teaspoon of salt in a glass of water, dip the seeds in this solution: good seeds will sink to the bottom, and hollow ones will float.

Hardening

First place the moistened and swollen seeds in the refrigerator for 10 hours, then warm them up by the battery for 6-8 hours: this increases their endurance.

Soak

In order for the seeds to germinate earlier, they need to be soaked. To do this, spread the seeds on the fabric, cover it with it, then immerse the fabric in water. It is necessary that the fabric remains moist, but the seeds do not float in the water. Germination of seeds ends their preparation.

Note! At home, the easiest way to germinate seeds is three years ago.Germination is facilitated by a procedure called bubbling, when a bag of seeds is first placed in the aquarium and the compressor is turned on, and then soaked.

Sowing dates

Sowing times vary by region. In the southern regions of the Russian Federation, sowing of cucumbers for seedlings begins in April, in more northern parts of Russia - in May. Seedlings are planted in open ground after 3-4 weeks, when the ground warms up to 18 ° C.

Soil selection

It is better to buy soil for seedlings in the store, but you can prepare it yourself. The composition is as follows:

• sod land - 40%;
• low-lying peat - 40%;
• sawdust - 10%;
• manure -10%.

Another version of the composition:

• rotted manure - 60%;
• sod land - 30%;
• sand - 10%.

Fertilizers must first be applied to the soil. For 5 liters of soil, a mixture of:

• superphosphate - 7 g;
• potassium sulfate - 4 g;
• urea - 3 g;
• magnesium sulfate - 1 g.

Landing

Seeds pre-soaked in a damp cloth germinate rather quickly. As a rule, after 3 days you can already see a sprout half a centimeter long. This is enough to start planting seeds for seedlings. It is better to plant germinated seeds in a container with a diameter of about 7 cm. The most popular and traditional method is planting in plastic cups.

Beforehand, a hole must be made in each cup to drain excess water. Then pour drainage on the bottom, then fill the glass with prepared soil, leaving a fifth empty. As the sprouts mature, the earth will have to be filled up a little.

Make a 2 mm depression in the ground with your finger and place the seeds in them, then sprinkle with soil on top. This completes the sowing of cucumber seeds for seedlings.

After, they need to be watered and covered with polyethylene. This will create a greenhouse effect. Keep the cups under the plastic for 3 days at a temperature of about 25 ° C. As soon as the cotyledons open, lower the temperature by 5 ° C and ensure proper care.

Cucumber seedling care

The right temperature, proper lighting and proper watering are 3 basic principles on which good care of seedlings at home is based.

Temperature

Create the required temperature regime for the cucumber seedlings within 20-23 ° C. If the temperature values ​​are slightly higher, then spray the seedlings more often, and ventilate the room during the day. If the temperature is below normal, then the phytolamp will save the situation.

They will also help ensure a good level of illumination. With a lack of light at home, the seedlings are strongly stretched, then it is inconvenient to plant, you have to do this only under a slope, while the survival rate decreases. That is why it is so important to have a lot of light.

In cloudy weather, you can use a 60-watt lamp for additional lighting, but on a sunny day, there should be enough natural light.

Watering

It is necessary to water the seedlings correctly, only with warm water, striving for its temperature to be about 25 ° C. The soil must always remain moist, while the seedlings must not be poured, otherwise the roots will rot and it will die.

Advice from experienced gardeners: Take a small lump of soil, roll a ball out of it with your fingers. If it turns out to be a ball - good moisture, if the soil crumbles, there is not enough moisture, but if it spreads, it is excess moisture.

Fertilizer

As the sprouts mature, you should pour the earth into the cups. It is recommended to do this 2 times after the sprout is noticeably extended. In addition, little plants need feeding, without which care for seedlings is unthinkable.

Fertilize seedlings 2-3 times. The very first feeding is introduced when the first leaf appears. If a second leaf appears, it's time for secondary fertilization. The third time the cucumber seedlings are fed 12-15 days after the second fertilization.

Finished fertilizers are sold in specialized stores, but they can be prepared at home.

Preparation of the composition:

• liquid - 5 l;
• bird droppings - 100 g;
• superphosphates - 7 g;
• ammonium nitrate - 3 g;
• potassium sulfate - 4 g.

This composition is ideal for the first feeding. For subsequent applications, the concentration of the listed components is doubled.

Alternative cultivation methods

Inventive gardeners have developed many other ways to grow cucumber seedlings. At the same time, the costs of funds and efforts will be minimal.

Peat tablets

You can grow seedlings at home not only in plastic cups, but also in peat tablets. Recently, this method has become widespread.

For cucumber seedlings, tablets with a thickness of 5-8 mm are suitable. Water them and, after waiting for swelling, plant seeds in them. It is best to place the tablets in a plastic container at a minimum distance from each other.

Sawdust

To plant seedlings in sawdust, you will need a container, a plastic bottle cut lengthwise, or a shallow flower pot. Lay polyethylene at the bottom, and pour sawdust on it, previously scalded with boiling water. The layer thickness should be 6 cm.

Make grooves in the sawdust at a distance of 5 cm from each other. Place the seeds in them every 2-3 cm. Water the sawdust periodically to keep them moist. Feed the seedlings with a mullein diluted with water 1:10. After 2-3 weeks, transplant the seedlings into the ground.

Seedlings "in swaddling clothes"

Cellophane, cut into squares, acts as a diaper. Pour a small amount of soil into the upper left part. Place the seeds on it. Fold the bottom of the film up.

Then fold the left edge and roll the film into a roll. This "swaddling" ends with the fastening of the film with a thin elastic band. Moisten the substrate in the diapers a little and place the rolls in a plastic container, leaving no distance between them. Seedling rolls are easy to care for.

Landless way

This will require toilet paper and polyethylene. On pieces of polyethylene cut to the width of the paper, the seedlings are laid in 2 layers and well moistened with a spray bottle. Seeds are laid out along the top edge at a distance of 4 cm from each other.

