The ripening of cucumbers was one of the first at their summer cottage, which made the vegetable probably the most cultivated plant in the Russian open spaces. It is grown from the southern to the most northern regions. Gardeners are attracted by its low calorie content, content of vitamins and minerals, taste and possible uses in salads, snacks and homemade preparations for the winter.
One trick for an early harvest is to germinate cucumber seeds before planting.

Conditions for growing cucumbers

In a polycarbonate greenhouse

For a guaranteed harvest, constructions with a polycarbonate coating are used - this is due to the material's ability to retain heat and transmit the entire spectrum of solar radiation. The greenhouse design provides for ventilation vents, which is important for growing. It is easy to create the microclimate necessary for plants in a greenhouse.
Seedlings can be planted in mid-April, seedlings are planted a month later, on May 15.

Important! Planting plants should not be frequent, it is recommended to plant 2 to 4 plants per 1 square meter so that there is enough air and light.

How to germinate cucumber seeds

The cultivation of a southern heat-loving culture requires the creation of certain conditions:

  • Temperature;
  • Humidity;
  • Lighting;
  • Nutrition.

For germination of cucumber seeds, an acceptable level of soil moisture is considered to be 60%, air 80% at a temperature of 25 to 28 degrees. When growing and forming fruits, a sufficient temperature level is from 17 to 28 degrees. The moisture level can be maintained by placing a bucket of water in the greenhouse or periodically spraying the structure with water. At a temperature of about 30 degrees, it is necessary to ventilate the greenhouse, open the vents.

Important! Cucumbers need soil light, containing up to 40% organic substances, such as humus, compost, peat.

To obtain the maximum yield, it is necessary to provide:

  • Shoot formation;
  • Selection of varieties;
  • Garter;
  • Watering and feeding.

On the windowsill

Cultivation on a windowsill or balcony allows you to admire flowers and greens, have vegetables for salads and snacks.

For growing on a windowsill you need:

  • Choose a variety of self-pollinated (parthenocarpic) hybrids;
  • Sow in waves: after the first batch - in a month, after one and a half - the second and so on up to four times;
  • The first planting is recommended in September in order to get the first harvest in November;
  • The temperature regime should be 21-24 degrees during the day, 18-19 degrees at night, if necessary, the plants can be heated, for example, with incandescent lamps;

Cucumbers on the windowsill

It is necessary to observe the humidity regime with a sufficient amount of water, but without an overabundance, it leads to diseases.

A ready-made mixture from a store is well suited as soil, but you can prepare it yourself: for 2 shares of garden land, take one share of river sand and one part of humus, add a little sawdust. The composition must be disinfected with a weak solution of potassium permanganate, heated for 30-40 minutes at 120 degrees or spilled with very hot water.

Note! The germination rate of cucumbers (how many days they will germinate) depends on the quality of the seeds.The purchased planting material can be treated with stimulants, etched and ready for germination, this will rise quickly. Homemade workpieces are treated with potassium permanganate or 3% hydrogen peroxide, soaked, germinated or immediately placed in the ground.

Sowing is done in pits up to 2 centimeters, soil is poured on top, watered and covered with foil. After soaking, the seeds are planted in the same way, but placed in a hole in two grains. When 5-6 leaves appear, a garter and supports for plants are needed, and pinching must also be done to limit growth.

The vegetables on the windowsill need feeding, it is better to produce it with a mixture purchased in the store, which indicates the frequency of use of the mixture and proportions.

In the open field

For outdoor cultivation, select suitable varieties. It must be remembered that hybrids are more resistant to diseases, but planting material will have to be purchased every year. You can achieve yields if you choose the right variety, taking into account the climatic characteristics and the goals of growing vegetables.

Germinating seeds in the ground

Important! Sowing on the beds with seeds is carried out in the last 10 days of May, although you can plant it until mid-July. A well-lit area is suitable for this. In front of the cucumbers, squash and pumpkin should not grow in this place.

The garden bed is prepared in the fall, dug up, organic matter is introduced, 6-8 kilograms of manure, compost and potash fertilizers, 6-7 grams per square. It is better to grow seedlings in peat glasses, buy or prepare soil by mixing equal shares of humus, earth, peat with the addition of sawdust and wood ash. The planting is carried out with the sprouted end upwards by 1.5-2 centimeters, covered with paper. After germination, the seedlings are kept indoors for 3-4 weeks at 22-28 degrees, before planting, they are hardened and planted in the ground.

