You can grow cucumbers in a greenhouse in all regions of the country. There they grow healthy and strong, regardless of weather conditions.
Advantages and disadvantages
Growing cucumbers in a greenhouse has many benefits.
You can grow cucumbers in this way even in a small area.
Caring for plants that are in a greenhouse is very simple. In addition, it is easier for gardeners to notice damaged foliage or stems and cure the plant in a timely manner.
The bushes can be harvested several times per season.
There are no significant disadvantages of this method of obtaining a crop. But the gardener will have to spend time arranging greenhouses and preparing beds.
Variety choice
Experienced gardeners know that not all varieties of cucumbers are suitable for planting in a greenhouse. The following plants can be used for this purpose.
“Sarovskiy”. Such cucumbers are quite unpretentious. They grow well even in the shade and at low temperatures. Cucumbers bear fruit very well.
“Matilda”. This plant is a hybrid. Its fruits are elongated and covered with small spikes.
“Buratino”. These cucumbers are early ripe. You can grow them in almost any region of the country. They are not afraid of temperature changes and grow well in the shade. The fruits are large. Their taste is very pleasant.
“Amur”. This variety of cucumbers is high-yielding. With proper care from one small greenhouse, you can collect a large number of fruits.
“Zozula”. Such cucumbers have a long ripening period. White stripes are visible on the peel of the fruit.
Varieties suitable for planting in a greenhouse can be purchased at most garden supply stores. There are special marks on the packages with seeds. Therefore, finding them is very easy.
How to grow seedlings?
To get an early harvest, the seeds must be sown in advance in disposable cups, boxes or small containers. You need to start preparing seedlings a month before transplanting plants into a greenhouse. The process of sowing cucumbers is as follows.
To begin with, a layer of sawdust must be laid on the bottom of the selected container. Next, it must be covered with earth mixed with peat and humus.
Seeds can be placed in containers prepared in this way. They are lowered nose up at an angle of 45 degrees. If the plants are planted in separate containers or cups, only one grain is placed in each container. When planting in large containers, seeds should be placed at a distance of 8 centimeters from each other.
When finished with the seeds, the containers must be carefully covered with plastic wrap.
After a few days, when the first shoots appear on the surface of the soil, this film can be removed.
In order for the seedlings to develop well, cups and containers with young greens should be stored in a warm place. The temperature there should be in the range of 22-23 degrees.
You can plant plants in a greenhouse immediately after the first leaves appear on the sprouts. It is best to do this in the evening.
Prepare
In the spring, gardeners begin to prepare the site for growing cucumbers.
Greenhouse
Before planting seedlings, the greenhouse must be disinfected. If you skip this stage of preparation, plants can be affected by fungal diseases. This will negatively affect the yield. Greenhouses can be treated with a solution of bleach or modern biological products.
Ground
Another important point is preparing the soil for planting. The land in the greenhouse must be well warmed up. To do this, the top layer of soil needs to be loosened. In the middle of the beds you need to make a small depression. After that, the soil should be watered with warm water. The heated soil is dug up again and loosened with a rake.
Landing technology
The step-by-step process of planting seedlings of cucumbers in a greenhouse is as follows.
To begin with, the ground in the greenhouse must be well leveled. On the selected site, you need to outline the places where the holes will be located.
After that, you need to dig the holes themselves. The depth of each of them should be within 25 centimeters. Before planting, fertilizer can be applied to the soil.
After that, young seedlings can be planted in the prepared holes. Each bush must be carefully sprinkled with earth and watered correctly, directing water under the root, and not on the foliage.
In general, planting cucumbers in a greenhouse is quite simple. The main thing is to do everything carefully and not to rush.
Care
In order for young seedlings to take root well in the selected area, it is important to properly care for them.
Watering
First of all, it is worth remembering that seedlings need regular watering. It is recommended to water them with settled warm water. The optimal time for watering plants is late evening. After carrying out this work, the greenhouse must be ventilated.
Feeding
For the first time, cucumbers are fed 3-4 weeks after landing on the site. For this purpose, high-quality complex fertilizers are usually used. You need to use top dressing, clearly following the instructions on the package. It is also recommended to fertilize in the evening or on cloudy days.
In the future, plants should be fed only if they lack some specific elements. You can determine this by the appearance of the bush. Pay attention to the following points.
