Save cucumbers from prolonged rains. Heat and drought are not a hindrance to cucumbers

» Cucumbers

With the summer season approaching, many are beginning to think about how to grow vegetables in their backyard, while achieving maximum yields. The most pressing issue is the cultivation of cucumber - a rather capricious culture. To minimize negative phenomena, many use a special covering material. This technology made it possible to grow this vegetable even in cold climates.

Culture is rightfully considered one of the finicky, although it is traditionally planted by each owner. Plant does not tolerate cold and strong shading, but even under strong sunlight it can burn out.

Important importance is given to the parameters of moisture content of the soil composition and air, which must be maintained mainly artificially. There are still a sufficient number of conditions that are necessary to obtain decent harvests.

In fact, the creation of optimal conditions for growing cucumbers in the open air is almost impossible, for this reason the culture is planted under cover.

This allows mid-spring season sow seeds or transplant seedlings without fear of any late frosts.

The use of a covering material immediately eliminates a number of problematic issues. If you cover cucumbers, the sowing season can start a little earlier than usual, and the first harvest will arrive faster, because the plants will protected from wind and frost.

Covering materials are different. Today the market offers consumers:

• reinforced polyethylene film;
• air bubble wrap;
• PVC film;
• non-woven "spunbond";
• plain polyethylene.

Nonwoven fabric - spunbond

The most popular are opaque agricultural canvas and film. The beds with seedlings are first covered with a canvas, which creates protection from wind and frost. As a supplement, a plastic film is stretched on top.

Advantages and disadvantages of using spunbond when growing cucumber

On the beds, you can arrange a shelter without using a frame base.

Soft and lightweight covering material does not harm the culture, perfectly transmits light, air currents and moisture to the ground. It is resistant to ultraviolet rays, accumulates heat, protecting plants from harmful radiation. Can be used in greenhouses as a second shelter. It is easy to use and does not require large financial expenses.

Watering is carried out on top of it. It should be added that the film is resistant to damage, it can be stitched, glued and even washed if necessary.

But at the same time, the canvas is not a panacea for all negative phenomena. Much depends on how correctly the variety of cucumbers for cultivation is chosen, how the soil is warmed up.

It also affects the density of the film, and even the slope of the beds. In addition, cucumbers require pollination, so the fabric will have to be removed in the morning and re-stretched in the evening. Protection against dogs and crows, the main sources of ruptures, should be provided.

Types of black covering material

According to its origin, it can be divided into two groups - organic and inorganic.

As a rule, inorganic materials not only cover plants, but also perform decorative functions. These include:

• slate;
• gravel;
• crumb of stone, granite, marble;
• crushed stone;
• multi-colored synthetic materials.

In a separate line should be highlighted black polyethylene. Holes are made in it to add water and fertilizer compositions to the soil. The film perfectly keeps heat, warming up beds.

Agrotextile fabric- Another interesting option. A special kind of material, often used in agriculture. It is used in greenhouses and open beds. With the help of it, moisture is perfectly retained in the soil, protection against pests is created.

A distinctive feature of organic materials is the ability to feed the earth, slightly changing its acidic environment.

Organic species include:

• compost from garden waste;
• rotten foliage;
• rotted manure mixed with straw;
• shavings, tree bark, sawdust;
• needles, peat chips;
• cut grass.

Which material is good and how to choose

Before you purchase material to protect the beds, you need to study the features of each of the known species.

From frost white non-woven fabric - spandbond, agril, agrospan, spantex will perfectly protect. They perfectly pass moisture and air, are light in weight and quite durable. Their main difference is the thickness.

The thinnest ones can be laid directly on the seedlings, pressing down the edges. A thicker one is suitable for arranging small greenhouses.

In addition, the material must create reliable protection against harmful insects that are a threat to your crop.

Black films, tightly laid on the beds, will prevent the development weeds.

Preparation of beds in open ground

The ridges are prepared in advance, the place should be lit and warm. Their width is seventy centimeters, you need to dig to the depth of the shovel bayonet.

