Cucumbers on the balcony - how to ensure a good harvest?

Growing cucumbers on the balcony is easy. Those wishing to regale themselves with crunching fresh greens of self-made production have a great opportunity to cultivate them even in a noisy megalopolis. This process is feasible and very entertaining.

How to grow cucumbers on the balcony?

To see the greens, it is important to know some of the secrets of growing cucumbers on the balcony. This will require an oversized platform with excellent lighting, best facing east or southeast. Vegetables from the north side will be dark even with additional lightening and the yield will be meager. If the balcony is not glazed, then with such an idea will have to part - cucumber drafts will not tolerate. Place the bushes better near the walls or in the corners of the room to protect them from gusts of wind. If such requirements are met, then you can confidently proceed with the selection of seeds.

What sorts of cucumbers can be grown on the balcony?

Now on sale it is easy to detect hybrids, bred for cultivation in the balcony room. When buying, you need to read the annotation - it should be noted that the type is classified as tentistic, it has small fruits, it does not need pollination (parthenocarpic) and is suitable for cultivation in a loggia situation, since lianas are endowed with short interstices. Best for this are the cornichon type greens, harvest from them for a long time, and they do not outgrow. From one bush it's easy to get about 30-40 pieces of a vegetable. Varieties of cucumbers for the balcony:

1. F1 City cucumber. Puchkovaty cornichon, abundantly branched, fructifies for 40 days. Zelenians 9-12 cm long, at nodes grow up to 9 ovaries.
2. F1 Balagan. Short-ripened gherkin hybrids, short stems of 9-10 cm weight 80-90 g.
3. F1 Machaon. Parthenocarpic with low branching. Fruits are short, 7-11 cm, weight 110 g.
4. F1 Balcony. Gherkin, fructifies for 40 days. Seeds are pimple, white, 6-10 cm long.
5. F1 Hummingbird. Parthenocarpic cornichon with low branching. Vegetables short, 5-8 cm long, weighing 60-80 g.

Cucumber primer on the balcony

The center of the process is the land. The soil for cucumbers on the balcony should be prolific. You can buy a universal soil in a floristic stall for growing vegetable crops with pH = 6.3-6.8. Not bad, if there is a dacha nearby and you can bring land from there. It must be mixed with purchased soil and perlite (4 doses of soil, 1 dose of soil and 1 dose of perlite). After mixing on a bucket of ground soil it is brought: 1 tbsp. spoon nitrophoski, 1 cup of woody earth, 1 teaspoon urea. Before planting the soil must be decontaminated in any way:

• to soak with a fungicide;
• heat in microwave oven;
• evaporate over boiling water.

In what capacity to plant cucumbers on the balcony?

Cucumbers can be grown on the balcony in ordinary plastic containers for flowers, pots, pots. For such purposes, suitable and wooden boxes or small pots. They should have drainage holes and a stand for water. Very comfortable vessels with a double bottom, in which in the upper bottom there are holes for water drain. As a drain, small claydite is acceptable.

The volume of the pot for cucumbers on the balcony is calculated according to the basic rule - 5 liters of fertile soil per bush to avoid its drying during fruit bearing. The diameter of the vessel is at least 10 cm. The container is filled in the following way: the drainage is placed 2-3 cm to the bottom, the prepared soil mix is ​​poured, not reaching 5 cm to the edge, the soil is spilled and the earth mixture is added as shrinkage occurs.

How to properly plant cucumbers on the balcony?

