How to grow cucumbers on a windowsill?

Many would like to have a crispy vegetable on the table, regardless of the season and regional climate. But not everyone knows that it is quite possible to grow cucumbers on the windowsill. From the article you will learn how to do it correctly in an apartment environment.

We will talk about the features of growing cucumbers in a room, about what dishes to choose for planting, which ones are suitable for this variety and how to plant them correctly. Experienced lovers of indoor growing cucumbers will share tips for beginners.

Features of growing in a room

At home, cucumbers on the windowsill can be grown both in spring and in winter, and at any time of the year they will grow regardless of the length of daylight hours or room temperature. In the apartment, all these moments can be adjusted and create the desired environment.

The harvest comes out no worse than the garden, and sometimes even better. The percentage of product purity in such vegetables is definitely higher, but you can’t tell the difference in taste. By the way, cucumbers grown on the window are also suitable for conservation. It is important to choose the right varieties.

Suitable varieties

Immediately you need to make a reservation that those seeds that are planted in the garden are not suitable for growing on the windowsill. For a room environment, you need to choose self-pollinating varieties that give a bountiful harvest, and early-ripening hybrids with female inflorescences. You can also plant varieties for garden cultivation, but then you have to pollinate yourself, picking up a brush and conjuring over each flower. Now let’s see which varieties are most suitable for growing at home.

• “Shchedryk”. An early maturing variety that produces up to 3 ovaries per node. The fruiting period is 47 days. The fruits grow within 10 cm, and each cucumber weighs about 100 g. It gives a stable high quality crop – up to 2 kg per bush.
• “Farm”. Also an early ripening cucumber for indoor cultivation, bearing fruit a month after germination. Fruits up to 10 cm in size are sweet, the plant is resistant to diseases, but requires pollination: you need to fertilize female flowers with male peduncles. If everything is done correctly, then at home you can get a harvest every month.
• “Full house” (similar to Nutcracker). This variety is suitable even for salting, despite indoor growth. However, gardeners emphasize that it is better to use such a cucumber in salads; in preservation, it can give softness or emptiness. The crop can be harvested on the 45th day after germination, there will be up to 3 ovaries in each node. Fruit length – up to 12 cm, weight usually within 100 g. Harvesting takes place every other day.
• “Khrustik”. Late-ripening variety with a liana-shaped bush. You can collect the first fruits after 50 days. During this time, the plant will grow to a height of more than 1 meter and at each node will give 4 ovaries. Good quality fruits, 10 cm long, hardy in transportation. From one bush of this variety, you can collect up to 11 kg of cucumbers.
• “Masha”. Also a liana-shaped form of tillering, but an early ripe variety. The crop yields after 37 days from the moment of germination. Fruits in the form of gherkins (grow within 8 cm). The variety is resistant to diseases, it is stored for a long time not only in the refrigerator, but also in the basement. Suitable for salting.
• “Prestige”. Crispy gherkin without bitterness. It is a versatile variety suitable for salads and canning. Cucumbers have small prickly thorns that are easily removed when washing vegetables. Germination of the variety – 50 days. It is recommended to harvest often, but if there is a delay, the fruits will not outgrow.
• “Miranda”. High-yielding variety of the Dutch selection. Cucumbers are quite large (up to 12 cm), with excellent taste, without bitterness. Plants of these varieties are not afraid of heat and tolerate temperature extremes well.

All presented seed material (except for “Khutorka”) are self-pollinating hybrids that have proven themselves well in growing on window sills at home. The most expensive are the seeds of Dutch breeders, they are sold by the piece.

Selection of varieties of cucumbers from our catalog

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g: 210
• Fruit length, cm13-22
• fruit coloration: green

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: average
• growth type: vigorous, indeterminate
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g138-177
• Fruit length, cm18-20

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: mid-early
• growth type: medium height, indeterminate
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g110-140
• Fruit length, cm8-10

• Category: hybrid
• fruit shape: oval-cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g: 90
• Fruit length, cm8-10
• fruit coloration: green, with short light stripes
• appointment: salad, for pickling and canning, for fresh consumption

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: indeterminate
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g: 135
• Fruit length, cm12-14

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: vigorous
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g: 115
• Fruit length, cm12-14

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• fruit shape: oval
• Fruit weight, g75-90
• Fruit length, cm9-12
• fruit coloration: green with short stripes

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: determinant
• fruit shape: fusiform
• Fruit weight, g60-80
• Fruit length, cm5-8

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: ultra early
• growth type: determinant
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g85-90
• Fruit length, cm6-10

