Preparation of seeds of cucumbers for planting in the soil, for seedlings, in a greenhouse

Every year from January to March for every trucker comes an exciting moment - harvesting seedlings of your favorite vegetables. All truck farmers, of course, have their own corporate secrets for obtaining an excellent harvest. But what about those who do not have much experience in such matters? Preparation of seeds of cucumbers and planting cucumber in an open ground or a greenhouse - these questions are keenly interested in many beginner summer residents. So let's dwell on the main points.

Choose seeds correctly

First of all, the preparation of the seeds of cucumbers for planting begins with the selection of quality seed. If you neglect this point, all diligence can go to ruin, you will not get a crop.

The most qualitative are full, heavy seeds of large sizes. To determine such very simply is done with the help of a solution of table salt. In one liter of water, you need to dissolve 30 grams (a little more than a tablespoon) of salt and mix thoroughly. In this solution, the seeds should be lowered and left for 10-15 minutes. After this time you will see that a part of the seed material has drowned, and a part has remained floating on the surface of the water. This is "dummy", from which you can safely get rid of - the harvest from them still will not work. After the performed manipulations, rinse the remaining seeds with clean running water for several minutes and proceed to the next step.

Choosing a container for seedlings

The next item, which includes preparing the seeds of cucumbers for planting, is the choice of the container where they will grow. The beauty of growing cucumber seedlings is that you can do this in anything - the main thing is that the two conditions are met:

• The diameter of the container should be not less than 5-7 cm;
• You need to do as many drainage holes as possible;

Use for planting can be plastic cups, containers from yogurt or sour cream, tetra-packs from under milk or kefir and so on. You can also spend a little - now in the stores for truck farmers offered a huge number of various plastic and peat cups, small greenhouse containers, equipped with transparent covers, and much more. Also, you can grow seedlings in peat tablets. Experienced truck farmers prefer the containers of a square shape - they are considered to create more favorable conditions for the root system of plants than round ones.

Another way to save money on containers is to make them yourself from several layers of newsprint or cardboard. Their only drawback is that these cups dry out more quickly, but this problem can be eliminated by placing a capillary mat, a thin piece of foam rubber or a sintepon in the tray under the seedlings.

The soil

Even if the preparation of the seeds of cucumbers for planting was successful, you still will not have a good harvest if you choose the wrong soil. This stage is also extremely important - it depends on it, whether your seedling is strong and strong, and the harvest is rich.

For growing seedlings, ordinary land taken in a garden or a nearby front garden is not suitable. First, it can contain weed seeds, which will not give cucumbers a good ascent, and secondly, such soil is very quickly compressed and shoots receive little air and moisture.

For cucumbers the most suitable is soil mixture of such composition:

• 2 parts of compost or manure;
• 2 parts of peat taken from lowlands;
• 1 part of old, last year's sawdust;

All components must be mixed thoroughly. Then add each soil bucket:

• 3 tbsp. L. Wood ash (pre-sifted);
• 1 tbsp. L. Kemir-universal or Rastvorin;
• 1 tbsp. L. Nitrofoski;
• 1 tsp. Urea;
• 1 tbsp. L. Pounded superphosphate double;
• 1 tsp. Potassium sulfate.

Of course, you can use other mixtures, and the easiest way to buy a ready-made store substrate. If you still decided to harvest the soil yourself, then you need to do it in the fall, so that during the winter the mixture is thoroughly frozen in the barn or on the balcony. This will greatly reduce the number of pathogens. It is recommended that the soil is steamed for the destruction of pathogens of various diseases. This is done very simply:

• Pour about a liter of water into an old bucket;
• From above place a fine mesh, sieve or some jar with holes in it;
• In a sieve place the ground and with a stick or a spoon make on the center a wide funnel.

The steam bath is ready. Then the construction is covered with a lid and placed on the fire for 40-45 minutes. After the soil mixture is well steamed, it is cooled, mixed well and placed in a container for planting.

