To ensure that the fruits are tied well and have a presentable appearance, and the harvest is plentiful, timely top-dressing is required. Lack of nutrients can adversely affect not only the appearance of the plant, but also significantly reduce productivity.
Signs of nutritional deficiencies
The fact that feeding is needed is evidenced by such signs as the absence or small amount of ovary after abundant flowering, not rapid growth of lashes and leaves. Fruits in this case are small, crooked or other unusual shapes.
The bitter taste of cucumbers indicates inadequate watering or the fact that temperature differences have recently occurred, it was hot during the day and cold at night. In this case, pour the plants with warm water, which must be left before this.
Read the rules and methods for watering cucumbers in the next article.
If the fruits in large quantities formed in the form of a light bulb or wrapped in a crochet - a lack of potassium. Add to the process of caring for plants spraying with a solution of ash and water more - 1 liter in the root area. Alternatively, spray with an aqueous solution of potassium phosphate, falling asleep 1 tsp. substances in a liter container with water.
Potassium deficiency looks like this:
- stalks and foliage too eagerly "spike";
- foliage acquires a dark green hue;
- on the leaves growing from below, a yellow border looms, and they brighten very much.
Dates and frequency of feeding
Cucumbers cannot be dispensed with with proper composition and useful dressing, so follow the following plan for root dressing:
- Immediately after planting in the garden or after the permanent leaves appear.
- At the very beginning of flowering, when buds formed.
- At the beginning of fruiting.
- In the midst of fruiting, to extend this period as much as possible.
Foliar fertilizers are also produced. They perform a weak solution of fertilizer. Such a composition is sprayed with leaves and lashes 2-3 times per season.
Experienced gardeners express the opinion: if the plants grow and bear fruit well without the support of fertilizers, carry them out 1 or 2 times during the whole season.
Feeding cucumbers after planting in open ground
In spring, you don’t need to prepare land in the garden: make all the necessary fertilizers in advance, in the autumn. It is enough to dig up the beds with a shovel and process with potassium permanganate (pour plenty of water).
If the whole process of seedling adaptation is successful, the bushes have taken root, grow quickly, look healthy and strong, skip the first item on the plan for feeding cucumbers. Fertilize for the first time only when budding the plant.
If the bushes outwardly look bad, get sick, do not take root and grow slowly, help them with foliar top dressing and fertilizers with nitrogen - ammophos or asophos. Ash is also suitable: sprinkle the earth in a ratio of 100-200 g per 1 sq. m or dilute with water and pour.
Now many agricultural companies produce special complex fertilizers in the spring, where there is a lot of nitrogen. You can achieve the same effect by arranging the ingredients on your own. Recipe for spring dressing (calculation for 10 bushes):
- 10 l of water;
- 10 g of potassium chloride;
- 10 g of ammonium nitrate;
- 20 g of superphosphate.
Pour a liter of this solution under each plant. Next time, fertilize the crop after starting the process of fruit formation. Plants that give birth to ovaries in large numbers need support.
At the third stage, introduce complexes of nitrogen, potash and phosphorus fertilizers containing sulfur, with the goal of proper development and growth. Stage Three:
- At the initial stage of growth, prepare and apply, as intended, the nitrophosphate solution: 12.5 g of powder per 5 l of water.
- After seven days, dilute the mullein according to the recipe: for 10 liters of water, 0.5 liters of organic matter and 1 part potassium sulfate.
Fertilize cucumbers with the active formation of fruits, carry out a special complex of substances (sprinkle 20 g per 1 sq. M). Add humates and green stuff as well.
Nitrogen fertilizers
If the cucumbers you planted lack nitrogen, there will be signs:
- the fruits of all plant varieties are very slightly colored, almost white;
- the part of the fruit where the flower came from has a pointed shape, similar to the beak of a bird;
- foliage on the lower tier turns yellow;
- lashes, main and lateral, grow slowly.
Before applying fertilizing with nitrogen, make sure that you conduct sufficient watering of the plants. When the earth is overdried, the beneficial microorganisms that live there are inactive, and cucumber bushes cannot absorb nitrogen.
If you notice a lack of nitrogen in greenhouse fruits, feed either root or extra root, according to the recipe:
- 10-15 g of ammonium sulfate or urea;
- 10 liters of water.
