When growing cucumber seedlings, vegetable growers are faced with stretching shoots. From the material of this article you will learn why this happens and what to do in this situation.
Reasons for pulling
Seedlings are strongly pulled up due to the mistakes of agricultural technology. In the future, this negatively affects the growth and development of cucumber lashes.
There are several main reasons why, after the first shoots, the stems begin to stretch. Determining the cause allows you to eliminate the violation and create optimal conditions for growing.
If the stems fall, this indicates the impossibility of the root system to hold the aerial part.
lack of sun
For the full formation of juicy greenery, cucumber seedlings need access to sunlight. In order for the lashes to form strong and thick, the duration of daylight hours should be more than 12 hours.
In the conditions of urban apartments, it is often impossible to provide such a condition. Seedlings on the windowsill do not receive enough light, because of which their color turns pale, and the stems have to reach for the light. Artificial lighting is not able to make up for the deficiency of ultraviolet rays.
You can solve the problem using phytolamps. With their help, increase the length of daylight hours.
Snug fit
Often, when planting, seeds are placed close to each other. The fear that some seeds will not sprout turns into thickening. However, from the moment they ascended, and until landing in a greenhouse or greenhouse, their rarefaction is impossible. As a result, they are forced to compete with each other for light and food.
Due to tight containers, the root system suffers, which leads to thinning of the stems. They grow unevenly. Some sprouts shade others, there is little space for the root system, all forces are spent on the growth of stems upwards.
Heat
Comfortable conditions for growing seedlings on the window are +25 degrees. If the temperature rises higher, growth accelerates. However, the development of the root system stops.
It cannot form correctly, therefore it does not provide adequate nutrition for the stems. They do not gain strength, grow weak and thin, stretch upwards.
Eliminate the cause by lowering the temperature in the room. If there is no way to adjust the heating temperature, and radiators give a lot of heat, you need to remove the boxes with seedlings and ventilate the room.
Wrong watering mode
Cucumbers are a moisture-loving crop. In caring for them, many vegetable growers overdo it with soil moisture. This leads to stretching of the lashes and vulnerability to diseases (for example, blackleg).
Seedlings reach for the light, but the roots are not able to absorb all the moisture. There is a deterioration in the circulation of nutrients. The supply of oxygen is deteriorating.
Do not use cold water for irrigation. This creates a stressful situation, due to which the proper formation of lashes is stopped. Seedlings should be watered with settled water at room temperature.
Poor quality soil
The choice of soil for planting seedlings is a key factor, due to which the stem parts can stretch upwards. Loose, breathable soil is needed for planting seeds.
The acidity of the soil should be medium. Alkaline and acidic soil destroys plants. Due to the imbalance of nutrients, increased growth is stimulated.
Garden or garden soil is often dense and heavy. The root system in it cannot be formed properly. Instead of short thick stems, thin stems grow with an internodes length of more than 5 cm.
Not enough soil
Not all vegetable growers choose the right containers for cucumber seedlings. Often, many pour a minimum of substrate into containers. Its lack is fraught with stretching of the stems.
This is due to the lack of nutrition that the roots require. In addition, they have little room for growth and development. In crowded conditions, the growth energy is switched to the whip.
How to save?
If the seedlings of cucumbers are already very stretched out, urgent measures are taken. There are many ways to correct the situation.
- For example, when the reason is the location of the seedlings on the window facing the north side, the first step is to rearrange the boxes on the windowsill located on the south side.
- If a decision is made to use fitolamps, you need to mount the backlight above the seedlings at a distance of 20 cm. However, you can use the lamps for no more than 7-9 hours.
- Lamps with a red-violet spectrum of rays can be turned on in the morning and in the evening. They do not heat or dry the air, unlike inefficient household incandescent bulbs.
- Classic light bulbs emit a minimum of light with a maximum of heat. In warm weather, it is better to take the seedlings out onto the balcony, be sure to clean the room at night.
- The lamps are turned off at night. Plants should rest from them for at least 6 hours. Mirrors can be installed to increase natural light output. This will help stop the growth of the stems and solve the problem of solar deficiency.
Normalization of care for seedlings
It is important to conduct a visual inspection of the seedlings. If the size of the container is sufficient, and there is not enough land in it, you need to pour the substrate. This should be done to the level of the cotyledon leaves.
Receiving bedding is effective, you need to add dry and heated soil. It will become thermal insulation and a preventive measure for retaining excess moisture. The rooting of seedlings will improve, the rapid stretching will stop.
Bedding promotes the development of the root system. If the earth is poured into liter glasses filled by 1/3, this can be done gradually, as they grow, so as not to injure the seedlings.
It is important to adjust the irrigation regime. At normal humidity, seedlings are watered 1 time in 3 days. If the soil dries out faster, the multiplicity is increased.
The need for watering should be judged by the condition of the soil. It should be damp, but not wet. Stagnation of water and dryness of the soil are excluded. Young seedlings are sprayed several times a week.
Decrease in temperature
The lack of illumination can be compensated by lowering the temperature. You can close the battery, transfer the containers to an insulated balcony or loggia.