After that, fertilizers of the organic group, compost, humus are scattered over the surface. The top layer of soil is leveled with a rake. Now you can arrange grooves for sowing cucumbers.

disembarkation

For ten liters of water heated to fifty degrees, we dilute two ampoules of a liquid-like stimulant. Pour the furrows abundantly with the resulting solution.

Seeds are sown at intervals fifty centimeters. They are carefully pressed into warm, moistened earth, sprinkled on top, lightly pressed with a hand.

The whole garden dusted with ground black pepper so that the seeds are not damaged by ants, the sprouts are not eaten by slugs or mice.

After that, the bed can be covered with a spunbond in two layers.

Features of care

In the spring, the material will reliably protect against frost, in the summer it will save you from the heat. But it is necessary to maintain the conditions necessary for the normal development of cucumber plants.

Having planted a crop in early April, frequent watering should not be performed. Enough of this procedure. twice a week using warm water. Raise the film once every seven days in sunny weather to give the seedlings additional light.

In May it is allowed to start feeding, but during the day the temperature regime should be about twenty degrees of heat, not lower.

It is best to use sodium humate for this, which is dissolved in water at the rate of one spoon per bucket of water. The solution is consumed in the amount of eight liters per square landing. Bird droppings are used as fertilizer once a month.

When the plants form the third leaf, you can install the supports. Yes, and we should not forget about pollination - the material for the day must be removed from the beds, opening access to insects.

Protection can significantly increase the possibilities of growing cucumbers in different climatic conditions. Properly selected means of shelter will provide an opportunity to increase productivity, reduce labor costs for caring for the beds.

Cucumbers prefer a humid and warm environment, but when the rain pours non-stop for several days in a row, and the air temperature drops, such conditions become threatening for them. The ovaries on the lashes cease to form, the leaves turn yellow prematurely and fall off, the roots of the plant are exposed to fungal diseases. Gardeners cannot change the weather, but saving the cucumber crop is their concern and problem, and they successfully cope with it.

You need to prepare for prolonged rains, outline a work plan, stock up on some means to protect plantings during bad weather. Moisture-loving plants such as cabbage even enjoy the endless flow of water, but cucumbers can not resist and die from cold or disease. It is necessary to protect them, warm them, feed them and eliminate the risk of diseases.

How to insulate

The first thing to do is to warm the plantings of cucumbers as much as possible. There are several options:

1. Make additional drainage around the beds so that water drains and does not stagnate on the surface.
2. The easiest way is to install the arcs, and cover the landing with a film.
3. Mulch the beds with a thick layer of straw, dried grass, wood shavings, but before that, be sure to drain or drain the surface of the earth, diverting water to the side.
4. Water even gets into greenhouses, because there is an underground movement of the stream, the humidity of the air here rises significantly. It is necessary to ventilate the greenhouse more often, avoiding drafts.

In regions where heavy and prolonged rains are not uncommon, gardeners build special insulated beds for cucumbers: raised, buried or at ground level. The basic principle of arranging such beds is the use of a thick layer of rotted manure, compost, plant waste from the garden and vegetable garden. All these materials are covered with a layer of up to 50 cm to the places of future beds and are well compacted, on top - garden soil 15-20 cm.

In the process of decay of waste, the heat necessary for cucumbers is released, in addition, such structures easily let water through, preventing it from accumulating at the roots of the plant. During the season, they do not need special top dressing at the root. Ready-made beds can last up to 3-4 years, after which rotten and decomposed components should be updated.

Attention!

As a warming material, if there are no other components, you can use mowed grass, but such a bed will be useful for 1-2 seasons. Plant remains of diseased plants should not be added to the waste, they must be disposed of.

What to feed

Healthy and strong plants are more resistant to all natural disasters, but they are also endangered during long-term rainfall. Water quickly washes away all the nutrients from the soil, cucumbers begin to feel their lack, and weaken. If the rain pours incessantly, it is necessary to feed the seedlings more often than usual, every 2-3 days. Naturally, such a number of treatments takes a lot of mineral fertilizers, and they are washed out faster, so gardeners use the most inexpensive and affordable means in this case:

• iodine solution - an antiseptic that protects cucumbers from late blight and gray rot, the trace elements contained in it strengthen the plant's immunity and restore energy balance;
• soda-soap solutions - suitable for foliar treatment of leaves and shoots of cucumbers, protect them from the effects of fungal diseases;
• extracts from cow and bird manure - for such solutions of fertilizers you need a little: add 0.5 kg and 0.1 kg of components, respectively, to a bucket of water, stand for several hours, filter. Water or spray cucumbers 1-2 times a week;
• ash and ash infusions - work like potash top dressing. The powder is scattered on the surface of the soil with a thin layer, the upper part of the plant is treated with infusions: leaves, shoots, ovaries.

