How To Feed Cucumbers For Fruiting In A Greenhouse? How To Feed During Fruit Formation With Different Fertilizers In A Polycarbonate Greenhouse?

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 05:33

Any gardener knows how important it is to take care of plants in order to get a good harvest. And if you sowed cucumbers for the first time, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic rules, the observance of which will improve fruiting. We are talking about feeding - one of the most important processes. For this, various means are used, some of them are purchased on the market, others can be found right at home.

What it is?

Top dressing can be called the most important condition for caring for cucumbers, which are grown in a polycarbonate greenhouse. It is worth noting that this procedure is carried out throughout the entire time while you are harvesting vegetables. In the course of work, you can use different fertilizers, alternating organic with inorganic. However, it is important to study their characteristics, varieties, as well as the rules of application in order to get a positive result.

Many gardeners use growth biostimulants if they want to grow cucumbers for sale, so the harvest must be rich

You can pick up folk methods that will increase fruiting, while protecting your vegetables from various diseases and pests, and this is important.

Cucumbers, like other vegetables, need to be fed with nutrients, which can be obtained not only through the soil, sometimes the root system needs additional help. The earth should be moist and warm, but at the beginning of spring, the soil has not yet had time to warm up under the sun, so you have to resort to auxiliary measures.

It should be noted that this is a complex process, where sometimes it is necessary to be creative. You will have to prepare your own nutritional formula that includes safe ingredients. However, once you see the first results, you will understand how important this process is.

The effect will be amazing, the harvest is rich, and the vegetables are crispy and tasty.

The main advantages of feeding include:

• protecting vegetables from pests;
• creating favorable conditions for ripening;
• strengthening the immunity of crops;
• prevention of most diseases.

Today, a wide selection of different types of fertilizers is provided, each of which has its own characteristics and advantages. You can find out about the most popular, demanded and effective ones in order to apply them in your garden.

Organic fertilizers

If you decide to feed your cucumbers after planting in the greenhouse, you have several options for organic mixtures that you can even find at home, not knowing how useful they can be. Greenhouse vegetables need unusual feeding.

Eggshells are suitable as it, which can be collected in a short time. Once you've collected enough raw material, fill it with hot water and shake well. Several tablespoons of fertilizer are poured under each bush. Despite the unpleasant smell, this mixture will saturate the culture with calcium, which is so necessary.

Organic fertilizers include fishing waste, which must be crushed and buried at the base of the plant's stems

You will have to endure the smell, but the cucumbers will get enough carbon dioxide and phosphorus.

Experienced gardeners know how stressful the planting of seedlings is for plants, because it needs to take root, which takes some time . Therefore, it is important to fully fill the beds, after a few weeks carry out the first top dressing so that the leaf mass grows thickly. Nitrogen is required here, and there is no better organic matter for this purpose. To get enough nitrogen, prepare a solution of 2 tablespoons of urea and a spoon of superphosphate, and then water the plant.

Organic matter has a positive effect on the future harvest, besides, its effectiveness is very long-lasting when compared with mineral dressings . However, it is important to observe the proportions and not exaggerate the concentration of substances. The main task of such fertilization is to improve the structure of the soil and enrich it with useful elements.

Organic types of feeding include manure, which can be obtained from cattle . Mullein contains all the necessary micro and macro elements that cucumbers need. A ton of this fertilizer contains about 5 kg of nitrogen, 2.5 kg of phosphorus and twice as much potassium.

Important advice: if the mullein is fresh, it must be brought in during the digging of the earth in the autumn and spring periods.

To feed the future harvest, it is necessary to make an infusion of a mullein diluted with water, which is aged for about a week . Do not take it in its pure form, as this can lead to the destruction of the root. Half a liter of manure is used for a standard bucket of water; this mixture can be used to process a square meter of a vegetable garden.

If you have horses, their waste contains many more elements, and they can also structure the earth . Such manure decomposes quickly, raises the temperature, which is important for creating optimal conditions. It must be laid during the preparation of the earth. As for the proportions for the cultivation of manure, there should be 10 times more water, after 3 days, you can use the liquid, dilute it with water by half and pour it under the plant one liter.

Poultry droppings are also concentrated organics with many nutrients . But you need to act carefully, this fertilizer can burn the root. Dilute the waste with water in half, after which the infusion is again diluted 1: 20 and poured out per liter.

Organic fertilizers are essential for cucumbers, but they are not the only top dressing that should be used.

Mineral dressing

When a plant forms and grows, it must draw out everything it needs from the soil for a positive result. If there is not enough of an element in the soil, you will not be able to get the desired harvest . The main trace elements include sulfur, calcium, iron, boron and copper, even a small amount of them will have a positive effect on the yield. By using fertilizers that contain such nutrients, fruiting will accelerate, the quality of the greens will increase, and you will be satisfied.

If you understand the characteristics of different crops, including cucumbers, you probably know which varieties are the most productive . In addition, this information is always indicated on the seed package.

