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Planting cucumbers in open ground seeds or seedlings – when to plant and how to grow it correctly

This post outlines the best way to grow cucumbers in open ground either from seeds or seedlings. It explains when to plant cucumbers and how to ensure that they get the right environment to grow. The key advantages highlighted include the versatility of being able to plant them at any time of the year as well as the relatively easy maintenance required. Tips on choosing the right cultivation spot are also provided, helping ensure that cucumbers can be grown successfully. Planting cucumbers in open ground is an easy and rewarding process.

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Almost every summer resident planted a culture, but not all amateur gardeners know how and when to do it correctly in order to achieve better productivity. Since the cucumber is a relatively whimsical vegetable, it needs to follow the technology of sowing and proper care. With optimal sowing dates and due attention, the culture grows well and bears fruit.

How to plant cucumbers

For growing vegetables choose a well-lit area, which is protected from the winds. Around the cucumber beds form “backstage”, which can serve as plantings of potatoes, corn, sunflowers, hemp, and legumes. These tall plants provide the optimum microclimate for cucumbers. Planting a vegetable in open ground can be done in seedlings or with seeds. The choice of method depends on several factors, including the climate of your region, the timing of the harvest.

Unlike tomatoes, cucumbers are often planted with seeds. This is due to the fact that cucumber seedlings are very fragile, with delicate roots and shoots, so it is easy to damage. In addition, it does not tolerate acclimatization to changing conditions (wind, sunlight, air temperature, other soil composition). To achieve a good harvest when planting cucumbers seedlings can only experienced farmers who know all the subtleties of this process.

For ordinary gardeners, a method of sowing seeds in open ground is more suitable. At the same time, the fruits appear only a week later, but the plants will be strong and resistant to external negative factors. Warm beds not less than 20 cm high are suitable for cucumbers. The layer of organic matter inside the plot not only provides vegetables with useful substances, but also heats the roots, saturating them with carbon dioxide.

Cucumber is a heat-loving culture, so you need to plant it when the temperature of the top layer of the soil warms up to at least 13-15 degrees. Nevertheless, the plant does not feel very well at high temperature (if the indicator rises above 28 degrees), then the development may stop. The bed must first be fertilized with organic matter (chicken droppings, mullein or manure). This will provide vegetables with nutrients and disinfect the earth, destroying the causative agents of many cucumber diseases.

The plant needs regular watering: with a lack of moisture, the leaves will turn black, become brittle, and the bushes themselves will be stressed. Excessive soil moisture is no less destructive for cucumbers. As a result, less oxygen will become in the ground, which will make the tops go pale, and the development of greenbacks and lashes will slow down significantly. Water for irrigation is used at room temperature (about 18 degrees). Ideal soil moisture will be 80%.

Since the culture prefers short daylight hours, it is better to grow it in the middle or end of summer. Despite the thermophilic nature of the vegetable, it only takes 10-12 photoperiods per day. Features of the process of planting seedlings and seeds have common features, which are the selection and preparation of the site. The beds are better organized from north to south, and organic fertilizer is introduced under the culture preceding the cucumbers.

An alternative is to feed the soil immediately before planting seeds / seedlings. The best choice would be cow dung. Under previous plants, it is made rotted (5 kg per 1 sq. M.), And before sowing cucumbers it is used in the form of a solution with water 1: 5. You can replace compost with chicken manure (dissolve it in water 1:20) or with complex mineral fertilizing.

Planting cucumbers in open ground with seeds

Many summer residents prefer to plant cucumber seeds immediately on an open garden bed. It takes time for the cucumbers to grow. It all depends on the climatic features of the region and the particular variety, but it is not customary to land later than the end of June. One of the most important conditions for proper plant growth is soil nutrition. To this end, in the fall, mineral and organic fertilizers are applied to a shallow depth, which rot in the ground until spring..

In the north of the country, a place for planting cucumbers is covered with fresh manure, and in the spring warm structures are built for vegetables. Since the culture is thermophilic, it feels best in the south and in the middle zone of Russia. The optimum temperature for growing vegetables will be 20-25 degrees during the day and 15 at night. If the weather does not please and the thermometer drops to 10 degrees, then problems arise: growth stops, and if the cooling takes a long time, the plant may die. When choosing a variety, you should consider:

  • the need for pollination (there are self-pollinated and pollinated by bees species, for open ground it is better to take the first – they are usually tastier);
  • resistance to frost, cold snap, heat and drought;
  • immunity to common cucumber diseases – rot, cladosporiosis, mosaic;
  • branching feature of the plant (this factor directly affects the yield).