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: ultra early
• growth type: medium height, determinant
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g90-100
• Fruit length, cm8,5-9,0

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: vigorous, indeterminate
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g100-110
• Fruit length, cm11-12

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: determinant
• fruit shape: elongated cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g70-100
• Fruit length, cm: up to 15

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: indeterminate
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g65-90
• Fruit length, cm8-10

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: undersized
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g50-60
• Fruit length, cm8-10

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: vigorous, indeterminate
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g: 120
• Fruit length, cm10-12

• Category: hybrid
• Terms of maturation: early
• growth type: indeterminate
• fruit shape: cylindrical
• Fruit weight, g90-100
• Fruit length, cm10-12

Choice of capacity for landing

Ideally, several types of containers are prepared for planting cucumbers. Seeds are planted in plastic or peat cups: the former can be collected from under dairy products, and the latter are sold in specialized shops. Plastic bottles are also suitable for growing cucumber seeds: a part of the middle is cut out of them, and seeds are sown in the resulting “boats”. Seeds are also planted in small pots. But then more volume is needed.

Select the size of the container for transplanting seedlings in such a way that at least 5 kg of earth can be poured into the container for one bush, and so that the root system has the opportunity to develop. It can be buckets, various boxes or cardboard boxes. The bottom of the latter is covered with polyethylene or sprinkled with expanded clay.

soil

It is advisable to prepare the land for cucumbers for home cultivation in advance. It is possible to purchase special soil from the store, but since such soil is considered a seasonal product, it is not so easy to find it, for example, in winter or autumn.

Consider how to prepare the desired substrate yourself.

• At the bottom of the container for transplanting seedlings you need lay a drainage layer of expanded clay or river pebbles. This layer should be at least 5 cm.
• The soil for both seed material and seedlings should be the same and consist of garden soil (can be of forest origin), fertilizers, chalk, ash and rotten foliage. Most (2/3) is earth, 1/3 is fertilizer and other components, for example, 1 cup chalk, 2 cups ash and 4 cups foliage.
• Lay the prepared base in a container, leaving 4 cm from the edge.
• Before backfilling, the soil must be disinfected: you can pour it with hot water with potassium permanganate (a weak pink solution) or another specialized preparation that is sold at horticultural outlets.

Freezing the soil will not help to save from insect larvae, since the eggs of most pests are immune for the winter. At low temperatures, the larvae hibernate, and after thawing, they will begin to damage the bushes.

You should also not chase exotic materials, such as, for example, coconut fiber. Take the more familiar components in the form of sawdust, leaves, and so on: they are in no way inferior to overseas counterparts.

How to plant?

To get a good harvest, you need to plant the seeds, and, after waiting for the shoots, transplant the seedlings into another container and take proper care of the plants. Prepare the site before sowing the seeds. It is better to lay a layer of foam on the windowsill: this way the plants will be protected from drafts and the intense heat of heating appliances. On the slopes you need to fix foil paper or another reflective surface: this will increase the amount of lighting. For sowing, you can buy already processed cucumber seeds. They cost more, but there is no additional fuss with them: they put them in cups, water them and wait for shoots. Then they transplanted the seedlings into a larger container and wait for the harvest, carrying out the necessary care.

If the seeds are ordinary, it is advisable to disinfect them (with special means or a weak manganese solution) and germinate (keep in a humid environment for at least 2 days). When the seeds have hatched, plant them in the ground. If you do not pre-soak, then it is better to plant 2 seeds in a glass at once, to be sure. You can fertilize the soil with urea mixed with nitrophoska. For example, 1 teaspoon of the first component and 2 teaspoons of the second will give the right dosage of nutrition for one bucket of prepared soil. The seed is laid 2 cm deep. After 5-7 days, the sprouts will hatch. If you planted 2 seeds per cup, get rid of the weak specimen, give the strongest one the opportunity to develop further. Do not rush to uproot a weak sprout, so as not to pull out another plant. It just needs to be cut or broken.

As soon as strong seedlings with permanent foliage have formed, the plants are transplanted to a permanent place. Do it like this:

• a drainage layer and a prepared soil composition are placed in a five-liter plastic container (or other suitable container);
• in order to easily take out the seedlings, the glass is plentifully watered and the bush is carefully pulled out along with the ground.

The seedlings are planted in another container with an earthen clod, making a recess and then filling the top with earth. Watering the new planting.

