During the long winter, gardeners dream of something new. summer season and upcoming harvests. You can brighten up the wait for spring by growing several cucumber plants in your room, which will delight you with lush greenery and fragrant fruits.

Varieties of cucumbers for growing on a windowsill

For an apartment, you need to select greenhouse self-pollinating hybrids, since there are no pollinating insects at home, and transferring pollen from stamens to pistils with a brush is tedious. The hybrid must be short-stemmed, resistant to lack of light and dry air, and produce salad-type fruits.

Suitable varieties of cucumbers on the windowsill:

• Abatova;
• Adventure;
• Excitement;
• Aksinya;
• Diamond;
• Alliance Plus and others.

There are several hundred varieties suitable for indoor growing. If the bag of seeds indicates that it is a parthenocarpic salad-type hybrid intended for protected soil, feel free to buy it and plant it.

Preparing for landing

You can sow cucumbers on the windowsill at any time of the year. In winter, plants will have to be illuminated with fluorescent lamps, as they will not have enough natural light. If you do not want to waste energy, it is better to sow later - in March.

Priming

Pumpkin plants love neutral or slightly acidic soil. It is easier to purchase soil of the required acidity in the store. The bag should be marked “Neutral”. The industrial substrate contains all the nutritional elements necessary for cucumbers in a balanced ratio.

You can prepare the soil yourself by taking:

• garden land 1;
• humus 0.3;
• sand 0.3;
• wood ash 0.01.

It is difficult to grow cucumbers on a windowsill without ash - it will remove the acidity inherent in most natural soils and protect against bacterial diseases, to which cucumbers on a windowsill in winter are very prone to due to lack of light and overwatering.

Each plant will require a separate container with a volume of at least 2 liters. A standard seedling box will fit 5-6 vines. There must be holes at the bottom of the cucumber house to drain excess water.

Place

A well-insulated window on the sunny side of the apartment is suitable. Heat-loving cucumbers do not tolerate drafts and cold. If you plan to grow cucumbers on a windowsill in winter , it needs to be insulated by placing wooden stand or polystyrene foam.

It is useful to equip slopes with mirrors or reflective film so that the plant gets more outside light. In summer, cucumbers can be grown on regular or glassed balcony, where they will feel great, taking advantage of the abundance of light and space.

Seed preparation

Seeds greenhouse cucumbers often sold already processed. Take a closer look at the seeds. If they are red, blue or green, then they just need to be sown in the ground - there is a film on their surface that protects them from harmful microorganisms.

Untreated seeds will have to be prepared for sowing yourself. They always contain spores of fungi and bacteria, which can damage the delicate seedling, and then there will be no germination.

Ordinary potassium permanganate will help get rid of the infection. The seeds are immersed for 20 minutes in a pale pink solution. If you have scales, you can measure the exact dose of manganese - 1 g of powder is required per liter of water.

After disinfection, the seeds are thoroughly washed in clean water. There should be no traces of processing left on their surface. Permanganate remaining on the seed coat will hinder germination.

Planting cucumbers on the windowsill

After disinfection, the seeds are immediately sown in pots, 2 pieces in each container to a depth of 1.5 cm. The sown soil is watered with warm water separated from chlorine.

Indoor maintenance of cucumber vines is not particularly difficult, even for beginners. The plant requires no more careful care than geranium or any other popular indoor flower. The color and elasticity of the leaves will tell you about defects in care.

Watering

Cucumbers are afraid of cold water, reacting to it with root rot and spots on the leaves. The temperature of the liquid should not be lower than 22 degrees. If the room is colder in winter, the water needs to be slightly heated. The easiest way is to get a special plastic watering can and pour tap water into it in advance so that it has time to settle and warm up before watering. The vessel can be placed directly on the heating radiator.

The soil in a pot of cucumbers should always be slightly moist, but not wet. As soon as top layer becomes completely dry, water the plants sparingly, so that excess moisture leaked onto the pan. Then be sure to drain it. Stagnation of water leads to freezing of roots and an outbreak of infectious diseases.

Cucumbers are tropical inhabitants. The air of their homeland is saturated with water vapor. The vines on the windowsill will be grateful for frequent spraying from a spray bottle.

In a critically dry atmosphere, even with frequent spraying, the tips of the leaves dry out. A tray with expanded clay or pebbles will help correct the situation. The pots are placed directly on the stones and a little water is poured onto the bottom of the tray so that the evaporating moisture envelops the plants and creates a zone around them high humidity.

Top dressing

The prepared soil contains all the nutrients that cucumbers need. Fertilizers are required situationally - when the plant outwardly shows that it lacks certain elements.

With a lack of nitrogen the leaves become pale, the stems become thin, the greens become twisted. Plants take on a frail appearance. In such cases, urea will help - add 5-6 balls of fertilizer per liter of water and water the plants as usual. After 2-3 such feedings, the leaves will acquire a natural dark shade.

Nitrogen fertilizing should be carried out with caution - it increases the amount of nitrates in fruits. The same rule applies to organics. Manure, compost and chicken droppings are not used in rooms for sanitary and hygienic reasons. But if you add them to the soil, the cucumbers will be saturated with nitrates in the same way as when watered with mineral water. Therefore, fertilizers (organic and inorganic) are applied when the plant clearly shows that it lacks nitrogen.