Why germinate cucumber seeds, which approach is correct

Germination allows:

  • Get sprouts at the same time;
  • Discard unusable seeds.
How to germinate tomato seeds

It is important that the strongest plants, with sprouts, get into the soil, this speeds up the first harvest. Germination time is 3-5 days and depends on the following factors:

  • Varieties;
  • Quality;
  • Age;
  • Temperatures.

Important! Sometimes the seeds hatch poorly, which can puzzle an inexperienced gardener: why cucumbers do not sprout for seedlings and what to do if the deadlines are tight? If the seeds are taken from the store and do not germinate, then most likely they are old - last year's seeds are not used for planting.

Seedlings of cucumbers

Germination of cucumbers should be started 3-5 days before sowing, while the seedling method requires 25-30 days of cultivation before sowing. You can grow seedlings without land using a method called hand-roll, it is as follows:

  1. The bottom and the neck of the plastic bottle are cut off;
  2. The scrap of the bottle is filled with a mixture of humus, earth, peat and ash to 75 percent and dug into the ground;
  3. Two seeds are placed in a bottle and watered abundantly;
  4. When the seedlings grow up, the bottle is removed from the ground, the seedlings remain without damage to the roots.

The same principle is used when grown on plastic belts. Whichever planting method is chosen, it is necessary to carry out pre-sowing germination.

How to sprout cucumbers quickly

How to germinate melon seeds

To get a good harvest, you need to know how to germinate cucumber seeds at the right time. The germination process needs a preparatory stage, which consists of a number of procedures according to the scheme proposed by experienced vegetable growers:

  • Warming up;
  • Sorting;
  • Etching;
  • Soak;
  • Hardening.

Warming up

Note!Warming up consists in placing the seeds near a constant heat source, for example, a battery for 12-14 days.

Warming up the seeds

This is done to activate them so that they can ascend at the same time and prepare for lack of water and heat. Another method is to soak for several hours in water heated to 50 degrees.

Sorting

The point of sorting is to select viable seeds and is done in the following ways:

  1. Manual selection is carried out, non-viable seeds are discarded - broken, stained, etc.;
  2. For selection, the planting material is poured for a quarter of an hour with a solution of sodium chloride, from 50 to 100 grams per liter, the floating ones are thrown away, the rest are thoroughly washed.

Disinfection

Disinfection is used to destroy various pathogens of cucumber diseases. One of the methods is immersion for 20 minutes in a solution of potassium permanganate, diluted in half with water, brilliant green or in three percent hydrogen peroxide. From the funds available on the market, you can use the tablets "Fundazol", "Maxim".

Soak

It is necessary to soak the seeds to saturate them with moisture, it is also possible to use growth stimulants "Epin", "Zircon". The soaking process consists in wrapping gauze in moistened water with stimulants for 12-18 hours.

Hardening

Cucumbers are hardened to prepare for frosts and cold snaps, the process can take place in several operations or be completed in one day. One method of hardening takes place within 5 days: during the day, cucumbers are kept in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator, at night at room temperature. A method of placing vegetables in the refrigerator for a day is also used, after which they begin to germinate.

Germination

Germination on a napkin

Whichever planting method is chosen, you need to know how to germinate cucumber seeds before planting. After hardening, the final stage follows before sowing: the seeds are placed on moistened gauze or toilet paper, covered with another moistened layer and checked by selecting those that hatch. Good material sprouts at the same time, and after that they are ready for planting in the ground.

Note! If the appearance of sprouts is uneven, it is better to plant by seedling method. Seeds at a temperature of 24-25 degrees, wrapped in a damp cloth, paper or moss, hatch for 2-3 days.

Further care

Taking care of vegetables planted in open ground means regularly pouring warm water at 22-25 degrees and collecting the grown fruits in a timely manner. In cool weather, watering is not necessary to avoid root rot, it is better to loosen the soil between the rows.

How to germinate pumpkin seeds

Top dressing per season is carried out up to 3-4 times, in the midst of fruiting they are powdered with wood ash: 1 glass per square - this increases stability. At the beginning of flowering, they are fed with an infusion of cow dung, for which they take half a bucket of manure, pour water and let it stand for 5 days, water the cucumbers with infusion, diluting 0.5 liters of fertilizer with a bucket of water. When the flowers and the first ovaries appear, repeat the feeding, adding nitroammofosk to the mullein infusion, 1 tablespoon per 1 liter of infusion.

Advice! At the stage of planting seedlings, you can install trellises and make a garter, which facilitates formation, maintenance and increases productivity.

Whatever the size of the plot, there is always a place for cucumbers there, and knowledge of the basics of cultivation will allow you to have a tasty and healthy product on the table.