Cooking Seeds

Preparing the seeds of cucumbers for planting on seedlings is a very important task, because you need to properly prepare not only the soil, but also the planting material. First of all, it also needs to be decontaminated. To do this, the selected seeds are soaked for 15-20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per 0.5 l of water) and then rinsed with clean water.

Further, the preparation of cucumber seeds for planting is as follows: clean, disinfected seeds are placed in bags of soft tissue or several layers of gauze and soaked for 12 hours. The solution of the nutrient mixture can be as follows:

• 1 tsp nitrofoski;
• 1 tsp. Wood ash;
• 1 liter of clean water.

After the specified time, the seeds are washed again and put on a damp cloth or gauze for swelling for 1-2 days at t = + 23 ° C. It must be ensured that future cucumbers do not sprout, but only slightly "proklyunilis". After the end of all procedures, the seeds are placed in the refrigerator for 24-40 hours.

Germination

After all the manipulations done, the preparation of the seeds of cucumbers before planting can be considered finished. Next, go to the next stage - sprouting seedlings. There are two ways to do this:

1. Lay the seeds on a flat plate or saucer, placing them between several layers of gauze. Place the construction in a warm place and make sure that the seeds, on the one hand, do not dry up, and on the other - do not swim in the water. The fastest process will be at a temperature of 28-30 ° C.
2. You can sow the seeds that have been planted right in the pots. This, of course, is faster, but you can not understand what seeds sprouted and which ones did not.

We plant in the open ground

Preparing the seeds of cucumbers for planting in the soil differs from the greenhouse only one point - good hardening. If you remember, after all treatments the seeds are placed in the refrigerator. This it is - hardening. This is done in order to germinate well and at low temperatures. In addition, when planting in open ground cucumbers that have been quenched at the seed stage, much earlier "throw out" female flowers, which means that the harvest will be larger and ripen more quickly.

In order to increase the resistance of the plant to a drop in street temperatures, the adult seedlings are also quenched. A week before planting, the containers are gradually taken out to the street (to the balcony) during the day, evening and night, while the daily residence time is increased by 15-20 minutes.

Greenhouse - when to plant

Preparation of seeds of cucumbers for planting in a greenhouse practically does not differ from "soil". Only the terms of planting differ here, and in this case many people neglect hardening of seeds.

Seeds in the greenhouse can be sown already in early-mid April, and full-grown seedlings will feel good there in the first days of May. If your greenhouse is film-shaped and does not have heating, then you can make a structure consisting of two layers of polyethylene, leaving a gap of 2.5-3.5 cm between them. This will avoid any spring frosts and save your crops.

Features of landing

When the preparation of seeds of cucumbers for planting in a greenhouse is made, it is also necessary to prepare the soil. It is best to start training in the fall - to treat the land with a solution of bleach. In the spring before planting the soil should be well "steamed" with boiled water with potassium permanganate dissolved in it, the solution should not be very strong, bright pink.

If there is such a need, mineral fertilizers should be introduced into the soil and properly loosened.

Plant cucumbers in small grooves, depth of 1.5-2 cm, and sprinkle soil with soil in half with sawdust. This way of planting will allow longer retention of moisture and ensure a good harvest.

Care for cucumbers

Of course, the correct preparation of cucumber seeds for planting is very important, but the subsequent care of plants is also important. Cucumbers are very hygrophilous, so, first of all, you need to provide excellent watering, best with the help of a drop system. Note that water should be poured with warm water, since cold or even cool significantly slows the growth of the plant. Thus it is necessary to watch, that water, and furthermore fertilizers, did not get on leaves of a cucumber, differently they can "burn down".

Also, as often as possible to loosen the soil, trying, however, not to damage the stem - it is very fragile. If you grow cucumbers in a greenhouse, then try to ensure constant ventilation, especially in warm weather. This will greatly affect the growth and yield of cucumbers.