Phosphorus and potassium fertilizing can be carried out more freely. They do not deteriorate the quality of fruits and do not make them hazardous to human health.

About excess phosphorus pale necrotic spots that appear between the veins are signaled, and a deficiency is signaled by the falling of flowers and ovaries, dry spots on lower leaves. You need to add several granules of superphosphate into the soil, using a thin peg to make indentations around the perimeter of the pot to a depth of at least 10 cm. Place 1-2 balls into each hole.

With excess potassium the leaves become hard and break off easily. Potassium is important for cucumbers. If there is a deficiency, light stripes appear on the plates, running from the petioles to the tips. Over time, the markings become wider and the leaves break, wither and die, or become dome-shaped.

Getting rid of potassium deficiency is easy. Potash fertilizers, unlike superphosphate, are well diluted in water:

1. Buy potassium sulfate or chloride.
2. Fill in liter jar water.
3. Throw a pinch of fertilizer into the water.
4. Stir until completely dissolved.
5. Water the plants.

In order not to apply phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen fertilizers separately, it is better to use complex formulations specifically designed for growing cucumbers, for example, Agricola for pumpkin. Fertilizer is applied under the roots or along the leaves according to the instructions printed on the package.

Backlight

Cucumber is neutral regarding day length. There is an exception - a few short-day varieties that require less than 12 hours of daylight. Information about this will be indicated on the seed package.

Such cultivars can be sown only in the first half of the year, when the days lengthen. To start bearing fruit, they need short days at the beginning of the growing season. In the second half of the growing season, day length no longer affects plant development.

Conventional varieties do not respond to the duration of illumination; they grow with equal success at 10 and 16 hour days. The intensity of the light flux is important. If the leaves do not have enough photons, they will not be able to provide a full filling of greens. As a result, the flowers and ovaries will begin to fall off, and only single fruits will remain on the branches.

To correct the situation in window opening install fluorescent lamps or phytolamps. The backlight can be placed both from above and from the side.

Topping

Formation is the most complex operation in caring for indoor cucumbers, but you can’t do without it. Thickened plants will not give the expected harvest, since their strength will be spent on the formation of new vines to the detriment of fruiting.

The formation of indoor cucumbers differs from greenhouse cucumbers in the scheme.

Carrying out:

1. In the lower three nodes, the side shoots and ovaries are removed.
2. Starting from the 4th node, the plant is allowed to branch, pinching each lash after 5-6 nodes - the vine formed in this way does not grow long, but gives a decent harvest.

What are cucumbers afraid of on the windowsill?

Pumpkin plants in the room are afraid of wet and at the same time cold soil. The roots of the plant must be kept warm, so the pot is insulated from plastic window sill, installing on a stand that does not allow low temperature. In winter, the window must be kept closed - the flow of cold air, even if it is an imperceptible gap between the frames, will freeze the plant.

Seedlings can be damaged by blackleg. Diseased specimens will have to be thrown out and the soil changed or disinfected in the oven.

Adult plants in the room do not suffer from common garden pests: aphids, caterpillars. The development of fungal diseases is unlikely, but just in case, it is better to immediately tear off all suspicious leaves with spots and throw them away.

When to expect the harvest

Cucumber vines begin to bear fruit 45-50 days after the first leaves appear and set greens for 1.5 months. If you need to receive products constantly, seeds are sown in batches every 30-40 days.

Not everyone is a lucky owner summer cottage, but at the same time many people want to try themselves as a gardener. This is quite possible to do if you start growing vegetables on the windowsill of a city apartment, especially if the windows face the sunny side.

The experience of thousands of vegetable growers has already proven this. To pick a juicy pimply cucumber at home, you need varieties suitable for cultivation in such conditions with certain characteristics. It is also necessary to carefully observe agricultural techniques.

You can grow cucumbers in an apartment on windows facing south, east and southeast, which receive direct sunlight at certain hours.

Window sills of northern and western windows are not suitable for this purpose. In this case, it will not be possible to obtain fruiting even with the use of lighting.

There should be no drafts in the room; take this point into account if you are used to regularly opening windows for ventilation. You can grow cucumbers on a glassed and insulated loggia.

Since the culture loves warmth, the temperature should be maintained at 18 degrees or higher during the day and at least 15 degrees at night.

On cloudy days, cucumbers need additional lighting. For this, a fluorescent lamp, LEDs or a phytolamp with a special radiation spectrum favorable for plants can be used.

On those days when it is cold on the window (due to severe frost outside), preference should be given to halogen lamps, which heat the air nearby and will serve additional source heat.

For home grown Not all varieties of cucumbers are suitable. It is best to choose parthenocarpic hybrids of the first generation. These plants do not require additional pollination and form only female flowers on the bushes.

The variety must meet the following requirements:

• be early or mid-season;
• have increased yields;
• form short fruits (up to 25 cm);
• differ in shade tolerance and resistance to temperature changes.

Some people try to plant bee-pollinated varieties, but in this case additional efforts will be required to obtain a harvest.

