Many summer residents are engaged in growing cucumbers. These vegetables are not only delicious, but also very healthy. There are many ways to plant cucumbers. In today’s article, we will learn all about growing these plants in buckets.
Advantages and disadvantages
Different people grow vegetables in their plots in different ways. There are many methods for certain cultures. So, fragrant and juicy cucumbers can be grown in buckets. This method is not always used and not by everyone, but this does not mean its failure. Usually summer residents undertake to grow vegetables in buckets for the experiment. If everything is done correctly, then it ends with a rich and healthy harvest.
Growing cucumbers in buckets is an interesting agricultural technique that has its advantages and disadvantages. Before turning to it, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with both the first and the second.
First, let’s find out what are the main advantages of the method under consideration.
- Location of growing crops not attached to the beds. Vegetables in buckets can be easily placed on the balcony or loggia, next to the gazebo or in any other comfortable place.
- If cucumbers are grown in buckets, individual and thorough care is provided for each individual plant. As a result, high yields can be achieved.
- With the considered landing method you can get a quality and earlier harvest.
- If cucumbers are grown in buckets placed on the balcony area, then people have the opportunity obtaining ecologically clean and fresh fruits, not treated with various chemicals and agents.
- The considered method of planting cucumbers should be addressed, if you donβt want to worry about the correctness of crop rotation, the compliance of predecessor plants.
- When cucumbers grow in buckets, caring for them is much easier and more convenient. In addition, in such conditions, plants are easier to protect against various diseases or attacks of parasites.
- Plants that grow in buckets can get more uniform illumination.
- Thanks to the method under consideration, the summer resident can significantly save free space. This is especially important if the plot in the country is small.
- Even during the rains, the fruits that are in the buckets remain clean. Dirty earthen clods do not stick to them.
Growing cucumbers in buckets is a process that has many advantages, but the gardener should also be aware of its shortcomings.
- If the plants are grown in buckets, the fruiting period will be shortened.. This is due to the rather rapid depletion of the soil in the tank.
- It is necessary to carry out preparatory work. The summer resident has to prepare the substrate, find suitable forms. All this takes a lot of time and effort.
- Number of stems planted with such a method, it usually turns out not very big.
- This method of planting and growing requires tireless attention and control from a person.. Plants need to be constantly provided with the necessary care in order to achieve a good harvest.
You can grow cucumbers in buckets as an addition to the main standard beds. This option cannot completely replace the traditional method of growing.
However, in the conditions of city apartments, the technique under consideration remains the only measure that allows you to get your own eco-friendly crop.
Suitable varieties
For growing vegetables in buckets, it is important to choose the right varieties correctly. There are a lot of them, so it can be difficult to quickly make the choice of optimal planting materials.
When choosing good varieties of cucumbers for planting in buckets, you need to consider how they can differ from each other. First of all, you should pay attention to the timing of the ripening of the culture:
- the growing season of early cucumbers is usually from 30 to 32 days;
- there are varieties of an average ripening period of 40 to 50 days;
- late varieties grow only 50 days after germination.
Another important parameter in choosing a variety is the type of pollination:
- there are self-pollinating varieties;
- pollinated by bees.
Varieties also differ in the purpose of the fruit and their size.
There are such varieties:
- salad;
- canning and pickling;
- universal.
In addition, cucumber varieties can vary in yield, type of fruiting, shape and even color of the fruit.
For growing cucumbers in buckets, containers or other types of containers, it is recommended to choose hybrid varieties characterized by the following parameters:
- early ripening;
- high yield;
- long fruiting;
- the presence of fruits of small sizes with a salad or universal taste;
- female form of flowering;
- resistance to most common diseases.
Bush or bushy varieties are ideal here.
The following popular hybrids will be an excellent solution:
- F1 “Moscow delicacy”;
- F1 “Tomboy”;
- F1 Cellar;
- F1 “Dasha”.
The listed cucumber varieties bring fragrant and tasty fruits. Their fruiting begins on the 36th day. Yields can reach up to 17 kg per bush.
Prepare
Before planting seed, the gardener must take care of the preparatory procedures. It is very important to choose and prepare a container correctly, as well as to prepare a suitable soil. Let’s find out how to do it right.
ΠΠΌΠΊΠΎΡΡΡ
For the cultivation method under consideration, practically any type of container can be used. The main thing is that their volume should not exceed 5 liters. You can use plastic containers. First, they should be improved a little: make drainage holes on the sides and at the bottom.
A gardener can use the following types of containers for planting cucumbers:
- old unnecessary buckets;
- cut canisters;
- plastic containers;
- barrels.
