How to prepare cucumber seeds for outdoor planting?

For a cucumber seed to sprout and grow into a strong, viable plant, you need to make some effort. Competent preparation of cucumber seeds for planting is the key to a successful harvest. Practice has proven that these techniques affect both the amount of "zelents" and their taste.

Rejection of empty seeds

You need to start by selecting empty seeds. Yes, in a bag you can often find them in the amount of only 10-12 pieces. But even among such a small amount, there are empty, incomplete seeds, and therefore they must be sorted.

The selection is still carried out in the tested "old-fashioned" way.

1. Add a tablespoon of salt to a liter of water, mix.
2. Dip the cucumber seeds into the solution.
3. We merge those that surfaced: they are incomplete and unsuitable for landing.
4. We wash and dry the rest on a napkin.

It is advisable to immediately calibrate. It may happen that the size of the seed is different for the same variety. This does not mean that small seeds are bad. Just sort them out. When planting, small ones will be planted to a depth of 1 cm, and large ones - up to 1.5 cm. If you have a large number of seeds in stock, then use only large ones.

Advice

When buying planting material, pay attention not so much to the attractive appearance of the package as to the shelf life of the seeds and their quantity. Use seeds that are 2-3 years old, they germinate best.

Rules for preparing seeds for open ground

Before sowing, a number of procedures are carried out to ensure that the small seed grows stronger:

• check for fullness of seeds;
• selection and calibration;
• disinfection, since pathogens may be present on the surface of the seed;
• warming up to get quick shoots;
• top dressing;
• germination to get seedlings faster;
• hardened for resistance to temperature extremes.

We checked for completeness and weight, calibrated the seeds for planting, and continue further development. We carry out the disinfection procedure. To do this, we disinfect our seeds in a dark purple (strong) solution of potassium permanganate. We put them in the solution for 15-20 minutes, then rinse them thoroughly.

The processed material is heated in two ways. If you prepare seeds for planting in advance, then they can be held for a month next to heating devices at temperatures from +25 to + 28 ° С.In the case when there is no time to delay the procedure, it is enough to warm up for 2-3 hours at + 50–55 ° С. Thanks to this treatment, the seeds do not just sprout amicably and well - many female flowers are subsequently formed on the plants, and the harvest can be obtained much earlier.

Advice

Some gardeners practice an interesting trick: they carry a bag of seeds near their bodies for about a week, warming them with their warmth. “With this method, the harvest is excellent,” they assure.

Further, it is important to feed the seeds. In gauze bags, cucumber seeds are soaked in a nutrient solution for 12 hours. Use a solution of wood ash or nitrophoska (1 tsp. Per liter of water). Natural stimulants can also feed the seed, such as sodium humate or Epin.

It is believed that melt water is a good stimulant for further growth. But here you should be guided by the "situation": if the area is ecologically clean, then the melt water is really useful.

After feeding, the seeds are washed and left in a warm place at a temperature of + 25 ° C until they swell. They will hatch on the second day. You do not need to germinate them strongly. It is enough for small roots up to 1-2 mm in size to appear.

We proceed to the hardening procedure: we leave the sprouted seeds on the lower shelf of the refrigerator for a day. This will be enough. Everything is a cucumber seed, after going through many trials, it is ready for sowing.

Advice

If you have purchased hybrid seeds, where on the package after the name of the variety is "F1", then you do not need to do all these manipulations. Typically, these seeds have already been processed. It is enough to feed and germinate them by selecting full-weight seeds.

Features of seed preparation for indoor ground

The procedure for preparing a cucumber seed for planting in a greenhouse does not fundamentally differ from the preparation for planting in open ground. But the greenhouse has a special microclimate, where there is crowded plantings, high humidity, and a different temperature regime.

Based on this, we will focus on several important points.

• Infections and fungal diseases spread faster in a greenhouse than outdoors, so disinfection is one of the most important techniques. In a gauze bag, the seeds are immersed in a strong solution of potassium permanganate or boric acid for 20 minutes. It is then important to rinse them in running water and dry them.
• Small seeds can be processed under a UV lamp for 2-3 minutes. Only then should they be kept in a closed bag, without leaving them in the open air.
• Disinfection can be carried out in garlic husks. The husk is poured with hot water for a couple of hours, filtered and the seed is placed in the broth for an hour, washed.
• Warming remains an important procedure so that a large number of female flowers form on the plant. We sew a cloth bag, put the seeds into it and hang it on a pipe near the battery for a month. But it is worth remembering that with rapid warming up, there is a possibility of overheating.
• Top dressing won't hurt either. It is better to use a natural substance such as wood ash, which contains many beneficial substances. It is enough to leave the seeds in the solution overnight.
• Germination is carried out with any growing method and accelerates the harvest. We lay out raw cheesecloth on a plate, pour out the seeds and wait 2-3 days. After that, the seeds are ready for sowing.

Advice

When germinating, do not completely fill the seeds with water, because in addition to moisture, they also need air. In water, they can deteriorate and not germinate at all.

Preparing cucumber seeds for planting requires additional time and effort. Many people neglect these techniques when sowing dry, untreated seeds in open or closed ground. Of course, even with this approach, the seed will sprout and grow. But with proper processing, the yield will be larger, and the fruits will be tastier. Try it and see for yourself.

Table of contents:

• Selection and heating of seed material
• Preventive disinfection of cucumber seeds
• How to germinate the seed correctly?
• Simple beds for planting cucumbers

Cucumbers are one of the most beloved vegetable crops by people. To get a rich harvest of these crispy green fruits, the owners need to properly prepare the seeds for planting. Of great importance for the growth and development of plants in the open field is also high-quality preparation of the garden for cucumbers. What rules do novice gardeners need to know in order to perform these 2 operations well?

With sufficient light, cucumbers can be sown at any time.

Selection and heating of seed material

Presowing seed preparation includes the following sequence of operations:

• sorting and selection of quality material;
• warming cucumber seeds;
• etching or disinfection of material from diseases;
• seed germination;
• hardening of germinated material.

How can all these actions be carried out?

A high-quality cucumber seed is a guarantee that the plant sprouted from it will develop well and will delight you with an abundant harvest of fruits.

For sowing, we select only large, full-weight seeds.

That is why it is so important at the very beginning to select healthy and strong seeds and weed out the weak and unadapted material. To do this, you need to take 50 g of table salt and dilute it in 1 liter of water. In the resulting solution, you need to lower the seeds and observe their behavior. Those seeds that quickly float to the surface can be thrown away, since their further use is pointless - these are low-quality raw materials. But with the seeds that have sunk to the very bottom, you can safely work further. It is from this material that cucumbers should be grown. Selected seeds are thoroughly washed with chilled boiled water and dried.