Weak plants during the rainy season begin to show signs of disease, the development of which must be immediately prevented.

First aid for illness

It happens that it is not possible to quickly carry out protective measures in the beds with cucumbers before heavy rainfall. Subsequently, the first symptoms of diseases can be detected on cucumber leaves and shoots. Diseases can be different and first aid should be provided accordingly (see table).

The diseases listed in the table can occur and develop due to a sharp drop in air temperature and excessive soil moisture. Gardeners, warned by weather forecasters about the approach of prolonged rains, are trying to prevent complications in the beds with cucumbers, carry out preventive treatments in advance. They take measures to protect cucumbers from the cold, warming the beds with improvised materials.

Attention!

Chemicals and fertilizers are sold in packages with attached instructions. Follow the requirements specified in it, especially with regard to dosing drugs. Do not allow solution concentrations higher than recommended by the manufacturer.

Additional protective measures

Prudent gardeners, knowing that the rainy season is coming, take the following protective measures:

1. Large lower leaves on the lashes of cucumbers are cut off so as not to provoke the appearance of yellow spots and their further spread to the entire plant.
2. Remove excess side shoots, pinch the tops of the remaining vines, thin out thickened bushes.
3. After the end of the rainy period, you need to loosen the soil in the beds so that the moisture evaporates faster.
4. At the same time, spray the cucumbers with a soda solution: 10 liters of water + 30 g of soda + 20 g of laundry soap.
5. In greenhouses, ventilation is carried out to normalize air humidity.

Conclusion

Our landings are completely dependent on us, but even man has no control over the weather. Caring gardeners are not inclined to lose heart. They take all possible measures, fighting to save the crop. Growing cucumbers in insulated greenhouses is much easier, but it is not always possible to purchase and equip such premises. In this case, the ingenuity and good advice of experienced gardeners come to the aid of plant growers.

Nikita, 37 years old, Saransk

It is not uncommon for us to rain, the summer is cool, and it lasts for weeks, so I plant cucumbers in barrels. I collect used containers wherever possible. Not every one is suitable, you can’t use an iron and plastic barrel, they get too hot. I fill half of the barrel with gravel or broken bricks, the other half with ripe compost. Everything works fine: rainwater does not stagnate at the roots, compost serves as fertilizer and warming material.

Anna, 43 years old, Voronezh

My husband built high beds for cucumbers about 30 cm in height. In the spring, we lay out the branches of cut trees, kitchen waste and mowed grass on the bottom, this is for warming. To shelter from the rain, it is easy to build a temporary canopy from any available materials: polyethylene, tarpaulin, pieces of linoleum. To prevent diseases, I spray cucumbers with a soda solution, and sprinkle the soil with ash.

The heroes of our section are diligently growing their first crop. As if to test their character, the weather now and then throws tests on them. But together with the curator Pavel Trannua, the newcomers are trying to avoid the surprises of this summer by saving cucumbers and soil from rain and excessive moisture.

Project Curator

Throughout the season, Pavel Trannua, a well-known scientist, author of many books and encyclopedias on gardening, will work as a curator and adviser to our beginners. A practitioner who prefers to test any theory first on his site, and then carry it to the masses.

Our bad weather strategy

- On the advice of our curator, I left part of the frozen tomato seedlings in the garden. She came to life! Looks good, blooms. The stem is strong. I regret that I threw out the rest, as the varieties were good. And out of hopelessness, I bought and planted the remains of someone's seedlings.

Now the problem is different - cucumbers. It rains, and although cucumbers love moisture, they do not tolerate waterlogging. I have them under the film in the greenhouse. What to do with them - water, or is there enough moisture from the sky? So far they look good, but I want to be proactive. And then last year I already poured my tomatoes and was left with nothing.