The following varieties of cucumbers are popular among lovers of home vegetable growing:

1. April F1. Parthenocarpic hybrid with early dates maturation. The variety is resistant to bad weather and diseases, pleases with friendly fruiting, and is easy to care for. The first cucumbers appear 1.5 months after the seeds sprout. The size of the fruit is 15-25 cm. The skin is lumpy, with slight pubescence.
2. Benefit F1. A mid-early hybrid, it takes just over 1.5 months from germination to fruiting. Does not require pollination. Productivity is high. The plant produces many side shoots and needs to be shaped. The size of the fruit is 10-13 cm. The skin is finely tuberculate, bright green. The pulp of greens is juicy, sweet, and does not contain bitterness. Benefit is resistant to disease. Requires sparse planting as it loves space.
3. Zozulya F1. A hybrid characterized by early ripening. The bush does not need to be formed. Fruiting is 42-48 days after emergence. Characterized by high yield. The length of the fruit is up to 24 cm. There are pimples and thorns on the soft thin skin. The greens taste sweet, with a pleasant aroma. The pulp contains few seeds.
4. Goosebumps F1. Hybrid with early fruiting. It will be possible to harvest the crop after 35-40 days from the moment of germination. The size of the fruit is 11-13 cm. The plant is resistant to disease and can bear fruit all year round at home. The harvest is friendly and abundant. The thin skin of the fruit is covered with medium-sized tubercles.
5. Sail F1. Hybrid plant that produces fruit high quality. Has a female type of flowering. The greens are tuberculate, with sparse pubescence. Cucumbers of this variety begin to bear fruit 46-50 days after all the seeds sprout. It is distinguished by friendly harvest yield. The fruits have a universal purpose.
6. Regina. Mid-season high-yielding variety of parthenocarpic type. Resistant to diseases. The size of greens is 10-12 cm. The fruits have a tuberculate surface. The pulp is tasty, without bitterness.
7. Crunch F1. High-yielding hybrid with a long fruiting period. The fruits are 8-10 cm in size. The pulp is unusually juicy, crisp, without a bitter aftertaste. The plant is characterized by high resistance to disease.

Note! Late-ripening cucumber hybrids are not suitable for growing at home.

In principle, cucumbers can be grown at home all year round. If you want to get a harvest by a specific date, you need to take into account the growing season of the variety. This information can be read on the seed package.

• To get fresh cucumbers for the New Year, you will need to sow them at the end of October.
• Sowing done in January will produce a harvest in March.
• Grow cucumbers May holidays It will be possible by planting in mid-February.

Of course, in order to obtain a timely harvest, it will be necessary to provide the correct light and temperature regime, regular watering of plants.

Preparatory work before sowing

Once the variety has been selected and the seeds have been purchased, you will need to prepare everything necessary for sowing. Together with seed material in garden center You can buy land at the same time. If there are no suitable containers at home, you will also need to purchase them.

Selection of soil mixture

Suitable for planting cucumbers universal primer or substrate for growing pumpkin crops. Land purchased in a store goes through the entire production process. necessary preparation and is completely ready for landing.

You can make your own soil using the following recipes:

• Mix equal amounts of peat and humus. Add a glass of wood ash to 1 bucket of soil.
• Take 1 part each of garden soil, turf and compost. Add a little to the mixture river sand, rotted sawdust, ash.

Self-prepared soil must be disinfected. For this purpose, you can use calcination in the oven, treatment with boiling water and a solution of potassium permanganate, and freezing.

The listed procedures rid the soil of pathogenic microflora and pest larvae. Treatment is carried out several days before planting. A certain amount of time is needed so that beneficial soil bacteria can recover.

Initially, you have to grow seedlings, which are later planted in a container of a suitable size.

For seedlings, wooden boxes, plastic containers, large peat tablets or cups with a volume of 200-300 ml.Before using a container or box, they are washed with a brush and laundry soap, and scalded with boiling water.

Peat tablets are placed in a common container and filled with warm water to swell. As soon as they increase in size several times, it will be possible to plant them.

Growing cucumbers in a bag on the window - video

Sowing cucumber seeds

When preparing for sowing, try to guess so that the planting date falls on favorable days according to the Lunar calendar.

The seeds are first pickled in a solution of potassium permanganate, then washed and wrapped in a damp cloth to swell. Such seeds will germinate faster.

Planting is done in rows with an interval of 2-3 cm to a depth of 1 cm. If sowing is carried out in individual containers, 2 seeds are planted into the hole at once to be on the safe side.The weaker seedling is later removed.

After sowing, the soil is moistened with a spray bottle and covered with film to create greenhouse conditions. Now the seedlings need to be placed in the brightest place and kept at room temperature until shoots appear.

The optimal age of seedlings for picking is when it forms 2-3 true leaves and a compact, non-elongated stem.

A feature of varieties for home cultivation is the presence of small leaves and a strong main shoot, so the plants will not die even at the stage of appearance of 6-8 leaves.

Such bushes can be transplanted to permanent place, without worrying that they will not take root well.

Any container is suitable for growing vegetables at home.

• It may be clay or plastic pot, bucket, wooden tub. The main thing is that the volume of the container is at least 5 liters, because cucumbers have a powerful root system.
• Some have adapted to using 5-liter bottles for this purpose. plastic bottles with a cut neck. A drainage hole must be made in the bottom to drain excess water after watering.

