Growing cucumbers in the basement in winter: from planting to leaving

Get a harvest in winter cucumbers - is this not the dream of every vegetable grower? But an obstacle to growing vegetables is that the climate does not allow planting even in greenhouses. Indoor rooms need to be heated, thoroughly insulate the floor and walls. You can solve this problem by planting cucumbers in basements or cellars.

The use of the basement of both an apartment building and a private one for growing vegetables in winter began in the 19th century. Despite imperfect light sources - kerosene lamps, gas burners - the landing result was extraordinary. The cucumber crop shocked everyone. Nowadays, you can pick up both high-quality soil and create conditions more convenient for plants grown underground.

Content:

• The best cucumber varieties for growing in the basement
• Basement preparation
• Features of growing seedlings
• Transplanting seedlings into the ground
• How to properly care for cucumbers?
• Possible problems when growing in a basement

The best cucumber varieties for growing in the basement

It is clear that for basements it is necessary to choose those varieties of cucumbers that can easily tolerate not too comfortable conditions, are pollinated themselves and have a high yield of greens in the early stages.

The selection of a vegetable plant gives gardeners the opportunity to plant hybrid and varietal types of cucumbers that meet all the requirements:

• Anyuta parthenocarpic cucumber is suitable for growing in any soil. The hybrid of the first generation produces fruits 10 centimeters in size, covered with white thorns and tubercles, which are used both for pickling and for fresh consumption. The variety is resistant to the main diseases of the vegetable crop.
• Zozulu hybrid they choose because it gives greens already 40 - 45 days after germination. In addition to excellent taste, the variety is noted for resistance to fungal infections. Regardless of the conditions of keeping, the vegetable gives stable yields of 16 kilograms per square meter.
• Renata cucumber is mid-season, self-pollinated, resistant to unfavorable growing conditions. On medium-growing shoots, cylindrical ovaries are formed. Dark green cucumbers weighing 120 - 150 grams have an excellent taste, without bitterness.
• Small-fruited variety Marfinsky is not without reason popular for winter cultivation. A mid-season vegetable for salad use tolerates shade well and after 55 days produces greens with a light peel covered with small tubercles.
• A sturdy baby can grow in rooms with a low air temperature, delighting with cylindrical fruits, crispy and devoid of bitterness, voids.
• Early ripening dates for cucumbers Surprise. The plant is unpretentious to growing conditions and care. The variety is suitable for winter basement cultivation and produces tasty fruits.

The best option for indoor spaces in winter will be self-pollinated varieties or with a set of female flowers. It is necessary to pay attention to the shade tolerance and unpretentiousness of plants.

Basement preparation

Before starting planting work, you should take care of the room where the cucumbers will develop. They start by plugging all the holes, covering up the joints and seams. Only the tightness of the basement will allow the plants to develop correctly. Otherwise, the influx of moisture or cold air from the outside will destroy the heat-loving seedlings.

Be sure to treat the walls of the room from the appearance of fungi.

To do this, whiten the surfaces with a solution bordeaux liquid... And the earthen floor is powdered with wood ash or lime - with a layer of fluff of 3 millimeters. And to scare off rodents and other pests, it is necessary to process the premises with smoke bombs. You can prepare bait with poisons for gnawing animals. The final stage in the work will be garbage collection, whitewashing of the walls. Can be added to whitewash solutions insecticidal preparations.

Electricity will be a consumable for arranging an underground greenhouse. More economical will be energy-saving lamps, the power of which is selected at the rate of 11.2 kW / h per 2 square meters of planting. The stage of preparing the basement for planting cucumbers in winter is most important. The measures taken will allow the vegetables to be in favorable conditions for growth.

Features of growing seedlings

Cucumbers will bear fruit abundantly when seedlings obtained by seedlings are strong and hardy. Under the seedlings of cucumbers in the basement, a plot is allocated where trays are put up. It is better to make them from pipes cut in half. The diameter of the container should be between 50-60 centimeters. For planting cucumbers, artificial nutrient media are chosen, since it is difficult to bring soil to basements. And the possibility of infection with a fungal infection or pests increases. Therefore, gravel based on marble or quartz with a particle size of 5 - 20 millimeters is poured into containers of asbestos cement.

Enrich the plants with a nutrient solution that contains all the components necessary for cucumbers. The solution is fed by gravity from a suspended tank, which is one to one and a half meters higher than the seedlings. The remains from the trays with seedlings are poured into another container located under the container with seedlings. This results in a cycle of nutrient solution that can be used several times.

The seedlings are fed every week, watering from a container with a nutrient solution.

If it is difficult to deal with using hydroponics, then cucumber seeds are disinfected, germinated and placed in cups or boxes with nutritious and loose soil. There must be holes at the base of plastic containers to provide oxygen access and drain excess moisture.

