How to grow cucumbers on a loggia at home?
It turns out that if you plant several cucumber bushes on the loggia, they can feed a small family with their fruits all year round!
Content:
What seeds are best to choose for planting on a loggia?
Semyan cucumbers a great variety, but, as you know, different varieties behave differently. Firstly, when choosing seeds, you need to pay attention only to self-pollinating options (this is understandable, because there will be no one at home to pollinate the cucumbers). In addition, you need to opt for shade-tolerant hybrids and very productive ones. Among such varieties you can choose such as Zozulya, Aprilsky, Virenta-1, Virenta-2, as well as balcony hybrids F1 City Cucumber, F1 Calendar, F1 Balagan and others. These varieties can be successfully grown outdoors.
Seedling care
The temperature in the room where cucumbers are grown should not be below 20 degrees Celsius. In this case, it is necessary to create a special microclimate: there should be no drafts; it is better if the balcony is oriented to the east or southeast.
You can sow seedlings starting in February. The ideal time is between February and April. Accordingly, the sooner you sow the seeds, the sooner you can enjoy fresh cucumbers!
Small cups are best suited for seedlings, in which one seed should be sown to a depth of about two centimeters. Then the cups must be placed in a warm room, the temperature of which will be about 25 degrees.
To get good seedlings, you need to take care of additional lighting - a fluorescent lamp. Good lighting is very important for cucumbers. At the same time, you need to water quite often, since with additional lighting the soil dries out quickly, and this should not be allowed.
The finished seedlings are transplanted along with the soil into containers that are at least fifteen centimeters high.
Cucumber care
After the seedlings have grown a little, they need to be tied up and a wire installed. Also, one of the options for growing cucumbers is growing them in hanging pots; in this case, you won’t have to tie them up. Cucumbers grow well in pots with a soil volume of 5-6 kilograms.
It is necessary to water as the soil dries, approximately four times a week, and the above-ground part requires individual spraying.
With strong growth, the plant is pinched several times over each successive leaf. The first pinching accelerates the formation of axillary buds and the appearance of lateral shoots, on which a large number of female flowers are formed. All subsequent ones serve to limit the vegetative mass of the plant, making the bush more compact.
It should be noted that no more than four plants should be placed on a window measuring one and a half meters in order to provide them with the necessary space for active growth.
If you are not using hanging pots, but the cucumbers are on the windowsill, then when the plant reaches the top window, it should be tied at the top.
It is necessary to feed the plants with ash starting from the bud setting phase. It is necessary to feed constantly, about once every ten days.Fertilizer (ash) is diluted in water at the rate of 1 glass of ash per 10 liters of water. The plants should be watered with the prepared fertilizer, one to two glasses per plant. Fruits must be removed regularly, without allowing them to overgrow.
Pests
The most common pests that threaten cucumbers are aphid, spider mite and whitefly. Best when fight with these pests, do not use chemicals, but folk remedies, since they do not harm the plant and its fruits.
The plant should be treated in two stages with an interval of about a week. To do this you will need 1/2 a bucket of onion peel (dry), half a glass of tobacco, and a glass of ash. All this is poured with boiling water to make a full bucket and left for a day. After this, strain the resulting mixture and add a tablespoon of soap. Spray the plant with this solution.
After about a week, the plant should be re-treated.
Particular attention should be paid to treating the inner surface of the leaves, as this is a favorite place for pests. After this treatment, the pests die.