Novice gardeners need to know that those seedlings that have sprouted from 2-3-year-old seeds will give a greater harvest. It is from them that low, but fertile shoots grow. If there are no such seeds in the house, last year's will do. In order to harvest more cucumbers in the summer, the seed should be kept warm and dry throughout the winter months, otherwise long lashes with many barren flowers will grow from the seeds. The ideal place for heating is a central heating radiator or a stove. A gauze bag with seeds is suspended next to them. The temperature should not be lower than 23 ° C and not higher than 35 ° C, otherwise the seeds may steam out and dry out.

You can warm up cucumber seeds just before sowing. In this case, it is better to use a thermostat. At a temperature of 50-55 ° C, the material heats up in it for about 3.5 hours, if the temperature is 60 ° C, 2 hours of time will be enough. Thanks to heating, it is possible to increase the germination of one-year-old seeds, ensuring an even greater yield of cucumbers in the future.

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Preventive disinfection of cucumber seeds

Cucumbers and tomatoes in the same greenhouse can perfectly coexist. Since the conditions for keeping these cultures differ, it is better to place them on different sides, some on the right, others on the left.

To protect plants from viruses and fungi, seeds, which are often breeding grounds for bacteria, must be pickled after heating. There is a wet and dry disinfection of the material. Wet disinfection is more familiar to gardeners. In this case, potassium permanganate is used, which is diluted with warm water to 30 ° C in a ratio of 10 g per 1 liter of water. Cucumber seeds are immersed in the resulting one percent solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour. After the expiration of the etching period, they should be thoroughly rinsed with water. Instead of potassium permanganate, you can also use streptomycin. The solution is prepared in a ratio of 50 units per 1 ml of water. The disinfection time is 24 hours. It is also recommended to rinse the seeds with water afterwards.

Garlic is a good disinfectant if potassium permanganate and streptomycin are not on hand.One large clove will be enough, which should be grated on a plastic (!) Grater, dilute the gruel with 200 ml of chilled boiled water, add another 800 ml of liquid and strain everything through cheesecloth. Cucumber seeds are placed in a gauze bag and dipped in the resulting solution for 30 minutes.

Dry etching is performed using special preparations of granosan NIUIF-2 or TMTD. The seeds are placed in a glass jar and powders are added there. Proportion of granosan: 3 g per 1 kg of seeds, proportion of TMTD: 4 g per 1 kg of material. The jars are tightly closed and shaken for 5 minutes. Since drugs are poisons, they must be handled very carefully. It is advisable to cover the nose and mouth with a gauze bandage, wear protective glasses over the eyes.

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How to germinate the seed correctly?

To increase the germination of cucumbers, it is recommended to germinate seeds before sowing. Additionally, they are treated with special biogenic and chemical fertilizers - stimulants, whose task is to accelerate seed germination and shoot development. Boric acid (20 mg per 1 liter of water), zinc sulfate (2 g per 1 liter of water) or baking soda (5 g of powder is needed per 1 liter) are used as stimulants. In one of the solutions obtained, the seeds are soaked for 24 hours. The temperature in the room all this time should not be lower than 20 ° C.

After a day, the cucumber seeds should be evenly placed on a sacking in a warm room, and covered with a thin layer of wet sawdust on top, which are pre-scalded with boiling water and washed with water so that no resinous substances remain in them. In this state, the cucumber material should be 2 days.

Aloe juice is a good biostimulant of germination. If there is this plant in the house, then you can do without purchased acids. The product is prepared 3 weeks before the day of germination. Several leaves of aloe (preferably lower, older ones) must be cut from the plant, washed, dried and put in a plastic bag. Place the bag in the refrigerator for 14 days at a temperature of 7 ° C, then incubate for another 6 days at a temperature of 2 ° C. On the day of soaking, juice is squeezed out of the leaves. It is in this juice that the cucumber seeds need to be kept for 6 hours. After that, the material is laid out on a gauze napkin moistened with water, where it swells for 3 days.

To prevent cucumber sprouts from dying due to planting seeds in open ground, where the temperature is clearly below room temperature, the seeds are usually hardened. In order to increase the cold resistance of the seeds, they are placed in a refrigerator for 2-3 days and kept at a temperature of -2 ° C. Hardening completes the preparation of seeds for planting.

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Simple beds for planting cucumbers

Planting seeds in open ground is carried out in beds prepared in advance for them. In the garden, the right place for future plants is selected. This should be the area where cabbage, potatoes or legumes grew last year. If the soil for cucumbers is prepared in the fall, then the following fertilizer is applied to it: 3 glasses of wood ash, 3 buckets of manure and 70 g of nitrophoska per 1 m² of land. In the spring, the soil is dug to a depth of 25-30 cm. A layer of fertile soil (10 cm) is added on top. Then the surface is leveled, the required number of beds for cucumbers is formed. On the sides of them, bumpers are made for irrigation. Each finished bed is covered with plastic wrap for several days to warm the soil on it.

You can prepare the ground in the spring. To do this, a week before sowing cucumbers, it is necessary to fertilize the soil with manure. Dry leaves, grass, straw, or sawdust can be used instead. Then you need to dig several grooves 35 cm deep and lay organic matter there almost to the brim. Then pour hot water over everything, and pour a 15-centimeter layer of fertile soil on top. Then the surface of the beds needs to be leveled and arranged on the sides for irrigation.The entire beds are covered with foil for 4-5 days to warm the soil. After completing all these procedures, you can safely plant well-prepared cucumber seeds in the ground.

Cucumber seeds are distinguished by good germination; high-quality seed has a germination rate of 90%. Correctly harvested and stored in the right conditions, seeds germinate within 7 years when sown, but viability significantly decreases over time. Seeds from two to three years ago germinate best.

From seeds older than five years, without additional processing, the yield is low. Annual seeds give a lot of barren flowers when germinating, which also leads to a decrease in yield. But with the right preparation, even they can give a good harvest.

Which seeds need preparation?

The quality and quantity of the future harvest depends on the competent preparation of cucumber seeds for sowing. For the emergence and formation of strong and healthy plants, some effort is needed.

Varietal seeds purchased from the store or harvested by yourself must be pre-prepared.

The procedure for preparing seeds for sowing for seedlings, in a greenhouse (greenhouse) or open ground has no fundamental differences. But in greenhouse conditions, there is a special microclimate, high humidity, a special temperature regime and crowded plantings.

Infectious and fungal diseases in the greenhouse spread faster than in other conditions, therefore the most important technique in such conditions is the preparation of seeds, including disinfection.