Drainage must be laid as the bottom layer. The soil should be the same as for seedlings. The container is filled with earth not to the edge, but below this level by 4-5 cm.

In the future, when the roots of the cucumbers begin to become exposed as they grow, it will be possible to add more soil without any problems. The substrate for planting seedlings must also be disinfected.

Features of caring for cucumbers on the windowsill

In order for your cucumbers to bear fruit, they need the right development, taking into account all the needs of the crop. Please pay attention to the following points.

Cucumbers love moisture, but they do not tolerate stagnation of water in the pot; a sufficient amount of oxygen must reach the roots. Water them regularly, preventing the soil from drying out.

For large bushes in dry air conditions, daily watering is necessary; with high humidity, you can do this 2-3 times a week.

When the plants grow strong roots, they will be able to drink the water poured into the tray. Sometimes you can use this method of watering. To increase air humidity, install a humidifier in the room, or place containers with expanded clay on the windowsill, into which you will regularly add water.In the evenings, cucumber leaves can be sprayed with a spray bottle.

Note! Water for irrigation should be settled and at room temperature.

To ensure that the harvest is not scarce, cucumbers must be regularly fed with fertilizers. Feeding is especially important during the fruiting period.

Adult plants are fed every 7-10 days with industrial mineral fertilizers.

• A mixture of mullein infusion (at a concentration of 1:10), superphosphate (20 g) and potassium sulfate (15 g) is suitable.

Cucumbers also like fertilizing folk remedies: infusion of tea, wood ash, yeast, eggshells, iodine.

The first fertilizing is applied to plants at the age of 2 weeks. The composition is prepared from the following components:

• 10 liters of water;
• 15 g potassium;
• 5 g ammonium nitrate;
• 5 g magnesium;
• 3 g superphosphate.

Fertilizers are thoroughly dissolved in water and watered at the roots, trying not to get on the leaves of the seedlings.

According to the type of growth, cucumbers are vines, their vines at home can grow up to 2 m in length. In each container you will need to fix a vertical rigid support along which the growing shoots will curl.

Most hybrids for home growing do not grow very tall, but they branch a lot.

Some people pinch the main shoot when the height of the window no longer allows the vine to grow upward. Side shoots remove, leaving 1-2 leaves.

Note! If the bush is not formed, it will grow an excessive amount of leaf mass to the detriment of fruiting and, moreover, will take up a lot of space.

Without tying, the bushes are poorly ventilated and shade each other. Tie the lashes with a nylon cord or twine to a vertical support located in the pot.

You can build a trellis by screwing a metal ring to the window slope, to which a cord is tied; the second end of the twine is secured to a wooden peg stuck into the pot. As the lashes grow, they are tied up or attached to the cord with special plastic clips.

Note! Some vegetable growers fix it in the window opening plastic mesh. Varieties with mustaches will be able to cling to the cells themselves, while varieties without mustache will need to be tied up.

Parthenocarpic cucumbers do not require artificial pollination. If you planted a bee-pollinated variety, you will have to participate in the transfer of pollen from male flowers to female specimens. The procedure must be performed throughout the entire flowering period. For this purpose, you can use a soft paint brush or a cotton swab.

Male flowers are produced at the base of the stem. Most often they form an inflorescence of 5-7 buds. It is these that experts call barren flowers. Female flowers grow singly; at the site of their attachment to the peduncle, you can see a small tubercle, from which the fruit is subsequently formed.

When transferring pollen, you should make sure that it settles on the brush. In this case, it will be noticeable on the villi. yellow plaque. It is better to transfer pollen from 2-3 male flowers to one female flower. This increases the chances of successful pollination.

Note! It is best to pollinate a flower on the second day after it opens.

After 35-40 days from the moment the shoots appear, you will be able to enjoy the first cucumbers, collected with your own hands. While the bush is growing, you harvest the fruits formed in the axils of the main stem.

If the bush is not formed, after the crown rests against the window slope and is pinched, second-order shoots will begin to develop on the plant.

Now cucumbers can be collected from these vines. The main thing is to do this as soon as the next greenery ripens. The faster you pick ripe fruits from the bush, the more readily new ovaries will begin to develop and the yield will be higher.

Possible problems when growing cucumbers on a windowsill

For inexperienced vegetable growers, the process of growing cucumbers in an apartment does not always go smoothly. Either the leaves suddenly turn yellow, then the ovaries fall off, or for some reason flowering does not occur. Yes, and in the early stages you can encounter problems.