From above they are covered with another layer of toilet paper. Then everything is rolled into rolls, which are fixed with elastic bands. The rolls are placed in a container filled with water. Its level should be a maximum of 2 cm.

Growing seedlings in shell

This method is not much different from growing seedlings in plastic cups, but it has one important advantage: before planting, you will not need to remove the seedlings from the shell, you just need to split it. True, this must be done carefully, without damaging the roots.

So, growing cucumber seedlings at home is within the power of everyone. However, the result will be only if the seed is properly prepared and the sowing is carried out at the right time.

After that, it remains only to carefully take care of her. Grow cucumber seedlings in traditional and creative ways. The main thing is to get a wonderful harvest, which every seed will thank you for good care.

Cucumbers are thermophilic plants, but they are most popular not in the south, but in the central regions of our country, where even cucumber festivals are held at the height of summer. A Russian person cannot be deprived of this vegetable, it is one of our Russian "brands". Most often, cucumbers are grown by sowing seeds directly in the garden, but to get early production, they often sow seeds and to get seedlings at home.

Is it necessary to plant cucumbers through seedlings

Cucumbers are planted practically throughout the entire territory of our country: somewhere in the open ground, somewhere in greenhouses, and in the north - only in heated greenhouses. Once upon a time, cucumbers were eaten only in summer. In the last Soviet years, long greenhouse cucumbers began to be sold by the Day of the Soviet Army, but now cucumbers of various varieties can be bought almost all year round.Huge greenhouses have been built for their cultivation in large agricultural enterprises. If we talk about Russian summer residents, they mainly sow cucumbers only in the spring, but they try to do it early in order to get the first crispy products when the body has not yet been spoiled by summer vitamins.

Once upon a time in the spring it was good luck to buy such long cucumbers: no others were offered

In most of our country, there is no need for mandatory sowing of cucumber seeds for seedlings: in many varieties and hybrids, the first cucumbers ripen within 33–38 days after germination, and even by sowing seeds in a garden at the beginning of summer, you can grow so many cucumbers that will be enough eat and preserve. But if you want to get the products early, at the very beginning of summer, and there are no greenhouses in the country, then it makes sense to prepare seedlings. It is not difficult to do this in a city apartment, because, unlike, for example, cabbage seedlings, cucumber seedlings do not require low temperatures, and room conditions are perfect for it. And seedlings grow quickly, does not require much time. It also does not require a lot of space on the windowsill, because to get early products, it is enough to plant no more than a dozen copies.

When to sow: lunar calendar 2018

In central Russia, it is advisable to plant cucumbers in a garden bed no earlier than the end of spring (in a greenhouse, of course, earlier, depending on its quality). And since about a month should pass from the moment of sowing seeds to planting seedlings, the best time for sowing seeds falls in the third decade of April. These terms are almost independent of the variety of cucumbers: they all grow at approximately the same rate, and all varieties and hybrids are planted and sown at almost the same time.

However, in recent years, many gardeners and gardeners have compared the dates of their summer cottages with the phases of movement of the heavenly bodies, and many printed and electronic publications systematically publish various lunar calendars, in which the most favorable and prohibited dates for sowing or planting certain crops, caring for them, harvesting. It is not always correct to use such calendars, since analysis shows that different publishers indicate completely different dates in them for the same case. Sometimes those days, which in one newspaper are called the best for sowing, in another are recognized as prohibited. Therefore, those who want to do everything "as the Moon orders" must go through many sources, analyze them and make the right decision for themselves.

It is believed that sowing cucumbers should be done during the growing moon, closer to the days of the new moon. At this time, growth processes are activated, which has a good effect not only on the germination of seeds, but also on obtaining a future harvest. Based on this, many sources call the most favorable dates in 2018:

• 5-9, 20-24 April;
• May 4-9, 19-23.

At the same time, it is categorically not advised to sow cucumbers on April 15-17, 29 and 30, as well as on May 14-16 and 28-30.

It is believed that cucumbers should be sown during the growing moon.

However, in other publications the given terms are shifted by several days in one direction or another. Careful analysis allows us to conclude that it makes little sense for a working person to focus on such calendars, otherwise you can simply skip all sowing dates and be left without a crop. Yes, probably, there is something in the influence of celestial bodies on the earth's flora, and the phases of the moon do in some way affect the well-being of plants. But, most likely, not enough to fanatically follow the instructions of astrologers. After all, no one will help us better than we will do it ourselves!

In our next article, you will learn about the features of growing healthy bell pepper seedlings:

Preliminary preparation

For sowing cucumber seeds for seedlings, you need to prepare: the seeds themselves, nutrient soil and containers in which we will place this soil. As for the containers, everything is absolutely clear here: unlike many vegetables, cucumber seedlings should be grown exclusively in individual cups! No boxes are suitable in this matter: cucumbers do not tolerate transplants, a dive operation is excluded for them. Moreover, the design of the cups should be such that seedlings can be removed from them with minimal damage to the root system. Best of all - no damage at all, and this is possible only when using peat pots or tablets. In addition, containers for cucumber seedlings should be quite large: with a volume of 300 ml, or better - about half a liter: the seedlings grow very quickly.

Seed preparation

Cucumbers are good because you don't have to buy their seeds every year: they are stored for a very long time, sometimes up to 8 years. Moreover, fresh seeds are worse than those that have been in place for two or three years. For sowing, it is preferable to use two-, three-, four-year-old seeds. On the plants grown from them, female flowers appear earlier - which means that they begin to bear fruit faster. Of course, this does not apply to those hybrids in which almost all flowers are female.

As for the seeds from their cucumbers, the situation here is getting more complicated every year. This is simply due to the invasion of a huge number of new hybrids (F1). Honestly, I can't even believe that they are all really new, the variety of bags in seed shops is so great! Sometimes it seems: what else can you invent new in a cucumber? But hybrids are much more expensive than good old seeds! Of course, their harvest is usually higher, and their resistance to unfavorable conditions and pests is more reliable ... But our grandmothers always planted proven varieties of cucumbers and never remained without a harvest. Sometimes we also “sin” with this, and we take seeds from our own fruits.

