Growing cucumbers in the country, many people do not want to use chemistry. The thing is that these vegetables, saturated with various pesticides and other chemicals, can always be purchased at the store.
But is it possible to grow cucumbers and not use chemistry? How to do it right?
Organic farmers claim that cucumbers grown with organic fertilizers almost always yield excellent yields. It is quite simple to grow them without chemistry, you just need to follow a few simple rules.
Preparing seeds for planting seedlings
Seeds should be warmed up 4 weeks before they are planted. Thus, you will contribute to an increase in the number of female flowers and, therefore, ovaries. All you need to do is put the required number of seeds in a small cloth bag, and then place it on the radiator for 2 or 3 days.
When about 24 hours are left before planting, the seeds will need to be soaked. However, for this, you should not use water, but freshly squeezed potato juice. It is very easy to do it. To do this, you first need to put the tuber in the freezer, and after it freezes, grind it and separate the juice. The seeds should be kept in it for about 1 day, and then they must be dried.
Preparing a cucumber patch
If possible, then choose the place where onions, cabbage, greens, nightshades, legumes or root crops were located in the past year for planting cucumbers. Such a plant just grows magnificently in warm beds, and you should not be upset if you did not prepare them in the autumn.
20 days before planting seedlings, you need to prepare a bed. For this, a trench is dripped, the depth of which should be at least 70 cm. Then it is filled with fresh grass, which should be mixed with kraft paper, sawdust, organic waste and newspapers. Everything should be well trampled down, so that about 15 centimeters remain to the ground level. After that, pour boiling water over the contents of the trench and sprinkle a layer of fertile soil on top.
Then make holes, not forgetting about the sides (needed to retain moisture). Cover with plastic wrap.
It is best to plant cucumbers in a permanent place, since they do not tolerate transplantation very well. However, planting this vegetable with seedlings is possible. In this case, the first fruits will appear much earlier, and the planting will not need to be thinned out. For seedlings, each seed should be planted in a separate glass, thus you will be able to avoid damage to the roots during transplantation.
In the event that there are bears or moles on the site, cucumbers should be planted in two-liter plastic bottles. To do this, remove the neck, and make many small holes in the bottom. In this case, when planting seedlings, it should not be removed from the container.
Before planting cucumbers, you need to pour a glass of wood ash and a bucket of manure into the hole, which must be rotted. 2 ten-day-old plants are planted in the hole.
When planting cucumbers in bottles, then they must be buried so that only a five-centimeter edge peep out of the ground.
Watering, feeding and processing cucumbers without chemicals
After the seedlings are planted, they should be sprayed with a solution made from sour milk or from potassium permanganate (0.3 grams is taken for 10 liters of water).
Then, every 15 days, the cucumbers should be fed and treated against pests in order to prevent:
- Feeding with an infusion made from 5 parts of water and 1 - fresh grass. To process the leaves, you need a solution of onion husks, it is quite simple. A pound of husk is mixed with water and left to infuse for 24 hours. After that, the liquid must be boiled and allowed to cool. Then water is added to the solution 1:10.
- Make an infusion of celandine and treat the plant with it using a spray bottle. For infusion, you will need a pound of greens of this herb. It is poured with water and kept for 3 days. After that, filter and dilute with plain water in a ratio of 1:15.
- Treatment with a solution of sour milk or ascorbic acid (one tablet should be dissolved in five liters of water).
- Sour milk treatment (last).
Watering and processing should be done in the evening and best of all after sunset.
Due to the fact that the strongest soil compaction occurs due to frequent watering, it is necessary to regularly pour into the holes a not very thick layer of loose materials such as peat, grass, humus or sawdust. This should be done several times during the season.
This procedure has a positive effect on the development of the root system, and due to this, the number of fruits increases.
If you notice powdery mildew on the leaves, then you will need to treat the foliage with "Immunocytophyte" by dissolving 1 tablet in 10 liters of water. You can also use an infusion of rotten hay, which not only significantly improves the protective functions of cucumbers, but also helps them grow and bear fruit for a very long time, or rather, until September.
