How to grow cucumbers on a windowsill in an apartment: technology for growing a rich harvest
It is not necessary to have your own garden to grow a rich harvest of cucumbers. It is enough to find a variety that can be grown at home on a windowsill or balcony, and select suitable containers and soil. Most varieties are unpretentious in care, requiring a minimum of time and effort.
Consider the technology of growing cucumbers at home and find out how to plant, water and feed them correctly in order to get a big harvest.
The content of the article
Conditions for growing cucumbers on the windowsill
How to grow cucumbers on a windowsill? The culture is very sensitive to light and heat, therefore, plantings are placed only on the southern sunny side. The plant should receive at least 15 hours of daylight per day. The optimum temperature for growing is + 23 ° C. If the house has a heated loggia, the plants are safely placed there. Foil and reflectors will help you get more light.
Important! With a lack of heat, phytolamps are used. They are LED, fluorescent and gas-charged. LEDs are especially popular. They are economical, light-emitting and durable. Their only drawback is their high cost.
What seeds to choose
Acquire seed in proven places. When buying, they study the recommendations for care, sowing dates, look at the integrity of the package and the shelf life. Large and even seeds are selected for planting. The traditional method will help to check their suitability. 30 g of sodium chloride are mixed in 1 liter of water and the planting material is immersed in the solution for 2 hours. During this time, large and heavy seeds sink to the bottom, while light and desert seeds remain on the surface. The solution is carefully drained, the suitable seeds are washed with clean water and dried.
Particular attention is paid to the choice of the variety. Preferred early ripening, self-pollinating cucumbers. Both hybrids and simple varieties are used. Some of them:
- Chinese snake;
- Moscow salad f1;
- Marinda f1;
- Lilliputian f1;
- Arbat;
- Athlete;
- Flagship.
What is the best way to grow cucumbers on the windowsill
It is convenient to grow cucumbers in plastic or wooden boxes with drainage holes. They are affordable, lightweight and easy to use. All cucumbers are in one place, they can be quickly transferred from the windowsill to the balcony. The optimum height of the seedling boxes is 10 cm. In addition to boxes, gardeners use the following options:
- Seedling pots made of plastic with special drainage holes. There are square pots, oval, round. Square are compact, but cucumbers do not have enough space in them to develop. Round ones are more comfortable, but take up a lot of space on the windowsill. They are used repeatedly, from year to year. The optimal container width for cucumbers is 7-10 cm.
- Planting trays... This is the same box, the only difference is that there are partitions between the bushes. The trays are compact, take up little space, so they fit on any windowsill.
Seed and soil preparation
Before planting, the seeds are disinfected and germinated.
For disinfection, the inoculum is soaked for 24 hours in Bordeaux liquid or potassium permanganate. Disinfection destroys pathogenic microflora, protects against diseases and pests. The seeds are disinfected by ordinary heating, keeping in the oven for 2 hours at a temperature of +180 ° C.
The next stage of preparation is germination. It increases seed germination and strengthens the immunity of future plants. The cheapest and easiest way to germinate is to soak in water. Warm water is poured into a deep container and disinfected seeds are poured onto the bottom. Withstand 12 hours, while the liquid is changed every 4 hours and the seed is gently mixed. Then the seeds are taken out of the water, wrapped in a gauze bag and stored in a warm place for 3 days.
For planting seeds, use a ready-made mixture from a store, for example, "Universal" or "Krepysh" soil. Such soil has already been disinfected and equipped with all the necessary nutrients.
How and when to plant
When to plant cucumbers on the windowsill, it's up to you. It takes 50-60 days from germination to harvest. You can plant cucumbers both in spring and in winter. For example, by planting seeds in March, the harvest can be obtained by May, and when planting in August, by November. Some gardeners use the lunar calendar to determine the timing.
The landing procedure looks like this:
- soil is poured into the container and grooves are made 3-5 cm deep;
- 2-3 seeds are placed in each hole;
- sprinkle with soil on top and gently slap;
- poured abundantly with warm water.
How to care
Cucumbers on the windowsill need the same care as plantings in the open field: regular watering, feeding, forming bushes and loosening the earth. Let's consider in detail how to carry out each procedure correctly.
Features of watering and feeding
Balcony cucumbers are watered once every 5 days. It is convenient to use a bottle for this. Direct water directly under the root, bypassing the stems, to eliminate the occurrence of fungi and infections. The optimum water temperature for irrigation is +18 ° C. On the windowsill, the earth quickly loses moisture, so it is recommended to spray the bushes with water from a spray bottle every day. About 0.5 liters of water is consumed per plant. During the flowering period, the amount of moisture is reduced.