Consider what mineral fertilizers can saturate the soil with everything you need

• It is impossible to do without nitrogen, therefore gardeners often resort to the use of urea and ammonium nitrate. This element is also found in potassium and calcium fertilizer mixtures.
• Potassium is a part of complex preparations, there is a lot of it in ordinary ash, which is obtained as a result of burning wood.
• Most crops do not like chlorine, so it is better to use sulfate.
• As mentioned above, phosphorus is required for the growth of various vegetables and can be found in almost every fertilizer in varying proportions. You can use phosphoric flour or superphosphate. It should be noted that such fertilizers do not easily dissolve in water, so it is better to use boiling water to pour a kilogram of raw materials, then leave for a day, then strain and add the resulting substance no more than 150 ml to a bucket of water.

There are ready-made mixtures on sale, so if you do not have time to make calculations, you can use such products. It is necessary to follow the instructions, where step-by-step actions are indicated.

Many experienced gardeners prefer to create fertilizers on their own, since they already know the soil on their site well, what it needs, and therefore easily find the optimal solution, as a result, neither cucumbers nor other types of vegetables will bear fruit poorly.

What else to feed?

If you are interested in other feeding options, and you want to increase the chances of fruit formation, you can use the following recommendations, which have already proved their effectiveness.

Biostimulants

One of the most effective fertilizer products is regular yeast. They can be applied under the bush twice a season - a week after planting, then once during flowering. Here you should use the instructions for cooking:

• the water is settled in a warm place so that the temperature of the liquid reaches 34 degrees Celsius;
• just half a liter and a pack of dry yeast are enough to dilute the future fertilizer, you need to add a spoonful of sugar to the mixture;
• after 10 minutes it is necessary to pour in 5 liters of water, "Helatin Potassium" and leave the solution for several hours until fermentation is completed;
• half a liter of fertilizer should be poured under each bush.

This is a recipe for a biological stimulant that will lead to the rapid growth of crunchy cucumbers in the near future, and besides, the ingredients are available to everyone, they can even be found at home.

It is important to note that yeast infusions can be stored for up to 3 days; after this period, it is not recommended to use such feeding.

Folk remedies

If you do not like feeding with chemicals and you are an adherent of more natural fertilizers, there are folk recipes for your attention that contribute to a good yield of cucumbers. The increase in fruit formation directly depends on the quality of the soil and the saturation of future vegetables with the necessary microelements . At home, you can prepare top dressing, which will soon prove its effectiveness.

Surely almost everyone has onion husks, the infusion from it is a storehouse of nutrients for plants, and it will also protect your cucumber bushes from various diseases. You only need 200 g of husk, which is filled with a bucket of warm water. It is necessary to insist for 4 days, then strain the concentrated substance and spray the plant with it.

If you have any remaining bread to dry, you can use it as a top dressing . To do this, you need crusts that are filled with water, you can set oppression so that the raw material does not float. Leave the future fertilizer for a week, after which the infusion is diluted in half and used as watering by a liter under the root. This fertilizer can be applied every couple of weeks and you will soon see a positive result.

The mood of the herb will perfectly help nourish the plant with useful substances . Do not use a metal container. Fill a bowl with chopped nettles and other types of herbs, cover with water and leave to ferment in the open sun for two weeks. Bad smell and foam should go away.

When the infusion is ready, dilute it with water in a 1: 10 ratio and water the bushes . You can ferment the herb, for which you need to collect it in a bag, tie it tightly and leave it in the sun. Then 3 times more water is added, and the fertilizer can be used after a day. It is impossible to store such a top dressing, it is better to apply everything at once.

Such fertilizers should not be used all the time. Experts recommend alternating them with mineral and organic ones.

Agronomists often use boric acid, thanks to which buds and ovaries are quickly formed, and the fruits begin to gain juice. This dressing is suitable for flowering, but some people use it during fruiting. Since cold water cannot dissolve boric acid, the crystals of which can cause burns on the leaves, it is important to take liquid heated to 50 degrees.

A teaspoon of boron dissolves in 100 ml of water, as soon as the mixture cools down, it must be diluted with 2 liters of water . Top dressing is sprayed with cucumber bushes. If you grow vegetables in a greenhouse, 10 sq. m, a liter of such a solution is enough.

Leaves must be processed on both sides.

How often do you need to feed cucumbers?

During the season, the procedure must be carried out about 4 times . The first is two weeks after the seedlings have been planted, regardless of whether it is open ground or a greenhouse. The next feeding should be carried out during the budding period, then flowering. If the soil is very poor, fruiting will be sharply reduced, so fertilization can be applied unscheduled. Additional feeding is best done in the presence of various problems, for example, you notice that the leaves have turned pale or yellowed, the fruits do not have sufficient mass.

Before choosing the type of feeding, you need to study the condition of the plant, the abundance of flowers, appearance, and more . Even if the fertilization is insignificant, but regular, this will have a positive effect on the fruiting of the plant. By its appearance, you can determine what the cucumbers lack, so first it is important to study it in order to understand what the plant needs.

If the soil lacks nitrogen, the ovaries will slowly form and the leaves will turn an unusual green color. Old leaves will begin to bend, the lashes will be thick and spots will appear in the veins. As a result, the harvest will be poor and shallow. But you can't overdo it with nitrogen.

If too much phosphorus is added, the leaves will turn yellow and become covered with necrotic spots . Thus, the plant will age quickly and potassium will be absorbed too slowly. As you can see, it is necessary to feed the soil and vegetables correctly, since an excess of fertilizer can negatively affect the future harvest.

Take a close look at the condition of the soil and plants to understand what substances need to be added.