Any experienced gardener knows: to obtain an excellent harvest, it is not enough to sow seeds and occasionally water the plant. This requires creating ideal conditions for growth and fruiting. In addition to irrigation, loosening and weeding, they can also include additional fertilizing.
The need for fertilizing is due to the poverty of garden soils. After all, every year we plant various vegetable crops on our plots, and the soil cover is gradually depleted. Cucumbers are demanding for food - they need both mineral and organic fertilizers. So, let's find out what can be fed cucumbers in the garden or in the greenhouse and how to do it correctly.
First, we'll figure out when it's better to make fertilizer. Usually it is done in the spring, filling the top layer of soil with manure. Thus, the garden bed during the active growth of plants will be heated from the inside. In addition, there are two main types of feeding - it's root and foliar. The first are suitable for warm weather, they are usually spent after copious watering in the evening or after the rain.
If the summer is damp and cold, then the root system of the plant can not cope with root feeding - in this case it is better to spray on the leaves.
To fructification was plentiful, it is necessary to adhere to the terms of fertilization. So, the first fertilizing is usually performed 2 weeks after planting, the second - at the very beginning of flowering, the third - when the cucumbers begin to bear fruit, and the fourth - a little later, because its purpose is to extend this period.
How to fertilize cucumbers for a good harvest?
In addition to traditional fertilizers in agriculture (manure, wood ash, chicken manure), there are special preparations for a good harvest of cucumbers and tomatoes. This is superphosphate, urea, ammonia and potassium nitrate and others.
And now let's figure out what exactly should be watered cucumbers to get a good harvest in each of the four feedings per season: From organic it is better to use fresh chicken manure, diluted in concentration with water 1:15, slurry (1: 8) or infusion of green grass (1: 5). Mineral fertilizers for the first fertilizing are ammophos, which is embedded in the ground by loosening, a mixture of ammonium nitrate with superphosphate and potassium salt or urea.
When the flowers appear on the plant, we introduce infusion of green grass, dry or diluted ash. For foliar dressing we use superphosphate and boric acid with sugar dissolved in hot water.
Adult plants no longer need such an abundance of nutrients, one should only maintain their content at the proper level. To do this, we continue to make green and mineral fertilizers - diluted in water potassium nitrate, urea, ash .
Near the end of the fruiting, in order to prolong it, feed the cucumbers with a two-day infusion of saggy hay
Also keep in mind that the harvest of cucumbers will be good only if the rules of crop rotation are observed on the site. This means that the precursors of cucumbers should be plants such as cabbage, beans, potatoes, celery or tomatoes. And certainly one should not plant cucumbers in one place for several years in a row - this will reduce their yield and harm the vegetables that will grow here in the years to come. If you have relatively little space for the garden, the output can be sideration - planting so-called green fertilizers, which will heal the soil, loosen it and saturate it with nutrients.