By the way: among the usual triangular fruits (if you look closely, the edges are clearly visible in yellowed, fully ripe cucumbers: they are, in fact, not entirely cylindrical) sometimes there are tetrahedral specimens. They have better seeds.

However, when more and more hybrids are planted around, it becomes dangerous to take seeds from their own varieties: everything is pollinated, and what will ultimately turn out is not known in advance. Therefore, you have to gradually abandon the procurement of cucumber seeds from your garden and use the store. And since the real date of their collection is unknown, even they should be kept in the nightstand for a year. In general, the main stages of seed preparation are as follows (but not all of them are required):

1. Calibration.
2. Warming up dry seeds.
3. Disinfection.
4. Swelling in water.
5. Hardening.
6. Germination.

Seed calibration can be done manually: cucumber seeds are quite large and empty by touch. It is easier, of course, to dip them in a solution of table salt (dessert spoon in a glass of water), shake and wait a few minutes. The unfit will not drown.

If we sow newly purchased seeds, before sowing they need to be warmed up by a heating battery for a couple of days. This reduces the amount of wasteland.

The seeds of cucumbers are quite large, easy to handle

Is seed disinfection obligatory? It is not required for seeds from well-known companies bought in a serious store. It is better to disinfect your own seeds or from "Aunt Masha" first and only then engage in their germination or sowing. The simplest thing is to hold them for 15–20 minutes in a strong solution of potassium permanganate. It is not necessary to prepare strictly a 1% solution, as most sources advise! Well, where can you get such an accurate scale at home? The solution should be dark purple in color. Just wait until all the crystals of potassium permanganate dissolve, dissolution is slow! After disinfection, the seeds should be rinsed well with clean water.

Some gardeners then soak the seeds in fertilizer solutions (nitrophoska, urea, ash, etc.). A useful measure, but not required.

After disinfection, it is useful to harden. This operation is especially important if planting seedlings in open ground is planned for a risky period (when cold snaps are still possible). For planting in a greenhouse, it makes no sense to harden the seeds. Do not harden the seeds of the hybrids either. Hardening is simply keeping the wet seeds in a rag under refrigerated conditions. You need to keep them there from 18 to 24 hours.

Before sowing, the seeds are kept in clean warm water (from 20 to 30 ° C) for about a day (until they swell). Then they are slightly dried so that they do not stick together during sowing. Seeds are germinated at the same temperature, preferably in wet sawdust, sand or moss. Germination is completed when a small root is formed - half the length of the seed.

If, during germination, they managed to grow such long roots as in the photo, it will already be difficult to sow them: you can break off

Can you do none of the above? Can! The seeds will sprout even when dry sowing. Only a little later. But there is enough time in the spring, there is no need to rush anywhere? Therefore, we select from the described steps only those that are strictly necessary in each specific situation.

Soil preparation

For growing seedlings, a cucumber requires a light, acid-neutral, moisture- and air-permeable soil. It should be very nutritious, since a cucumber has to live in it for no more than a month, the seedlings grow very quickly, you may not have time with top dressing. And it's better to do without them altogether. If the finished soil is bought in a store, it should be specifically for cucumbers and not very cheap: any land from an unknown manufacturer may not be nutritious enough. It is not necessary to disinfect the purchased soil, but if it was purchased in winter, it is better to keep it in the cold for several days.

For self-preparation of the nutrient mixture, you need to mix turf soil, good compost, peat and sand. Compost is taken in two parts, the rest of the components - one at a time. Of course, all the components are not always at hand, options are possible: someone adds sawdust, someone replaces sand with perlite, etc. But only if the soil is taken directly from the garden, it must be disinfected: calcined in the oven (oh, how it smells wonderful in the kitchen!) or spill it with a pink solution of potassium permanganate. If there is no humus at all, you will have to add a complex mineral fertilizer (for example, up to 50 g of azofoska per bucket of mixture). Ordinary wood ash is very good in a mixture for cucumbers (a glass on a bucket of soil).

Sometimes the prepared soil mixture is treated with complex fungicides: Fitosporin, Fitoverm, etc. All this, of course, is good, but cucumbers are expensive! If there is a danger that harmful microorganisms have not been completely destroyed in the calcined earth, and there was no potassium permanganate in the house, it will be cheaper to shed the earth with a blue solution of copper sulfate. The prepared soil in the stage of normal humidity should be poured into cups, placing a centimeter layer of drainage on the bottom, and let it settle for a day and mature.

How to grow cucumber seedlings at home: technology and features

Sowing seeds in cups is not difficult. Seeds are placed in 2 pieces at a depth of about 1.5 cm, after the emergence of shoots, only one of them is left in the cup (for expensive prepared seeds this is an unnecessary luxury, you can do it one at a time). The seeds are sprinkled with soil and the crops are sprayed with a spray bottle. Place the cups in a tray, cover with glass or transparent film and transfer to a warm place (preferably 25–28 ° C). The emergence of seedlings can be expected in 5–8 days, sometimes a little earlier.

Growing seedlings on a windowsill

The best place for seedlings is a warm windowsill lit by the sun.Before the emergence of seedlings, they do nothing with the crops, only sometimes they raise the glass to slightly ventilate, and if necessary, spray the soil with water. When mass shoots appear, the glass must be removed, and the temperature must be lowered in some way: during the first week, it should be kept around 18 ° C during the day, and several degrees lower at night. Then the optimum temperature is about 24 ° C during the day and 18 ° C at night.

In this case, the illumination of the seedlings in the daytime should be as possible and uniform as possible. With insufficient lighting, the seedlings quickly stretch out, poorly absorb nutrients, and in the end they may simply die. Therefore, if there is a lack of sunlight, it is necessary to provide additional lighting with fluorescent lamps or diode lamps.

