Harvest of such tasty and healthy vegetables as cucumbers, I want to get as long as possible. Consider what you need to do to extend the duration of obtaining cucumber greens to autumn frosts.
Fruit bearing dates of cucumbers
The beginning of fruiting and its duration depend on:
- varietal features;
- weather conditions;
- illumination;
- plant care.
Fruiting can reduce:
- heatwave;
- early frosts;
- lack of lighting;
- diseases and pests;
- lack of batteries.
Accordingly, you should give preference to varieties with such characteristics as cold resistance and shade tolerance, resistance to diseases, because in the autumn they will have to endure cooling and a decrease in daylight hours.
At this time, lowering the temperature, its differences can provoke the appearance of diseases, also the plant begins to poorly absorb nutrition from the soil. For these reasons, cucumbers most often cease to bear fruit by mid-late August, even if they can bear fruit before frost. This period can be extended by taking certain measures that contribute to the further vegetation of the plant.
Important! If the gardener is interested in the longest possible yield, then self-pollinated or parthenocarpic hybrids of long fruiting should be planted.
How to extend the fruiting of cucumbers in a greenhouse and in the open ground
There are simple agricultural practices that need to be taken in time to consume cucumber fruits until late autumn.
Disease protection
In the fall, it is useful to do preventive treatments to extend the life of cucumbers, since at this time high humidity provokes the development of various diseases. For this, biological fungicides are used that will not damage the crop, for example, Fitosporin, Alirin. They spray plants and water the soil.
In adverse autumn conditions, it will be useful to use stimulants (Epin, Energin) to strengthen cucumbers and increase their resistance to diseases. In order to keep the plants in good shape longer, these products are used throughout the growing season by spraying every week. In August, they are used for all irrigation. Watering themselves significantly reduces, since the humidity in the fall is already high.
In September, when it rains and the nights are cold enough, it is recommended to protect cucumbers from excess moisture by covering them with foil or by constructing a canopy. You can make such a shelter - put the arcs and cover them with a film.
In autumn, powdery mildew shows the highest activity among cucumber diseases. It manifests itself as a whitish bloom with subsequent yellowing and wilting of foliage. To combat it, drugs containing copper are used (Azofos, Bordeaux liquid, HOM).Did you know? Cucumber is a thermophilic plant of the tropics and subtropics. It comes from India - wild varieties of this culture still grow there.
At a time when picking cucumbers, it is acceptable to use folk remedies to combat false or powdery mildew:
- To improve the condition of plants will help spraying with a solution of sour milk with warm water (1: 1) or whey. Such weekly treatments are excellent prophylaxis of the appearance of fungi. To enhance their properties, iodine is added to the solutions (30 drops / 10 l).
- You can use a solution of soda and laundry soap - dissolve 50 g of each component in 10 l of water. Apply every week.
- Make spraying with mullein infusion. It is diluted in a ratio of 1 to 1 with water and insisted for a day, and then diluted 1 to 10.
Foliar top dressing
When cooling, the growth of cucumbers slows down, the absorption of nutrition from the soil decreases, so you should feed the plants. At the same time, foliar top dressing is more often used than root top dressing.
Cucumbers are sprayed with such substances:- Urea. Dissolve 15 g in a 10 liter bucket of water.
- Complex fertilizers. For example, you can apply Andrianich by dissolving 1 g in a liter jar of water.
- Infusions - fine hay (insist 2 days) or onion husk (insist 24 hours).
Video: Fertilizing cucumbers to extend fruiting
Cucumber rejuvenation
You can extend the growing season by stimulating the appearance of new roots. To do this, carry out such a rejuvenating procedure - the bottom of the whip is lowered to the ground and sprinkled with fertile moistened soil. Before such rooting, it is recommended to treat the soil with the help of the Fitosporin preparation, as well as root formation stimulants.
If the cucumbers are not tied up and creep on the ground, then they do not bother - they themselves will start the roots. It should be borne in mind that an unbound plant is more susceptible to disease and pest attacks. It is recommended to mulch the soil under the cucumbers in order to protect the newly emerged and still weak new root system from the cold.
Important! The duration of the growing season of cucumbers worsens the presence of uncollected fruits. Accordingly, Zelentsy must be collected on time and carefully inspected plants for missing specimens during collection.
In addition, a rejuvenating procedure, such as the removal of old and diseased leaves, starts further vegetation. It is also recommended to remove foliage located below the fruiting points. In the end, you can remove the cucumber leaves wherever there is no ovary next to them, since the foliage of the fruiting part of the plant draws on food, which prevents it from resuming fruiting at other points.
Useful tips for caring for cucumbers
Gardeners give the following helpful tips on caring for cucumbers:
- For a longer time, the fruits of the plant bear on vertical beds. They get more sunlight, and are well ventilated.
- It is better to sow cucumbers in several terms and use different varieties. Moreover, to obtain a late harvest, it is recommended to plant them last (in the middle of summer) and choose a cold-resistant hybrid with a long fruiting period that does not need pollination. Highly resistant disease varieties zoned in your area are highly desirable.
- When planting a variety in need of pollination, measures must be taken to attract pollinating insects. You can plant flowers blooming in August and September or spray plants with sugar water.
- When growing seedlings, you need to save as many leaves as possible.
- For cucumbers, it is important to choose a well-lit, but windless area.
- Before planting, seed, soil and planting site should be decontaminated.
- Use cover material. As a material for shelter use polyethylene, spandbond and special agrofibre.
- It is necessary to mulch the soil - this protects the bushes of cucumbers not only from drying out, but also from cold and overheating.
- Reducing the number of watering and the implementation of the procedure only in the morning, since at night the humidity rises.
Did you know? Cucumber juice is useful for normalizing pressure, improving metabolism, memory and for the normal functioning of the nervous system. It can be drunk in its pure form or mixed with others.
To extend the life and fruiting of cucumbers, measures must be taken to strengthen them before lowering temperature and humidity. It is best to start taking them in the summer, and then the fruits can be consumed before the autumn frosts.