Most often, the cause is not entirely suitable conditions and errors in care:

1. At winter growing seedlings often do not have enough light, and the stems stretch and the foliage turns yellow. Give plants extra light from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Starting in March, the backlight can be turned on for only 4 hours a day. If there is insufficient light, plants may also refuse to bear fruit.
2. If the ovaries form but do not grow, it may be due to a lack of iodine. Prepare a fertilizer of 1.5 liters of water and 5 drops of iodine tincture and water the plant along the edge of the pot. Applying fertilizer near the stem can cause root burn. The second reason for the fall of the ovaries may be a lack of moisture.
3. Sometimes, when grown in an apartment, cucumbers are attacked by whiteflies and spider mite. At the first sign of pests, spray the plants with the solution. laundry soap. Repeat treatment if necessary. Use in the home chemicals Don't do it - it's dangerous to your health.
4. To prevent the bush from growing ugly and crooked, it must be turned 180 degrees every day, then the plant will receive light evenly.
5. If the leaves turn yellow and partially die, it means that the cucumbers do not have enough nutrients. The reason may be an insufficient volume of soil, its poor quality, or irregular fertilizing. Try to correct the situation by urgently applying mineral fertilizer.

Growing cucumbers on a windowsill in winter: video

Growing cucumbers on a windowsill in winter has its own characteristics that must be taken into account. In conditions limited area planting, dry air and insufficient lighting in the room, all stages of planting and care must be strictly observed, otherwise the plants will be irrevocably stunted or even die. If you do everything correctly, all you have to do is enjoy the freshness of the juicy, crispy cucumbers that have grown thanks to your diligence and care.

Indoor plants on the windowsill look great, add comfort and coziness to your home, give a bit of warmth during the cold season, but over time they still become boring. There is an idea - to remove house flowers and grow cucumbers on the windowsill in winter.

Do you think you can't handle it? Growing cucumbers at home is possible even for those who have never had a summer house and have so far seen cucumbers in the most “wild” conditions only at the market and in stores. The good idea is that this can become a real hobby for all family members.

It’s so interesting to watch the growth of plants, to note every day new changes in the growing seedlings and how great it is to eat in the winter New Year's holiday fresh cucumber grown independently.

In which apartment will you be able to harvest cucumbers?

Growing cucumbers in winter requires a number of conditions that can practically be met in any city apartment. It is important to adhere to certain rules when building a home:

• Placement - to grow cucumbers in an apartment, window sills are suitable, but only on south side, plants are very sensitive to heat and light. If there is a heated loggia or an insulated balcony, you can safely place boxes with cucumbers there.
• Light - in the autumn-winter months it is necessary to increase the lighting of plants using fluorescent lamps to 15-16 hours a day. The maximum amount can also be obtained by using light reflectors, mirrors or plain foil. Place reflectors on the glass or place it so that as much light as possible hits the seedlings. You can expand the lighting area by tying up vines, which will make the window sill green and aesthetically attractive.
• Warmth – cucumbers are heat-loving plants, so when germinating their seedlings, temperatures of up to 25°C are required. After emergence of seedlings, the temperature must be reduced and maintained during cultivation within 20°C, but not lower.

It’s important to know if you decide to grow seedlings at home! Plant roots on a cold windowsill can reduce growth rates. To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to place insulation under the boxes or pots. As insulation, you can take a board or foam rubber, or any other insulating material.

The best varieties of cucumbers to grow at home

The choice of seeds is one of the most important points when planting cucumbers on the windowsill. The quality of the harvest and the abundance of fruiting will largely depend on the correctly chosen variety.

To grow cucumbers at home on a windowsill, it is better to use self-pollinating, early-ripening and preferably productive varieties. Some gardeners use bee-pollinated varieties, but they will need to be pollinated artificially using cotton wool.

Nowadays, various agricultural companies offer a large list of varieties that can be used for growing at home. Here are just a few of them:

• Shchedrik – early ripening variety. Juicy green fruits ripen in 40-45 days. From a bush you can collect up to 20 pieces 12-14 cm long.
• Masha F1 – ripening period 35-40 days. The variety is characterized by high yield; 5-7 cucumbers can be harvested from each branch.
• Prestige F1 is an early ripening variety with a feature of long-term fruiting.
• Marinda - pleases with an abundance of fruits that ripen at the same time.

Each gardener has his own favorite varieties of seeds that he wants to try indoors. Are varieties that bear fruit well in the countryside suitable for a garden on a windowsill? Everything is individual, you just need to read the instructions on each specific package very carefully.

Dishes for growing cucumbers on the windowsill

To grow cucumber seedlings at home, you need to use small seedling cups and special soil for germination or peat pots. From available materials, you can take dishes from yoghurt, sour cream and the like.

For growing cucumber bushes, special deep containers that can be bought in stores are suitable. There is no desire to spend money on factory boxes; homemade boxes, plastic buckets and even pots will do.

The main thing is that each bush contains at least 5 kg of soil. There should be holes at the bottom of each container to allow the soil to breathe, the roots to not rot, and excess water to drain.

Particular attention should be paid to the composition of the soil. Now you can buy soil in the store. If there is no opportunity or desire to purchase store-bought soil, we do soil mixture for cucumber seedlings yourself:

• 2/3 of the volume of a bucket of forest or garden soil;
• 1/3 fertilizers;
• 1 cup chalk;
• 2 cups of ash;
• 4 cups of rotted leaves of garden trees.

At the bottom of the container, place a drainage made of small pebbles or expanded clay up to 5 cm thick, followed by a well-mixed mixture. Pour it into the prepared container, leaving it 3-4 cm short of the edge.

Take the advice of experienced gardeners. It is advisable to pour the mixture prepared at home with a weak solution of potassium permanganate. It must be watered several times so that the water is well absorbed.