When planting cucumbers in open ground, it is recommended to opt for zoned varieties (intended for growth in a particular area, taking into account the specifics of its climate) and breeding crops. Despite the fact that hybrids are more adapted to frequent changes in weather conditions, you need to stock up with covering material, which will be needed when freezing. Successful varieties for planting by seed method are:

  • Crane F1;
  • Admiral F1;
  • Herman F1;
  • Bidretta F1;
  • White Angel F1;
  • Aquarius, pr.

Seeds on a shovel and a sprout in the ground

When to plant

Landing in open ground can be carried out even with a cold lingering spring. Like other vegetables, cucumbers are planted in the growing phase of the moon, when the plants activate their growth and are well restored. It is recommended to plan work in the garden according to the Lunar calendar and not to plant seeds on adverse days. The time of day for sowing does not matter. Planting dates will depend on the climate of a particular region, weather conditions in spring and summer, the selected variety. Allocate only three options for sowing, suitable for culture:

  1. Early. When the earth warms up well (at least 15 degrees at night), you can sow cucumber seeds. The ideal temperature for plant development will be 18-26 ° C. As a rule, such a regime is established around June 1-5, but the date may vary depending on the climate of the region. In the southern regions, the land manages to warm up earlier, then the vegetable is planted already in the second half of May. At an earlier planting, when the temperature ranges from 10 to 15 degrees, the plants often stop growing and die. Early sowing is also good because at the beginning of June a short daylight hours are maintained, since cucumbers need normal sunlight only for 10-12 hours a day for normal development. When a vegetable is planted at the end of June, high temperatures and long daylight hours will not affect crop yields in the best way. When choosing early varieties, it is recommended to dwell on such as: Competitor, Universal, Cascade.
  2. Middle. It is carried out from May 25 to June 10. Almost all cultivars are suitable for the second sowing. When planting in June, the crop is harvested in early August, although these dates vary depending on whether you have chosen early – medium or late ripe cucumbers.
  3. Late. To do this, choose special varieties – better pickling. Ripe vegetables are optimal for late sowing with a growing season of 45-50 days. Harvest of such species will coincide in time with the fruiting of tomatoes. The great advantage of this sowing option is the ability to eat fresh vegetables right up to the frost. Late seed planting is carried out in July. If the weather is hot this month, they make shelter from the film (agrofibre) for the beds.

How to sow

Seeds should be sown in several passes, otherwise you can miscalculate with the deadlines: for example, the cold may suddenly return. In addition, this option allows you to extend the period of fruiting of the vegetable. Landing in the warmer regions of the country begins in mid-May and ends in mid-June. Later, this is not recommended, since the heat and long daylight hours are not the best conditions for the growth and development of culture. Seeding technology includes the following steps:

  1. The choice of planting material. In addition to varieties zoned for specific regions, there are hybrids that are characterized by maximum resistance to diseases. It is better to give preference to the latter – this will save you from unnecessary trouble and increase productivity. In addition, the ripening dates and the purpose of the variety (universal, salad, pickling) play an important role. If the destination is not indicated on the packaging, look at the photograph of vegetables: if they have white pimples, cucumbers are suitable for fresh consumption, and fruits with dark ones are pickled. The age of the seeds should be at least 2 years, because during storage their germination capacity increases. The optimal age of planting material will be 6 years, and after 9 it is already unsuitable.
  2. Soil preparation. A bed of cucumbers is formed in a direction from north to south. Before sowing, the soil is fed with rotted cow manure, previously it is diluted with water in the proportions of 1: 5. Alternative options are allowed – complex fertilizers or chicken droppings.
  3. Preparing seeds for planting in open ground. Preliminarily, the material is heated for 20 minutes at a temperature of 42-45 degrees in order to achieve more friendly seedlings and accelerate the fruiting time. Another way to heat the seeds is this: hang them in a gauze bag near the heating battery or stove. Do this 2-1.5 months before sowing. The air temperature in the room should be above 20 degrees. One-year-old planting material and one that was grown in the Leningrad Region are especially in need of heating. Dry seeds are heated in an oven or oven at a temperature of 60 degrees for 3 hours. For this, planting material is placed on a metal mesh (or baking sheet) with a thin layer, mixing several times.
  4. Seed disinfection. To this end, they are kept in a 1% solution of potassium permanganate (1 g of product per glass of water). The procedure lasts 20 minutes, after planting material is thoroughly washed with water.
  5. Micronutrient processing. In order to accelerate the seedlings and fruiting of the culture, heated and disinfected, the planting material in the solution is soaked in solution in one or more trace elements. An example of a recipe is 10 g of potassium nitrate, 5 g of superphosphate per 1 liter of water. The optimum temperature of the liquid is 40-45 degrees. The procedure lasts 12 hours. After the seeds should be dried.