Slow growth. If the plant develops poorly and becomes pale, then it lacks nitrogen.
Small foliage. Sometimes the leaves of cucumbers become bluish, and then completely dry out. Such symptoms indicate a lack of phosphorus in the soil.
Brown edges of sheets. Over time, the leaves begin to gradually die off. The fruits that appear at this time on the bushes are small in size. Noticing such signs, the plants need to be fed with potassium.
All fertilizers must be applied in liquid form. Drugs must be diluted in large amounts of water.
Temperature
To protect plants from the cold, greenhouses are covered with a film. The optimum temperature for normal growth and development of bushes is 22-25 degrees. As the plants mature, they become more tolerant of cold weather. But gardeners are still not recommended to abuse their resistance to cold.
Humidity and ventilation
Film-covered greenhouses must be regularly opened and ventilated. This should be done on sunny days so that the plants do not suffer from the cold. You need to close the greenhouse a few hours before sunset. It is not worth procrastinating with this.
If you regularly water and ventilate cucumbers, the humidity level in the greenhouse will be in the range of 80-90%. Such conditions are considered ideal for the growth and development of this crop.
Formation
Cucumbers grown in a greenhouse are just as important to form as bushes that are in the open field.
As soon as the bushes grow up, they must be fixed on a support. After that, all vegetation that is below 3-4 leaves must be carefully removed. This is done so that the plants do not waste nutrients in the future. In the future, the bushes will need to be regularly pinched. This will also help strengthen the center stem and increase the yield of the plant.
Topping
After that, you need to pinch the plants. It is very important to do this before the cucumbers start flowering.
After the formation of the bush in its lower part, the so-called blind zone is formed. Above this zone, the lashes that grow above the first leaf are carefully pinched. At a height of half a meter, only one ovary and several healthy leaves are left. Having retreated another 50 centimeters, 2-3 shoots are also left on the stem. Each of them should have two ovaries and several sheets. After that, the edge of the whip is carefully fixed on the support.
Tying
This procedure is also necessary for young plants. Most often, gardeners install several supports in the greenhouse and stretch a grid between them. Bushes are free to trail along the grid. The owners of the site can only carefully tie the stems to the mount separately or in groups.
Suitable neighbors
If a gardener plans to grow several crops in greenhouses at once, it is very important to ensure that the neighborhood is correct. Legumes can be grown in the same place as cucumbers. They supply the earth with nitrogen. This is great for the development of cucumbers.
Eggplants or peppers will also become excellent neighbors for them. But, placing these plants nearby, it is worth observing that they are not in the shade.
It is strongly not recommended to plant cucumbers next to tomatoes. The fact is that the former need high humidity and heat. Tomatoes in such conditions do not develop well. Therefore, it is still better to plant such different plants separately.
Diseases and pests
Cucumbers growing in a greenhouse most often suffer from the following diseases.
Powdery mildew. The development of this disease is facilitated by high humidity, sudden changes in temperature, as well as watering the bushes with cold water. Sick cucumbers do not grow well. Their foliage is covered with a powdery coating. In greenhouses, it is recommended to plant plants that are resistant to this disease. If the bushes are still sick, infected shoots and foliage must be cut. After that, cucumbers should be sprayed with a solution of copper sulfate.
- Peronosporosis. This disease is also called downy mildew. Yellowish spots appear on the foliage of diseased plants. Then the foliage turns brown and dries up. You need to deal with peronosporosis in the same way as with powdery mildew.
- Olive blotch. This disease is also called cladosporiosis. Dry oblong ulcers appear on the foliage of infected plants. The fruits are covered with olive oily spots. Over time, they also transform into deep ulcers. Noticing traces of infection, you need to stop watering the bushes. Plants need to be treated several times with copper oxychloride or Bordeaux mixture. The break between these procedures should be at least 7 days. Thus, you can completely get rid of traces of the disease.
Most often, cucumbers growing in a greenhouse are damaged by ants, aphids, spider mites and bears. Common insecticides can be used to control pests that eat leaves and fruits. For prevention, it is recommended to spill the soil with hot water before planting.
If you follow simple tips and do not leave cucumbers unattended, during the summer period you can collect a large number of fruits even from a very small area.
