Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

One of the popular methods of growing cucumbers at home is to plant them in five-liter water bottles. This method has a number of advantages over the standard growing technology. Today we will talk about the features of this method of cultivation.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

Advantages and disadvantages

Growing cucumbers in bottles with a volume of 5 liters has a number of advantages:

  • creation of greenhouse conditions for culture;

  • sufficient depth and width for plant growth;

  • ensuring the protection of vegetation from harmful organisms;

  • reduction in the number of weeds;

  • the possibility of individual care for each cucumber bush;

  • saving water (the container will not crack due to a large amount of liquid, the water will remain within such a bottle).

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

This growing technology has almost no disadvantages.

It is only worth noting that plastic bottles, unlike boxes and special containers, will need to be changed every year. And you will also have to carefully disinfect such containers, prepare a new earthen mixture for planting.

Variety choice

First you need to choose the most suitable crop varieties for growing in this way. The best option would be various hybrid varieties:

  • “Zozulya”;

  • “Matilda”;

  • “Emelya”.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

Prepare

Before you start planting, you should prepare the seed, soil and five-liter bottles. A few days before planting, the seeds are first slightly warmed up, disinfected in the composition with potassium permanganate.

Then they should be soaked in damp gauze. Next, you need to wait for the first young shoots to appear.

The preparation of the earth mixture is also important.. You can buy ready-made mass in the garden store. And you can also prepare it yourself.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

For these purposes, land is taken from the garden, it is mixed with sand and peat. The mixture should be fairly light and fluffy.

If its density is too high, then you can add a little more sand. Minerals should be added to the resulting soil mixture, superphosphate is best suited.

When preparing the container, the upper part is first cut off. It does not need to be thrown away, it will be covered with a bottle in the future after planting the seed. Several small holes are made from below, they are designed to remove excess liquid after watering.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

To make it easier and more convenient to remove the upper part, you can first make 3-4 small cuts in this place on the container. Only after that, with the help of scissors, cut off the top completely.

Landing

When all the preparatory steps are done, you can already plant the seeds in cut plastic containers. The earth is poured into a bottle, not reaching the upper edge of 3-4 centimeters. It should be well watered with warm water.

After that, you need to outline 3-4 small holes with a depth of up to 2 centimeters. One seed is placed in each hole. They are carefully covered with earth. Then all this is covered with the previously cut off upper part to create the effect of a greenhouse.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

Care

In order for cucumbers to develop and give a good harvest, it will be necessary to properly care for them. The culture will require regular watering. The first three weeks after planting, such a procedure is carried out 1 time in two days. Before flowering, watering is performed 1 time in 7 days. Then it is carried out every 3-4 days. You can only take warm water for this.

Vegetation is moistened only under the root. After each such procedure, the soil around the plants should be slightly loosened, this will prevent the formation of a crust, and will create oxygen access to the root system.

A couple of times a day it will be necessary to ventilate the crops. This procedure takes approximately 10-15 minutes. You just need to slide the cover. Make sure that too much condensate does not form on the container, it must be removed in a timely manner. The lid or protective film can be completely removed after emergence.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

Remember that cucumbers are a light-loving crop, so containers with such plants are best placed on a well-lit side. But direct bright rays can harm vegetation, severe burns can appear on their leaf blades.

If you planted a non-self-pollinating cucumber variety, then you will have to pollinate it yourself. In this case, you need to carefully examine the bushes and find female and male buds on them. The first are placed on small seals.

After that, you need to carefully take the male flower, remove the petals, so that in the end only the stamens remain. They are carried out several times in the center of the female bud. You can collect pollen with cotton wool and transfer it to the desired area.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

Plants planted in five-liter containers will also need fertilizer. The first time they are introduced at the beginning of flowering. At this stage, you can use urea, potassium sulfate. They are diluted in water (10 liters of liquid account for 1 teaspoon of such substances).

The second time fertilizers are applied after 12-14 days. At this stage, sodium humate is used, instead of it, you can take ready-made healthy mixtures (β€œBreadwinner”, β€œFertility”).

Subsequent top dressing can be done with the same components that were used for the second. They are applied once every 10 days. Remember that all fertilizers should be applied only to pre-moistened soil. All these top dressings allow you to grow a good crop.

In addition to root fertilizers, spraying will also be important for cucumbers. Most often, a solution with warm water and urea is used for this.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

The formation of bushes is important. This procedure includes the following actions: pinching, tying, pinching. If you grow this crop on a balcony, then it is most convenient to make a garter with a mesh with large mesh holes or a rope trellis. It is installed near plastic bottles.

To create it, a rope is firmly pulled under the ceiling, the harnesses are fixed on it in a vertical position. The total height of such a support should be at least 1,5 meters. It is worth forming it when the vegetation is 20-25 centimeters in length.

In the process of pinching, the lateral processes are cut off. The parts that have formed in the axils of 5-6 sheets are cut off (you need to count from the bottom). It is important to remove stepchildren until the moment when their length reaches 4-5 centimeters.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

After the pinching procedure is completed, you can start pinching. At a height of 50 cm, the lashes are cut, this should be done so that only one ovary and a few leaves remain there.

Further, at the level of 50-100 cm, 2-4 thin lashes are left. At the same time, 2 ovaries and a few leaves should be located on each such part. All excess length is carefully removed.

On the next 50 cm, the shoots do not need to be cut, they are only cut in such a way that 3-4 ovaries and a few leaves are eventually preserved on each of them. At a level of more than 1,5 m, the main shoot is cut to slow down its growth.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

It should be noted that according to this scheme, culture can be grown both in apartments on balconies and window sills, and in the country house in greenhouse and greenhouse structures.. If you use ripe vegetables for pickling, then you should wait until they are about 10-15 cm long. If you plan to use cucumbers for canning, then you need to grow vegetables to a length of 7-10 cm.

Harvesting is best done in the late evening or early morning. It is believed that at this time the fruits are as elastic and strong as possible. First, you will need to carefully cut off the stem so as not to touch the thin lashes. Most often, the harvest is collected 1 time in a couple of days.

Features of growing cucumbers in 5-liter bottles

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Anna Evans

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