PAUL TRANNOY:

- With cucumbers, you should always remember that it is undesirable for them to wet the root neck itself, it can rot. For this reason, they usually try to water them at some distance from the bush, so that water does not once again fall on the root collar. And they are planted initially so that it is above the soil level. For example, seedlings in a pot without a bottom are placed directly on the bed, or the plants are placed on a fairly high bed, at least 20-30 cm.

With such a landing, even heavy rains are not terrible for cucumbers.

If the plants were planted on a surface close to flat, then I recommend promptly digging a temporary drainage groove on both sides of the bed, 5-10 cm deep, this will slightly lower the water level, which is quite enough.

And if planted competently, on an elevated position, how to determine whether it is necessary to water?

In short, even with proper planting, when a situation arose with prolonged rains, little sun and cold weather, a situation that threatens to rot the root collar, I advise you to adhere to the following watering regimen.

Early in the morning it would be good to check if there are water droplets along the edges of the leaves: they hang characteristically in the form of beads, a beautiful sight and, moreover, indicating that there is plenty of water for plants, watering is not needed. If the leaves look, as usual, only slightly damp from dew (greenhouse or greenhouse perspiration), then it is better to water. And here you have to be careful, give water "from below", that is, water the roots from the aisle. I note that the best watering is in the evening, when the water is heated in the sun.

Another tip, already for the future, if again there will be such a cold and damp summer as the current one. Now gardeners are seeing an unimportant picture with cucumber seedlings planted in May: it seems to be retarded, it barely develops, the leaves turn yellow. In such cases, it is recommended to do a decisive reseeding of the cucumber somewhere in a new place. You can sow cucumbers of early and mid-season varieties throughout June, with soaked and heated seeds. As a rule, this second wave sprouts well and develops so well that it soon overtakes those unlucky ones both in size and in fruiting. This year is just for such a tactic, it justified itself even with a pumpkin. Pumpkin and cucumbers belong to the same family and often react similarly to weather conditions: this year, pumpkin seedlings planted on time also did not take root well.

Many gardeners complain that in recent years, heat and drought have prevented stable yields of cucumbers. We have collected for you, our dear readers, the most important conditions, providing that your cucumber beds will delight you with tender juicy greens.

We protect planting cucumbers from heat and drought

Not every year is favorable for growing cucumbers. And if in rainy weather with moderate temperatures, inexperienced gardeners can still hope for a decent harvest, then heat and drought can ruin all work in the bud. In order not to be left without a crop, you need to know a few subtleties of working with cucumbers. And what is most important for a cucumber is moisture and temperature conditions. We will try to provide them.

loosening

The easiest way to retain moisture in the soil is loosening. The fact is that the entire soil is permeated with tiny capillaries through which water can easily rise from the deep layers to the surface, where it will quickly evaporate.

In the process of loosening, these capillaries are destroyed, so that the water can no longer rise up as quickly. Only dry surface layers should be loosened so as not to damage the roots of plants. If you carry out this procedure at least three times a week, then cucumbers will easily endure drought.

Mulching

You can keep moisture in the soil by mulching the bed around the cucumber bushes. The layer should be no thicker than five centimeters, otherwise pests may start in the soil. You can cover the soil with weeds that have not given seeds or cut grass from a lawn mower.

You can also use sawdust, but before watering, they should be moved aside. In addition, such a mulch will not let water into the soil during rain. It is not recommended to use parts of deciduous plants as mulch, but conifers are welcome. If there is nothing suitable at hand that could be used to mulch the plantings, then the soil can be temporarily covered with newspaper, cardboard, but they are also moved away before watering.

During a drought, it is important to monitor the weeds growing in the garden. Plants grown in a garden with cucumbers can draw water from the soil, damage the roots of crops.

Instillation of lashes

In drought, cucumbers age quickly and may stop fruiting before the end of the summer season. To avoid this, you should periodically rejuvenate the landing. They do it this way: they add a cucumber lash at the base, and when it takes root, the old plant, which has already ceased to bear fruit, is cut off from the young one. Thus, you can take several crops from one cucumber bed.