Seedlings need space, when grown at home, the plants should not touch each other, therefore, the cups must be rearranged from time to time. The rest of the stages in the care of seedlings are ordinary, and they boil down to watering and hardening before planting in the ground. Top dressing is required only if a poor soil mixture is used.

Often not only seedlings are grown on the windowsill, even small yields of cucumbers are obtained

Watering can only be carried out with warm water (about 25 ° C). In no case should it be poured, the soil should always be slightly moist: excess water quickly leads to rotting of the root system. After watering, it is advisable to lightly add dry, clean sand to the roots. Top dressing is needed only if something is clearly wrong with the seedlings: the growth has stopped, the leaves have turned yellow or began to curl, etc. there was not enough power.

It is usually enough to pour an ash infusion or a mixture of microelements (containing boron) on the cucumbers. And sometimes it is better to carry out foliar feeding: spraying the leaves with a weak solution of complex fertilizer (according to the instructions on the package). Only the solution should really be weak, so as not to burn the leaf apparatus. After any type of feeding, the seedlings must be well watered, and the soil must be slightly mulched.

The advantages of growing seedlings at home are that they are always in sight, it is easy to adjust the conditions. Disadvantages appear in the case of insufficient lighting of the window sill, but this is fixable: you just need to correctly install the additional lighting.

When there is not enough light, you have to equip the backlight: it is best to use special phytolamps

Growing seedlings in a greenhouse

When growing a dozen plants, there is nothing more convenient than a home windowsill, but if a large number of cucumbers are to be planted, it makes sense to think about using a greenhouse. Especially if there is a modern polycarbonate greenhouse, in which it is easy to maintain the required temperature regime. In the event of a sudden drop in air temperature below the extreme limit, you can cover the seedlings inside the greenhouse with non-woven material, but usually this is not necessary.

Of course, in the greenhouse, the seedlings need constant care, so greenhouse cultivation is suitable only for those gardeners who can visit their farm every day. If the further cultivation of cucumbers is supposed to be in the greenhouse, the seeds are sown around April 20, and in mid-May the cucumbers are planted in a permanent place. If the further habitat is open ground, then the timing of sowing seeds remains the same as in the conditions of the apartment.

Since a sufficient area can be allocated to seedlings in the greenhouse, you can do without seedling cups by sowing seeds in a small bed. But it is necessary to sow so that the cucumbers grow freely, the roots of neighboring plants do not intertwine, and during transplantation, each specimen could be easily removed from the garden bed with a large clod of earth without disturbing the root system.

When growing in a greenhouse, one should try to maintain the same temperature regime as at home: immediately after the emergence of seedlings, lower the temperature somewhat, and in the future, prevent it from dropping below 20 ° C during the day and 14 ° C at night. Periodically, the greenhouse must be ventilated to prevent the formation of condensation on the surfaces. In the phase of two true leaves, you can feed the cucumbers with a weak solution of fertilizers; in the greenhouse, no one bothers to use mullein infusion for this. It is advisable to water the seedlings in the morning.

It makes sense to use a greenhouse when growing a large number of seedlings.

Growing seedlings in a greenhouse has advantages over an apartment one if it is possible to regularly visit the greenhouse: then the obvious advantages are the presence of large sown areas. The disadvantages of an unheated greenhouse can affect in case of a sudden sharp cold snap, when even covering with insulating material may not help. But such cases are rare.

Hardening of seedlings and planting them in open ground

Seedlings of cucumbers in a temporary place live no more than a month. From this time, the first week is kept at a low temperature, the second - in comfortable conditions, and then they begin to accustom her to the harsh life in the beds. Both at home and in the greenhouse for a while, cucumbers are given “shakes”, lowering the temperature or arranging small ventilation, but without serious drafts. For a week of transplanting to the garden, these activities should already become more stringent.

In an apartment, they first take out the cups with seedlings on the balcony for 15–20 minutes, then the time is gradually increased. In the greenhouse, windows or doors are opened. However, at the same time, at first, they try not to lower the daytime temperature below 17 ° C. By planting on the garden bed, the seedlings should be in the fresh air for up to half of the daytime.

A high-quality seedling of cucumbers, ready for life in the garden, should have 4–5 strong large dark green leaves on a powerful but short main shoot. It is very good if by this time she has already had antennae and quite excellent if several buds have arisen.

With flowering seedlings, there can be problems during transplantation, therefore, it is not worth bringing the matter further than before budding.

Before transplanting, the soil in the cups must be abundantly moistened. Seedlings carefully removed from the cups are planted every 30–40 cm. A more frequent arrangement is possible only for some varieties characterized by low growth vigor. It makes no sense to remind that the garden bed must be prepared long before planting and abundantly filled with fertilizers, primarily organic. In each hole dug with a scoop, it makes sense to add local fertilizers in the form of a glass of wood ash, mixing them with the soil and watering well with warm water. It is not necessary to deeply deepen the plants: it is optimal to plant cucumbers 2-3 cm deeper than they grew in cups.

Cucumber seedlings planted in a garden are well watered with warm water and mulched with a thin layer of humus or at least dry soil.

Variants of containers for sowing seeds for seedlings

As mentioned above, the use of common boxes for growing cucumber seedlings is excluded. The practice of making homemade containers from plastic wrap is also a thing of the past. If there are no special containers for seedlings, for a year you can accumulate a sufficient number of various plastic cups from under the products: sour cream, mayonnaise, cottage cheese, etc. half liter.

Sowing seeds in cups

I would like to warn against the use of flimsy cups, the material of which is very thin. It is advisable to use only those vessels that, when handling them, almost do not change their shape, otherwise the roots of cucumbers will be easily injured when transferring seedlings from place to place and removing them during transplantation.

In any case, you need to have such containers that would allow you to easily and painlessly extract plants with a clod of earth from them. The most suitable are special cups or pots with a retractable bottom, which is pushed out of the cup along with the plant by pressing the finger.