Optimal conditions: from +15 to +20 degrees. This temperature must be maintained around the clock. At the same time, during the day it can range from 18 to 20 degrees, and at night it can be slightly lower.
Thinning and picking
Cucumber seedlings are grown without thinning. However, this rule has to be violated because of the close fit. In this case, this is the only measure to solve the problem.
Picking is resorted to in the case when adding soil is no longer possible. Cucumber seedlings painfully tolerate a pick. To minimize the stressful situation, the transplant is performed by transshipment.
To do this, you need to release the seedling from the container along with the earthen clod. Do not expose and injure weak roots. After the seedling is taken out of the container, it is buried in the soil to the cotyledons.
Given the high fragility of the lashes, landing is carried out as carefully as possible. If the situation is running, and the stems have managed to stretch out a lot, they resort to the looping method.
The shoot is folded into a semicircle or a ring, then it is gently pressed to the ground and sprinkled with soil. At the final stage, the planting is moistened.
So that the shoots do not break during transplantation, are pliable, watering is stopped 1-2 days before transplantation. They will loosen up a bit and bend better.
Seedlings need to be transplanted into prepared soil. To do this, mix 1 bucket of humus and leaf turf, 1 glass of ash, 10 g of potassium sulfate, 20 g of superphosphate. The ground should be light.
How to plant an elongated seedling?
Planting seedlings in a permanent place is carried out 30 days after the appearance of the first shoots. Methods for planting in open and closed ground vary. However, the basic techniques are the same.
- When planting in open ground, they are determined with a place for a bed. A well-lit ridge is suitable, on which cabbage or tomatoes were previously planted.
- Prepare the ground before planting. Complex top dressing and ash are introduced into each heated hole. Then the wells are shed with warm settled water.
- Prepared seedlings are removed from containers. It is impossible to plant it in plastic or paper cups, even by removing the side parts of the container. The roots of the plant must grow and form correctly.
- Do not crush the stems when buried in the soil. Sprouts are placed in the hole sideways, or wrapped in a spiral. The planting depth is 5-7 cm. The interval between the holes is 0,3-0,5 m.
- Seedlings should not be buried too deep in the ground. To prevent the trunks from falling over, they can be attached to the supports. This is how seedlings are planted in a greenhouse. If the lashes are not buried in the ground, they bear fruit earlier.
It is better to plant seedlings in the morning or in the evening. The best conditions are cloudy. It is impossible to plant plants during the day in the heat: they will wither and die.
Proper nutrition
It is necessary to apply top dressing to the ground correctly and in a timely manner. The first of them is performed approximately 1-1,5 weeks after transplantation.
- To make young bushes easier to endure a change of soil, you can use complex fertilizer. In the early stages of growing seedlings, the use of saltpeter is not recommended.
- Young whips should be strengthened with potash top dressing. With early use of saltpeter, the growth of the aerial part is stimulated. The seedlings will continue to stretch upwards.
- Mineral additives, on the contrary, contribute to the thickening of the trunks. Ideally, you need to feed the seedlings immediately after the formation of two true leaves. The second top dressing is performed after 2 weeks, using organic matter.
- During execution, make sure that the solution does not fall on the green mass. Complex fertilizer is diluted with water according to the instructions. If chicken manure is used, it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:10.
- In order to increase the nutritional value of the soil, potassium, superphosphate and urea are added to it. After fertilizing, a little earth is added to the container with seedlings.
- If the seedlings cannot gain strength, and the possible causes are eliminated, they resort to the use of ash top dressing. For this, 1 tbsp. l of wood ash is mixed with 0,2 l of water and watered the ground.
Soil depletion must not be allowed. If possible, initially you need to use a soil mixture consisting of peat and humus, turf and sand. The substrate is prepared in advance by treating with a fungicide solution and drying.
Preventive measures
- To grow an early-grown plant, you can resort to the use of a growth regulator. It is often used in cases where other preventive measures are ineffective. The active substance of the selected agent stops the growth of the ground part of the seedlings. This prevents it from overgrowing. The shoots shorten, become thick, the leaves grow wide. Along with growth arrest, nutrition is redistributed. Its main part is fed into the roots, due to which they grow stronger and properly begin to nourish the green mass. Effective drugs – “Athlete” and “Krepen”.
- To minimize seedling disease after transplantation, you need to provide it with proper care. In some cases, you will need shading and protection from the cold, for which special covering material is used. In others, you will have to protect the whips from breakage due to gusts of wind. To do this, you will have to put a special network or simple supports and tie up the whips.
- We must not forget about loosening and timely fertilizing. If buds have already started on the plant, they are removed so as not to deprive the plant of the strength to grow and form lashes.
- Early buds will prolong the establishment of seedlings in a new place and lead to the drop of ovaries. Because of this, productivity will suffer in the future.
- Fertilizers should not be applied to the soil if they are not needed. From an excess of certain substances, further stretching of seedlings is possible.
- A common mistake is the untimely transplant. The situation is aggravated by the deterioration of growing conditions. If the seedlings began to fall, you can not do without a garter. In other cases, padding is sufficient.
- When planting in a permanent place, compaction should be avoided. Cucumbers are climbing plants. For normal formation and high yield, they need a place.
