There are many answers to the question: how to grow cucumbers. And they all have a right to exist. Almost every gardener has his own practice: some plant cucumbers only in open ground or only in a greenhouse, others both way. But the result can not always be predicted. The last 2-3 years, my experience in growing cucumbers was rather negative. The harvest was, but nothing to brag about. Therefore, this article is more reasoning why it happened, what I’m doing wrong, what mistakes I’m making, how to avoid them.
I would be grateful to get acquainted with any other experience. After all, we all live in different regions, but even in one region there may be different soil in the gardens, we plant different varieties of cucumbers, and the weather is an important factor.
I grow cucumbers in the open field, but I try to select the sowing dates and varieties so that I can harvest from the garden as long as possible.
About 3-4 years ago, I had no problems with cucumbers, it was possible not to strain too much, everything went as if by itself. Harvest from the country was worn in buckets. But the last 2-3 years, cucumbers have suddenly become for me almost the most problematic and capricious culture. I have enough for food, I even make some preparations. But something is not right ...
Those who live in the Kuban will agree with me that the climate has changed. Spring lingers, and hot summers do not go away for long. The warm time seemed to have shifted by almost a month. In recent years, April was cold, and in September, the summer heat did not release almost the entire month. And the time interval between spring heat and the onset of summer heat was reduced. Because of this, it is necessary to depart from the usual planting dates, plant later, more carefully select cucumber varieties. And in general, perhaps, we need to make some changes to the cultivation technology.
I had never shaded planting cucumbers with fabric awnings before, but now I can’t do without it. The shade of corn used to in the past years does not save cucumbers from the scorching sun. Some of the familiar gardeners shaded cucumber beds, someone planted cucumbers in the shade of trees. I pulled the canopy (as I understand it now) too late, when the scorching sun had already dried the cucumber plantings.
I think that warm winters also contribute to the deviation from the usual cultivation technology. Pests and pathogens calmly survive small frosts on the soil, on weeds, herbs and plant debris, that is, their number does not even decrease during the winter. And with the onset of heat, they begin to multiply actively, with a huge appetite, attacking cultivated plants.
Late spring also contributes:
- cold - cucumbers feel bad, they stop growing;
- it’s hot - they feel bad too, the ovaries fall, and never get tied;
- it rains - even worse - diseases are actively beginning to develop.
In the past (2017) year, many gardeners according to reviews suffered heavy losses, and some were left without a crop of cucumbers. Yes, and farmers growing cucumbers indoors, also suffered. On other days, cucumbers weren’t even on the market - “they didn’t come in time,” sellers said.
Varieties of cucumbers for open ground, the best reviews of gardeners
I think many will agree with me, it is necessary to plant several varieties or hybrids of cucumbers, selecting resistant to diseases and pests. But no variety or hybrid has absolute stability.
On my beds in the conditions of the Kuban hot climate, the best results were shown by the Phoenix-640, Phoenix-plus and Competitor varietal cucumbers. They were ahead of other varieties in yield, unpretentiousness, resistance to disease, and even became my favorites.
By the way, one small observation of mine by type Competitor. I believe that this variety is best suited for a second crop. Moreover, during summer sowing, it begins bearing fruit 28-30 days after germination, that is, much earlier than other varieties.
As a rule, varietal cucumbers (not hybrids) have a more saturated taste and aroma of fruits. But hybrids are more productive. Here, every gardener has his own priorities.
Of the hybrids, I like Herman F1 and Masha F1 the most. They, in my opinion, are more resistant to diseases, especially to downy mildew (and in recent years this disease is the scourge of my cucumbers).
Below are the reviews of gardeners from our group in Odnoklassniki about the best, in their opinion, varieties and hybrids of cucumbers.
I have been planting Courage for three years both in the greenhouse and in the open ground. Always with a crop. I tried different varieties and hybrids. Better of course self-pollinated. Varietal bee pollinated cucumbers are both bitter and low-yielding. German and the Artist are also parthenocarpics, but I did not like them. Still the same as Courage, the good Shchedryk. I buy seeds every time in a light bundle from the Gavrish company. It has 20 processed seeds. I grow in glasses, and then plant. It is very good to process cucumbers every 7-10 days with the following composition: 1 liter of water, a glass of whey or kefir, 1 tsp. ammonia and 0.5 tsp greenbacks. Sheet processing. If the intrigues of the spider mite begin, I process the Fitoverm biological product according to the instructions. Cucumbers need partial shade and constant feeding.
Nina Vereshchagina (Shevergin), Novorossiysk of the Krasnodar Territory
I planted Courage, Herman, Director, Cedric and RTM. Cedric was impressed. It remains thin, even if it grows. But the Director and RTM were not impressed.
Tatyana Makarova (Protsenko), Krasnodar
I always sow Phoenix plus and Phoenix 640. Both bear fruit from early spring to autumn. In our Kuban this is the most popular variety of "oldies". Sow seeds in mid-April. Never managed to grow a second crop. Yes, I didn’t have to. Phoenix bears fruit until late summer. Phoenix sins in that it starts to feel bitter with heat. This does not bother me, but until the fall we are with cucumbers.