Hybrid seeds with an indication on the F1 package do not need to be prepared in any way. They are already calibrated, warmed up, treated with fungicides and stimulants, and have an uncharacteristic color coloration. Such seeds can simply be germinated or immediately planted in the ground.

Soil preparation

For sowing cucumbers, you can purchase a ready-made soil mixture in the store or make it yourself from:

• 1 part sifted sod or leafy soil,
• 1 part peat
• 1 part humus
• 1 part sifted river sand.

Instead of peat, you can take steamed sawdust (spilled with boiling water). Based on 10 liters of the mixture, 100 grams of wood ash and 20 grams of superphosphate are added. The mixture is thoroughly mixed.

How to properly prepare seeds for sowing seedlings

Correctly carried out measures for calibration, disinfection, heating, hardening and germination of seeds help to get strong seedlings, and then a good harvest of cucumbers.

Calibration

Seed preparation should start with selection and calibration.

A tablespoon of salt is added to a liter of water and stirred. The seeds are dipped into the solution for 15-20 minutes. Floated, as well as dark, stained, deformed, damaged seed is removed.

The rest of the seeds are washed under running water and dried on a napkin. Calibration is then carried out. Small seeds are separated from large ones. When planting, they land at a depth of 1 centimeter, and large ones - 1.5-2 centimeters. If there is a large number of seeds, small ones do not need to be planted.

Disinfection

To protect seeds from diseases such as bacteriosis, root rot, viral mosaic, powdery mildew and tracheomycotic wilting, it is necessary to undergo a disinfection procedure.

The seeds are placed in a gauze or cloth bag and dipped in a strong (purple) solution of potassium permanganate for 20 minutes. Then they are washed with running water.

Small seeds can be disinfected under an ultraviolet lamp within 2-3 minutes.

Instead of potassium permanganate, you can use a solution of wood ash, a hot solution of nitrophoska and copper sulfate, boric acid (a teaspoon per liter of water) or Fitosporin-M solution. Seeds in any of the solutions are sent for 12 hours.

Seeds can also be disinfected in garlic hulls. For this, the husk is poured with boiling water for 2 hours, filtered.The seeds are placed in the infusion for an hour, then washed.

To increase immunity, seeds can also be placed in aloe juice diluted with water in a 1: 1 ratio for 6 hours.

Warming up

To increase the germination of seeds, before planting, they are warmed up in the oven for 3 hours at a temperature of 50-55 degrees.

If there is time, the seeds can be warmed up in advance, a month before sowing. For this, they are laid out next to the heating device at a temperature of 25-29 degrees. Such a gradual heating dries them evenly, increasing their germination.

Bubbling

Enrichment of cucumber seeds with oxygen (bubbling) is used for sowing material, the age of which has reached 6-7 years. This procedure increases the vigor of germination and increases the number of seedlings. Young seeds do not need this procedure.

The inoculum is placed in a gauze (tissue) bag and sent to a container with a warm solution of a growth stimulant, for example, Zircon, Kornevin, Epin, Cytodef, sodium humate (5 drops of solution per 1 liter of water). Then, with the help of an aquarium compressor, a stream of air is supplied to the seeds. The filter is removed on the compressor. The tube is located under the seed bag. Air bubbles surround the seeds on all sides. They are kept in water for about 18-24 hours. With a large number of seeds, in the middle of the cycle (after 9-12 hours), the water is replaced with a new one.

In the absence of a compressor, the seeds are poured into a container with a growth stimulator for 12 hours and are regularly mixed with a wooden spoon. For additional saturation of the air, the water can be partially replaced with a new one, every 2-3 hours. It should be warm (20-25 degrees).

After bubbling, the seeds are poured onto a paper towel to dry.

Germination

The seeds are laid out in a damp cloth and sent in a transparent bag or on a saucer and put on a bright, warm place for 1-2 days. When the fabric dries, it is sprayed with water. At the same time, the seeds will swell and begin to germinate. In this case, the length of the roots should not exceed 2 millimeters. Otherwise, when landing, they may break off.

Sprouted seeds can be planted, but it is better to harden first.

Hardening

Seed hardening increases the resistance of future plants to any unfavorable environmental conditions.

The seeds are hardened in a swollen or hatched state. In a damp gauze bag, they are placed on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator (on the vegetable shelf) for 2 days.

Also, the seeds can be hardened for 3-5 days, alternating between heat and cold. At the same time, the seeds are poisoned in the refrigerator at night, and in the warmth for the day.

The pouch must not dry out when quenched. In order for the moisture from the bag to evaporate less, it must be wrapped in polyethylene.

Hardening makes plants stronger, resistant to diseases and temperature fluctuations.

Proper care of cucumber seedlings

For sowing seeds, individual peat pots or cups without a bottom are taken, with a diameter of at least 8 centimeters. Peat pots allow you to plant grown seedlings directly into the ground, without removing them and without damaging the roots. They easily grow through the walls, and the peat structure serves as an additional fertilizer for them. You can also use peat tablets, which are then planted in separate containers.

The pots are filled with soil mixture and spilled with a warm solution of potassium permanganate. After the moisture has drained off, the seeds are placed in the ground to a depth of 1.5-2 centimeters. Then they are watered with warm water and sprinkled with soil. The containers are covered with glass or transparent plastic wrap.

When to plant cucumbers for seedlings

After the first shoots appear, the seedlings are placed on a well-lit windowsill on the south side. The air temperature in the room during the day should be 20 degrees, at night it should not drop below 15 degrees.

Young plants need good lighting for 10-11 hours a day.In the absence, lack of natural light, additional illumination with a phytolamp is required.

Watering plants is carried out with warm water. Before the first leaves appear, the earth is irrigated from a spray bottle. After the formation of the first leaves, the seedlings need to be watered with a syringe or a teaspoon. At the same time, water should not fall on the stems and leaves, but soak the soil.

Feeding of cucumber seedlings is carried out after the appearance of one main leaf. Then it is repeated every 10 days. A liter of mullein, 20 grams of urea or ammonium nitrate is taken for a bucket of water.

A few days before planting the plants in the ground, they are fertilized with a solution of ammonium nitrate (5 grams of fertilizing per bucket of water).

Top dressing should be done in the evening, after watering. The solution should not come into contact with the leaves. If the top dressing does get on the foliage, it is immediately washed off with water from a spray bottle or watering can.

The term for growing seedlings is 25-30 days. Plants ready for planting have dark green, developed leaves, a strong dense stem and strong roots.

