To get a good harvest of cucumbers, you need to properly grow seedlings. To do this, it is important to determine the timing of sowing seeds, their preliminary soaking, disinfection. How to grow strong and healthy seedlings of cucumbers, I will tell in this article.
When choosing the timing of sowing seeds of cucumbers, it is important to consider various factors:
- they will land immediately in open ground or seedlings;
- what variety are you planting (early, late);
- What are the climate conditions in your area?
I plant cucumbers in the greenhouse in mid-May, and in open ground no earlier than June 5th.
Preparing seeds for planting
To get strong seedlings, which will subsequently give a bountiful harvest, they must be prepared for planting. I always buy seed from trusted garden stores. And the seeds themselves are carefully prepared for planting:
- a few months before sowing, I pack them in cloth bags and hang them over the batteries;
- I select only high-quality and large seeds without defects;
- I throw the seed into salted water and use only the seeds that have sunk to the bottom for planting;
- I carry out their disinfection in a weak solution of potassium permanganate;
- I soak the seeds in wood ash so that they are saturated with useful trace elements;
- I slaughter seed at different temperatures.
All of the above methods of preparing seeds for sowing not only improve the quality of seedlings and speed up their germination period, but also increase the yield of cucumbers.
seed germination
All gardeners know that germinated seeds will sprout faster and be stronger. For sprouting, I use the following method:
- I fill the sawdust with boiling water for disinfection, wring it out, put it on a plate.
- From above I lay out at a certain distance from each other the seeds of cucumbers.
- I cover the seed with a small layer of sawdust.
- I cover the plate with foil.
- After three days, the seeds should hatch.
Soil preparation
While my seed is hatching in a plate of sawdust, I am preparing the soil. I plant cucumbers in peat, sawdust, garden soil, humus. You can also immediately buy the soil mixture in the garden store, so as not to prepare it yourself.
You can plant cucumber seeds in different containers: peat cups and tablets, in flower pots, in plastic containers, in plastic bottles. Everyone chooses the best option for themselves.
I prefer to grow cucumbers in peat tablets and plastic cups. When growing seedlings in cups, it is important to make holes at the bottom for water to drain. It is also important to consider that cucumber seedlings have a weak root system, which is easily damaged during transplantation. Therefore, if you have little experience in this matter, I recommend using peat tablets for growing cucumbers. Since the seedlings will not have to be pulled out of the ground, but it will be possible to transplant them into beds directly in tablets.
So, after you have decided on a container for growing seedlings, you can start planting germinated seeds. They are planted in prepared containers with soil to a depth of 1 cm and covered with a transparent film on top. The air temperature in the room for the germination of the first shoots should not fall below +22 degrees above zero. After the first shoots appear, the film is removed, and then it is important to properly care for the seedlings:
- spray regularly with water from a spray bottle;
- apply fertilizer;
- loosen the soil.
As you can see, growing seedlings of cucumbers with your own hands is not so difficult. The main thing is to follow the advice and recommendations of experienced gardeners, choose high-quality seed and allocate free time to care for seedlings.
Read also: Convenient and nutritious. I tell you about the secrets of peat pots
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#cucumber seedlings#sowing seeds#growing and caring for cucumbers