How to grow healthy cucumber seedlings

Healthy seedlings are good start, which provides many prerequisites for a good harvest. First, you need to check the seeds for similarity by placing them in a warm place on a damp cloth for 1-2 days.

If the seeds sprouted well, you can hope that the seedlings will be good. You can germinate all the seeds and choose the strongest ones for planting:

1. Now we will plant the sprouted seeds in the soil for germinating seedlings, in cups, water them and cover them with film.
2. Place the glasses in a warm place dark place with a temperature of 25°C. After 2-3 days, shoots will appear.
3. Then we transfer them to the windowsills in a cooler place - bright and with a temperature of 20°C.
4. When the seedlings of indoor cucumbers grow to 3-4 leaves, we transplant them into boxes. First, water the soil in the cup and in the box generously. We carefully take the glass and crush it with our fingers so that the earth loosens. Carefully transfer the plant from the cup to the box, trying not to damage the roots and leaves.

Pay attention! Potted cucumbers are very tender plants, so it’s good to plant them directly in boxes and not to transship them.

Secrets and rules of care

After 4-5 leaves appear, pinch the top well to allow new shoots to form and form a bush. Next time you can pinch the plants at the level of the next 5-6 leaves - then new shoots will form. Measures should be taken here so that the plant has enough nutrients and strength to produce fruit.

Rules for caring for indoor cucumbers:

• To increase the area of ​​light received, as well as support the plants, you should tighten the ropes or arrange other holders along which the lashes will climb, this will increase the yield and decorate the window.
• Cucumbers are moisture-loving plants; they should be sprayed once a week, and if the air in the apartment is dry, then spray them more often with a regular sprayer. clean water.
• It is better to pick fruits 10-12 cm in size, so the plant will have the opportunity to bloom again, and as a result, the yield will increase.
• The soil should be fertilized regularly, at least once every 10 days. It is good to use ready-made fertilizer mixtures that are commercially available for this purpose.

One of the main problems faced by exotic lovers who dream of growing cucumbers on a windowsill is the great dislike of cucumbers for drafts and cold.

Problems during cultivation and how to solve them:

• Before installing the drawers, you must seal all the cracks and eliminate all possible sources of drafts.
• It is better to place the boxes on insulation, board or foam.
• Plants and leaves are very delicate and break easily - it is better not to move or replant them. Care very carefully.

The first experience with homemade cucumbers may be unsuccessful, but this is not a reason to abandon such a wonderful idea. Think about what mistakes you made and start over. So what if you dreamed of eating fresh vegetables at New Year, but we didn’t have time. There are still many favorite holidays ahead to please your loved ones with cucumbers grown with your own hands. Good luck!

Growing garden crops at home allows you not only to save money on buying vegetables, but also to receive an environmentally friendly product. People often grow cucumbers on their windowsill in winter. Our article today will tell you about all the nuances that are worth remembering in this situation.

Preparing for landing

It is quite possible to create a small garden of cucumber bushes on the windowsill of your apartment. But for this you need to properly prepare.

This procedure includes the following points:

• selection of good planting material;
• preparation of high-quality substrate;
• selection of containers for planting;
• choosing a place for growing (the window sill should be well lit, since cucumbers require at least 3-4 hours of light per day).

Remember that the further growth and development of cucumber bushes directly depends on how correctly the preparatory stage was carried out. In this case, the first harvest can be harvested just 1-1.5 months after the appearance of the first shoots.

The answer to the question of how to grow cucumbers at home on a windowsill in winter always begins with choosing suitable planting material. In this case, it is worth giving preference to early ripening and bush varieties. These are the best varieties that will give a good and tasty harvest. It is recommended to use only self-pollinating hybrids. Otherwise, without bees, which are in the apartment in winter period there is no question, it will be impossible to get a harvest.

Second no less important point preparatory stage is the choice of a quality substrate. It can be purchased at specialty store. But many gardeners recommend preparing the soil yourself. To do this, you need to mix 2/3 coconut fibers and 1/3 vermicompost. Both components can be easily found over the counter. The result is an ideal substrate for growing cucumbers indoors in winter.

Growing cucumbers on a windowsill in winter is carried out in flower pots. Absolutely any container can be chosen. The main requirement is a volume of at least three liters.

It is also recommended to use a container made of food grade plastic. It definitely won’t release into the soil harmful substances during its operation. The bottom of the pot must have drainage holes for effective removal excess moisture. If these holes are not there, then there is a high risk of rotting of the plant’s root system.

After choosing planting material, preparing the soil and pot, at this stage it is necessary to prepare the seeds for planting. Their preparation for landing is carried out as follows:

• The seeds should be placed in a plate and poured with a warm and weak solution of potassium permanganate. They should stay in this solution for several hours;
• During this time, some of the seeds will float. They need to be removed, as they definitely won’t germinate;
• the seeds that remain in the solution are ready for planting.

Now you can begin the actual planting.

Video “How to grow cucumbers at home”

In this video you will learn all the secrets of growing cucumbers on the windowsill.

