Fresh, fragrant green cucumber fruit is a true delight for gourmets. Especially if you yourself have grown and reaped a good harvest. But this wonderful vegetable is a very tender and capricious subtropical plant, requires attention and careful handling, especially the root system. In this review we will talk about the structure of the roots of cucumbers, its formation, possible diseases and methods of treatment.
Table of contents
Visible to the root: peculiarities of the structure of the root system of cucumber
Everyone who wants to indulge himself with a high yield of strong green cucumbers must remember: the secret of the fertility of a plant is in a strong and healthy root system.
What are the roots of cucumbers? This heat-loving subtropical plant belongs to melon crops (pumpkin genus) and has a root trunk similar to them, only much smaller and makes up only 1-2% of the mass of the whole bush. But the ability to absorb moisture is very high. Cucumber roots are close to the soil surface, at a depth of 20 before 30 cm, forming an extensive network. This helps to take more moisture and nutrients from the soil, more firmly held in the ground. The more the main root deepens, the less side remains on it. A rich harvest can be obtained from the bush with a length, well-formed, developed root system.
When loosening the soil should try not to damage the small lateral roots. The plant will spend 8-10 days on their restoration (provided that the soil is well wetted) and, thus, will significantly shorten the fruiting time.
Since the cucumber has a branched root with many thin lateral roots, the culture is very poorly tolerated in transplantation, it takes root with great difficulty. Temperature extremes are also harmful to seedlings. To plant sprouts in open ground should, if the temperature of the soil reaches a minimum of 13 degrees.
Root system formation
To create a powerful root system of cucumbers for growing seedlings from seeds using the method of adding soil. As they grow, fertilized earth is added to dishes with seedlings. From the bottom of the stem are formed new, additional roots. Then the seedlings dive into separate pots, also half filled with soil, and gradually fill up until the dishes with the seedlings are filled with earth.
This method allows you to double the size of the roots, significantly increasing the yield.
After planting in open ground, the following factors influence the formation of a healthy root system of cucumbers:
- The composition of the soil and how dense it is. Cucumbers love loose sandy land.
- The content of useful organic compounds. The soil under the cucumber beds must be fertilized with humus, make nitrogenous fertilizers.
- Illumination, humidity. Cucumber plants like good light (to form a large number of female flowers), so when planted in the ground the distance between the rows should be at least 40 cm, 50 cm in the rows between the plants, soil moisture - 80%.
Root rot - a common disease of cucumbers
Root and root rot - a disease caused by fungal infections. Usually, rot can strike a plant at any stage of its growth and development. On the segment of the stem at the root appear dark or brown spots, which gradually merge. Constrictions are formed, the growth of cucumbers stops, the stem turns black, begins to rot, the plant dies. To treat this disease is quite difficult.
The main sign by which it is easy to determine that cucumbers are affected by root rot is a lethargy of plants.The wilting of leaves occurs both in sunny weather and in overcast. By removing the soil and exposing the basal part of the stem, one can notice all the signs of damage to his dangerous disease.
Symptoms of the disease:
- listlessness of leaveslodging a plant with regular watering;
- banners on the stems and leaves;
- the appearance of red spots and drying of the leaves;
- termination growth.
Causes of defeat basal rot
Since cucumber is a subtropical culture and is very capricious, sensitive to weather and climatic conditions, The main causes of root rot disease are unfavorable conditions for growth and development:
- too tight and heavy groundwhich squeezes the root system and interferes with its development, provokes a lack of oxygen and interferes with normal moisture;
- swings day and night temperatures;
- watering plants with cold water cucumbers throughout the growth must be watered with warm water from tanks;
- ground saturation nitrogenous fertilizers, acidification of the soil;
- in greenhouses is necessary avoid too high humidity in the room and the flow of cold air (drafts).
How to protect the culture from the disease, methods of treatment
Root rot is very dangerous because it is impossible to save the infected individuals at any stage of growth. How to deal with this root disease? To successfully combat the disease, you need to try to prevent seedlings from becoming infected. To do this, it is advisable to follow some rules:
- renew land in greenhouses (introduction of peat gives effective results), completely destroy the remnants of last year’s plants, disinfect the soil and seedlings;
- observe temperature conditions avoid drops; plant seedlings in open ground under optimally favorable weather conditions;
- observe watering mode and soil moisture;
- when landing add drugs to the root preventive action to combat fungal diseases (for example, Trichodermin, for irrigation - Previcur).
Conclusion
If in time to detect the disease of cucumbers, to take all necessary measures to combat it, the positive results will not keep you waiting. A healthy root system will allow healthy plants to grow, will increase at times the yield. Fragrant and healthy culture will delight you with its dietary fruits.