With nitrogen starvation of vegetables during the period of rapid ripening of fruits, cucumbers from the greenhouse are better fed not with chemistry, but with "green".
Recipe for greens:
- 1.5-2 kg of finely cut leaves and stems of weeds;
- 10 liters of water.
Leave this infusion for a week to begin fermentation, then pour cucumbers on it.
Mineral fertilizers
The necessary fertilizing from minerals is used in small quantities, because the root system of a green vegetable subtly feels an overdose. During the summer season, regularly enrich the soil with nutrition. The average amount of substances in the main application per 1 square. m:
- 10 g of urea;
- 20-30 g of superphosphate;
- 10-15 g of potassium sulfate.
Use potassium and phosphorus better in the fall, preparing the ground for winter, nitrogen - before planting the garden. In organic fertilizers, most elements are in very small quantities, so it is important for fans of the natural effect on the garden to supplement organic matter with mineral fertilizers. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are very important.
Phosphate fertilizer
Signs of phosphorus deficiency:
- stems on the sides and foliage do not grow well;
- recently grown leaves are very small;
- the new foliage becomes darker and dries out soon.
In such a situation, add diluted ammophos and diammophos. You can also apply this recipe for root dressing:
- 1 tbsp. superphosphate;
- 10 liters of water.
Organic fertilizer
These types of fertilizing are used by those gardeners who do not want to use chemistry in fertilizers.
Ash
This type of organic top dressing can be used in all four stages recorded in the above plan. Recipe for ash solution:
- 1 tbsp. ash passed through a sieve;
- 1 bucket of water.
With this mixture, feed cucumbers by pouring fertilizer into the root area. Repeat once every 10 days.
To sanitize the soil and eradicate harmful insects, sprinkle the ground with sifted wood ash near each bush. You can get such ash after burning dry grass, straw, firewood, sawdust, dry leaves, etc. This substance has all the micro and macro elements that cucumbers need.
For foliar nutrition, another recipe:
- 300 g of ash pour 300 ml of water, mix and boil for 30 minutes over high heat.
- Leave the resulting "broth" overnight (or just for 8 hours) to insist.
- After a while, slowly add warm water until you get 10 liters, and add a little soap.
- Stir thoroughly and strain the solution, spray the leaves and stems.
Bird droppings, manure, green manure
Manure is considered the main feeding for cucumbers. For 1 square. m:
- 4-5 kg on fertile soil;
- 6-7 kg on depleted land (sandy, sandy loam, gray forest, sod-podzolic areas).
Old compost and humus are also good organic fertilizers. But bring them only in rows when sowing or in pits when transplanting bushes from a box into the open ground.
If there are signs of a lack of nitrogen with the actively started formation of cucumbers, then instead of chemistry, use green fertilizer or “herbal tea”. The recipe for this dressing we have described above. When overheated, the grass faster than animal organics loses ammonia harmful to cucumbers.
Bird droppings include phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and nitrogen. It increases the "immunity" of a vegetable crop to diseases and promotes rapid growth.
Yeast
Yeast recipe:
- Take 100 g of fresh yeast in one bucket of water, let them ferment in the warmth. This will take 36 hours.
- With this solution pour one and a half liters under the root of each plant.
- This is just an aid to the main mineral feeding with a break of 10 days.
Recipe for feeding from dry yeast:
- 10 g of dry yeast per 10 l of water plus 2 tbsp. Sahara.
- Leave to stand for three hours.
- Stir and pour into a 40 liter barrel. Then you can immediately water the cucumbers.
Using top dressing from yeast, keep in mind that their maximum number is 2 times per summer.
Onion peel
Use tincture of onion husk if the leaves of vegetables turn yellow in large quantities. This signals a lack of nutrients or the onset of infection.
Tincture Recipe:
- 1 tbsp. mix onion peel with 8 l of water, heat on a stove to a boil, close the lid and stand for 4 hours.
- Strain the composition and you can water the cucumbers.
- The same solution can spray the leaves. It is also suitable for stems.
Features of fertilizer in greenhouse conditions
It is necessary to start preparing the soil in the greenhouse already in the fall. Clean everything from all plant debris, dig up the earth, treat with diluted bleach.