A week before planting seedlings in unprotected soil, seedlings are hardened. The time spent in the open air increases gradually.

When landing, the ground should warm up to 15 degrees, and the air up to 18 degrees.

Grown plants are planted in prepared beds. They are placed in the center or staggered, on average there are 4-6 seedlings per 1 square meter. The distance between the rows should be about 50 centimeters, in a row 30-40 centimeters, when planting in 1 row - 20 centimeters.

After planting, they are thoroughly watered with warm water. If necessary, a non-woven fabric is pulled from above for acclimatization. When the plants grow, the shelter is removed.

The plants are then cared for to ensure a good harvest.

Then plant the cucumbers? What to plant after cucumbers?

Preparing cucumber seeds for planting: video

Presowing preparation of cucumbers: video

Properly prepared seeds and planned maintenance guarantee a good harvest of cucumbers. Not only the health and quality of the fruits depends on these measures, but also the quality of the seeds collected in the future, which can be collected for subsequent sowing. Many gardeners doubt the need to prepare seeds, but having tried it only once, they do it every year.

Before sowing seeds for seedlings, it is necessary to prepare the soil, choose a suitable container.

Sowing material also needs stimulating procedures.

The preparation of cucumber seeds for sowing for seedlings ensures maximum germination, the seedlings grow strong, healthy, viable.

…

Today we will consider such questions - soil for cucumber seedlings: composition, how to prepare the earth with your own hands? How to prepare cucumber seeds for planting, do I need to soak them and how to germinate cucumber seeds for seedlings?

Soil preparation

Cucumbers love light, nutritious soil... Purchased mixes will not work. They have a lot of peat that is too acidic.

Ready-made substrates are not nutritious enough, they do not ensure the normal development of the root system of cucumbers.

It is better to make the soil for the cucumber seedlings yourself. It is worth trying one of the following options:

• a mixture of garden or sod land with humus, peat and rotted sawdust in equal proportions;
• sod land mixed with rotted compost;
• garden or sod land mixed with humus, vermicult or perlite;
• peat combined with old sawdust, humus, mullein and washed river sand.

For the mixture, it is better to use the ground into which the grown cucumbers will be transplanted. Light sandy soil preferred, heavy earth with an admixture of clay will not work. The substrate should be neutral or slightly alkaline.

Before mixing, the soil must be sieved and then calcined in an oven or microwave.Such treatment, lasting at least half an hour at a temperature of 90 degrees, kills harmful microorganisms and insect larvae that weaken the seedlings.

Another processing option is steaming... The earth is laid out on a fine mesh and placed over a container of boiling water. Processing is carried out for 30-45 minutes, then the soil is cooled. If there is no possibility of heat treatment, the ground can be frozen, this procedure guarantees a good effect.

The sifted soil is laid out in plastic bags or cloth bags, after which it is placed in the freezer or on the balcony (in winter). The substrate is kept in the cold for several days, then brought into the room and left to thaw.

ADVICE! Mineral supplements will help to enhance the nutritional value of the soil.containing nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus necessary for seedlings.

Wood ash, superphosphate, urea, potassium sulfate or potassium sulfate are introduced into the substrate. All components are thoroughly mixed. The soil mixture can be prepared in advance. Some should be left for later pouring into cups with seedlings.

Seed preparation

For one hundred percent germination and getting strong seedlings before sowing, the seeds undergo a number of events.

The preparation process consists of:

• calibration;
• disinfection;
• germination;
• hardening.

Seeds collected within the last 10 years are suitable for planting. It should be borne in mind that germination decreases every year, in specimens of nine years ago, it can be less than 50%.

The best qualities are demonstrated by the material collected 2-3 years before sowing. To control the process, seeds harvested by themselves are laid out in bags with the date of harvest.

First, the seeds are sorted by hand, hollow and deformed seeds are rejected. During the calibration process, the seed can be sorted by size (it depends not only on the quality, but also on the variety). It is believed that larger specimens have better germination and viable promising shoots.

After manual calibration the seed is filled with salted water and mix thoroughly. Good-quality seeds will sink to the bottom, unsuitable for planting will float. A high-quality material is removed from the saline solution, washed with clean water and dried by spreading it out on a napkin or paper towel.

The next stage of preparation is disinfection.

REFERENCE! Sometimes the seed goes through the necessary processing before being sold (there should be a corresponding mark on the bag).

If disinfection was not carried out, you will have to do it yourself. It is not worth risking the health of the seedlings and the future harvest.

The seeds are heated at a temperature of 60 degrees for about 3 hours. You cannot overheat them. Then theydipped in an aqueous solution of potassium permanganate for 30 minutes, after which they are thoroughly rinsed with clean water.

There are also alternative disinfection methods... The seed can be treat with an ultraviolet lamp within 5 minutes. The procedure is performed immediately before sowing. If it is impossible to plant seeds immediately, after irradiation they are packed in a light-tight bag.

Disinfecting seeds and at the same time nourishing them with valuable trace elements will help soaking in ash infusion (2 tablespoons of ash are infused in 1 liter of warm water for 3 days). Processing lasts 30 minutes, then they are dried.

The last but very important stage is hardeningthat increases the immunity of plants. First, the seeds are germinated in a damp cloth. Then they are moved to the refrigerator for several days.

First, the seeds are placed in a colder area, then transferred to the lower shelves. During hardening, the seed should not dry out; the cloth in which it is wrapped is often moistened with a spray bottle.

How to germinate cucumber seeds for seedlings?

IMPORTANT! Some gardeners prefer to plant dry seeds. The main motivation is germinated material is very vulnerable, tender young shoots are easily injured, which slows down the growth of seedlings.

However, most hobbyists still soak the seeds in an attempt to speed up the development of seedlings and ensure the germination of the seed. If the shoots do not hatch, they can not be planted in the ground, do not occupy pots with a substrate and a scarce space on the windowsill.

How to soak cucumber seeds for seedlings? Soft water is used for soaking: rain, melted or boiled. Do not use hard chlorinated tap water. It is not worth pouring in the seeds, a damp cotton cloth works much better.

Some gardeners use cotton wool, but this method is not safe. Delicate sprouts can become entangled in long fibers, and it will be very difficult to remove them without breaking.

The seeds are wrapped in cotton cloth or matting, abundantly moistened with warm water, and then placed in a plastic bag. It will keep moisture from evaporating and provide the necessary warmth. They will germinate in 3 days.

Instead of a bag, you can use a glass jar with a tight lid that creates a greenhouse effect. A jar of seeds is placed in a warm place. Do not place it on heating appliances.trying to speed up the pecking process.