Start cultivating greenery on the loggia optimally in late April - early May. The sooner the seed is sown, the quicker you can enjoy the fresh harvest. It is important to make a wise crop of cucumbers on the balcony:

1. Sowing is done with dry seeds, seasoned in a refrigerator for a couple of days. Before sealing, they should be kept for 20 minutes in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, washed with clean water and dried. This will prevent fungal diseases. If you managed to purchase seeds in a colored shell (red or green), then they are already decontaminated and soaked in manganese it is not necessary.
2. In the center of the prepared vessel, receding from the edge of 15 cm, make holes at a distance of 30 cm from each other. The seeds are closed to a depth of 1.5-2 cm - in each hole one piece. It is appropriate to grow cucumbers on a balcony in plastic bottles, then one or two plants are planted in one 5-liter container.
3. The crops are covered with cellophane and kept warm at + 24-26 ° C.
4. Until the seedlings appeared, irrigate the soil from the nebulizer.
5. A week later in the tanks will appear sprouts and polyethylene can be removed, the plantations are placed on the lightest window in the heat + 20 ° C. At the same time, there should not be the slightest breeze on the windowsill.
6. As soon as the leaves appear on the shoots, they can be started to temper, opening the window to the dwelling for a whole day. The needs for water crops should not be felt.
7. On the balcony, the plantations are relocated when stable + 15 ° C is stabilized on the street.

How to care for cucumbers on the balcony?

Care for cucumbers on the balcony is in their systematic watering, make-up, the construction of supports. Besides:

1. In hot weather (over + 30 ° С) plantings should be shaded from direct UV rays, so that the leaves do not burn in vines.
2. The soil moisture can be raised by setting buckets of water near the containers, or by mulching the soil with wet sphagnum moss.
3. In early August, the containers can already begin to be wrapped at night with burlap, so that the rootlets of the crop do not freeze.
4. After fruiting (after 90 days from sowing), the lianas are cut off, the rhizomes are uprooted.
5. The soil from the boxes can be removed into cellophane bags and used for the next year, replacing the half-fresh soil. They will also have vessels and cords.

How to water cucumbers on the balcony?

When deciding how often to water cucumbers on a balcony, it is important to know that plantations should not have a shortage of moisture. Moisten the planting two or three times a week. At the same time, they water not only the soil, but also irrigate the air around the crop. The water for the procedure is taken warm, permanent. In the evening, cucumbers can be sprayed from the sprayer. Water can also be poured into the bottom saucer, from where the roots, sprouted through the drainage holes, will absorb it with pleasure.

Do I need to pinch the cucumbers on the balcony?

On the question of whether to prickle the cucumbers on the balcony, there is no definite answer. Often, such balcony hybrids do not stretch very long, and there is no need for such a procedure. But if the stems grow strongly, then when the center shoot reaches the height of the wire (support), it is plucked. This occurs approximately in the phase of 10-12 leaves. Side branches are plucked to a length of 25-45 cm. Then the shoots will grow to growth, which will please with a lot of fruits.

How to tie a cucumber on a balcony?

Carrying out the cultivation of cucumbers on the balcony, it is necessary to know that the plantations will soon give more and more new leaves. When 5-6 green plates appear, the bush will need support. At the primary stage, this role can be performed by traditional tapestries for indoor flowers. But such a measure for a long time will not suffice - even with the growth of 7-8 carved leaves, the vine will require an additional garter.

On the balcony wall, it is possible to drill holes at a height of 2.5 m. In them, the holders for the clotheslines are pounded onto the screws, the twine is tied at the height of the outstretched hand, and one tip of 1.5 m long should be left free. It will come in handy to tie the vines when they begin to aspire upwards. The stems curl around the ropes and carefully fasten with a weak loop.

What to fertilize cucumbers on the balcony?

Home cucumbers on the balcony must be fed in time:

1. It is necessary to make cucumbers on the balcony 14 days after the initial sprouts were introduced. For such young stems, use a weak solution with ammonium nitrate (5 g), potassium (15 g), superphosphate (3 g) and magnesium (5 g) per 10 l of water. You can also apply a solution of urea - 1 teaspoon per 3 liters of water. Pour the herrings so that the underflow does not fall on the foliage.
2. The next feeding is carried out 2 weeks after the primary. To do this, mix another fertilizer for cucumbers on the balcony: take a solution of Mullein (1:10), add to it superphosphate (20 g), potassium sulfate (15 g). Make recharge once a week.