Care

Knowing step by step how to grow cucumbers at home, you can have fresh vegetables all year round. The cultivation technique is simple, the main thing is to transplant seedlings in time, pollinate during flowering, if it is not a self-pollinating variety, make a pick and properly care for the bushes.

Watering

It is desirable to water with settled water at room temperature, you need to moisten the soil every day, even in small portions.. Drying of the soil and the formation of a crust on top should not be allowed: this will have a bad effect on air exchange processes.

If you grow cucumbers in winter conditions, when the room is heated by batteries and the air is mostly dry, install additional water containers on the windowsill. You can place the container itself, in which cucumbers grow, on a pallet and pour water there as needed.

Garter

Cucumbers are climbing plants, and since in the conditions of the room you cannot let them creep, you must definitely create supports and tie vines to them with a thick rope or twine. The support sleeper can be stretched along the entire length of the window sill if there are a lot of bushes. Choose a height of 2 or even 2,5 meters and fix the support. At the bottom, you need to hammer nails or come up with another device for fixing the thread (twine), around which the cucumber vine will wrap around.

As the whip grows, the container with cucumbers is lowered from the windowsill to the floor, increasing the twine. If this is not done, you will get a lower yield due to the fact that the length of the vine will not reach the desired height and will not produce a large number of nodes. If it is not possible to install a stationary sleeper on the windowsill, you can stick a high pole into each pot, fasten the bush to it with a rope and allow the vine to develop along such a support.

You can also simulate a support in the form of a wide staircase.

Formation

It is always necessary to form bushes at home. This is done by pinching 10-12 leaves, as well as removing the antennae. For growth, you need to leave only one vine so that all the ovaries are on it.

All side shoots are cleaned, they are removed above the ovary, leaving one leaflet. Some vegetable growers get rid of only the lower shoots, and above the fourth node they leave it as it is, but the whips are pinched from the sixth bush.

Fertilizer

The first feeding is done after the emergence of shoots. Sprouts are fertilized two weeks after the onset, and after another week the procedure is repeated. You can feed with factory urea (10-12 balls per 2 liters of water), if you notice that the foliage is twisting and the stem is too thin. If the bush has blossomed or fruits have already appeared, then nitrogen fertilizers are prohibited, as they can increase the level of nitrates in vegetables. The same applies to organics, and the use of chicken manure in the room is not so hygienic.

In home cultivation, potash and phosphorus compounds help out. There are many varieties of superphosphate fertilizers, you need to read the instructions and when the ovary or flowers fall off, the formation of dryness on the leaves, feed the bushes. Potassium is needed for cucumbers when a white border appears all over the leaf. If you do not feed the plants in time, the leaf will fall off.

A lack of potassium can lead to the death of a cucumber bush, so stock up on this necessary element and, if necessary, dilute a pinch of the mixture in 1 liter of water and water the culture.

Diseases and pests

The hybrids are generally fairly resistant to major cucumber diseases, however the plants need to be constantly examined for harmful creatures and diseases. If the leaves curl and dry, the vine does not stretch well, the ovaries do not tie and fall, the bushes turn yellow, and so on, then all these are signs that the plant needs to be saved.

Cucumbers are treated at home mainly with folk remedies, it is better to refrain from chemistry. Insects can be destroyed by hand, or you can use folk methods. So, the spider mite is afraid of garlic tincture, and aphids and whiteflies are afraid of tobacco. Factory preparations such as “Fitosporin”, “Bitoxibacillin” and others are used before the formation of ovaries and with great care.

Tips for Beginners

For cucumbers growing indoors, light is very important, including natural. More yield will be given by those plants that grow on the windowsill of windows facing south and east. Even with additional illumination, those bushes that grow on the northern and western sides will not produce a decent harvest and quality fruits.

Experienced gardeners share other tricks and tips:

• after at least 3 months, it is necessary to pour the soil into the container where the cucumbers grow;
• if the lower foliage begins to dry, it’s time to check and adjust the humidity and temperature parameters;
• when the seedlings stretch in only one direction, it lacks light, but additional lighting will correct the direction of the vine;
• so that hybrids intended for growing at home do not taste bitter, you must strictly follow all the rules of care, otherwise they will give bitterness.

If the fruit has not grown from the ovary, you can feed the bush with a solution of iodine. One drop of iodine is dripped onto 300 ml of water and the containers are carefully poured with this composition at the edge so as not to burn the stems and the root system.

There can be a lot of tips and instructions, but in fact, you can grow an environmentally friendly crop of cucumbers without additional hassle. The main thing is to have a desire and observe the main points that we have touched on in this article.