Technology of growing high-quality cucumber seedlings at home

Growing transplants on a windowsill

Growing transplants on a windowsill allows you to obtain an early harvest of cucumbers both for open soil and greenhouses. The method is suitable for working with small batches of plants. The main thing is to properly prepare the seed and strictly adhere to the temperature regime. This will ensure uniform emergence, accelerate fruiting, and prevent an abundance of barren flowers.

1. Heating. Keep large, full-weight seed near heating appliances for a month at a temperature of 25 °C.
2. Disinfection. Keep the seed for 15–20 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate (1 g per 0.5 l of water), then rinse with clean water.
3. Soaking. Place the seed in fabric bags and lower them for 12 hours into a nutrient solution (1 teaspoon of nitrophoska or sifted wood ash per 1 l of water). Afterward, rinse with clean water.
4. Swelling. Place the seed in a damp cloth for 1–2 days at a temperature of 22–23 °C until swollen. Ensure they only slightly sprout, but do not germinate fully.
5. Hardening. Place the sprouted seed on the bottom shelf of a refrigerator (at a temperature of 1–2 °C) for one day.

Seed is sown during April into pots or cups 8–10 cm high. The soil mixture is prepared in advance according to one of the recipes below. You can also use ready-made store-bought soil like "Zhivaya Zemlya" without adding fertilizer.

Any prepared mixture is thoroughly mixed and poured into containers to the top. To compact, the soil is watered with a warm (40 °C) nutrient solution. To prepare it, dissolve in 10 l of water 2 tablespoons of slurry-like mullein, 1 tablespoon of urea, and half a teaspoon of copper sulfate.

• Growing period — no more than 25–30 days
• Daytime temperature — 18–20 °C
• Nighttime temperature — no lower than 14–15 °C
• Irrigation water temperature — 25 °C
• Irrigation frequency — 1 time per week

Water the transplants strictly in the morning hours (around 10–11 a.m.), fully soaking the soil clod. If the room temperature rises above 22 °C during the day, open the window for ventilation, but protect the seedlings from direct cold drafts. In the phase of two true leaves, carry out top dressing: dissolve in 3 l of warm (25 °C) water 2 teaspoons of nitrophoska, nitroammophoska, or "Kormilets" fertilizer.

Growing transplants in a plastic greenhouse

If you have a reliable greenhouse with a double-layer plastic cover, there is no need to grow transplants at home. Sowing is carried out directly in the greenhouse room on a small area of the bed. This allows you to obtain hardened plants ready for transplanting to a permanent location as early as mid-May.

• Sowing date — April 20
• Growing period — 22–25 days
• Transplanting to a permanent location — May 10–12
• Daytime temperature — no lower than 15–16 °C
• Nighttime temperature — no lower than 12–14 °C

1. Bed preparation. Dig up the soil in the greenhouse, level it, and lightly compact it. Spray the bed from a watering can with a hot (80 °C) solution of copper sulfate (1 tbsp per 10 l of water) at a rate of 2 l per 1 m².
2. Container preparation. Fill pots or cups 8x8 or 10x10 cm in size with a nutrient soil mixture. Water with a warm (50 °C) solution of liquid sodium humate (1 tbsp per 10 l of water).
3. Sowing. Place the pots on the bed close to each other (bridge method). In the center of each pot, make a hole 2 cm deep, place one seed, cover with the soil mixture, and cover from above with a cover material.

During the growing period, the transplants are watered only 1–2 times with warm (30 °C) water at a rate of 2–3 l per 1 m² of the bed. Watering is carried out in the morning (at 10–11 a.m.) when the air in the greenhouse warms up. At night, the plants are covered more warmly, and during the day, excess insulation is removed. If the temperature rises above 20 °C, open the vent on one side of the greenhouse, and during cold spells, stretch a light thin film inside.

On a warm day, when the seedlings have formed two true leaves, carry out top dressing. To do this, dissolve 1 glass of liquid mullein (or 1 tbsp of "Ideal" liquid fertilizer) and 1 teaspoon of mineral fertilizer in 10 l of warm water. The application rate of the working solution is 2–3 l per 1 m² of the bed.

In April, prepare fertile soil for the entire greenhouse area by mixing the components in the necessary proportions. The ingredients of the mixture must be well distributed. Choose one of the four composition variants presented in the table.

Bed preparation and transplanting

Proper preparation of the greenhouse soil and compliance with the planting scheme is the foundation of cucumber health and their protection against root rots. Beds are formed 5–6 days before transplanting the plants to their permanent location. This allows the soil to warm up and the applied fertilizers to partially convert into a form available to the roots.

• Bed width — 80 cm
• Bed height — 35 cm
• Distance between plants — 50–60 cm
• Trellis height — 1.5–2 m
• Solution temperature for planting holes — 50 °C

1. Form the beds, leaving walkways 60–70 cm wide between them. Apply 1 tablespoon of potassium sulfate, 1 teaspoon of urea, 2 tablespoons of superphosphate, and 1 cup of wood ash or a deoxidizing agent per each square meter of soil.
2. Water the beds with a hot (70–80 °C) nutrient solution: add 0.5 L of liquid manure or poultry manure and 1 teaspoon of copper sulfate to 10 L of water. Be sure to strain the solution and use 5 L per 1 m².
3. Immediately after watering, cover the beds with clean plastic film to retain heat and soil moisture. Stretch two parallel wires along the beds at a distance of 20–30 cm from each other for future vine trellising.
4. On the day of planting, prepare planting holes to the depth of the size of the transplant pot. Pour 0.5 L of the "Ideal" preparation solution (1 tablespoon per 10 L of warm water at a temperature of 50 °C) into each hole.
5. Plant the watered transplants vertically in a staggered pattern.

Irrigation, top dressing, and canopy formation

The cucumber is extremely sensitive to soil moisture and the concentration of salts in the root zone. Disrupting the irrigation regime leads to fruit set shedding, and errors in vine formation lead to overcrowding and harvest losses. Regularly clear the beds of weeds and monitor the soil aeration.

The irrigation regime is adjusted depending on the growing season phase of the plants. Before flowering begins, cucumbers are watered moderately — every 5–7 days with 3–4 L per 1 m². During the flowering and fruiting period, watering is increased to once every 2–3 days, using from 6 to 12 L per 1 m² depending on the weather (on cloudy days, the rate is reduced).

To preserve the roots in the first 2–3 weeks, perform only light loosening to a depth of 2–3 cm. Subsequently, loosening is carried out depending on soil permeability. If water begins to stagnate during irrigation due to compaction, carefully make punctures with a pitchfork between plant rows to the depth of the tines — 4–5 punctures per 1 m².

During the summer, 4–5 top dressings with mineral and organic fertilizers are carried out in the greenhouse. Rotating nutrients stimulates abundant fruiting. In the absence of natural manure or poultry manure, they can be replaced by humic preparations: sodium humate, or substrates such as "Kormilets", "Ideal", or "Plodorodie".

Bush formation begins 10–15 days after planting the transplants, when the plants are tied with twine to a stretched wire. The crop is strictly trained to a single main stem. This ensures an optimal light regime and simplifies plant care by preventing overcrowding.

1. Perform "blind pruning" in the axils of the first 4 true leaves by completely pinching out all emerging flowers and lateral shoots.
2. On the next 5–6 nodes, leave lateral shoots up to 20 cm long, then pinch their tips.
3. Higher up the stem, leave lateral shoots 30–40 cm long, also pinching their tips.
4. Near the trellis wire, increase the length of the remaining lateral shoots to 40–50 cm.
5. Drape the main stem over both wires and pinch its tip once it hangs 60 cm down past the wire.