Content:
When growing seedlings at home, one of the main stages is picking them - planting seedlings in separate containers if the seedlings are too thickened during germination. However, seedlings of not all vegetable plants tolerate such planting well.
Cucumbers are one of the vegetables that do not tolerate all types of transplants. It is known that the delicate root system of seedlings is located close to the surface, so it is extremely difficult to transplant young plants without damaging the roots. And the damaged roots heal for a long time, they are not able to extract useful substances from the soil that seedlings need for growth, the plant is sick, practically does not grow, it may even die. Therefore, picking cucumbers is done only in extreme cases. How to carry out this procedure without harming the seedlings will be discussed in the article.
About home seedlings of cucumbers
Most often, cucumber seeds are sown directly into open ground. But many gardeners pre-grow their seedlings at home in order to get a harvest of green plants faster, especially in the case of difficult climatic conditions - in the Urals, in the Moscow region or in the Siberian regions, where the summer is short and there are long cold snaps in the spring. In such weather conditions, it is required to grow early-ripening varieties of cucumbers, which are demanding on heat, and with constant temperature fluctuations, they develop and bear fruit poorly.
Growing cucumber seedlings at home is a fairly simple procedure. Agronomists advise planting cucumber seeds according to the lunar calendar. It is necessary to plant seeds of a cucumber culture for seedlings about 20-25 days before transplanting into open ground, therefore, it is necessary to sow seed in April. Auspicious days in April 2018 for this procedure are 2, 3, 20, 21, 24-26, 29.
Seedlings of cucumbers
The seeds are planted as follows:
- Containers or cups are filled with nutritious loose soil.
- Seed material should be buried 1-1.5 cm, covered with plastic wrap and placed on a windowsill, where there is enough light and warmth.
- Seed germination can take 5-7 days. When the first shoots appear, the film must be removed.
Plants require regular watering as well as good lighting. If there is not enough moisture in the soil, the seedlings will slow down their growth, and with a lack of light, they can stretch out. In open ground or greenhouses, seedlings are transplanted in the phase of 3-4 permanent leaves.
What is picking cucumbers
Pickling cucumbers is planting thickened crops. This is possible if seeds are sown in containers too often, without observing a certain distance between them. So that the sprouts do not slow down in development, they need to be planted.
The picking of cucumber seedlings should be done carefully so as not to damage the root system - it is better to take each sprout together with a lump of earth, in this case the roots will not be damaged, which means that the plant will acclimatize faster.
Picking cucumber
Why dive cucumbers
Diving cucumber seedlings is carried out in order to plant these seedlings at a sufficient distance from each other, but it is best to dive cucumbers into separate cups.In this case, it will be easier to plant them in the future in a permanent place in open ground or in a greenhouse.
The point of picking cucumbers at home is to enable these seedlings to grow freely, as well as to protect them from possible fungal diseases, which most often occur when the plants are very thick.
In this case, it will be very difficult to plant seedlings in open ground without damaging the root system.
It often happens that seedlings grow too well together, and it is too early to plant them in open ground. To prevent it from overgrowing, you have to dive the grown seedlings.
Advantages and disadvantages
The main advantages of carrying out a pick:
- seedlings begin to grow better;
- seedlings receive more light, resulting in improved photosynthesis in the vegetative part of the seedlings;
- in separate containers for roots there is more free space in which they develop better, nutrients are absorbed by one plant, and not several at the same time.
But the procedure for picking cucumber seedlings has drawbacks, and the main one is the likelihood of damage to the roots of seedlings during transplantation, which will negatively affect their further growth and development. Therefore, most vegetable growers prefer to immediately plant one plant in each container, or when planting in large containers, plant seeds at a sufficient distance from each other so as not to dive them in the future.
Seedlings of cucumbers
When can you make a pick
Plants are planted in the phase of 1-3 permanent leaves - 2-2.5 weeks after planting the seed in open ground. Small plants are easier to transplant, and their roots are still too few, so they are less likely to be injured.
Diving cucumber seedlings: how to dive cucumbers correctly
Observing the basic rules, you can transplant cucumbers without much effort.
Training
First you need to prepare containers for planting - pour soil into them, not reaching the top by about 1/3 24 hours before the dive. The soil is moistened so that it is completely saturated and shrinks.
Immediately before planting, the seedlings are watered, and small indentations are made in the containers where they will be transplanted.
With a small spatula, shoots are taken out in turn and transplanted to a new place. If necessary, you can support the plant for foliage (but not for the stem!).
Dive seedlings
The seedlings are moved into a glass, watered, then sprinkled with nutritious soil, without filling the growth point. In this case, it is necessary to ensure that all the roots are in the soil.
Features:
Before planting plants in a new place, it is tedious to carefully examine the roots - if they are damaged, such a plant is unsuitable for planting.
Plants can only be supported at the time of transplantation by the cotyledonous leaves (or upper leaves).
Basic transplant rules:
- correct preparation of the soil in which the plants will be planted (it must be the same in composition as the one in which they grew);
- moistening the soil before transplanting to make it easier to get the seedlings;
- introduction of moisture into new containers before and after transplanting, so that the plants quickly acclimatize in moist soil;
- do not reach the seedlings with your hands, but use special devices for this.
If a vegetable grower knows how to dive cucumbers, he will carry out this procedure correctly and all the cucumbers will surely take root.
How to properly care for young shoots
What should be done so that the transplanted plants do not get sick and quickly begin to grow further? The answer is simple - you should regularly water the plants, make sure that there are no sudden changes in temperature, and also apply at least one top dressing before transplanting the plants to a permanent place.
Observing these simple rules, you will be able to get healthy and strong seedlings.