To improve germination before germination, cucumber seeds can be soaked in an aqueous solution of a growth stimulant... Processing takes 10-12 hours. The procedure is especially important for expensive and rare varietal seeds, it guarantees almost one hundred percent germination of the seed.

Sowing preparation can take a lot of time, so you need to start it in advance. The disinfected soil enriched with nutrients can be stored for a long time, and the seeds must undergo the necessary procedures immediately before sowing. Important preparatory measures cannot be neglected, because the future harvest depends on them.

Useful materials

Explore other helpful articles on growing and caring for cucumber seedlings:

• How to grow properly on a windowsill, balcony and even in the basement?
• Tips for growing in various containers, in particular in peat pots and tablets.
• Find out the pick-up times by region.
• The reasons why the seedlings are stretched out, the leaves dry and turn yellow, and what diseases are they susceptible to?
• All the secrets of picking, watering and feeding young shoots.

Useful video

Find out how to properly soak your seeds for a good harvest:

For a cucumber seed to sprout and grow a strong, viable plant, you need to make some effort. Competent preparation of cucumber seeds for planting is the key to a successful harvest. Practice has proven that these techniques affect both the amount of "zelents" and their taste.

Rejection of empty seeds

You need to start by selecting empty seeds. Yes, in a bag you can often find them in the amount of only 10-12 pieces. But even among such a small amount, there are empty, incomplete seeds, and therefore they must be sorted.

The selection is still carried out in the tested "old-fashioned" way.

1. Add a tablespoon of salt to a liter of water, mix.
2. Dip the cucumber seeds into the solution.
3. We merge those that surfaced: they are incomplete and unsuitable for landing.
4. We wash and dry the rest on a napkin.

It is advisable to immediately calibrate. It may happen that the size of the seed is different for the same variety. This does not mean that small seeds are bad. Just sort them out. When planting, small ones will be planted to a depth of 1 cm, and large ones - up to 1.5 cm. If you have a large number of seeds in stock, then use only large ones.

Advice

When buying planting material, pay attention not so much to the attractive appearance of the package as to the shelf life of the seeds and their quantity. Use kernels 2-3 years old, they germinate best.

Rules for preparing seeds for open ground

Before sowing, a number of procedures are carried out to ensure that the small seed grows stronger:

• check for fullness of seeds;
• selection and calibration;
• disinfection, since pathogens may be present on the surface of the seed;
• warming up to get quick shoots;
• top dressing;
• germination to get seedlings faster;
• hardened for resistance to temperature extremes.

We checked for completeness and weight, calibrated the seeds for planting, and continue further development. We carry out the disinfection procedure. To do this, we disinfect our seeds in a dark purple (strong) solution of potassium permanganate. We put them in the solution for 15-20 minutes, then rinse them thoroughly.

The processed material is heated in two ways. If you prepare seeds for planting in advance, then they can be held for a month next to heating devices at temperatures from +25 to + 28 ° С. In the case when there is no time to delay the procedure, it is enough to warm up for 2-3 hours at + 50–55 ° С. Thanks to this treatment, the seeds do not just sprout amicably and well - many female flowers are subsequently formed on the plants, and the harvest can be obtained much earlier.

Advice

Some gardeners practice an interesting trick: they carry a bag of seeds near their bodies for about a week, warming them with their warmth. “With this method, the harvest is excellent,” they assure.

Further, it is important to feed the seeds. In gauze bags, cucumber seeds are soaked in a nutrient solution for 12 hours. Use a solution of wood ash or nitrophoska (1 tsp. Per liter of water). Natural stimulants can also feed the seed, such as sodium humate or Epin.

It is believed that melt water is a good stimulant for further growth. But here you should be guided by the "situation": if the area is ecologically clean, then the melt water is really useful.

After feeding, the seeds are washed and left in a warm place at a temperature of + 25 ° C until they swell. They will hatch on the second day. You do not need to germinate them strongly. It is enough for small roots up to 1-2 mm in size to appear.

We proceed to the hardening procedure: we leave the sprouted seeds on the lower shelf of the refrigerator for a day. This will be enough. Everything is a cucumber seed, after going through many trials, it is ready for sowing.

Advice

If you have purchased hybrid seeds, where on the package after the name of the variety is "F1", then you do not need to do all these manipulations. Typically, these seeds have already been processed. It is enough to feed and germinate them by selecting full-weight seeds.

Features of seed preparation for indoor ground

The procedure for preparing a cucumber seed for planting in a greenhouse does not fundamentally differ from the preparation for planting in open ground. But the greenhouse has a special microclimate, where there is crowded plantings, high humidity, and a different temperature regime.

Based on this, we will focus on several important points.

• Infections and fungal diseases spread faster in a greenhouse than outdoors, so disinfection is one of the most important techniques. In a gauze bag, the seeds are immersed in a strong solution of potassium permanganate or boric acid for 20 minutes. It is then important to rinse them in running water and dry them.
• Small seeds can be processed under a UV lamp for 2-3 minutes. Only then should they be kept in a closed bag, without leaving them in the open air.
• Disinfection can be carried out in garlic husks. The husk is poured with hot water for a couple of hours, filtered and the seed is placed in the broth for an hour, washed.
• Warming remains an important procedure so that a large number of female flowers form on the plant. We sew a cloth bag, put the seeds into it and hang it on a pipe near the battery for a month. But it is worth remembering that with rapid warming up, there is a possibility of overheating.
• Top dressing won't hurt either.It is better to use a natural substance such as wood ash, which contains many beneficial substances. It is enough to leave the seeds in the solution overnight.
• Germination is carried out with any growing method and accelerates the harvest. We lay out raw cheesecloth on a plate, pour out the seeds and wait 2-3 days. After that, the seeds are ready for sowing.

Advice

When germinating, do not completely fill the seeds with water, because in addition to moisture, they also need air. In water, they can deteriorate and not germinate at all.

Preparing cucumber seeds for planting requires additional time and effort. Many people neglect these techniques when sowing dry, untreated seeds in open or closed ground. Of course, even with this approach, the seed will sprout and grow. But with proper processing, the yield will be larger, and the fruits will be tastier. Try it and see for yourself.

Thanks to their good taste and versatility, cucumbers have become regular regulars in every vegetable garden (they are even grown on the windowsill!). Despite the fact that this culture is very unpretentious, not every gardener succeeds in planting successfully. The reasons for this failure may lie in the improper procedure and subsequent care. But you can achieve success in this business without any problems! Read about how to properly plant cucumbers in open ground with seeds in this article. Below you will find instructions, tips, recommendations, secrets, videos.