Treatment with anti-stress drugs

During a drought, the plant suffers from a lack of moisture, both in the soil and in the air. they should be periodically treated with anti-stress drugs. These drugs include, for example, Epin, Epin-Extra, Ecopin. It is an inexpensive, safe and very effective preparation that allows plants to survive drought, light frosts and soil salinity.

shading

You can protect cucumbers from the harmful effects of direct sunlight using a special fine-mesh net. You can find it in almost every hardware store, but if you were unable to buy a suitable shelter, then you can use agrofibre. However, this material is short-lived and can only be used for one season. Ordinary fabric should not be used for this purpose, as it will get very wet after rain, dry for a long time and can bring down the supports with its weight.

To stretch the net, you need to put a strong support. Metal pipes are dug into the ground at the corners of the beds. Their height above the ground should be 1.5 - 2 meters. At the same time, the racks located on the north side should be made slightly higher than those facing the sun. Now it is necessary to weld in pairs two bent at right angles so that corners are obtained. We firmly drive the welded parts into the upper parts of the pipes.

Next, we put on the opposite ends of the branches four more pipes, cut off exactly to size. Sharp parts that can damage the mesh are filed down and wrapped with several layers of waterproof fabric. Next, a mesh is stretched onto the frame and tied along all the ribs with a thick wire or polypropylene twine.

All these measures are simple, reliable and time-tested. A little care and attention - and cucumber beds will thank you with an excellent harvest.

Cucumbers love manure and water - this is wisdom that has come down to us from time immemorial. And it seems that there is nothing to be wiser: I made a warm dung bed (the soil is in half with humus), water it properly, and that's it, the harvest is guaranteed. But not everything is so simple. This summer, when in many regions the temperature does not rise above +12 - +16 degrees for weeks, people fall into despair and prepare to buy cucumbers for conservation in the store.

Only calmness! . Many FORUMHOUSE participants succeed. We have studied the experience of the outstanding borage growers of our portal and tell you what they feed the plants, what they do in order to get consistently large yields of tasty cucumbers without signs of bitterness both in prolonged cold weather and in drought.

• How to calculate the amount of organic matter for feeding cucumbers.
• What kind of manure is better to feed cucumbers.
• What should be the ratio of nitrogen and potassium in top dressing.
• What method of feeding is suitable for a cold summer.
• How to understand what microelements are lacking in cucumbers.
• How to make herbal fertilizer.
• How to make an extract from the ashes.

How to calculate the amount of organic matter

Consider a typical case of a FORUMHOUSE participant for this summer Saraikin Sveta. Her cucumbers grow on humus, but all summer it was cold, and it rained, the bushes were stunted, with yellow leaves. It is even impossible to form a plant, because "there are no side shoots, one might say." Here's what it looks like:

Sveta herself sins on a sharp drop in soil and air temperatures.

Saraykina Sveta participant of FORUMHOUSE

In my opinion, I will not see cucumbers.

What can be done to still "see the cucumbers"? Colleagues at FORUMHOUSE diagnosed a lack of nitrogen from a photograph. It seems - how can this be if cucumbers grow on humus, and they have enough organic matter. But in general, understanding how much organic matter cucumbers need is the most difficult thing in growing them.

Oddly enough, manure is different from manure, the content of useful substances in it is different and depends on many factors.

It is impossible to say for sure, for feeding: as already mentioned, in each case it may have a different content of nutrients. With experience comes intuition, when you already know approximately how much manure to plant in a bucket of water, how much solution to pour into the hole.

But for reference: chicken manure is considered the most effective organic fertilizer for cucumbers, it contains the highest concentration of useful trace elements. The only thing:

chicken manure solution should not be highly concentrated, it is easy for them to burn plants.

Be careful!

In cow, horse and pig manure, the ratio of nitrogen and potassium is approximately 1:1. If you feed cucumbers with them, then add 10-15 grams of potash fertilizers (for example, potassium sulfate) to a bucket of solution.

Slogvaln member of FORUMHOUSE

I add a bucket of mullein infusion right into the barrel, thump a quarter of a bucket of ash there, wait half an hour (I read, it dissolves during this time), mix thoroughly with each fence.