Before each watering, the soil is loosened with a fork. Loosening makes the soil lighter and more airy, saturates the roots with oxygen.
Fertilizers are applied 10-15 days after the first shoots appear. How to feed indoor cucumbers? The vegetable responds well to feeding with wood ash, ammonium nitrate, superphosphate, nettle infusion. Fertilizing regularly improves the taste of the fruit and increases the yield. To accelerate the development of cucumbers, use the growth stimulator "Kornevin". Before using the drug, carefully read the instructions for use.
Important! If the leaves dry and turn yellow, then the bushes have been overfed with minerals. The interval between dressings should be at least 2-3 weeks. An excess of nitrogen leads to an increase in green mass, an excess of potassium leads to deformation of the fruit. For convenience, gardeners mark the dates of the top dressing in the calendar.
Forming and garter cucumbers
When five leaves appear, pinch the bush and remove the weak lateral processes. Leave two or three main shoots, each of which pinch above the tenth sheet. Formation is carried out from the moment the first fruits appear until the very harvest.
Only those cucumbers are tied up, in which many fruits weighing more than 80 g grow on one bush, and plants with long shoots. If not tied up, the stem will break under the heavy weight of the vegetables, or the cucumbers will lack light and space for healthy development. They are tied with cotton bandages to wooden pegs.
Pollination
In indoor conditions, insects have no access to plants, so cucumbers are manually pollinated. This method is also necessary where several varieties of crops grow. If this is not done, the purity of the variety will be lost.
For pollination use a brush with natural bristles, carefully collecting pollen from the male inflorescence and lubricating the pistils on the female buds. Pollination is carried out on the second day after blooming. The humidity in the room must be at least 70%, otherwise the pollen will dry out.
Important! It is necessary to pollinate cucumbers within two weeks from the moment the first ovaries appear.
Prevention of diseases and pests
Irrigation with cold water, a lack of light, and contaminated land lead to diseases. To avoid diseases and pests, it is recommended:
- Select large seeds for sowing and thoroughly disinfect them.
- Wash the planting container with baking soda in warm water.
- Disinfect the ground with a solution of potassium permanganate.
- Observe the regime of light and heat.
- Water the bushes only with warm and clean water.
- Pinch and shape plants in time.
- Process cucumbers with Bordeaux liquid, wood ash solution, milk whey.
- Inspect bushes regularly for signs diseases: dry and yellow leaves, brown spots, white bloom.
With improper care, indoor cucumbers become sick with powdery mildew. White spots appear on the leaves, which can be eliminated by spraying with Previkur. Another disease - copperhead - manifests itself in the form of deep brown spots on fruits and leaves. Copperhead is not amenable to treatment; infected bushes and cucumbers are removed.
Whitefly and aphids are dangerous pests. Miniature white insects reproduce quickly and settle on the inside of the cucumber leaf. Because of them, the bushes dry out, the cucumbers lose their taste. A tobacco-based decoction helps to get rid of pests.
Reviews of gardeners
Cucumbers are grown on the windowsill both by novice gardeners and experienced gardeners. The vegetable requires less attention than growing on site.
Marina, Sochi: “I grow indoor cucumbers on a warm loggia. I plant them in wooden boxes, which I put on a pallet. I use the early ripening variety Zozulya. To get a rich harvest, I form a bush, pinch the top. The taste is excellent, not worse than that of garden vegetables. "
Ekaterina, Moscow region: “I decided to plant cucumbers for the first time at home, on the windowsill. I chose the varieties Athlete and Chinese Snakes. The result exceeded all my expectations! The whole family loved the crispy, juicy and tasty cucumbers. I will definitely plant more. "
Irina, Oryol: “The harvest of indoor cucumbers has not been successful. The bushes are capricious, it was necessary to constantly monitor the level of moisture. And pollinating cucumbers by hand turned out to be not as easy as I thought. Better to plant a vegetable in a vegetable garden. "
Read also:
Why pickles get soft in the jar and how to prevent it
What are red cucumbers (Tladianta Doubtful), what are they good for.
Conclusion
Can you grow potted cucumbers at home? Yes, indoor cucumbers are grown in the apartment both in winter and in summer. For this purpose, early maturing varieties are preferred. The vegetable is planted in a convenient container with drainage holes. Use ready-made soil mixture or soil from the garden. In care, indoor cucumbers are no different from garden ones. They need timely feeding and fertilization. Compliance with agricultural cultivation techniques allows you to get a harvest of useful vegetables at any time of the year.