Anna Nepetrovskaya, Novokubansk, Krasnodar Territory
I have been planting Variety Courage for 2 years now - small and crispy cucumbers. Only 50 cm from the ground, and clusters are already hanging.
Natalia Zaberezhnaya (Gavrilova), Krasnodar
Good variety Zyatek. Very productive and harvest until late autumn.
Alex end Elena, Ust-Labinsk, Krasnodar Territory
And here’s the review, having read that, I decided that it was a joke. But it turned out not, everything is serious ...
A neighbor said that it is necessary to plant cucumbers with names that “fly”. It seems to be garbage, but she is always with cucumbers. Crane, Swallow, Phoenix - these are birds, that is, those who fly. 🙂 And there are such varieties of cucumbers. You can laugh at it, but this year all the cucumbers did not succeed, and she was with the harvest. So how do you think? A neighbor gave such advice to her mother. I also want to try in the spring.
milkyorange milkyorange
Aphids on cucumbers, how to fight
In recent years, my seedlings of cucumbers planted with seeds in open ground, without even having time to throw 2-3 real leaves, have become the prey of aphids and spider mites. Is it possible to protect yourself from this?
Experience is accumulating slowly. I begin to recall what she did or did not do in the fall or early spring. What could affect the mass appearance of these pests on my cucumbers?
I collect the fallen leaves in the autumn, I dig the beds almost twice - in the late autumn with the help of a pitchfork, in the spring - with a pitchfork I open the top layer of the earth. But I don’t feel that it helps to reduce the number of pests.
Moreover, the appearance of aphids is always massive. Yesterday, the seedlings seemed to be clean, but today the young leaves that have just appeared begin to curl, and deformed areas appear on the sheet.
I don’t know if it’s right or not, but last year I noticed that cucumbers planted with seedlings more easily survive such an attack as an aphid or a spider mite. Their leaves have already managed to slightly coarsen and they do not appear so actively on grown plants. This year I will try to check whether this is or just a coincidence, an accident.
But treatment with cucumbers planted with seedlings is still needed. As a prevention, my plants from aphids are well helped by the infusion of celandine (pick a bucket of fresh celandine, pour cold water, let stand for a day, strain, add a bucket to the top and spray it). Such an infusion will help cucumbers in the event that the aphid appears on the coarsened leaves. They can be sprayed with plants, even if ovaries have already appeared or cucumbers are already hanging on the lashes.
Feeding cucumbers in the open ground
Cucumbers love top dressing. It seems to me (and maybe it doesn’t seem to) that if you regularly feed cucumbers, then they better resist diseases and pests. Of course, this does not mean that they will not need to be treated from pests and diseases. I have to! But the "well-fed" cucumbers, as it were, extends the period when we can harvest. I even once had one that stood with my cucumbers with dried leaves (I did not manage to treat them from peronosporosis in time), but the fruits turn green between them and I collected them almost until September from such semi-dried lashes.
I try to do root dressing of cucumbers at least once every 10-12 days. Experienced gardeners believe that bird droppings should not be used on cucumbers, they say, you can burn the roots. But I use pigeon droppings (good, there are a lot of this “good” in the attic).
Sometimes I sprinkle a handful of dry droppings on the surface of the beds. It is advised to use no more than 50 g per 1 sq. m. But I have never weighed it. It's just that I usually scattered a handful of it in the autumn in the garden before digging.
And for the root dressing of cucumbers, I use an aqueous solution. Proportions - 1:12. I take the largest bucket (12 l), pour in a mayonnaise bucket (1 l) of pigeon droppings and pour water to the top. Yes, I forgot to say. I add a half-liter jar of wood ash to the infusion. Mix and insist until the bubbles no longer stand out. Usually ten days pass. In the bucket, the infusion at the end of ripening is divided into two parts - liquid and thick. After 10 days, I drain the liquid part into another bucket. I water my plants with this liquid, but I pour it not under the root, but into the grooves along the beds. And after that I spill the grooves well with clean water.
A thick part of the pigeon infusion can not be used to fertilize plants.
Feeding pigeon droppings I alternate with feeding home-made fertilizer from mowed grass. I will not repeat myself, as I wrote about how to cook and use it earlier in the article “Fertilizing tomatoes in open ground and a greenhouse - practical experience”
I'll try to summarize.
Under the current conditions for the cultivation of cucumbers, it is important:
- Selection of varieties resistant to drought, disease and pests;
- Cucumbers grown from seedlings better resist pests and diseases than those grown by seeds (but this point still requires time-checking);
- Pest treatment;
- Regular top dressing;
- The presence of shading in the hot season - the canopy should be pulled with the onset of heat, and not when the sun has already managed to dry the lashes.
I read that I wrote and sighed. For me, two items are relatively new in this list - the 2nd and 5th. Previously, I did not have to plant seedlings of cucumbers, they sprouted well, grew. And I began to shade cucumbers only a couple of years ago. And what do you say that you advise? How to grow cucumbers and take care of them so that the harvest is good?