How far to plant cucumbers?

For cucumbers, like other garden crops, it is not enough to provide lighting, watering and feeding according to the instructions of experienced agricultural farmers and gardeners. It is important not to thicken them too much - with an insufficient amount of free soil space, the plantings will remain seedlings that do not yield a crop.

You have noticed more than once that the seedlings do not want to grow and become full-fledged adult plants, since they lack nutrients. Miracles do not happen, the plant cannot grow into a full-fledged adult unit when it is limited. As a result, this turns into a delay in the harvest if the transplant is too late, and when the genetic age of a particular species begins to approach a certain mark inherent only to him as such, this plant unit (bush) dies. Experiments with the cultivation of cultivated plants in a well-lit, but hermetically sealed bottle did not lead to anything positive - the plant remained small for many months, even being protected from the influence of fungi, pathogenic bacteria, mold and viruses when growing in soil sterilized with the help of folk remedies. In other words, with an increased planting density of cucumbers, you will not wait for a good harvest: greens are formed, which only works as a generator of free oxygen.

You can plant cucumbers in the open field either directly - immediately sow seeds in warm and sunny weather, or using pre-grown seedlings. It is necessary to act according to the current weather situation, without the lunar calendar and other methods related rather to conspiracy and paranormal phenomena: be sure to wait until the air temperature at noon is regularly at least +20, the soil warms up to +16 without a noticeable cold snap and frost at night. When planting seeds, if you are sure of the germination of seeds (they turned out to be fresh), plant a seed in each hole.

The wells are in most cases located at a distance of 35 cm from each other. The row spacing - for ease of maintenance, the approach to future bushes when harvesting - should be 80-100 cm. If you plant seeds "on a grid", then the passage between the cucumber thickets will be difficult, it will be impossible to harvest. If we translate the specific planting density into square meters, then in each it will be 3 seeds (in the future - a bush). The distance between the tied cucumber lashes is at least the same 35 cm. If seeds are planted in a row at a distance of half a meter, then insect pollinated plants will get more space, allowing bees to easily fly up to all inflorescences. This means that the harvest will be plentiful, the maximum possible from each bush.

Seedlings are planted in the same way. For it, cells with a diameter of 8 cm are used (or with the same length of the side of the "square" when the cell is not round). You can grow seedlings in a mixture of peat with fertile black soil from your site. The ratio of peat to black soil is 1: 1 or 1: 2. It is not recommended to fully use peat - it can ignite spontaneously in the heat of May in direct sunlight (the requirement is relevant for the southern regions).

Large-fruited varieties have 1-2 plants per 1 m2, small-fruited - twice as many (more often). Violation of this requirement towards thickening will immediately lead to a lack of yield. The more the plant is in height, the more side branches it has grown, the more developed its root system, which means that it will need a large area on the site for full-fledged life.

Vertical method - a method in which the rows of cucumber plants are slightly raised, planting them in the ground with additional humus 3 cm high... Using this method, the seedlings are planted in a staggered arrangement, and a distance of 40 cm remains between the plants.The distance between the rows, depending on their location line, is about 20 cm.With the vertical method, the area on the site is significantly saved, and the approach for leaving and collecting ripe the fruit remains in such a way that it is possible not to damage the plants. When tying up elongated shoots of cucumbers, posts are placed on which a trellis curtain or a plastic net is pulled. Ropes are fixed on them, along them the plants twine, rising higher and higher in the direction of the sun's rays and wind.

The horizontal method means that one or two rows are used. In a single row, planting of plants is carried out at intervals of 25 cm. The double row forms an indent between rows of about 95 cm. Self-pollinated varieties can be planted closer - from 75 cm between rows.

When planting rows with a herringbone, seeds are sown along an arc of a circle, the radius of which is 70-100 cm. The distance between neighboring plants is about 35 cm. The advantages of the method are good access to cucumbers, while saving space in the garden: entering the resulting circle from either side, the summer resident can easily access any of the plants. A long wedge is installed next to each bush. The pegs are tied with twine, one end of which is fixed on a support in the center of the resulting platform. The twine is replaced with galvanized wire.

The one-line method makes it possible to easily care for varietal bushes that are characterized by fast growth - compared to their less "slow-moving" counterparts... At the same time, the entire row is fully illuminated, and the plants do not conquer each other's living space. The distance between the plants is about 30 cm. Between the rows - from 70 cm, this will make it easy to pass between the rows.

The two-row method allows you to create a tape from two parallel rows. The distance between neighboring plants is about 40 cm, between rows - 120. Thanks to this method, the area on the site is spent more economically, and the maintenance of thickets is facilitated. The checkerboard arrangement allows plants to be placed at a distance of about 65 cm from each other, which makes the double-row look like a single-row. The location of other ribbons allows you to place the same "zigzags", stepping back about 70 cm. The advantages of the method are the best protection against diseases and pests, good ventilation, while the flight of bees between plants is facilitated.

In the open field, when planting seeds - without growing seedlings - not all property owners have the opportunity to get a regular harvest of cucumbers. Make sure that your windows do not face north - you cannot get direct sunlight from this side unless you live anywhere in South America, Australia or New Zealand, on any islands in the Southern Hemisphere, or in conditions of the equator or latitude below the Northern Tropic (it is above it that the sun rises at its zenith). "Balcony", "garage" method is used when the owner of the living space lives in an apartment or a private house, completely devoid of any territory, except for the courtyard.However, the lack of sunlight can be easily compensated for with bright artificial "warm white" light even in polar night conditions, if the temperature in the house does not drop below +18 and does not rise above +27. True, the harvest may still be less in number of cucumbers. Like any plant, cucumbers may require a small amount of "soft" "daytime" ultraviolet radiation, which entails the need to install special UV LEDs in addition to traditional white lamps, whose emission spectrum is shifted far to the "blue" edge.

For planting cucumbers in completely "domesticated", close to greenhouse conditions, use old pots and pans (you can have a leaky bottom). Holes in the bottom are required - through them the roots will gain access to air and will be able to breathe, and will not get stuck in the soil, which has turned into a swamp due to the impossibility of "draining" excess water from itself. The volume of the container is at least a liter per plant. The same approach was used in the implementation of the Food Program of the USSR: the containers there replaced the cubes of the black earth-peat mixture, and the cultivation was carried out in huge greenhouses. To improve drainage, a drainage layer of expanded clay or sandy loam is poured into pots or pans - this material removes excess moisture well. The distance from the seed to the walls of the container is about 15 cm from all sides.

"Barrel" method - improved "balcony" method: an extensive capacity allows you to sow 10-12 seeds using a method close to the "herringbone"... Thanks to the wide neck, the barrel allows you to sow seeds in a circle, this also saves space in the cramped conditions of a loggia or balcony. They lay 10 cm of drainage, 10 cm of branches and leaves, 10 cm of peat with manure - and black soil is poured on top. If necessary, add another 2-3 cm of manure (compost) - on top. Barrels are easy to replace with bags or boxes - it doesn't matter. Most often, barrels with planted cucumber plants are located in a heated garage - for example, by a window on the south, west or east side.