Seedlings in the open ground

  1. Sowing. Furrows with a depth of 2-5 cm and a pitch of 50 cm are formed on the prepared site. The depth of embedment of planting material varies depending on the type of soil: for light land with low groundwater table, the optimum level is 3-5 cm, for heavy – 2-3 cm. Seeds are placed in grooves with an interval of 3-4 cm from each other. For 10 square meters. m will take about 50 g of seeds. If the soil is dry, it is watered before planting, and the seeds are sprinkled with humus, loose soil with sawdust or peat.
  2. Care for cucumbers in the open ground. Immediately after the appearance of the first seedlings, special attention is paid to soil moisture and the condition of plants. If the leaves fade during the day, in the evening, the garden bed should be watered with water 20-25 degrees. When plants close, they are thinned out (this is done only 2-3 times per season), removing the weakest shoots. The optimal distance between the bushes is 5-15 cm. In addition, it is important to loosen and weed the beds on the site. When the cucumbers grow to the center of the aisle, the cultivation is stopped so as not to damage the roots. Still should be evenly spread on the ground developing plants. After the fruiting of the crop begins, the abundance of watering is increased to 5 liters per sq. m. Moisturize the soil almost daily, with the exception of cool, cloudy days. Fertilizing cucumbers is not needed if the land was properly seasoned before planting. However, when the temperature drops for longer than a week, the leaves may turn pale. Restore their color will get nitrogen fertilizer (urea). Consumption is 7-10 g per 10 liters of water. The procedure is carried out with a whisk or by means of manual spraying. The best time is evening, otherwise the sun’s rays will burn through the foliage.

Planting seedlings of cucumbers in the ground

Gardeners, whose plot is located in the floodplain of the river, will get a very rich crop of vegetables, without even preparing the soil beforehand. Loamy and sandy loamy soil with a close occurrence of groundwater is ideal for culture. Its only drawback is the lack of potassium salt. Moisturizing cucumbers do not tolerate light sandy soils that are not able to hold liquid. However, the heavy land, where moisture is held up for a long time, is not for a vegetable. High soil acidity will have to be fought with lime.

When planting a plant, you must take into account the climate of your region, because cucumbers like warmth. When planting seedlings, not the last soil and air temperature is of great importance. The temperature of the soil for seedlings should be at least 15 degrees, but the optimal indicator would be 18-20 ° C. With a colder regime, if seedlings grow, it will only during the day – under the influence of sunlight, and at night will stop development. Seedling method of planting is suitable for any region. However, for harsh climates, bottling is more suitable..

The key to success in growing vegetables in the open field will be the right choice of varieties suitable for seedlings. Among them there are unpretentious and undemanding, which are able to calmly endure adverse weather conditions. These include:

  • Adam F1;
  • Christina F1;
  • Cappuccino F1;
  • Carolina F1;
  • Faithful friends of F1;
  • Dear F1;
  • Shchedryk F1;
  • Athos F1;
  • Bush;
  • Baby pr.

When to plant

The optimal time for planting crops in open ground is easy to miss, so you need to approach this issue carefully. If you transfer the seedlings to the beds at an inopportune time, its resistance to diseases will significantly decrease, in addition, the survival rate of the bushes will worsen. To correctly determine the time, you need to know this rule: planting cucumbers in the soil can be carried out only 2-3 weeks after the seeds were sown for seedlings.

In the middle lane, the optimal period for planting seedlings is the end of May, in the south – the middle of the month. The time of day is not important, since it does not play any role, but you should focus on the Lunar calendar if you want to achieve maximum productivity, easy adaptation of plants in a new place and accelerate their growth. Experienced gardeners advise to work on the growing moon.

