- Authors: Luis Mullor
- Name synonyms: Gunnar
- Year of approval: 2014
- Growth type: indeterminate
- Fruit weight, g: 82-117
- Fruit length, cm: 12-14
- Fruit color: dark green without stripes
- Cucumber Mosaic Virus Resistance: stable
- Ripening terms: mid-season
- Fruit shape: fusiform
Modern cucumber hybrids marked with F1 are distinguished by excellent immunity, they look great, and most importantly, they are tasty and fruitful. Agricultural technology for growing hybrids is also not difficult, it is suitable even for beginners in the gardening business. All this also applies to the relatively recently created Gunnar cucumber variety.
Breeding history
Gunnar hybrid (synonym Gunnar) - the fruit of the selection work of the vegetable growing company Enza Zaden, located in Enkhuizen (North Holland). The history of the Dutch brand dates back to 1938, when the local farmer-entrepreneur Jakob Masereuv began to produce potato seeds and legumes for sale. And today the company produces vegetable seeds for the professional world market.
In 2013, the company opened a representative office of Enza Semena on the territory of the Russian Federation (Moscow). But even earlier, in 2010, the company submitted an application for admission to the cultivation of the Gunnar cucumber hybrid in the Russian Federation, at the same time its variety trials began in Russia. And already in 2014, the variety was included in the State Register and immediately appeared on the Eastern European market, including in Ukraine and Russia, immediately attracting the attention of farmers and summer residents.
The originator does not disclose information about which cucumber crops were used in breeding work, but the result was excellent. Experts managed to create a variety of cucumbers that gives an early harvest, and the resulting hybrid is suitable even for year-round cultivation.
Description of the variety
Gunnar F1 is a parthenocarpic culture; only female flowers appear on the cucumber liana, which do not need pollination. Plants of this hybrid variety, due to early ripening, are capable of producing up to 4 harvests per year. Suitable culture for open ground, cultivation under a film - under a temporary shelter and in film greenhouses, cultivation in a winter greenhouse with year-round cultivation. Gunnar cucumbers are characterized by high marketability, good transportability and keeping quality.
Characteristics of the appearance of plants and zelents
The described plant is quite compact, the shoots on the sides are short, the type of flowering is bouquet. One knot is capable of forming up to 4 ovaries. Zelentsy are dark green, stripes are absent. The shape of the cucumbers is fusiform, with large tubercles. They reach 12-14 cm in length and 82-117 g in weight.
Purpose and taste of fruits
Gunnar is a multipurpose cucumber. However, most often they are consumed fresh: in salads or whole. And this is not accidental, because the taste of gherkins is simply wonderful: a complete absence of bitterness, juicy homogeneous pulp, no empty spaces, but there is a pleasant crunch during biting. The tasting score is quite high, one might say the maximum: 4.9-5 points out of 5 possible. The product is also suitable for pickling and pickling.
Maturation
Dutch cucumbers are mid-season. From the first shoots to the beginning of fruiting, 38–40 days pass, which allows them to be characterized as early ripening.
Yield
One of the positive characteristics of the Gunnar variety is its high yield. On average, the yield in open ground is 20.8 kg / m 2, and in glass unheated greenhouses it will be 8.9 kg / m 2.
Growing regions
According to the State Register, the variety is zoned for the Central Region, as well as the Central Black Earth Region.
Growing and care
For a crop, planting times will depend on the specific region, as well as the cultivation method (greenhouses, open ground, seedling / seedling method). So, for normal growth and development of culture in the open field, the temperature should not be lower than + 12 °. For cucumbers to bear fruit well, the ideal regime will be + 25 ... + 30 ° during the day and + 15 ... + 18 ° at night.
Since the growth rate of cucumbers is higher than that of other crops, planting material for seedlings is planted about 3 weeks before the planned time of transferring it to the place of growth. For example, in Ukraine, in the south of Russia, it is better to germinate seedlings from mid-April, and plant them in the ground in early May. Where the climate is colder, these terms, respectively, will be shifted by a couple of weeks.
Since Gunnar is a hybrid, Dutch-bred seeds are sold ready-to-use. They do not need to be etched, stimulated, or soaked before planting. It is enough to remove the grains from the bag and place them dry in the ground. Moreover, this will apply to both seedling and non-seedling growing methods.
In order to collect strong, tasty and beautiful cucumbers on your site, you need to make top dressing. Lack of nutrients can negatively affect the appearance of the plant and significantly reduce the yield. Fertilize cucumbers with organic fertilizers in combination with mineral fertilizers. With the right balance of these components and adherence to the fertilizing schedule, the cucumber yield will be maximum.
Disease and pest resistance
The culture as a whole is characterized by a fairly strong immunity to such ailments as brown spot, as well as to viruses of cucumber mosaic, yellowing of cucumber veins, the hybrid is resistant to powdery mildew. The Dutch cucumber variety Gunnar F1 is sometimes attacked by spider mites, sprout flies and melon aphids. At the initial stages, you can fight pests using folk recipes, for example, tobacco infusion, ordinary soap solution.
Despite their popularity, cucumbers are often attacked by diseases and pests. From them, cucumber plantings often die before the start of fruiting. In order to prevent this from happening, it is necessary to try to prevent ailments or get rid of them at the very beginning, having studied in detail their causes of occurrence, signs and methods of treatment.