One press of your finger - and the bottom, together with the plant, moves out of the pot

There is an opinion that when planting seedlings, it makes no sense to get rid of the container, you can only deprive it of the bottom, and the root system of cucumbers will then begin to penetrate into the lower layers of the soil. The cup itself can be removed after harvesting. The opinion is very correct, if the cups are of sufficient width. Such a measure is extremely useful in the fight against a terrible pest - a bear. When the author of these lines had a plot on the shore of a pond and a bear could dig up as much as he wanted at any time, he had to specially use protection, planting each plant (cucumber, tomato, cabbage, etc.) in a tin can from under canned food with remote bottom. It helped.

Sowing seeds in peat pots

Peat pots were incredibly popular 10-15 years ago, but now they are used somewhat less often, since it was believed that their usefulness was greatly exaggerated. However, the convenience of the cups is undeniable: after all, it is not necessary to extract the seedlings from them, they are buried together with the cup, and the roots easily penetrate through the walls. Therefore, it is recommended to use them mainly for plants that do not tolerate transplanting well; those are cucumbers. Peat seedling pots come in a variety of sizes.

For the manufacture of peat pots, peat and pressed cardboard are used; these materials in the summer in the garden decompose almost without residue. However, different manufacturers produce pots with different wall thicknesses. Very thin ones are inconvenient because their handling is difficult: they easily become limp and even torn. The roots of plants are not always able to penetrate through the thickest walls. For seedlings of cucumbers, pots with walls of medium thickness are needed; their size should also be medium.

Cucumber seedling pots should not be too small

Some gardeners soak peat pots in fertilizer solutions before use. To be honest, such a procedure seems clearly redundant. But it is imperative to choose a good strong box for them, where they will stand firmly. It is advisable to make several holes in the bottom to drain obviously excess water. Water will leave through the walls, but it will take some time, and the walls will be soaked in vain. The soil is poured into the pots, not reaching about 1 cm to the top.

Sowing seeds and caring for seedlings in pots do not have any significant features. Perhaps only watering is required a little more often than when using plastic containers. With the right choice of pots and their use, the number of their advantages, which was mentioned above, significantly exceeds the number of conditional disadvantages.

Using peat tablets

Cucumber seedlings can be grown in peat tablets in the largest size options. Peat tablets are very convenient for growing seedlings of various plants. They are made from pressed peat with the addition of micronutrient fertilizers, so top dressing, as a rule, is not needed. Before use, the tablets are placed in any convenient waterproof box and filled with water until they swell completely. On one side of the tablet there is a small indentation for unfolding the seeds.

One seed is introduced into the grooves, after which they are buried in the peat with a stick or toothpick to a depth of about 1 cm. The seedlings are watered from below: water poured into the bottom of the box is itself absorbed into the peat in the required dose. If the size of the tablet is chosen correctly, all the care of the seedlings consists of periodic watering and monitoring the temperature.Seedlings are planted in the garden along with a tablet, just like peat pots.

Peat tablets swell greatly from water and turn into excellent containers for seedlings

The use of peat tablets is extremely convenient, there is only one drawback: a decent cost. But if you need to grow only a dozen copies of cucumber seedlings, you should not think about the shortcomings: the advantages of the tablets will more than block them.

Peat tablets are also used for growing cabbage seedlings:

Video: cucumber seedlings in peat tablets

Using eggshells

The inventive mind of a Russian person comes up with a variety of options for growing seedlings: plastic bottles, toilet paper, egg cells, etc. Some gardeners grow seedlings of cucumbers in eggshells. They do it like this:

1. Peel the boiled egg carefully to leave most of the shell intact.
2. Pierce 1-2 holes for drainage in the whole end with a needle.
3. Put the soil in the shell.
4. Place the shell in the cell.
5. Moisten the soil by spraying.
6. The seed is planted at a shallow depth.
7. Spray again.

Caring for seedlings in their shells is no different from caring for cups. It is planted in the garden bed together with the shell, crushing the footprint so that the roots can more easily reach the soil. The advantages of such a container seem rather dubious and consist, perhaps, only in cost savings and in the fact that the shell serves as a fertilizer. An obvious disadvantage is the size of such a "container": it is difficult to grow cucumber seedlings in it to marketable condition.

It is convenient to use the shell, only it is too small for a cucumber

Video: growing seedlings in eggshell

Some helpful tips

Subject to all the rules of preparation for sowing and correct agricultural technology, the seedlings of cucumbers grow strong and do not cause big problems for the gardener. But if something was done with the marriage, options are possible, sometimes ending in the complete death of the seedlings.

What to do if seedlings stretch out

During the cultivation of seedlings, it is necessary to clearly withstand the temperature, light and humidity conditions. Pulling seedlings almost unambiguously indicates that the temperature was exceeded, there was not enough light, and the watering was not done according to the rules. The temperature after the appearance of the very first shoots must be necessarily reduced, and the illumination increased.

Sometimes cleaning the windows is enough to increase the illumination!

You should not sow cucumbers too early when the daylight hours are short: these are unnecessary problems that are not worth the time and effort spent on solving them.

In healthy seedlings, the distance from the soil to the cotyledonous leaves a week after germination should not be more than 5 cm. It is difficult to save the clearly elongated seedlings, it is better to repeat the sowing. If the problem has not gone deep, you can try to increase the illumination and lower the temperature, and add some clean soil to the roots.

It is unlikely that such seedlings will be able to be saved

At an older age, stretching rarely happens and only because of a lack of space: growing seedlings must be periodically moved away from each other. Sometimes the excess nitrogen in the soil is also to blame for stretching the seedlings.

What to do if seedlings turn yellow

Yellowing of leaves can signal various problems, up to a serious illness. But in the case of seedlings, this is rare: it is unlikely that she managed to catch sores somewhere in a short time. Most often this happens due to poorly prepared soil, which lacks nitrogen fertilizers. In this case, watering with a urea solution and lightly spraying it over the leaves can save the plants. But yellowness can appear not only from a lack of nitrogen, but from an incorrect overall balance of nutrients in the soil. Here, nothing can be done without a competent analysis, it is better to take a new high-quality soil and, if not too late, repeat the sowing.

