There are many vegetable and fruit crops that lack a strong stem and have a unique creeping shoot structure. For this reason, in order to gain a foothold and develop the adjacent territory, creeping plants produce whiskers of various lengths and shapes. An example is the familiar grapevine. Over time, the curly stems of the grapes become very strong. When looking at cucumber stalks, they don't look as strong at first glance. To cope with the stress during the ripening period and develop to the fullest, cucumbers also acquire a mustache. However, among gardeners, there is still debate about whether it is necessary to get rid of excess shoots and cut off the mustache from cucumbers, and how cutting off affects the quality and timing of fruiting.
Both novice gardeners and experienced summer residents may be mistaken about the justification of such events. What is the use of cutting off a mustache for bushes? Is it possible to achieve a good harvest of cucumbers in this way? We will try to dispel the main doubts and find out whether the myths of summer residents will find a basis for themselves or is it just an invention without any supporting facts.
Why would you pick a cucumber's mustache? Popular myths and mistakes
Some of the gardeners assure that if you pick off the mustache from cucumbers, this will increase the yield. Nevertheless, as practice shows, cutting off cucumber shoots does not at all affect the abundance of the harvest and the rate of fruit ripening. It is better to get acquainted with more effective methods of processing the bushes of the described vegetable crop.
In addition to the above reason, there is an opinion that cucumber whiskers take away the necessary nutrients and suck the juices from the bushes. Of course, one cannot say one hundred percent that plantings containing a huge number of mustaches are fully developed. Strongly thickened bushes thin out and remove only part of the shoots, trying not to damage the plant and avoid infection.
If you believe another myth, the lifespan of cucumbers and the fruiting period will increase if you trim the mustache on time. Let's hasten to dispel these fabrications. No connection was found between these processes. Mustache formation occurs when the bushes are in the reproductive stage and are actively bearing fruit. When the cucumber whip stops releasing antennae, it means that the growing season of the variety is coming to an end. It will not be possible to change the natural law.
How to remove the mustache from cucumbers
Tearing off the mustache from cucumbers is necessary if cultivation is carried out in greenhouses or greenhouses, since mustaches take up a lot of space and fill the entire free area. Part of the mustache is cut off so that it is more convenient for the summer resident to move from one row to another, to water and harvest. Strongly overgrown cucumber whiskers are tightly woven around the bush and interfere with the development of neighboring plantings, forming an impenetrable herbaceous thicket.
After trimming the whiskers, the plant needs protection from harmful organisms entering the tissues. As a result of their effect, the bushes are capable of contracting any infectious disease, die or bear fruit poorly.Places of cuts and wounds obtained during the procedure are carefully processed. For these purposes, a potassium permanganate solution, ash or crushed charcoal is used. The mustache of cucumbers is cut off at the root, cauterizing the wounded area with the above substances. As an improvised means, an ordinary cotton swab can be useful, which is dipped in a disinfectant and applied with the tip of a stick to the cut site.
