For a good harvest of cucumbers, it is necessary to fertilize at the seedling stage. I tried different ways. Now I can share my experience about when and which fertilizers are better to apply.
For a good cucumber harvest, it is necessary to fertilize at the seedling stage.
methods of fertilization
For a while I tried to do without feeding seedlings. But later the cucumbers grew poorly. The sprouts were fragile and small. The edges of the leaves were bent and various spots appeared – sometimes yellow, sometimes blue. At the same time, I took care of all other growing conditions. He constantly monitored the lighting and temperature. Nevertheless, the seedlings were not happy. You should not expect a good harvest of cucumbers from such plants.
After that, I decided that cucumber seedlings need to be fed. This can be done in two ways:
- Foliar spraying, that is, spraying the leaves. The fertilizer solution can be sprayed from a spray bottle. It is necessary to spray in the morning or evening, when the sun’s rays do not fall on the leaves, otherwise burns will occur. You can fertilize in this way in cloudy and cool weather, the main thing is that it does not rain. On non-sunny days, it is even useful to spray, since in such weather the roots absorb less nutrients from the soil, so it is better to apply fertilizers through the leaves.
- Root, if fertilization is carried out under the root during or after watering. It is also necessary to fertilize in the morning or evening, making sure that no drops of the solution fall on the leaves.
On average, fertilizing should be done every 2 weeks. That is, for example, wait until a leaf appears, fertilize and wait for the next time. But if the sprouts are weakened, then feeding can be done more often. In this case, you must adhere to the recommended dosages. Cucumber sprouts are very sensitive, especially the root system. Then it is impossible to restore them.
Now I will tell you about feeding by period. The substances must be applied within a certain time frame. It is advisable not to skip them, otherwise you will lose the opportunity to influence growth right at the beginning. Then it will be much more difficult to strengthen the plants.
First feeding of cucumbers
The first feeding should be done immediately after the first true leaf appears. You need a complex fertilizer – necessarily with nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The dosage should be reduced by half of the recommended dosages, since we feed the sprouts. Feeding activates the growth of roots and stems.
The first feeding should take place immediately after the first true leaf appears.
The choice of fertilizers that can be used is large. You can dilute ready-made complex fertilizers in a ratio of 1 tablespoon per 3 liters of water. Up to 2 liters of diluted mixture will be required per 1 m2.
I also used fertilizers like:
- Urea – 1 teaspoon per 3 liters of water. Under each root of the plant you need to pour about 100 ml of fertilizer. If you need to spray, the proportions of the solution should be different – 5 tablespoons per 10 liters of water.
- A mixture of mullein and superphosphate . First I grew mullein – the ratio is 1:10. Then I added superphosphate – 30 g per 10 liters of the resulting solution. Such feeding should be done after abundant watering, applying up to 100 ml under each sprout.
- Complex feeding. 15 g of superphosphate, 7 g of ammonium nitrate and 7 g of potassium sulfate per 10 liters of water. Mullein or chicken manure can also be added to this feeding, but in small quantities.
I grow cucumber seedlings in separate containers, so it was more convenient for me to fertilize with the root.
Second feeding
The next fertilizer is applied when the second true leaf appears. If the sprout develops well, this feeding can be skipped. It is an additional reinforcement.
I used the same fertilizers as in the first feeding, only in the usual doses, without halving them.
I also tried to apply other nutrient mixtures. More often I used the following feeding. In 3 liters of water I diluted 1 tablespoon of wood ash and 1 teaspoon of nitrophosca. The mixture must be stirred well and then left to infuse for a while. After that, you can fertilize – apply 100 ml to each plant.
Nitrophoska contains all three necessary substances – nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium. And wood ash replenishes the need for other additional substances and minerals.
Third feeding of cucumbers
The third time you need to apply fertilizers before planting cucumbers in open ground. Fertilizing should be done regardless of whether the fertilizer was applied for the second time.
The third time you need to apply fertilizers before planting cucumbers in open ground.
Fertilizers are applied 1-2 days before the planned planting. You can use any of those already described.
But the third time I did a different feeding. In 10 liters of water I successively diluted 15 g of urea, 40 g of superphosphate and 10 g of potassium sulfate. For 1 m2 I consumed about 5 liters of dissolved mixture. This feeding is introduced under the root after watering.
You can apply foliar fertilizing when planting. For spraying, you need to dilute 12 g of urea in 10 liters of water.
Many cucumber lovers feed seedlings with solutions of onion peels, ash, wood ash and some other folk remedies. What methods do you use? Have you tried the compositions that I describe? I advise you to use them. After them, for me, not a single season is complete without a large harvest of tasty and crispy cucumbers.