Slight yellowing of seedlings can be eliminated, but in the photo there is already a threatening situation

The leaves can turn yellow from too low temperatures: you should check if the plants are cold, especially at night. Lack of light can also affect the color of the leaves, but at the same time, first of all, the seedlings begin to stretch. But too bright spring sun can, on the contrary, burn part of the foliage, and this also needs to be monitored. Other causes of yellowing of leaves are as varied as they are rare, they are the topic of a separate, very detailed discussion.

What to do if pests appear

The main pests of cucumbers are: melon aphids, ants, root nematodes, whiteflies, spider mites, etc., the list is very wide, but at the seedling stage most of them cannot harm plants, especially at home. Pests can only get in with the soil, but with proper preparation, this is impossible.

In particular, miniature collembola worms, which are six-legged creatures several millimeters long, can get into the soil. They eat small roots of seedlings, the risk increases with waterlogging. If they are really turned on, you can try drugs for soil pests, for example, Thunder-2, or universal insecticides (Aktaru).

Gall nematodes look similar (if without a microscope). For a mild invasion, the same measures can help.

Juicy and fleshy tomatoes can be grown at home. But you need to make a lot of effort, and start with seedlings:

Features of cultivation in different regions

The general principles of growing cucumber seedlings do not depend on the region, only the timing of sowing seeds and subsequent planting of seedlings in a garden differ: planting is possible when the soil reaches a temperature of 18 ° C. In the southern regions, sowing seeds is possible in the very first days of April, and in the northern ones only in May. In most regions of the country, sowing seeds is carried out at the end of April. For greenhouse cultivation of cucumbers, the dates are shifted 1–2 weeks earlier.

In the Leningrad Region, Karelia and the surrounding regions, the cultivation of cucumbers outside of greenhouses is rarely discussed at all. Therefore, the time of sowing seeds depends on the quality of the greenhouse: after all, in a heated greenhouse, this can be done at any time of the year. But ordinary summer residents transplant seedlings into unheated greenhouses only at the end of May, which means that the seeds are sown shortly before the May holidays. The situation is the same in most regions of Siberia and the Urals.

If we talk about the Kuban or the Astrakhan region, then there is no point in growing seedlings for the consumption of cucumbers at the usual time. And to get early harvests in the open field, sowing seeds in greenhouses can be started at the end of March, and for greenhouse cultivation - already in February.

Video: growing cucumber seedlings in the Leningrad region

The cultivation of cucumber seedlings is practiced if you want to get early harvests, but for normal consumption in the middle of summer in most of our country, you can safely sow seeds directly into the garden. The process of preparing seedlings itself is simple and accessible to any gardener with minimal experience in working with the land.

Graduated from the Chemistry Department of Moscow State University in 1981. Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Associate Professor.

Cucumbers can be sown in open ground, but the yield will be higher and the fruits will appear earlier if you plant ready-made seedlings. Therefore, for gardeners, the question of how to grow cucumber seedlings is by no means idle. Meanwhile, at home, this can be done in different ways, even without land. The main thing is to properly prepare the seed material, and subsequently take good care of the seedlings.

Seed preparation

Purchased seeds are well processed, so it is not difficult to prepare them at home for sowing.It's another matter when a gardener wants to resurrect the same variety of cucumbers in the beds that grew with him last year. Here various dangers await him. First, the likelihood of getting the same cucumbers as last year from their seeds is low: most likely, vegetables similar to the year before last will be obtained. Secondly, before planting, they must be disinfected by soaking for some time in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate in order to protect future seedlings from various diseases.

Further actions will be the same, regardless of whether your seed material or purchased.

1. Selection. Preparation begins with sifting out hollow seeds that there is no point in planting. The following procedure will help to do this: dissolve a teaspoon of salt in a glass of water, dip seeds in the solution - high-quality seeds that are easy to germinate, remain at the bottom, and empty ones will float.
2. Hardening. Moistened and swollen seeds, before being planted, are first placed in the refrigerator for 10 hours, then they are heated by the battery for 6-8 hours, which increases their endurance.
3. Soak. In order to germinate seeds, they need to be soaked. To do this, they are laid out on fabric and covered with it, after which the fabric is immersed in water. It is important that the fabric remains well hydrated, but the seeds do not float in the water. By germinating seeds, their preparation, in fact, ends.

Advice

The easiest way to germinate seeds at home is 3-4 years old, although they are stored for up to 10 years. Pre-bubbling facilitates germination when the seed bag is placed in the aquarium and the compressor is turned on. Only then should they be soaked.

Planting time, soil composition

The time to plant seedlings depends on the region. In the south, seedlings are planted in early April, in the central ones - in the second half of April, in more northern latitudes - in early May. You need to plant seedlings in open ground in 3-4 weeks, without overexposing them at home. The earth warms up to the desired temperature (18 degrees) in different places at different times, but you should focus on this parameter.

It is better to buy soil for cucumber seedlings in the store, but it is possible to prepare it yourself at home. Ideally, it should consist of 40% sod land, 40% low peat, 10% sawdust and 10% manure. Soil is also suitable, consisting of 60% rotted manure, 30% sod land and 10% sand. How much soil to prepare depends on the number of seedlings.

The soil for growing cucumber seedlings at home is necessary before planting seedlings, enrich by adding fertilizers to it. For 5 liters of soil, a mixture of 7 g of superphosphate, 4 g of potassium sulfate, 3 g of urea and 1 g of magnesium sulfate is required. It doesn't cost much to do, how much it takes - it depends on the number of seedlings.

Landing

Seeds that have been soaked in a damp cloth germinate rather quickly. Usually three days are enough for the sprout to reach a length equal to half a centimeter. This is enough to start planting seed for seedlings.

It is best to plant sprouted seeds in a container with a diameter of about 7 cm. It should be borne in mind that the seedlings will have to be transplanted into open ground and removed from the pot without damaging the fragile roots. It is easy to remove the seedlings from plastic cups that are readily available. Therefore, the method of growing seedlings in cups is considered traditional.

