When choosing seeds for growing cucumbers in the new season, many gardeners prefer the same varieties. And in vain! Among the existing species there are plants that have a lot of advantages, for example, good immunity and long-term fruiting, until the onset of the first frost. These include Chinese cucumber.
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Description and characteristics of Chinese cucumber
Chinese cucumbers are similar in appearance to common varieties, but differ in an elongated shape (50-75 cm) and high yield (over 30 kg from a bush).
Exotic taste is more delicate with a sweetish hue, the flesh, though juicy, is rather dense. Seeds inside cucumbers collected in a narrow chamber located in the middle.
According to the description, the plant is unpretentious in the care, and most importantly - disease and pest resistant.
Scourge develops quickly, reaches a length of 3 meters. For this reason, it is recommended to grow vegetables on a trellis. Without garter, fruit quality and yield are reduced.
Chinese varieties are ideal for cultivation in the open field, and in greenhouses.
Unusual fruit sizes, taste, and biological processes Chinese cucumbers are being built in a separate kind of culture.
The peculiarity of the fruit is the rapid loss of nutrients, so it is recommended to use the harvest in the shortest possible time.
Popular types and varieties: Disease-resistant, Cold-resistant, Snakes, Miracle, etc.
Exotic vegetable originally grown in ChinaBut over time, thanks to high qualities and immunity, it began to be used in other countries, among which were the Russian regions.
There were a lot of varieties of Chinese cucumbers., but in our latitudes the following are considered the most popular:
- Chinese snakes;
- Disease resistant chinese;
- Chinese white;
- F1 Chinese Farmers;
- Chinese miracle;
- Chinese Emperor.
Cucumbers Chinese cold-resistant F1:
How to plant and grow
There are no significant differences in the care of these cucumbers. Like other cultures, exotic requires a moist environment and heat. With a lack of one of these components, yellow spots appear on the sheets.
Preparation of beds for cucumbers
This crop is planted in several ways: in open ground and using seedlings.
Preparing the beds should start in the fall. The place is chosen well lit. If there is partial shading, this is not a problem for many varieties of Chinese cucumbers.
Seeds for seedlings need to be planted in early April. On the 20-25 day after the emergence of shoots it can be transferred to the beds, but only in the case of stable warm weather (at least + 16 ° at night and 20 ° during the day).
Each of the methods has its advantages and disadvantages, the choice depends largely on weather conditions and the capabilities of the owners.
When sowing seeds in open ground is necessary dig trenches 60 cm deep in the site, fill it with fresh manure mixed with humus. Further, the surface of the trenches is slightly covered with soil and watered with warm water.
Immediately after moistening, cover the soil with a film.fixed on the frame (in the form of an arc or a cornea). After a few days, the shelter must be removed and the upper layer of soil spread over the entire territory of the beds.
When growing cucumbers on the balcony using manure is not quite aesthetically pleasing, therefore it is replaced by bread sourdough. It is made from bread crusts and water (1: 3).
After the tincture ferments, a small amount of complex fertilizers is added to it. When the first flowers appear, the plants are watered with the solution obtained once a week.
Planting seeds in open ground
In the beginning of May Prepared seeds are sown on open ground. When growing seedlings in a greenhouse, work on sowing begins in April.
The scheme of planting seeds in the garden: depth - 4 cm, distance between seeds - 15 cm. Scourge plants are subsequently tied up on trellis, so the bed is formed in rows with an interval of 30-35 cm.
After the seedlings form 2 leaves, thinning is done, increasing the distance between the bushes to 30 cm.
Care of the first shoots
When growing seedlings, the temperature in the room is lowered to 22 °, as soon as shoots appear. Night mode is set at 15-16 °.
After forming 2 leaves, seedlings are fertilized. a solution of water (10 liters), urea (15 g), superphosphate (40 g) and potassium (10 g). At the developmental stage of the shoots, watering is carried out once a week.
Shrub formation
After reaching the stem of 30-50 cm, begin to form a bush. For this 5 lower side shoots should be removed. Without such an operation, the plant will develop poorly and sparingly plant female flowers.
The length of the whip adult culture reaches 3 meters or more, so you need to install along the row trellis (height 2 m). If this is not done, cucumbers will develop poorly, leading to a decrease in yield.
Watering and feeding
Irrigation is carried out 2 times a week with warm water.. To prevent drying, the plants of the bed after weeding and loosening are mulched.
As baits are used:
- wood resin solution and water;
- mineral fertilizers (superphosphate, potassium, etc.);
- decoction of onion peel;
- solution on chicken droppings.
Diseases and pests
Chinese cucumbers have good immunity, so most of the diseases they are not afraid. However, care does not preclude daily monitoring of the state of the plant, because represent a danger:
- spider mite, sucking the juice from the stem;
- gourd aphid, feeding on young shoots, buds and flowers;
- powdery mildew;
- fungal anthracnose;
- bacteriosis.
When identifying signs of damage is necessary make treatment using special preparations or folk remedies.
Lack of attention and care errors provoke other diseases:
- gray rot;
- Fusarium;
- cucumber mosaic, etc.
Growing secrets
Timely care, of course, increases the chances of a good harvest, but little secrets can improve them.
On one stalk you need to leave 4-5 loops. The rest of the shoots should be removed so that the nutrients are enough to ripen the fruit, and not to increase the green.
Well proved itself prikormka from onion peel. You can also make infusion onion feathers.It is necessary to introduce a nutrient solution twice: at the beginning of the fruiting period and after 10 days.
Early varieties of these cucumbers can die in the spring frosts, which are characteristic of many regions. To protect the seedlings from freezing, it is recommended to cover the beds at night with a film or agrofibre.
This shelter is also used for heavy rains in spring, when precipitation is still very cold. Cool water slows down the growth of culture, leads to the death of the roots, therefore a warm liquid is recommended for irrigation.
To preserve the taste of the vegetable it is necessary to periodically conduct aeration on the beds. The future harvest depends on moisture and oxygen in the soil.
Summarizing the above, we can not say that the cultivation of Chinese cucumbers difficult, although it requires some effort.
However, the money spent and labor will be compensated by a generous harvest, which can be safely boasted.
Chinese disease-resistant sadek is a good grade, I liked it. Prickly only very, and cucumbers can be bent strongly when they grow to the ground, you need to follow this. It tastes good.