When to plant seed cucumbers outdoors

Since the culture belongs to the order of heat-loving plants, then it is recommended to plant cucumbers in open ground only when the soil warms up to +15 C... There is no point in sowing earlier, since the seeds will germinate for a long time or will not sprout at all.

But do not put off too much planting of cucumbers in the ground with seeds - the optimal temperature for the growth of a cucumber is + 18- + 25 С, and if the peak of their development coincides with the July heat, they simply stop growing and begin to dry out.

Some gardeners, choosing the time to sow cucumbers in open ground, use potatoes as a guideline: if the crop has released several stems, then severe night frosts are unlikely.

According to the lunar calendar in 2018

Planting cucumbers in open ground in 2018 can be done according to the lunar calendar. After all, the fact has long been known that the moon affects not only the water of the world's oceans, but also the juices inside plants. So, the most prosperous period when you can sow cucumbers (however, like all plants), falls on the growing moon.

According to the lunar calendar 2018, the following are considered auspicious days when you can plant cucumbers in open ground:

• in March - 19-24, 27, 28;
• in April - from 5-9, 20-24;
• in May - from 4-9, 19-23.

Unfavorable days are the following:

• February - 14, 15, 16;
• March - 1-3, 16, 30;
• April - 15-17, 29, 30;
• May - 14-16, 28-30;
• June - 12-14, 29.

According to the recommendations of the manufacturers, depending on the variety

Cucumber varieties are divided into three types: early-ripening, mid-ripening and late-ripening. To feast on crispy cucumbers continuously, it is better to sow different planting material in turn. Specific dates for planting seeds of cucumbers of the selected variety are indicated on the back of the package in the form of a table..

Depending on the region and climate

Due to the fact that the weather in different parts of the country is very different, there is no uniform sowing time. It is necessary to choose the time for planting cucumbers in open ground, relying on the climatic features of each individual region. In the Middle lane (Moscow region), cucumbers are sown in early or in the first half of May, and in the northern regions - in the second half of May - early June.

The main conditions when choosing a date for planting cucumbers in open ground - the ambient temperature should not fall below +15 Сotherwise the seeds will not sprout.

Important! Experienced gardeners sow cucumbers in several approaches.Thanks to this trick, they are not afraid of recurrent frosts, and the plants alternately bear fruit, which allows them to enjoy cucumbers throughout the season.

How to plant seed cucumbers in open ground

For planting cucumbers directly into the ground with seeds to be successful, it is not enough to buy seeds and sow them in the first available hour, you need to carry out a thorough prescribed preparation and observe a number of rules. Let's figure out how to properly plant cucumber seeds in open ground and what are the stages.

Seed preparation

Before you start preparing, you first need to buy planting material. It is best to choose cucumber seeds for planting in open ground, depending on what tasks and ripening terms are set. Having decided on the necessary parameters, you need to pay attention to the year of harvesting the seeds. Unlike the seeds of many other crops, the germination of cucumber seeds only increases over the years: the highest germination rate is possessed by planting material aged from 2 to 6 years.

To prepare cucumber seeds for planting in open ground, you need to make sure of the quality of the planting material. For this seeds are checked for germination: several seeds of each variety are soaked in warm water throughout the day... Then they are transferred to a damp cloth, placed on a plate and placed in a warm place. Seed varieties of cucumbers that have sprouted are used for planting in open ground, and the rest are discarded.

Following stratification, seeds are treated for diseases and pests. Here are the most popular recipes:

• Seeds within 2-3 days prior to the expected planting date soaked in a weak solution of potassium permanganate... Such treatment will protect the seedling from most diseases, including those caused by the fungus. It is necessary to use such a solution very carefully, because the slightest excess of the powder dose or an increase in the soaking time will cause the planting material to dry out, and it will become unsuitable for planting.
• From aloe cut out a few leaves, wrap them in dark paper and send them to a cellar or refrigerator for 14 days. After the expiration of time, the juice is squeezed out of the stems and diluted in half with water. Then the resulting mixture is sprayed onto the fabric, where the seeds were previously laid and the bookmark is left in this form for a day.

After applying one or another method, cucumber seeds are immediately planted in open ground.

Important! You can improve the germination of planting material, as well as reduce the formation of empty flowers, if you lay it for 3-4 weeks near the battery.

Video: how to prepare cucumber seeds for planting in open ground.

Soil and bed preparation

Preparing the soil for planting cucumbers with seeds in open ground is very important. For preparation, manure or chicken droppings are laid out in a thin layer on the area allocated for planting, and then dug deeply. Organic fertilizers applied before planting cucumbers will loosen the soil, as well as restore the balance of nutrients necessary for the growth of the crop. For 1 sq. m of the garden, 5 kg of organic fertilizers are applied.

Fans of mineral fertilizers can apply fertilizer for pumpkin crops to the soil - "Agricola". Substance consumption per 1 sq. m of area - 12-17 g.

Then, in order to disinfect, the soil in the garden is treated with copper sulfate.scattered over the surface wood ash or make a small amount superphosphate.

Before planting, holes or rows are made 2 cm deep in the garden bed.The step between the grooves is 50-60 cm.If you plan to tie cucumbers to the trellis, the distance between the plants is reduced to 25-30 cm.

Video: preparing the soil and beds for planting cucumbers in open ground.

Direct landing

To plant cucumbers in open ground with seeds, you need to make even rows. To do this, put a wooden slat on the garden bed and press it down a little so that the depth of the row turned out to be 2 cm... The holes are prepared with an ordinary hoe. If the soil is not moist enough, then a little water is poured into the grooves. You also need to consider the distance when sowing cucumbers. The optimal distance is 40-60 centimeters.

Planting depth cucumber seeds in open ground - 2-3 centimeters.

The seeds are placed in rows or holes flat or with pointed tips up, pressing a little. 3 to 5 seeds are planted in one hole... Then the planting material is covered with a small layer of earth and lightly pressed against the seeds. This method of planting cucumbers with seeds in the ground is very simple and accessible to every gardener.

To protect seedlings from attack by hungry ants, slugs and mice, a mixture of black and red ground pepper is scattered over the bed.

Video: correct planting of cucumbers in open ground with seeds.

By the way! Cucumbers can be effective and interesting grow in barrels.

Shelter after landing

To create the high humidity that cucumbers love so much, the seedbed is covered with polyethylene... Some gardeners mount over plantings mini greenhouse made of flexible wooden arches. Cucumbers covered in this way, due to the high humidity, will quickly sprout and will not suffer from recurrent frosts.