Before pouring soil into each cup, you need to make a hole to drain excess water, pour drainage at the bottom, then fill it with prepared soil, leaving a fifth free: as the seedlings grow, the soil will have to be filled up a little. In the soil, you should make indentations about 2 mm deep with your finger and put seeds in them, sprinkling with soil.Sowing cucumber seeds for seedlings is complete.

After planting the seeds, they need to be watered and covered with plastic. This creates a greenhouse effect at home. The cups should be under the film for three days. In this case, the temperature on the windowsill or in the place where the cups with seedlings stand should be about 25 degrees. After the cotyledons open, it is recommended to lower the temperature by 5 degrees and provide proper care.

Cucumber seedling care

The right temperature, lighting and watering are the “three pillars” of proper seedling care at home. Keeping track of cucumber seedlings is, first of all, creating the necessary temperature regime: from 20 to 23 degrees. If the temperature is higher than this indicator, then the seedlings should be sprayed more often, and the room should be ventilated during the day. If the temperature is below normal, phytolamps will save. They will also help to provide the desired level of illumination.

With a lack of light at home, the seedlings are strongly stretched. It is necessary to plant it in open ground at an angle. Its survival rate is decreasing. Therefore, there should be a lot of light. A 60-watt lamp will cope with the task in cloudy weather, on a sunny day there is no need for it.

Water the seedlings correctly only with warm water, striving for its temperature to be about 25 degrees. The soil should always remain moistened, but you cannot fill the seedlings either, otherwise the roots will rot and it will die.

Advice

Taking a small lump of soil, roll a ball out of it with your fingers. If it works out - it's good, if the soil crumbles - there is not enough moisture, if it spreads - there is an excess of moisture in the soil.

Growing cucumber seedlings at home in peat tablets is also considered a traditional method. For cucumber seedlings, tablets with a thickness of 5-8 mm are needed. Watering them and waiting for swelling, you just need to plant seeds in them. The tablets can be placed in a plastic container, the distance between them can be minimal.

Fertilizer

As the seedlings grow, the earth should be poured into the cups. It is recommended to do this twice after the stalk is noticeably stretched. In addition, do not forget about feeding. Proper care is unthinkable without her.

The seedlings are fed 2-3 times. The first portion of groundbait is introduced when the first leaf appears. The appearance of a second leaf is a signal that it is time to apply fertilizer again. The third time the seedlings are fed 10-15 days after the second portion of fertilizers has been applied.

Fertilizers are sold in specialized stores, but it is also possible to make them at home. For 5 liters of liquid, you need to take 100 g of poultry manure, 7 g of superphosphates, 3 g of ammonium nitrate and 4 g of potassium sulfate. This composition is ideal for the first feeding. For the subsequent ones, the concentration of the named substances is doubled.

Unconventional ways of growing cucumber seedlings

It is possible to grow seedlings at home not only in plastic molds or peat tablets. Inventive gardeners have come up with many unusual ways to do this with minimal effort and expense.

• In sawdust.

A container is required, which can serve as a container, a plastic bottle cut along the length, a shallow flower pot. At the bottom you need to lay polyethylene, pour sawdust previously scalded with boiling water on it with a six-centimeter layer. In the sawdust, grooves are made at a distance of 5 cm from each other. Seeds are laid in them every 2-3 centimeters. After the sawdust is watered periodically to keep them moist. Seedlings should be properly fed with mullein, which is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10. After a couple of weeks, the seedlings are transplanted into the ground.

• In diapers.

The role of the diaper is played by cellophane, which is cut into squares. A small amount of the soil prepared before is poured into the upper left part of the "diaper". Seeds are laid on it. Then the bottom of the film is folded up.Then the left edge is folded up and the film is rolled into a roll. The “swaddling” is completed by fixing the film with a thin elastic band. It remains to slightly moisten the substrate in the diapers and place the rolls in a plastic container. There is no need to leave a distance between them. Caring for them is simple.

• Landless method ("in Moscow").

You will need polyethylene and toilet paper. On pieces of polyethylene, cut to the width of toilet paper, it fits in two layers and is well moistened. This can be done with a spray bottle. Seeds are laid out along the upper edge at a distance, the distance between them should be 4 cm. From above they are covered with another layer of toilet paper. Then everything is rolled into rolls, which are held together with rubber bands for money. The rolls are placed in a container with water. Its level should be low, maximum 2 cm.

• In the shell.

There is another way to grow seedlings at home - in eggshells. It is not much different from growing seedlings in plastic cups, but it has an advantage: you do not need to remove the seedlings from the shell before planting, it is enough to split it. This should be done carefully so as not to damage the roots.

Growing seedlings on a windowsill

Not everyone is the happy owner of 6 acres, but they can also grow cucumber seedlings on a windowsill or balcony in order to harvest afterwards.

The first stage of growing seedlings on the windowsill is no different from the standard one, but the seedlings are transplanted into large flower pots. You can immediately plant sprouted cucumber seeds in them.

When there are a lot of leaves on the seedlings, the large ones are removed so that they do not block the light, the antennae are tied up by setting pegs in the pots, hanging a net next to them. In order for vegetables to appear quickly, after the appearance of eleven leaves, the top is cut off.

Requirements for lighting, watering and temperature conditions do not change. It is important that the seedlings are light and warm on the windowsill. If the windowsill is cold, put a board on it. You should also take care of the absence of drafts. Proper care is the key to getting a rich harvest.

Growing cucumber seedlings at home, even on a windowsill, is within the power of everyone, but the result will be only if the seed is well prepared, and the sowing itself is carried out at the right time. After that, all that remains is to take proper care of her.

You can grow cucumber seedlings in various ways: traditional (in plastic cups, using peat tablets) and extraordinary (for example, in diapers), which save space and money. You can even harvest cucumbers by planting seedlings on a windowsill.