Landing technology

To get cucumbers on the windowsill, a special growing technology is used, which is carried out in two ways:

The classic technology for planting cucumbers at home is as follows:

• Fill the prepared container halfway with soil;
• We place the seeds in the soil, which we sprinkle on top with a layer of earth (1-2 cm);
• After the first shoots appear, soil must be added to the pot. It should not reach the edges by about 2-3 mm. Otherwise, watering the seedlings will be inconvenient;
• Due to the addition of soil, not all shoots will be able to re-break through it.

After emergence of seedlings, care for plants to obtain good harvest, must be implemented correctly.

The technology for growing bushes in winter at home through picking is carried out as follows:

Whatever method of growing cucumbers in the house in winter is used, the emerging shoots need proper care.

In winter, watering with cucumber is reduced. This is due to the short daylight hours. In this regard, it is in winter that overwatering will be most dangerous for plants. Here it is better not to add water than to overfill it and lose the harvest because of it. With the arrival of spring (late March), the intensity of watering is gradually increased. During summer period When the bushes bear fruit, the soil in the pot should not be allowed to dry out. During this period, water evaporates quite quickly due to the formation of ovaries and fruits. Therefore, in summer it is believed that dry soil is more harmful to cucumbers than waterlogged soil. Watering is carried out daily with water at room temperature. It is also recommended to regularly spray the bush.

Another nuance of growing on the window of this vegetable crop is to create an optimal light regime for the bushes. Remember that plants on the windowsill should warm up evenly, while receiving the optimal amount of light.

To do this, the pot with the plant must be rotated 180 degrees every day. Optimal time The turnaround time is noon. This procedure should be done daily, at the same time. Otherwise, the shoots will begin to stretch greatly, becoming ugly and twisted.

Features of cultivation

In addition to watering, caring for cucumbers grown at home should include the following equally important points:

If you want to get a good harvest, you must add fertilizer to the pot. It is recommended to add vermicompost to the soil monthly. You can also use various special fertilizers (for example, “Growth” and “agrolife”) as top dressing. Seedlings need to be fertilized every 2 weeks. When the seedling appears, another feeding is carried out a week later. For watering, you need to prepare a special solution: 1 tbsp. l. Dissolve urea in 6 liters of water. For one seedling you need to use 1 glass of this solution. Once every 10 days, plants are fertilized with mineral fertilizers.

If caring for pets cucumber plantings was correct and complete, then the first harvest on the bushes will appear in 1-1.5 months. Young cucumbers need to be picked from the bush every day so that the harvest is formed continuously.

Diseases and pests

At home, cucumbers can suffer from the following diseases:

• powdery mildew. The disease is caused by a fungus. It manifests itself as a white coating that forms on the leaves. If they are detected, it is necessary to immediately take measures to combat it, otherwise the plant may die;
• anthracnose or copperhead. Here, too, a fungus acts as a pathogen. But it already affects not only the leaves, but also the fruits. On them, the fungus appears as brown spots;
• root rot. The disease is difficult to diagnose, since it affects the underground part of the plant;
• sclerotinia or “white rot”. It appears on leaves, stems and fruits with a white coating.

In addition to diseases, homemade cucumbers often suffer from attacks by spider mites, whiteflies and aphids. Insecticides should be used to control them.

As you can see, growing cucumbers in your apartment is not so difficult. The main thing is to choose the right one planting material and take care of the bushes, and they will delight you with a tasty and abundant harvest.

Video “Caring for cucumbers”

In this video, experienced gardeners will share their secrets on how to choose the right seeds and how to care for them.

To grow a rich harvest of cucumbers, you don’t have to have your own. garden plot. It is enough to find a variety that can be grown at home on a windowsill or balcony, and select suitable containers and soil. Most varieties are easy to care for and require a minimum of time and effort.

Let's look at the technology of growing cucumbers at home and learn how to plant, water and feed them correctly to get a big harvest.

How to grow cucumbers on a windowsill? The culture is very sensitive to light and heat, so plantings are placed only on the southern sunny side. The plant should receive at least 15 hours of daylight per day. Optimal temperature for growing - +23 °C. If the house has a heated loggia, plants can be safely placed there too. Foil and reflectors will help get more light.

Important! When there is a lack of heat, phytolamps are used. They are LED, fluorescent and gas-charged. LED ones are especially popular. They are economical, give off light well and are durable. Their only drawback is their high cost.

Which seeds to choose

Purchase seed from trusted places. When purchasing, they study care recommendations, sowing dates, check the integrity of the packaging and expiration date. Large and even seeds are selected for planting. It will help to check their suitability traditional method. Mix 30 g in 1 liter of water table salt and immerse the planting material in the solution for 2 hours. During this time, large and heavy seeds sink to the bottom, and light ones remain on the surface. The solution is carefully drained, the suitable seeds are washed with clean water and dried.

Particular attention is paid to the choice of variety. Early ripening, self-pollinating cucumbers are preferred. Both hybrids and simple varieties are used. Some of them:

• Chinese kite;
• Moscow salad f1;
• Marinda f1;
• Lilliputian f1;
• Arbat;
• Athlete;
• Flagship.

What is the best way to grow cucumbers on a windowsill?

