Top Dressing Of Cucumbers With Nettles: Can It Be Watered With Nettle Infusion? How To Feed Properly When Planting? Mulching Rules

2024 Author: Beatrice Philips | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-18 12:09

In order for the crops in the garden to grow and develop normally, they should be regularly fertilized with various nutrients. The compositions can be purchased ready-made in specialized stores, or you can prepare yourself . Often, gardeners use nettles for this. Today we will talk about how to prepare a decoction with nettle for cucumbers.

Properties of nettle for cucumbers

Nettle belongs to the nitrophilic group. This plant acts as a kind of indicator with which you can determine the approximate amount of nitrogen in the soil.

Nettle contains a large amount of organic acids, phytoncides, vitamins that are necessary for cucumbers. Nettle formulations also serve a number of important functions:

• participates in the restoration of the soil, enriching it with various useful microelements;
• increases plant resistance to the effects of various pests and parasites;
• allows you to stimulate the growth of vegetables;
• eliminates aphids during dry periods of the season;
• promotes the process of photosynthesis.

Periodic use of this broth also stimulates abundant flowering and significantly increases yields . At the same time, the stems are noticeably strengthened, the leaf blades acquire a darker saturated color. Nettle feeding will make it possible to protect cucumbers, attract earthworms to the soil.

The composition of such a burning plant contains potassium, magnesium, calcium. It is they that are necessary for the full growth of cucumbers and other vegetables.

As a fertilizer, nettle is often used in the form of special decoctions, or rather, a slightly fermented vegetable mixture . Additional components are often added to the mass, which can enhance the beneficial effect of feeding. They can also be used when it is time to water the vegetation.

After processing the culture with this natural fertilizer, it will not only begin to grow much faster, but also bloom more actively. If you add the nettle composition during the ripening of the fruits, then they will be as juicy as possible . This can be explained by the fact that such herbal feeding contributes to the active and long-term accumulation of carbohydrates.

How to prepare and use the infusion?

There are a huge number of different recipes for preparing decoctions with nettle, which can be used to feed vegetable crops. Anyway Protective equipment (gloves, closed shoes and clothing) should be worn in advance, otherwise you can easily get injured by such a plant.

After that, you will need to select suitable vegetation. Do not pick up nettles that have already formed seeds, as they will not be enriched with the necessary useful elements.

More often, only a few varieties of such plants are found, all of which are suitable for fertilizing cucumbers

So, there is dioecious nettle, which is quite large in size, it also has creeping long rhizomes, its length can reach 2 meters.

Narrow-leaved nettles, hemp and stinging nettles are significantly inferior in size to the dioecious variety. Moreover, these species are also saturated with nitrogen, calcium, potassium and magnesium.

remember, that to create such a natural fertilizer for cucumbers, you should not take the roots, so it is better to mow the nettle right away . Then the collected material can be laid out in the sun so that it can "wither" slightly. But fresh parts are fine too, and it will be much easier to cut them.

For the preparation of the tincture, healthy branches that are not affected by pests and diseases are best suited. And also there should be no areas of rot on them. The selected vegetation is laid out in a clean container and filled with pre-heated water.

Then you will need to send the liquid to infuse. At the same time, it will be necessary to stir it several times a week. If you want to significantly speed up the process, you can put the container with the contents in the sun.

In such a liquid workpiece, you can additionally add a little yeast or granulated sugar. The finished infusion is best stored in an airtight plastic container indefinitely . So that the smell from such a decoction is not too strong, you can add a little valerian there (it is better to use the root).

The infusion is considered completely ready for use when it begins to acquire a dark color . And also he should stop foaming. It is not recommended to store nettle liquid in a metal container, as the metal can give rise to a variety of chemical reactions, due to which the infusion will lose all its useful properties.

In addition to the main recipe, there are others with special additives

• Dandelion decoction . For its preparation, dandelions are crushed, while they can be used without inflorescences and roots. All this material needs to be dried a little. At the same time, a standard nettle decoction is prepared. Dandelion is added to it, in this form, the liquid is left to infuse for 10-12 days. Often, instead of dandelions, plantain, comfrey and many other medicinal herbs are also taken.
• Tincture with bread . For such a composition, the remains of wheat or rye bread may well be suitable. First, chopped nettle is placed in a clean container, and then all this is poured with heated liquid and crackers are added to the resulting mass. The finished composition should ferment for several days, after which the mixture is thoroughly mixed. After it stops foaming, it can already be used as fertilizer for crops.
• Broth with yeast . In this case, you can take any yeast. They should be added to warm water immediately along with chopped nettle. In this case, only 1 bag of dry components (or 100 grams of fresh product) will fall on 10 liters of liquid. These ingredients provide a much faster fermentation process. And also wood ash is sometimes added to such compositions to obtain a whole complex fertilizer that can be used for various crops.

Sometimes nettle is used in its pure form, without preparing a tincture. In this case, it will be possible to plant cucumbers in rows, and put a dense and thick layer of nettles between them. No insects and other pests will be able to get through such a "barrier". Often these layers turn into a nutritious and beneficial mulch for cucumbers.

As for the infusion, it should be used in different ways depending on the conditions in which the cucumbers grow

In the greenhouse

In this case, foliar dressings are mainly used, which are simply sprayed on leaf blades and plant stems. As a rule, only one such procedure per month is sufficient. Most often, for its implementation, special sprayers are used, which contribute to the uniform distribution of the liquid.

In the open field

Quite often, this infusion is used to water the soil around the cucumbers, while it is worth observing the proportions. On average, one bush accounts for from 0.5 to 1 liter of such a healing liquid. Ready-made nettle fertilizer is more often used as a root compound. The introduction of root additives for all crops is carried out 1 or 2 times a week, and it is recommended to do this in cloudy periods.

In any case, it must be remembered that green groundbaits should be used in the process of active development and growth of cucumbers (spring and early summer), because weed infusions allow you to quickly build up green mass. In the process of fruiting, such compositions do not need to be abused. Otherwise, the bushes will simply begin to grow excessively, but bear little fruit.

If you are going to use the resulting mass with nettles to fight pests or diseases, then you will need to pour one kilogram of vegetation with clean water (5 liters), in this form the liquid is boiled for 10-15 minutes, then it is filtered through a sieve or cheesecloth … The tincture must be allowed to cool. Later it is diluted with water. The ready-made composition can be used for conventional spraying with a spray bottle.

Mulching the beds with nettles

To do mulching correctly, you will need to pass fresh vegetation through a special apparatus, the best option would be an electric silage cutter, which will allow you to divide the material into smallest parts.

After that, you can proceed directly to the procedure itself . You can mulch with fresh stems and leaves. The grass is laid out in a rather thick layer (at least 10 centimeters).

The thick layer will prevent weeds from entering the cucumber nutrient mass . And also it will not allow the earth to warm up too much under the influence of ultraviolet radiation, it will retain moisture after watering.

Useful Tips

If you plan to take such herbal formulations for fertilizing cucumbers, then you should remember some important recommendations. For a larger yield, such natural tinctures can be used already when planting cucumbers. For this chopped grass is mixed with a small amount of soil and placed on the bottom of the seats . In this case, they need to be made a little deeper than usual.

Remember that it is best to pick young nettles for cooking. It is in it that the maximum amount of components useful for vegetables will be found. When collecting material, cut off the stems completely. This is best done with a garden pruner.

Such raw materials can be prepared in advance for use in the future . After all, slightly dried and even dried nettles can also be quite suitable for fertilizing such crops.

It is recommended to use various additional components (dandelion, bread, yeast) when preparing broths, which can enhance the effect.