As soon as the seedlings germinate, the shelter is removed, gradually increasing the time spent outdoors.... It is especially important to lift the film on hot days, as the high temperature can cause young plants to burn. The shelter is removed from the bee-pollinated varieties after the beginning of the flowering period. Self-pollinated types of cucumbers can be grown under cover all summer, periodically removing it for care manipulations.

How to care for cucumbers after planting outdoors

In order for delicious cucumbers to grow after planting in the open field, it is necessary to fully care for them. What should be done? For successful cultivation, you need to provide watering, feeding, loosening, and more. etc. It is important to do everything in a timely manner and efficiently.

Read more about caring for cucumbers after planting in the open field below.

Watering and humidity

In most cases, it is not necessary to moisten the soil under the shelter before the seeds emerge, since the covering material prevents moisture evaporation. But it is still necessary to control the condition of the soil, since the slightest drying out can cause the death of the hatched seeds.

By the way! Read more about the rules for watering cucumbers. in this article!

During the growing season in dry weather, cucumbers are watered once every 2-3 days.

There is no fundamental difference when to water cucumbers (in the morning or in the evening).It is best to water them in the early morning or evening.when the sun rolls towards sunset.

Important!Watering cucumbers outdoors can only be done with water with a temperature of +18 C. Cold water has a detrimental effect on the root system, impairing its ability to absorb.

Top dressing

After planting cucumbers in open ground, one must not forget about the most important element of care - top dressing. After all, such a culture is very demanding on the composition of the soil, therefore, in order to get a good harvest, it needs to be fed regularly.

The first time fertilizers are applied 3 weeks after planting cucumbers, and then the culture is fed once every 2 weeks... Used as fertilizers organic solutions or mineral mixtures.

Important! Read all about feeding cucumbers in the summer here.

Garter

To reduce the risk of fungal diseases in cucumbers and to simplify planting maintenance, curly stems 30-35 cm long are tied to horizontal or vertical trellises... The structure is mounted as follows: near the garden bed, 2 pillars with a height of more than 2 m are driven into the ground, then a rope or wire is pulled between them with an interval of 20-25 cm.

In the photo, one of the possible options for the garter:

With cotton strips 2-4 cm wide, the stems are alternately tied to the trellis, letting them go under the first or second leaf.The main thing to remember when doing a garter is you cannot squeeze the stem strongly and tie the knots tightly.

You can read in more detail how to carry out the garter of this culture in this material.

Video: how to tie up cucumbers after planting.

Mulching, loosening, hilling

To prevent rapid soil drying and weed growth, cucumbers are lined with straw, sawdust or hay... In addition, the mulch will keep the fruit from coming into contact with the moist soil, and it will hurt less often.

Plantings that are not covered with mulching material need to be weeded regularly from weedsso that they do not weigh down the soil and take away nutrients from young plants.

Since the roots of the cucumber are close to the surface, it is impossible to loosen the soil in the garden... All that can be done is to weed the garden bed with weeds, which have a detrimental effect on the cultivated plant.

Since most of the roots lie at a depth of 5 cm, they have the ability to bare. To prevent this from happening the culture is periodically spud... The first hilling is carried out when the stem reaches a length of 25 cm, and the subsequent ones - as needed. This procedure not only helps to protect the roots from the scorching sun, but also promotes the growth of new processes. Moreover, the stems of hilled plants are less likely to suffer from fungal diseases, which significantly affects the yield.

Pinching and pinching

Pinching cucumbers after planting in the open field is a stage in cultivation that is aimed at increasing yields. Thanks to pinching, the bush begins to actively form lateral shoots, on which there are many female flowers, on which ovaries are later formed. Pinching is done after 5-6 leaves.

This manipulation is recommended during the cultivation of mid- and late-ripening varieties. Plucking early maturing species is ineffective.

Important! Read more about pinching cucumbers. here!

Diseases and pests

Like all cultivated plants, cucumbers are susceptible to a number of diseases that are caused by improper care and fungi. Most often found on cucumbers:

Powdery mildew. The leaf blades are covered with small white spots, which gradually increase in size. At the peak of the development of the fungus, the leaves turn yellow and fall off. The provocateurs of the disease are improper watering, overfeeding with nitrogen fertilizers and high humidity.

For prevention purposes, crop rotation, irrigation and fertilization must be observed. Immediately after infection, diseased bushes are sprinkled with ash, and completely affected bushes are carefully pulled out and destroyed.

Gray rot. Gray spots form in the bends, and the cucumbers are covered with a slightly fluffy bloom of the same color. The plant forms many male flowers, barren flowers begin to rot and injure the stems. Infected plants are deprived of watering and sprinkled with ash.

Root rot. Brown blotches appear on the stem, which gradually grow and eventually turn into one area. The apogee of root rot is stem rot and root death. The infected areas are sprinkled with ash, and watering is carried out without affecting the stem. To prevent the onset of disease, the soil must be thoroughly disinfected before planting. A wilted bush is taken out of the ground along with the ground and burned. The resulting depression is abundantly treated with a solution of copper sulfate.

Mosaic. The leaves are covered with green spots and then deformed. The symptoms of the disease often appear on the fruit. For prophylaxis, planting material must be disinfected before planting. Sick bushes are dug up and destroyed.

Olive spot. The leaves are covered with spots, which, when dry, are destroyed. Green or olive green ulcers appear on fruits and stems. The affected areas dry out and turn black over several days.The cause of the disease: high humidity and cold water used for irrigation. Immediately after the onset of spotting, the bushes are not watered for 5 days and are treated with Bordeaux liquid or "Oxyhom".

Spider mite. The leaf plates are covered with small white or yellow blotches, which grow into large spots. The affected leaf turns yellow and dries up.

Melon aphid - small insect pests that settle on the upper part of the plant. After some time, the affected area deforms and dries up. Since aphids overwinter on weeds, the best prevention of voracious insects is thorough cleaning. If insects nevertheless attacked the plantings, you can collect ladybirds in the meadow and launch them into the garden.

By the way! Read about ways to get rid of cucumber beds from melon aphids in this material.

As such, there are no secrets of planting cucumbers in open ground, but there are features and rules that need to be taken into account. Thus, having followed all the recommendations, it is quite easy to properly plant a crop in open ground with seeds. Planting seeds does not require any superpowers: all you need to do is make a little effort, complete all the steps in the correct sequence, without neglecting the basic tips. The costs will pay off a hundredfold with a generous harvest.

Video: how to properly plant cucumbers in open ground with seeds.

Cucumbers are one of the most beloved vegetable crops. To get a rich harvest of these crispy green fruits, owners need to properly prepare the seeds for planting. Of great importance for the growth and development of plants in the open field is also the high-quality preparation of the garden for cucumbers. What rules do novice gardeners need to know in order to perform these 2 operations well?

