All about dazzling cucumbers

It is unlikely that you can find at least one summer resident who would not grow cucumbers on his plot. These are perhaps the most popular vegetables on the table after potatoes. In the summer heat, cucumbers perfectly refresh and quench thirst, and in canned form they are indispensable as an appetizer and for preparing traditional winter salads.

However, some gardeners grow cucumbers on a whim, without delving into the intricacies of caring for this crop, and as a result, they get a very meager harvest. The main reason for the small number of fruits is the lack of timely blinding of cucumbers. We will describe below what this procedure is and how to do it correctly.

Under such a frightening name as "blinding", there is a very useful procedure for cucumbers that allows you to significantly increase the yield in the greenhouse. The thing is that fruits are formed only from female flowers. They are very easy to distinguish from men by a small cucumber ovary. Male flowers do not bear fruit, so some of them must be removed so that the plant spends energy on fruits, and not on the formation of unnecessary shoots.

It is necessary to carry out this procedure as soon as the length of the shoots reaches the mark of 50 cm.

Of course, it is a pity for novice gardeners to cut off the first ovaries, because they want to feast on fresh crispy cucumbers as soon as possible. However, dazzling cucumbers is a prerequisite for good fruiting. By the time the bushes reach a length of half a meter, they already have a root system, and the flowering and ovary block the supply of nutrients to it, taking everything for themselves. Because of this, the plant is stressed, especially when the weather is still cool.

Self-pollinated (parthenocarpic) varieties include such varieties as "Adam", "Zozulya", "Claudia", "Grasshopper", "Courage", "Boy with a finger", "Prestige", "Goosebump", "Alex", "Siberian garland", "Emerald placer", "Anyuta "," Moscow evenings ", etc.

The seedlings of these hybrid varieties are best planted in greenhouses where there is no access to pollinating insects. The peculiarity of self-pollinated cucumbers is that they contain only female flowers. This means a lot of fruit and a lot of stress on the stem. Therefore, such plants must be carefully formed: dazzle, pinch, pinch.

This step-by-step guide will help you do it right.

1. Remove from the bosoms of the cucumber lash all flowers, mustaches, stepsons and ovaries up to 5 leaves. You can dazzle the cucumbers with your fingers, or you can use a special garden pruner. When removing parts of a plant, you should try to make this manipulation as close to the stem as possible, without leaving hemp, but at the same time not damaging the stem itself. It is better to do this at lunchtime, since the plant is fragile in the morning, you can accidentally break the main stem. Inspect the lower nodes on the vine regularly to prevent unnecessary build-up.
2. Then, when about 8-10 leaves are formed on the vine, you need to remove the four lower leaves and the cotyledonous leaves. This should be done gradually, especially if the weather is cool and the cucumbers grow slowly, but at least once a week. If removal is carried out too rarely, you can lose part of the crop, and if often, then there is a great risk of damaging the plant. The underside of the stem should always be bare.
3. It is better to remove the whiskers on the side shoots and on the crown of the plant so that they do not take nutrients from the vine. About 6-8 whiskers take away the strength from the plant to form 1-2 cucumbers. To keep the plant firmly on the support, just regularly twist it up around the thread.
4. At a height of up to 100 cm, pinch all the side stepchildren over 1 leaf, leaving one ovary and a couple of leaves on each side layer. The term "stepchildren" in this case means young shoots growing from the axils. They need to be removed to prevent thickening of the bush. If you missed the moment, and the fruits on the stepsons have already begun to form, then you should let them ripen and only then remove the whip, otherwise there is a risk of rot formation in the place of "amputation".
5. At a height of 100-150 cm, leave 3-4 stepsons with two ovaries and 2-3 leaves.
6. At a height of 150 cm and above, pinch all the stepsons above the third leaf, leaving 3-4 ovaries and the same number of leaves on each.
7. Throw the top of the vine over the trellis. Now it will grow down. As soon as its upper end approaches 50-60 cm to the ground, pinch the top growth point.

These varieties bear both female and male flowers (barren flowers). The main stem does not bear fruit, so you need to leave the lateral processes, on which all the ovaries are formed. Such cucumbers are planted in the open field in 2-3 stems. The varieties that belong to this species will be as follows: "Universal", "Swallow", "Far Eastern 27", "Phoenix Plus", "True Friends", "Compass", "Acorn", "Lord", "Teremok", "Nezhinsky", etc.

Blinding procedure for bee-pollinated cucumbers:

1. remove the male flowers;
2. remove all excess processes;
3. pinch the main stem between the fifth and sixth leaves;
4. remove the lower shoots, yellowed leaves and all weak and diseased parts of the plant.

Consider the best schemes for dazzling cucumbers on the site.

For cultivation in a greenhouse, self-pollinated or non-pollinated cucumber varieties that are resistant to the formation of fungal diseases are chosen. Seedlings are pre-germinated at home, and a month later they are planted in a greenhouse treated with disinfectants.

The bushes are formed into one shoot with a distance of 40 cm to provide the plants with enough space. When the plants reach a height of 30 cm, they must be tied up using vertical garters made of nylon thread or twine. Corn can also be planted as a living garter, then the cucumbers will begin to cling to its tall stems. Plants are watered with warm water and regularly fed with fertilizers: nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and after flowering also boron with magnesium.

For open ground, bee-pollinated varieties of cucumbers are suitable. Unlike parthenocarpic ones, their fruits are formed on lateral shoots, so you need to be extremely careful with blinding.

The place for planting cucumbers should be well lit by the sun and protected from drafts. The garden bed is made of hay or manure to keep the cucumbers warm. Seeds are planted directly into the ground to a depth of 1-2 cm with a distance of about 50 cm.

Blinding of cucumbers in the open field is carried out up to the tenth leaf. To promote the growth of lateral shoots, remove the second inflorescences with ovaries. If 7-8 leaves have already formed, but the stepsons have not yet grown, you can pinch the top, in other cases no additional manipulations are needed.

So that the bushes are not too lush, after the appearance of the first cucumber in bee-pollinated varieties, they pinch the shoots growing from the nodes of the first 6-7 leaves. Further, you can already leave longer shoots. With bright healthy leaves and a large number of ovaries, feeding the plant is not needed, which makes these varieties convenient and unpretentious.