To plant cucumbers, it is recommended to choose tanks that have a wide diameter. In such a container, the risk of damage to plants during care activities will be reduced to a minimum. At the bottom of the selected container, it is imperative to lay out a drainage layer made up of river pebbles or ordinary expanded clay.
Ground
It is very important to properly prepare not only the reservoir, but also the soil in which tasty and environmentally friendly vegetables will grow. Planting mix for cucumbers can be bought at a specialized store, or you can cook it yourself. The best option for the crop in question is the soil obtained by mixing in equal proportions of the following components:
- sand;
- humus;
- manure;
- turf.
It must be remembered that self-prepared soil must first be disinfected. To do this, the earth is sent to the oven for 20 minutes. In this case, it is worth setting the temperature to 200 degrees Celsius.
These measures are required to prevent possible fungal diseases. Their source can be almost any ingredient from the composition of the earth.
In order to saturate the purchased planting soil mixture with the necessary nutrients, any complex type fertilizer should be applied. It is worth diluting 10 liters of top dressing in 10 liters of water. The soil should be watered with the finished liquid at the rate of 1 liter for each 10-liter tank.
Landing technology
When both the container and the land are ready, you can proceed directly to planting healthy vegetables. Buy cucumber seeds. You can use seed from your own stocks. It is highly recommended to do pre-sowing disinfection and treatment.
You will need to prepare a light pink solution of potassium permanganate. Cucumber seeds should be dipped into it. Then they are wrapped with a gauze layer, left for 15-20 minutes. After that, the seed is rinsed in clean running water.
Before direct planting, it is desirable to calibrate and germinate the seeds. It is worth selecting the largest specimens. They are placed in a saucer lined with gauze or cotton cloth. Top everything with warm water. The liquid should cover the seeds. Then they are covered with material, and then they are monitored so that there is no drying out. The material is left like this until the formation of sprouts. After that, the seeds are very carefully washed and dried.
Consider step by step how to properly plant cucumber seeds in buckets in prepared soil.
- In each tank, exposed on the east or south side, 3-5 seeds must be planted. They should be buried about 3 cm into the ground.
- If absolutely all seedlings sprout, then they are allowed seated by referring to the picking procedure.
- Upon completion of the sowing procedures, it is necessary to carry out moderate watering.
- In order to maintain an optimal humidity level in the ground, it is permissible to put a plastic bottle filled with water in the tank. In the latter, several holes must be made.
As soon as the first shoots hatch, it is necessary to put the supporting components in order to tie them up. For these purposes, wire arcs, stretched ropes and so on are suitable. The selection of the support base entirely depends on the wishes and capabilities of the gardener.
Care
To grow healthy and healthy cucumbers in buckets, the summer resident needs to provide them with proper care. It should be borne in mind that plants growing in such conditions need to be looked after differently than with standard agricultural technology. For example, bushes in buckets do not require formation using the pinching technique, because with proper selection of seeds, the whips will not grow too long.
Mandatory weeding of plantings is also excluded. If the soil was prepared carefully and efficiently, then the rudiments of all weeds in it will be initially removed. All this greatly simplifies the process of caring for vegetables.
Consider the basic care procedures that cucumbers grown in buckets will need.
- Culture should receive enough light, therefore, it is recommended to expose the containers in the house or on the street on the sunny side. If necessary, you can use the lamps, especially during the development of seedlings.
- The soil mixture in the tanks should not dry out. Watering in containers should be more frequent, as moisture consumption is accelerated. For irrigation, use only warm water.
- Plants will need irrigation. Cucumbers need such a procedure, they respond very well to it.
- To increase aeration, loosening of the soil will be required.. Due to this, the plantings will be saturated with oxygen, there will be no ailments of a fungal nature. Around the stems, it is worth pouring additional earth or hilling the existing earth to prevent the roots from being exposed.
- In order for the ovaries to form, cucumbers must be fed with infusion of ash. It is prepared by dissolving 100 g of wood ash in each liter of water. The mixture is left for a day, after which root dressing of vegetables is carried out.
Harvesting
Harvesting cucumbers grown in buckets at home or in the garden is carried out as needed. The frequency of removal of mature cucumbers largely depends on what size they have reached. Not the last role is played by the direct yield of the selected variety. Harvest is recommended to be harvested early in the morning or in the evening, when the sun has already set.
When collecting ripe fruits of cucumbers in buckets, one should be very careful, since leaving vegetables on the loops can lead to their overripeness, yellowing. Because of this, the formation of fresh ovaries will stop.
It is advisable to check the presence of greens every day. Collection is recommended to be carried out at least 1 time in a couple of days. At the same time, the gardener should not twist the vines: this can seriously injure them. Fruits that show signs of deformation must be removed immediately so that planting does not waste nutrients on the stupid development of a poor-quality crop. Cucumbers should be removed without affecting the stalk.