Cucumber seedlings before planting

How to plant seedlings

In open ground, the culture can be planted in seedlings, it has some differences from sowing seeds. The technology of planting seedlings involves such actions:

  1. Preparation of the substrate. Tanks (vessels) are filled with wood pellets with a layer of 3-5 cm and poured with hot water. Pressed sawdust begins to swell and crumble, you need to help the granules to crumble with your fingers. While the material has not yet cooled, seeds are laid on it at a distance of 2-3 cm from each other. Top them sprinkled with hot sawdust. The substrate for cucumber seedlings is prepared from sawdust and peat in 1: 3 proportions. First, for each bucket of sawdust you need to make 20 g of ammonium nitrate, mix the components and insist them for at least 2 days. After the substrate is mixed with peat and 8-10 g of potassium nitrate and aged for another 2 weeks (periodically the mass must be stirred).
  2. Sowing seeds for seedlings. Planting material is planted in 10×10 cm pots, containers are installed in plastic boxes about 20×30 cm in size. Do this in early May. Approximate consumption – 16-18 plants for every 1 square. m. Ready soil mixture is poured into pots and watered. In a wet substrate, holes 1 cm deep are made; grains of 1 piece per pot are placed in them. Top them sprinkled with a thin layer of a mixture of sawdust. The boxes into which the pots are made are covered with a film until the first shoots appear, after which they remove the shelter. Watering seedlings is not necessary when the humidity in the greenhouse is about 80%. If the seedlings are grown indoors, the substrate is moistened 2-3 times during the growing season.
  3. Hardening seedlings. A week before the transplant, the plants are accustomed to natural conditions. For this purpose, they are taken out to fresh air, for the first time in the evening, the second time at lunchtime (in the shade), and on other days seedlings can be left in the open area at any time. A day before transplanting, the substrate must be watered several times.
  4. Transfer to an open bed. It is better to do this on a sunny day when the air temperature reaches 25 degrees or higher. The earth should warm up to 25-30 ° C, thanks to the previously introduced hot manure. The distance between the plants in the row should be 12-14 cm. Only the roots of seedlings are sprinkled with soil. With excessive embedment depth there is a risk of root rot.
  5. Care. No different from caring for seed plantings. However, with the seedling method of growing vegetables, crops appear 2 weeks earlier.
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Comments: 3
  1. Grayson Anderson

    When is the optimal time to plant cucumber seeds or seedlings in open ground? Additionally, could you provide some guidance on the correct methods for growing cucumbers?

    Reply
    1. Benjamin Turner

      The optimal time to plant cucumber seeds or seedlings in open ground is when the soil temperature reaches a consistent 60-70°F (15-21°C), usually during late spring or early summer. Cucumbers thrive in warm weather, so planting them when the soil is sufficiently warm will promote germination and growth.

      For growing cucumbers, follow these guidelines:
      1. Choose a sunny spot with well-drained soil.
      2. Prepare the soil by adding organic matter and ensuring it is loose and fertile.
      3. Sow the seeds or transplant seedlings 1-2 inches deep, spacing them about 12-24 inches apart in rows.
      4. Water regularly, providing consistent moisture but avoiding overwatering.
      5. Mulch around the plants to retain moisture and suppress weed growth.
      6. Provide support for the vines, such as trellises or wire cages, to keep the cucumbers off the ground and prevent disease and pests.
      7. Fertilize regularly with a balanced fertilizer to promote healthy growth.
      8. Monitor for pests and diseases and take appropriate measures to control them, like using organic insecticides or removing infected plants.
      9. Harvest cucumbers when they reach the desired size, typically 6-8 inches long, to ensure optimal taste and texture. Regular harvesting also encourages more fruit production.

      Reply
    2. Riley Nichols

      The optimal time to plant cucumber seeds or seedlings in open ground is after the last frost date in your area. Cucumbers thrive in warm temperatures, so waiting until the danger of frost has passed ensures they have the best chance of success.

      When planting cucumbers, make sure to choose a sunny location with well-draining soil. Plant the seeds or seedlings about 1-2 inches deep and space them out around 12-24 inches apart. Cucumbers also benefit from a trellis or support system to help them grow vertically and prevent rotting on the ground.

      Water consistently, making sure to keep the soil evenly moist but not waterlogged. Fertilize every few weeks with a balanced fertilizer to promote healthy growth. Watch out for pests like aphids and cucumber beetles, and treat them promptly to prevent damage to your plants.

      Harvest cucumbers when they are firm and a dark green color, typically around 50-70 days after planting. Regularly picking cucumbers encourages more production, so be sure to check your plants regularly. With the right care and attention, you can enjoy a plentiful harvest of delicious cucumbers throughout the growing season.

      Reply
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