During digging, be sure to bring 1 bucket of manure, sifted humus or compost per 1 sq. m. Then pour 500 g of lime-cannon or dolomite flour to remove excess acidity.
In the early spring in the greenhouse about a week before sowing cucumber seeds or planting finished bushes, prepare the land by digging it. Before digging, make fertilizer according to the recipe (per 1 sq. M):
- 20-30 g of ammonium nitrate;
- 20-30 g of superphosphate;
- 20 g of potassium sulfate.
After that, fill the soil with a heated solution of potassium permanganate (2 g per 10 l of water) and cover it with a thick colorless film, leaving it until the seedlings are planted.
All the principles and timing of top dressing are the same as for cucumbers in the garden. The difference is that the dose of nutrients must be reduced due to the sensitivity of greenhouse cucumbers. It will be more useful to feed them insufficiently than in excess.
Answers to popular questions
Beginner gardeners are interested in a lot of the question of planting and feeding cucumbers. We will answer them further.
How can I feed cucumbers after the appearance of the first shoots?
During the development of the first shoots and leaves, cucumbers must be supplied with nitrogen fertilizing. This will be the first feeding according to the plan given at the beginning of the article. Use this recipe:
- 20-25 g of double superphosphate;
- 15-20 g of potassium sulfate or 10-15 g of potassium chloride;
- 10-15 g of ammonium nitrate.
This mixture should be enough for 10 bushes.
What top dressing is needed for seedlings of cucumbers after planting?
The first top dressing immediately after transplanting seedlings in open ground do after the appearance of 2-3 permanent leaves - you need nitrogen. Use urea (mineral top dressing). Recipe: mix 1 tbsp. and 10 liters of water. As an option, you can take the mullein, diluting according to the scheme: 500 g per 10 liters of water. Make both of these ways to feed cucumbers directly under the roots.
How to feed cucumbers during fruiting?
Fertilize the vegetables, while they bear fruit, with a complex, soluble fertilizer. The ratio should be 20 g per 1 sq. m or humates or herbal infusion. During fruiting, these vegetables require nitrogen or potassium top dressing.
What fertilizers are needed for cucumbers that grow poorly?
Apply an infusion of peeled onions. Fill it with a 3 liter jar. Then pour boiling water (90 ° C) and wait 24 hours, stirring the mass from time to time.
If these conditions are met, you will get a tincture that needs to be diluted with water. The ratio should be 1 to 10. Water the vegetables under the root, and also spray them, and they will begin to grow faster.
How to feed cucumbers if the leaves turn yellow?
To effectively combat yellowing of the leaves, top dressing, which contains the desired substance. You can define it like this:
- leaves dry or yellow only at the edges, then this is a lack of potassium and magnesium;
- yellow top sheets - copper;
- yellowed sheets with green veins - iron;
- the old leaves below were stained - nitrogen.
Also, the causes of yellowing of the foliage may be:
- oversupply of the sun;
- incorrectly calculated watering;
- harmful insects.
How to feed pale cucumbers?
Light shades from the leaves sometimes turn to cucumbers. This indicates a nitrogen deficiency:
- "Ambulance" - urea fertilizer according to the scheme: 1 tbsp. on 10 l of water. Pour 3 liters per bush.
- The second option is ammonium sulfate (in the composition of 20-21% of nitrogen). m add from 25 to 40 g.
How to feed cucumbers after the cold?
Already after planting the plants directly into the ground, the temperature can drop very sharply, frost is formed or snow falls. To protect against spoilage, cucumbers for a week should stop watering and fertilize. This will avoid the appearance and development of powdery mildew.
After that, spray the bushes with the composition: 3 liters of milk serum, 1 teaspoon of copper sulfate, at least 7 liters of water. Also use Fitosporin-M (10 g of substance, 5 l of water). Be sure to do foliar treatment approximately once every 10 days, three times. Or take Ekosil, diluting 30-40 drops in 3 liters of water. With this composition, feed the bushes twice with a break of two weeks.
If you follow these simple tips and understand the pattern and principles of additional nutrition of this vegetable crop, success will not be long in coming. As a result, you can get a large crop of delicious cucumbers.