When choosing seeds for growing cucumbers in the new season, many gardeners prefer the same varieties. And in vain! Among the existing species there are plants that have a lot of advantages, for example, good immunity and long-term fruiting, until the onset of the first frost. These include Chinese cucumber .
Table of Contents
- Descriptionand feeding
Description and characteristics of Chinese cucumber
Chinese cucumbers are similar in appearance to common varieties, but has an elongated shape(50-75 cm) and high yield( more than 30 kg per bush) .
The taste of exotic is more delicate with a sweetish hue, the flesh, though juicy, is rather dense. Seeds inside cucumbers collected in a narrow chamber located in the middle.
According to the description, the plant is unpretentious in the care, and most importantly - resistant to diseases and pests .
Scourge develops quickly, reaches a length of 3 meters .For this reason, it is recommended to grow vegetables on the trellis. Without garter, fruit quality and yield are reduced.
Chinese varieties are ideal for cultivation in the open field and in greenhouses.
Unusual fruit sizes, taste, and biological processes raise Chinese cucumbers into a separate type of culture, .
The peculiarity of the fruit is the rapid loss of nutrients, so it is recommended to use the harvested crop as soon as possible.
Differs from the usual elongated form( 50-75 cm) and high yield( over 30 kg from a bush) Popular species and varieties: Durable, Cold-resistant, Snake, Miracle, etc.
Exotic vegetable was originally grown in China , but with timethanks to its high qualities and immunity, it began to be used in other countries, among which were the Russian regions.
Chinese cucumber varieties have been developed quite a lot of , but in our latitudes the following are considered the most popular:
- Chinese snakes;
- Disease-resistant Chinese;
- Chinese White;
- F1 Chinese Farmers;
- Chinese miracle;
- Chinese Emperor.
Cucumbers Chinese cold-resistant F1:
How to plant and grow
There are no significant differences in the care of these cucumbers. Like other cultures, exotics requires a moist environment and heat .With a lack of one of these components, yellow spots appear on the sheets.
Preparation of beds for cucumbers
This crop is planted in several ways: in open ground and using seedlings .
The preparation of the beds should start from the autumn .The place is chosen well lit. If there is partial shading, this is not a problem for many varieties of Chinese cucumbers.
Seeds for seedlings should be planted in early April, .On the 20-25 day after the emergence of shoots it can be transferred to the beds, but only in the case of stable warm weather( at least + 16 ° at night and from 20 ° during the day).
Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, the choice depends more on weather conditions and the capabilities of the owners.
When sowing seeds in open ground, it is necessary to dig in a trench area 60 cm deep and fill it with fresh manure mixed with humus. Further, the surface of the trenches is slightly covered with soil and watered with warm water.
Immediately after moistening, cover the ground with an film fixed to the frame( in the form of an arc or a triangle).After a few days, the shelter must be removed and the upper layer of soil spread over the entire territory of the beds.
After planting seeds in open ground and wetting, cover the soil with a film fixed to the frame . When growing cucumbers on the balcony , using manure is not quite aesthetically pleasing, therefore it is replaced with bread sourdough. It is made from bread crusts and water( 1: 3).
After the tincture ferments, a small amount of complex fertilizers is added to it. When the first flowers appear, the plants are watered with the solution obtained once a week.
Planting seeds in open ground
In early May, prepared seeds are planted on open ground. When growing seedlings in the greenhouse, work on sowing starts in April .
seed bedding scheme: depth - 4 cm, distance between seeds - 15 cm. Scourge plants are subsequently tied up on the trellis, therefore the bed is formed in rows with an interval of 30-35 cm.
After the seedlings form 2 leaves, thinning, increasing the distance between the bushes to 30 cm.
After the seedlings form 2 leaves, thinning . Taking care of the first shoots of
. When growing seedlings, the temperature in the room is reduced to 22 ° as soon as the shoots appear. Night mode is set at 15-16 °.
After forming 2 leaves, seedlings fertilize with a solution of water( 10 l), urea( 15 g), superphosphate( 40 g) and potassium( 10 g).At the development stage of the shoots, watering is carried out once a week.
Formation of bushes
After reaching the stem of 30-50 cm, begin to form a bush. For this , you should remove the 5 lower side shoots of .Without such an operation, the plant will develop poorly and sparingly plant female flowers.
The length of the whip of an adult crop reaches 3 meters or more, so needs to install the trellis( height 2 m) along the row. If this is not done, cucumbers will develop poorly, leading to a decrease in yield.
To form a bush, you need to remove the 5 lower side shoots. . Watering and fertilizing
. Irrigation is carried out 2 times a week with warm water .To prevent drying, the plants of the bed after weeding and loosening are mulched.
As baits are used:
- solution of wood resin and water;
- mineral fertilizers( superphosphate, potassium, etc.);
- decoction of onion peel;
- solution in chicken droppings.
Diseases and pests
Chinese cucumbers have good immunity, so most of the diseases they are not afraid. However, care does not preclude daily monitoring of the state of the plant, because is a danger of :
- a spider mite, sucking the juice from the stem;
- gourd aphid, feeding on young shoots, buds and flowers;
- powdery mildew;
- fungal anthracnose;
- bacteriosis.
When detecting signs of damage, it is necessary to make treatment using special preparations or folk remedies.
Lack of attention and mistakes in the care of provoke other diseases :
- gray rot;
- Fusarium;
- cucumber mosaic and others.
Spider mite on cucumber leaves Secrets of growing
Timely care, of course, increases the chances of a good harvest, but little secrets can improve them.
4-5 loops of should be left on one stem. The rest of the shoots should be removed so that the nutrients are enough to ripen the fruit and not to increase the green.
Well proved to be prikormka from onion peel .You can also make infusion onion feathers. Enter the nutrient solution twice: at the beginning of the fruiting period and after 10 days.
Early varieties of these cucumbers can die in the spring frosts that are common in many regions. To protect the shoots from freezing, is recommended to cover the beds at night with film or agrofiber.
Such a shelter is also used during heavy rains in spring, when precipitation is still very cold. Cool water slows down the growth of the culture, leads to the death of the roots, so a warm liquid is recommended for irrigation.
In order to preserve the taste qualities of the vegetable , it is necessary to periodically conduct aeration on the beds. The future harvest depends on moisture and oxygen in the soil.
4-5 shoots should be left on one stem, the rest should be removed Summarizing the above, cannot be said that growing Chinese cucumbers is difficult , although it requires some effort.
However, the money spent and labor will be compensated by a generous harvest, which can be safely boasted.