The solution left in the barrel Slogvaln feeds cucumbers next time. The more time passes, the more the ash dissolves, the more correct the ratio of potassium and nitrogen in top dressing becomes.

per season Slogvaln feeds cucumbers several of these large barrels. And one more thing: as soon as the cucumbers bloom, she mulches the beds with straw. Under a blanket of mulch, plants are warmer, and in cold summers they especially need such care.

The ratio of nitrogen and potassium in top dressing

As we all know, the most important trace elements for cucumbers are nitrogen and potassium. It depends on them how intensively the plant grows and develops, and how many fruits are poured on each bush. In top dressing, approximately the following proportions should be maintained:

Feeding in cold weather

But this is a general recommendation, the content of nitrogen and potassium in top dressing should vary depending on the condition of the plant. So, if the plants literally go by leaps and bounds, and there are not enough fruits on them, we reduce nitrogen fertilizing and add potassium. And vice versa: if the cucumber bush is tired of bearing fruit (it will give us a signal about this by sharply reducing fruiting, literally: “we just picked a bucket a day, and suddenly three cucumbers”), then we give it time to rest and recover by increasing share of nitrogen. After a week and a half, the amount of nitrogen decreases again.

Cucumbers respond well to foliar feeding. And in cold weather, they should become mandatory. The fact is that in the cold summer, when the thermometer shows +14 - +16 degrees for a long time, root dressings become ineffective. Without heat, some of the beneficial nutrients dissolve poorly and remain in compounds that are difficult to access for the cucumber. The fact is that the root hairs in cold weather do not work so actively, and it is better to feed the plants through the leaves.

For foliar top dressing, weak solutions of Kemira, Mortar, Crystallion, etc. are recommended. On average, 10-15 grams per bucket of water is enough, for young plants the concentration should be a little less, for fruit-bearing plants a little more.

In cold weather, foliar top dressing is carried out weekly.

If the summer is not cold, then one foliar top dressing is enough for 2-3 weeks.
Top dressing on the leaves is carried out in cloudy, but dry weather, in the late afternoon.

How to understand what elements are missing cucumber

Member of FORUMHOUSE Stols has been growing cucumbers for many years, but for the first time he gets such strange light plants with strange light fruits.

What with? It's actually clear:

Olga1113 FORUMHOUSE member

They want to eat, and everything is complex, and nitrogen in particular.

Light leaves indicate a lack of nitrogen, and the shape of the fruit in the photo above indicates a lack of potassium. It will be right to feed the plants with potassium nitrate, it is better on the leaf, but if it's scary, then at least under the root.

It is also good to make an extract from the ashes and supplement it with top dressing from fermented nettles, the so-called skunk. Top dressing is done like this: half the container is filled with nettle (preferably) or other grass, poured with water. For better fermentation, add a pack of granulated yeast, you can have a glass of some kind of jam. A week later, the top dressing is ready.

Herbal dressing consumption: 1 liter per bush. By the way, cucumbers are such plants that even with herbal dressing they can only be burned in this way, so follow the “water + drink” rule. Dilute!

pavel-79 FORUMHOUSE member

It is diluted almost 1 to 10 and before feeding the ridge is first watered with ordinary clean water.

Plants themselves always tell us what they lack, it is enough to listen to them carefully, and everything will be fine. So, we learn the language of cucumbers.

How to make an extract from ash

The legendary extract from wood ash will help to fill the deficiency in cucumbers of most of the above microelements. To prepare it, a three-liter jar of ash is poured with a seven-liter bucket of boiling water, left for a day. When feeding, a liter of extract is diluted with a bucket of water.

Dry wood ash can also be applied to the soil; 300 grams of ash will be required per square meter of cucumber beds. The only thing: the ash is not mixed with nitrogen fertilizers containing ammonium nitrogen (for example, with ammonium sulfate or ammonium nitrate). The fact is that the ash contains potash, which releases ammonium from the above-mentioned nitrogen fertilizers, which turns into ammonia and volatilizes uselessly from the fertilizer.

We hope these simple rules will help your cucumbers beat any cold summer.