With sufficient light, cucumbers can be sown at any time.

Selection and heating of seed material

Presowing seed preparation includes the following sequence of operations:

• sorting and selection of quality material;
• warming cucumber seeds;
• etching or disinfection of material from diseases;
• seed germination;
• hardening of germinated material.

How do you carry out all these actions?

A high-quality cucumber seed is a guarantee that the plant sprouted from it will develop well and will delight you with an abundant harvest of fruits.

For sowing, we select only large, full-weight seeds.

That is why it is so important at the very beginning to select healthy and strong seeds and weed out the weak and unadapted material. To do this, you need to take 50 g of table salt and dilute it in 1 liter of water. In the resulting solution, you need to lower the seeds and observe their behavior. Those seeds that quickly float to the surface can be thrown away, since their further use is pointless - these are low-quality raw materials. But with the seeds that have sunk to the very bottom, you can safely work further. It is from this material that cucumbers should be grown. Selected seeds are thoroughly washed with chilled boiled water and dried.

Novice gardeners need to know that those seedlings that have sprouted from 2-3-year-old seeds will give a greater yield. It is from them that short, but fertile shoots grow. If there are no such seeds in the house, last year's will do. In order to harvest more cucumbers in the summer, the seed should be kept warm and dry throughout the winter months, otherwise long lashes with many barren flowers will grow from the seeds. The ideal place for heating is a central heating radiator or a stove. A gauze bag with seeds is suspended next to them. The temperature should not be lower than 23 ° C and not higher than 35 ° C, otherwise the seeds may steam out and dry out.

You can warm up cucumber seeds just before sowing. In this case, it is better to use a thermostat.At a temperature of 50-55 ° C, the material heats up in it for about 3.5 hours, if the temperature is 60 ° C, 2 hours of time will be enough. Thanks to heating, it is possible to increase the germination of one-year-old seeds, ensuring an even greater yield of cucumbers in the future.

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Preventive disinfection of cucumber seeds

Cucumbers and tomatoes in the same greenhouse can perfectly coexist. Since the conditions for keeping these cultures differ, it is better to place them on different sides, some on the right, others on the left.

To protect plants from viruses and fungi, seeds, which are often breeding grounds for bacteria, must be pickled after heating. There is a wet and dry disinfection of the material. Wet disinfection is more familiar to gardeners. In this case, potassium permanganate is used, which is diluted with warm water to 30 ° C in a ratio of 10 g per 1 liter of water. Cucumber seeds are immersed in the resulting one percent solution of potassium permanganate for half an hour. After the expiration of the etching period, they should be thoroughly rinsed with water. Instead of potassium permanganate, you can also use streptomycin. The solution is prepared in a ratio of 50 units per 1 ml of water. The disinfection time is 24 hours. It is also recommended to rinse the seeds with water afterwards.

Garlic is a good disinfectant if potassium permanganate and streptomycin are not at hand. One large clove will be enough, which should be grated on a plastic (!) Grater, dilute the gruel with 200 ml of chilled boiled water, add another 800 ml of liquid and strain everything through cheesecloth. Cucumber seeds are placed in a gauze bag and dipped in the resulting solution for 30 minutes.

Dry etching is performed using special preparations of granosan NIUIF-2 or TMTD. The seeds are placed in a glass jar and powders are added there. Proportion of granosan: 3 g per 1 kg of seeds, proportion of TMTD: 4 g per 1 kg of material. The jars are tightly closed and shaken for 5 minutes. Since drugs are poisons, they must be handled very carefully. It is advisable to cover the nose and mouth with a gauze bandage, wear protective glasses over the eyes.

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How to germinate the seed correctly?

To increase the germination of cucumbers, it is recommended to germinate seeds before sowing. Additionally, they are treated with special biogenic and chemical fertilizers - stimulants, whose task is to accelerate seed germination and shoot development. Boric acid (20 mg per 1 liter of water), zinc sulfate (2 g per 1 liter of water) or baking soda (5 g of powder is needed per 1 liter) are used as stimulants. In one of the solutions obtained, the seeds are soaked for 24 hours. The temperature in the room all this time should not be lower than 20 ° C.

After a day, the cucumber seeds should be evenly placed on a sacking in a warm room, and covered with a thin layer of wet sawdust on top, which are pre-scalded with boiling water and washed with water so that no resinous substances remain in them. In this state, the cucumber material should be 2 days.

Aloe juice is a good biostimulant of germination. If there is this plant in the house, then you can do without purchased acids. The product is prepared 3 weeks before the day of germination. Several leaves of aloe (preferably lower, older ones) must be cut from the plant, washed, dried and put in a plastic bag. Place the bag in the refrigerator for 14 days at a temperature of 7 ° C, then incubate for another 6 days at a temperature of 2 ° C. On the day of soaking, juice is squeezed out of the leaves. It is in this juice that the cucumber seeds need to be kept for 6 hours. After that, the material is laid out on a gauze napkin moistened with water, where it swells for 3 days.

To prevent cucumber sprouts from dying due to planting seeds in open ground, where the temperature is clearly below room temperature, the seeds are usually hardened.In order to increase the cold resistance of the seeds, they are placed in a refrigerator for 2-3 days and kept at a temperature of -2 ° C. Hardening completes the preparation of seeds for planting.

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Simple beds for planting cucumbers

Planting seeds in open ground is carried out in beds prepared in advance for them. In the garden, the right place for future plants is selected. This should be the area where cabbage, potatoes or legumes grew last year. If the soil for cucumbers is prepared in the fall, then the following fertilizer is applied to it: 3 glasses of wood ash, 3 buckets of manure and 70 g of nitrophoska per 1 m² of land. In the spring, the soil is dug to a depth of 25-30 cm. A layer of fertile soil (10 cm) is added on top. Then the surface is leveled, the required number of beds for cucumbers is formed. On the sides of them, bumpers are made for watering. Each finished bed is covered with plastic wrap for several days to warm the soil on it.

You can prepare the ground in the spring. To do this, a week before sowing cucumbers, it is necessary to fertilize the soil with manure. Dry leaves, grass, straw, or sawdust can be used instead. Then you need to dig several grooves 35 cm deep and lay organic matter there almost to the brim. Then pour hot water over everything, and pour a 15-centimeter layer of fertile soil on top. Then the surface of the beds must be leveled and arranged on the sides for irrigation. The entire beds are covered with foil for 4-5 days to warm the soil. After completing all these procedures, you can safely plant well-prepared cucumber seeds in the ground.