The seeds of a vegetable plant are buried two centimeters into the ground, and the seedlings will then appear after 3 to 5 days. It is better if the containers with seeds are immediately placed in the basement. Germination can be accelerated by additional lighting by installing fluorescent lamps 5 centimeters from the line of cups. If simple lamps are used, then the distance should be half a meter from the shoots. As the cucumber seedlings grow, the devices are moved upward. Water the seedlings twice a week with lukewarm water. After three weeks, you can start transplanting cucumber sprouts.

Transplanting seedlings into the ground

They begin to plant cucumber seedlings when two or three true leaves have appeared. There are 4 plants per square meter. If ordinary soil is used, then recesses of 10x10 centimeters are made in it.

The stem of the seedling, pulled out from the side cut from the side of a plastic cup, is placed in the holes, along with a lump of earth on the roots. Sprinkled with earth at the level of the first cotyledon, they slightly compact the soil around.

If the seedlings of cucumbers are transplanted correctly, they will quickly take root and give additional roots.

Hydroponically grown seedlings can be replanted 20 days after planting. Leave up to four plants per square meter.At the same time, a layer of 12-15 centimeters is poured onto the racks, then adding up to 25 centimeters. Seedlings are planted, warming up the ground to 18 degrees in two rows with a distance of 40 centimeters from one plant from another.

How to properly care for cucumbers?

After planting a vegetable crop in a permanent place in the basement, you must:

• Prepare a trellis or other device for tying cucumber lashes. Tying should be carried out regularly as the shoots grow. Lighting is also adjusted by raising the lamps to a different level in relation to the plants.
• As soon as the first flower appears on the shoots, the lianas begin to dazzle. To do this, pluck out at the base of the bush several flowers that appeared first. The procedure allows cucumbers not to stop growing, but to stretch up and give new ovaries. Removing the first greens leads to the fact that the lower part of the stem is exposed. It is better to lay this part of the shoot on the ground, and tie the fruiting whips to the trellis. Forming a bush into one stem is the best option for growing cucumbers in the basement in winter.
• To prolong the fruiting period, top dressing is applied to the soil. Watered with solution mulleinalternating with mineral complexes... In the initial periods of the growing season, the solutions are made weak so as not to burn the plants. Later, nutrient solutions become more concentrated. If at first the mullein is diluted at a concentration of 1: 8, then - 1: 4. Of the mineral fertilizers, 10 grams of ammonium nitrate and potassium chloride, 30 grams of superphosphate are enough for a bucket of water. Then the amount is doubled. They are fed every 7 to 10 days.
• The roots of cucumbers are often exposed, therefore, the soil is constantly poured with a layer of 2-3 centimeters.
• Cucumbers are watered only with warm water with a temperature of 25 degrees. To wet the entire soil layer, you will need up to a bucket of water per square meter of rack.
• Cucumbers begin to grow faster when the air is supplied with carbon dioxide. You can increase its content in the basement by placing containers with cow dung in the room. If possible, you can hang dry ice cubes or put hard pieces next to the plants. It is possible to enrich the room with carbon dioxide not only during the fruiting period of cucumbers, but also when growing seedlings and planting them in the ground.

Greens are received in the basement early, if the rules for growing a vegetable crop are observed.

Possible problems when growing in a basement

Problems when growing cucumbers in the basement arise when:

1. The room is not prepared, and the plants get sick.
2. The air temperature is below 18 degrees and above 29.
3. Sprinkle with cold water.
4. Air humidity below 80 percent and above 95.
5. Watered at the root, not grooves.

The advantages of growing cucumbers in the basement include the fact that in winter you can get fruits rich in vitamins for consumption. More cucumbers are harvested in underground greenhouses than outdoors. Seedlings of a vegetable plant are best developed in the basement, where it is damp and warm. And if the light regime is observed for 10-12 hours, then the seedlings will be strong.

If you follow the rules for planting and caring for cucumbers, then there will be no problem situations.

Fruiting occurs in underground greenhouses faster than in the air ten days earlier. And already on the fiftieth day, you can pluck the first greens. If vegetables are planted in the second decade of August, they get fruits in October. The cucumbers planted on February 15 will bear fruit in April.

The disadvantage of growing vegetable plants in the basement is that a lot of electricity is consumed. And only LED sources will help save on energy costs. It is not always possible to equip such rooms with racks and nutritious soil. Many growers are afraid to experiment. But it is worth trying to organize the cultivation of cucumbers in the basement, then adding tomatoes and other vegetables to them.And you need to start by studying the features of the premises, the technology of growing, the estimated profit.

More information can be found in the video: