Landing
Cucumber seeds are planted in a container filled with 2/3 of the moist soil. If there is no shortage of seeds, it is better to plant two seeds in each pot, and after the emergence of seedlings, leave one of the strongest specimen in the container. When removing a weak germ, its stem is cut at the soil level, and not pulled out from the root, so as not to damage the root system of a growing plant nearby.
The seeds are sprinkled with a layer of soil 1-2 cm, it is slightly compacted and irrigated with water from the spray. To prevent drying of the soil, one-dimensional pots on top of the glass can be put, and heterogeneous containers need to wrap the film.
Care of seedlings
During the growing of seedlings, it is necessary to take into account the preferences of this culture and try to create the most favorable conditions for it.
Temperature regime
The containers with planted seeds to germination to keep at the temperature of +26…+28°S. With the advent of eyelets shoots the film with pots you need to remove and rearrange them on the brightest window sill.
After the shoots straighten and open cotyledon leaves, the temperature in the room must be lowered to +20…+22°C in the daytime and +16…+18°C at night.
After 13-15 days after full germination, the grown seedlings begin to harden. During this period, they must be gradually accustomed to more significant temperature changes. To do this, you need to slightly open the window on the window where the container is (but avoid the draft), and in favorable street weather to make plants on the balcony, accustoming plants to the flow of fresh air and direct sunlight.
In the first day such hardening should last no more than 1-2 hours. Every day the interval of “walk” gradually increase. It is important to avoid lowering the air temperature below +15°C. To do this, next to the seedling pots, wherever they are – on the windowsill or on the balcony – should always be a thermometer.
Illumination
In addition to the correct temperature regime, which will not allow cucumber seedlings to stretch, it is necessary to take care of the presence of additional illumination. Cucumber – a culture of short daylight hours, the duration of which is 10-12 hours. However, these hours should take place in intense sunlight.
Since spring is often installed cloudy weather, you need to be ready lights – fitolamps, led lamps or fluorescent lamps. They Shine on seedlings in the morning and in the evening in clear weather, bringing the length of the light day to optimal values, and in cloudy weather leave on for the whole day.
Irrigation
Seedlings of moisture-loving cucumbers need regular watering and maintenance of high humidity. In this case, it is important to adhere to the Golden mean and carry out watering at such intervals as to prevent any severe drying of the earthen coma in pots, or its waterlogging. The soil in the tanks must be kept in a moderately moist state.
A few hours after each irrigation, the soil in the seedling container should be carefully loosened to a depth of no more than 1 cm to ensure the flow of oxygen to the roots of cucumbers.
Do not forget to irrigate the air around the plants from a fine sprayer every day. This is especially true if during the growing of seedlings in your apartment continue to work heaters. For spraying as well as for root irrigation, it is necessary to use only the water at room temperature.
Additional fertilizing
Cucumber seedlings are growing rapidly and in a month ready for planting in the ground. Therefore, if you used fertile soil for planting, you can completely abandon the fertilizing.
But sometimes even with proper care seedlings begin to lag behind in development, their leaves lose intense green color or covered with yellow spots. The reason for such an unpleasant phenomenon can be a lack of nutrients in the soil, which most often happens in those gardeners who used to plant a purchased substrate of dubious quality.
In this case, it makes sense to feed the seedlings with a solution of a complete organo-mineral preparation enriched with a complex of trace elements. The nutrient solution must be prepared strictly according to the instructions for the selected drug and pour it into pots on pre-moistened soil.
Additional tricks
As the seedlings grow, it is necessary to gradually fill the remaining space in the pots with the soil mixture that you used for planting. This technique will give stability to seedlings and help them to form a powerful root system.
If transplanting seedlings into the ground is delayed due to adverse weather conditions, and the plants become clearly cramped in their containers, you need to carefully pass them along with the earthen lump into more spacious pots. The voids between the walls must be filled with nutrient soil, and the seedlings themselves buried in the soil for 2-3 cm.
A couple of days before planting in the garden, treat the seedlings on the sheet with a solution of any adaptogen that will help the plants to survive the upcoming stressful situation.
These simple techniques will help you get an excellent seedlings of cucumbers, which at the time of transplantation will have a thick chunky stem and 4-5 real leaves of a rich green hue. And cucumbers, which were surrounded by care and attention, will certainly want to thank their owner with a generous harvest of fragrant crispy greens.
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