It is convenient to grow cucumbers in plastic or wooden boxes with drainage holes. They are affordable, lightweight and easy to use. All cucumbers are in one place; they can be quickly transferred from the windowsill to the balcony. Optimal height boxes for seedlings - 10 cm. In addition to boxes, gardeners use the following options:

1. Seedling pots made of plastic with special drainage holes. There are pots that are square, oval, and round. Square ones are compact, but cucumbers do not have enough space for development. Round ones are more convenient, but take up a lot of space on the windowsill. They are used repeatedly, year after year. The optimal width of the cucumber container is 7–10 cm.
2. Trays for planting. This is the same box, the only difference is that there are partitions between the bushes. The trays are compact, take up little space, so they fit on any windowsill.

Preparing seeds and soil

Before planting, the seeds are disinfected and germinated.

For disinfection, seed material is soaked for 24 hours in Bordeaux mixture or potassium permanganate. Disinfection destroys pathogenic microflora, protects against diseases and pests. Seeds are also disinfected by regular heating, keeping them in the oven for 2 hours at a temperature of +180 °C.

The next stage of preparation is germination. It increases seed germination and strengthens the immunity of future plants. The most inexpensive and easiest way to sprout is soaking in water. Pour into a deep container warm water and disinfected seeds are poured onto the bottom. Leave for 12 hours, while the liquid is changed every 4 hours and the seed is carefully mixed. Then the seeds are taken out of the water, wrapped in a gauze bag and put in a warm place for 3 days.

To plant seeds, use a ready-made mixture from the store, for example, “Universal” or “Strong” soil. Such land is already disinfected and equipped with all the necessary nutrients.

How and when to plant

When to plant cucumbers on the windowsill is up to you. It takes 50–60 days from germination to harvest. Cucumbers can be planted both in spring and winter. For example, by planting seeds in March, the harvest can be obtained by May; if planted in August, by November. Some gardeners use the lunar calendar to determine dates.

The landing procedure looks like this:

• pour soil into the container and make grooves 3–5 cm deep;
• 2-3 seeds are placed in each hole;
• sprinkle soil on top and gently pat down;
• water generously with warm water.

How to care

Cucumbers on the windowsill need the same care as those planted in open ground: regular watering, fertilizing, forming bushes and loosening the soil. Let us consider in detail how to correctly carry out each procedure.

Features of watering and fertilizing

Water balcony cucumbers once every 5 days. It is convenient to use a bottle for this. Direct the water directly to the root, bypassing the stems, to prevent the occurrence of fungi and infections. The optimal water temperature for irrigation is +18 °C. On the windowsill, the soil quickly loses moisture, so it is recommended to spray the bushes daily with water from a spray bottle. About 0.5 liters of water are consumed per plant. During the flowering period, the amount of moisture is reduced.

Before each watering, loosen the soil with a fork. Loosening makes the soil lighter and airier and saturates the roots with oxygen.

Fertilizers are applied 10–15 days after the first shoots appear. How to feed indoor cucumbers? The vegetable responds well to feeding with wood ash, ammonium nitrate, superphosphate, and nettle infusion. Regularly applied fertilizers improve the taste of fruits and increase productivity. To accelerate the development of cucumbers, the growth stimulator “Kornevin” is used. Before using the drug, carefully study the instructions for use.

Important! If the leaves dry out and turn yellow, it means the bushes have been overfed minerals. The interval between feedings should be at least 2–3 weeks. An excess of nitrogen leads to an increase in green mass, an excess of potassium leads to deformation of the fruit. For convenience, gardeners mark the dates of fertilizing on the calendar.

Forming and gartering cucumbers

When five leaves appear, the bush is pinched and weak lateral shoots are removed. Two or three main shoots are left, each of which is above the tenth leaf. Formation is carried out from the moment the first fruits appear until the harvest itself.

Only those cucumbers that grow many fruits weighing more than 80 g on one bush, and plants with long shoots, are tied up. If you do not tie it up, the stem will break under the heavy weight of the vegetables or the cucumbers will not have enough light and space for healthy development. They are tied with cotton bandages to wooden pegs.

Pollination

In indoor conditions, insects do not have access to plants, so cucumbers are pollinated by hand. This method is also necessary where several varieties of crops grow. If this is not done, the purity of the variety will be lost.

For pollination, use a brush with natural bristles, carefully collecting pollen from the male inflorescence and lubricating the pistils on the female buds. Pollination is carried out on the second day after the flower blooms. The humidity in the room should be at least 70%, otherwise the pollen will dry out.

Important! Cucumbers must be pollinated within two weeks from the moment the first ovaries appear.

Prevention of diseases and pests

Watering leads to diseases cold water, lack of light, contaminated land. To avoid diseases and pests, it is recommended:

If not properly cared for, indoor cucumbers get sick. powdery mildew. White spots appear on the leaves, which can be removed by spraying with Previkur. Another disease - copperhead - manifests itself in the form of deep brown spots on fruits and leaves. The copperhead cannot be treated; infected bushes and cucumbers are removed.

Whiteflies and aphids are dangerous pests. Miniature white insects reproduce quickly and settle on inside cucumber leaf. Because of them, the bushes dry out and cucumbers lose their taste. A tobacco-based decoction helps get rid of pests.