Cucumbers are a popular vegetable crop most commonly grown in seedlings.

It makes it possible to get the harvest as early as possible, the plants are strong, strong, resistant to diseases.

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The topic of our article today is cucumber seedlings: growing at home.

Planting subtleties: seeds, containers and soil

For growing seedlings it is better to use individual containers: peat pots or tablets, plastic or paper cups, special cassettes. The containers should be small, in too bulky pots, the soil can sour.

REFERENCE! Cucumbers do not tolerate transplanting well, therefore

it is better to exclude the picking stage .

Plants grown in small containers will be moved to their permanent residence by transshipment, which will avoid trauma to the roots.

Cucumbers prefer light, nutritious soil with neutral acidity... Purchased soil will not work, it is poor in nutrients.

Ideal: a self-made mixture of garden or turf soil, old humus and sawdust. Humus can be measured with peat.

The soil is thoroughly mixed, for greater ease into it you can add perlite or vermicult... Garden soil is pre-calcined in an oven or microwave, this procedure kills harmful microorganisms and larvae of insect pests. For greater nutritional value, urea, potassium salts and superphosphate are added to the soil.

How to grow cucumbers from seeds at home for seedlings? Before planting, the seeds are sorted out and wrapped in cotton clothmoistened with warm water. After 3-4 days, sprouts will appear.

If transplanting into open ground is intended, the swollen seeds must undergo a hardening procedure. They are placed in the lower chamber of the refrigerator for 24-36 hours.

The prepared seeds are carefully planted in pots filled with substrate. Each container holds 2 seeds... The depth is minimal, no more than 1.5 cm. The pots are placed on a pallet, sprayed abundantly with water, covered with foil or glass, and then placed in a warm place.

For successful germination of cucumbers need a stable temperature from 26 to 28 degrees.

We bring to your attention a video on how to plant seeds correctly:

How to grow cucumber seedlings at home?

When the sprouts rise above the soil surface, weakest removecutting it off with scissors or a knife. You cannot pull out the sprout, this can damage the roots of the remaining plant. So that the seedlings do not stretch out ahead of time, the temperature in the room drops to 20 degrees for 2-3 days. Then it needs to be raised to 22-24 degrees.

Cucumbers do not like drafts, daily temperature drops are not useful for them either.

Containers with seedlings are placed in the brightest place: on the windowsill of the south, south-west or south-east window or in close proximity to it.

In cloudy weather, additional illumination with fluorescent lamps is necessary. With a lack of light, the seedlings stretch out, the stems become thinner, and the leaves turn pale. Daylight hours for seedlings lasts from 8 to 18 hours.

ADVICE! To prevent the cucumbers from freezing, you can organize an impromptu greenhouse by covering the window glass with a film. The same film can be used to separate the window sill from the room, creating an ideal microclimate for seedlings.

An express greenhouse will provide the desired level of humidity, and the film near the window scatters direct sunlight.

A household humidifier, wet towels hung on batteries, and periodic spraying of the soil, plants and air around them will help to increase the humidity level in the room.

During the cultivation of seedlings in the container, add soil 2-3 times. In between watering the soil is carefully loosenedtrying not to injure the roots. A dense crust that forms on the surface interferes with normal air exchange.

A week before planting in the ground, the seedlings begin to harden... First, the window opens, after a couple of days the pots are taken out into the open air. These walks can take several hours. Hardening is carried out in good weather; plants must be protected from sudden gusts of wind and direct sunlight.

Watering and feeding

Cucumbers - very hygrophilous culture... With insufficient watering, the sprouts wither and wither. Water the plants every other dayusing only soft water: rain, settled, boiled... The ideal temperature is 22-28 degrees.

IMPORTANT! Cold tap water cannot be used; it can slow down growth and even kill plants.

The soil in the containers should not dry out, but the plants should not be poured either. It is convenient to use a teaspoon or a spray bottle to water the newly appeared sprouts. To care for the grown seedlings, you will need a fine-mesh watering can. It is recommended to water the seedlings in the morning., avoiding direct sunlight on wet leaves.

When the first pair of true leaves unfold on the plants, feeding is carried out. If the plants grow poorly, look lethargic and stunted, you can feed them earlier.

The most suitable option is a diluted complex mineral fertilizer intended for seedlings. You can make your own formula by including urea, potassium sulfate and superphosphate.

Organic gardeners use diluted mullein or bird droppings (1 part to 10 parts water). When feeding, it is important to ensure that the fertilizer does not fall on the leaves. If this happens, the seedlings are washed with warm water. After feeding, the cucumbers need to be watered abundantly. It is better to fertilize plantings in warm sunny weather., in the first half of the day.

The second top dressing is carried out before planting in the beds or in the greenhouse. If minerals were introduced into the soil when planting seeds, secondary feeding can be excluded.

Pest insects: how to protect cucumbers?

Cucumber seedlings can be attacked by pests: spider mites or aphids. As a preventive measure frequent spraying of the plant is useful clean water or a weak solution of potassium permanganate.

Landings are inspected daily. The detected larvae are washed off with a cotton swab. In case of severe damage, treatment with an insecticide in a spray is possible. Plants are abundantly sprayed, after 3 days the procedure is repeated. Learn more about the methods of dealing with aphids and spider mites.

Growing cucumber seedlings at home step by step with a photo:

Growing cucumber seedlings is a simple and exciting experience. Experimenting with planting timing, lighting and feeding, you can achieve great results. Young plants will be healthy and strong, they will well tolerate transplanting in a greenhouse or open beds.

So, today we looked at cucumber seedlings: how to grow them healthy and strong? How to properly grow cucumber seedlings at home?

Useful materials

Explore other helpful articles on cucumber seedlings:

• How to grow properly on a windowsill, balcony and even in the basement?
• Tips for growing in different containers.
• Find out the pick-up times by region.
• The reasons why the leaves of seedlings dry and turn yellow and what diseases are they susceptible to?

Useful video

Step-by-step video instructions for growing cucumber seedlings at home: