How to pinch cucumbers in a greenhouse correctly step by step
Many vegetable growers are engaged in the cultivation of cucumbers. Moreover, most of them plant them not on the street, but in greenhouses. To get large fruits, you need to properly care for the cucumbers. During leaving, it is recommended to periodically remove unnecessary stepsons on the bushes. For inexperienced gardeners, this can cause certain difficulties. Therefore, it is recommended that you familiarize yourself in advance with how to pinch cucumbers in the greenhouse and whether you need to do this at all.
Why is it done
Before pinning cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse, you should decide what it is for. After all, there are people who doubt whether it is necessary to get rid of extra shoots on grown plants.
Some vegetable growers argue that it is not necessary to remove stepchildren. However, it is better not to listen to them, since pinching has many advantages. With this procedure, you can not only increase the amount of the crop, but also get it much earlier. If you get rid of unnecessary shoots in a timely manner, then all useful components will be spent only on fruits, and not on greens.
Of course, you don't need to remove the side shoots. However, in this case, the likelihood of obtaining a high-quality harvest will deteriorate sharply.
Everything will depend on the growing conditions and the variety of cucumbers. If you do not pinch greenhouse cucumbers, then their bushes will begin to develop rapidly. Branches will begin to appear from the axils of the leaves, which in the future will grow and become additional stems. Over time, shoots will appear on them, which will consume a lot of nutrients. Because of this, the fruits will not receive enough nutrients, and they will develop too slowly.
When to pinch bushes
Having decided on the reasons for this work, it is necessary to figure out when to do pinching of cucumbers in a polycarbonate greenhouse.
To determine the optimal time to remove shoots on cucumbers, you need to carefully examine the young bushes. The first time the procedure should be carried out when 5-8 leaves are formed on the seedlings. In this case, remove all lateral shoots located above the fifth leaf. Only the strongest shoot remains. During growth, you will have to periodically monitor the appearance of new ovaries and regulate their formation. It is recommended to shorten all side stepsons to the third knot.
The next time the procedure is recommended to be carried out after the formation of the ninth leaf. In this case, you will have to get rid of all the stepsons in the bushes.
Peculiarities of pinching
To understand how to correctly pinch cucumbers in a greenhouse, you need to familiarize yourself with the features of such work.In the greenhouse, pinching is carried out in several successive stages, which must be familiarized with.
First step
It is necessary to start forming seedlings into one stem immediately after planting them in greenhouses. To begin with, cut off all the extra buds and side shoots, which are located near the fourth leaf. At the same time, all this must be done very carefully so as not to accidentally damage the plant.
Correct pinching of cucumbers should be done with sharp scissors or a sharpened knife so that everything goes painlessly for the plant. However, some gardeners prefer to remove everything with their own hands.
When all the extra shoots are removed, the bushes will need to be tied to a special net. To properly tie the cucumbers to the supports, you need to tie one end of the rope to the main stem. The second edge is tied directly to the support. This procedure will further simplify the process of pinching cucumbers in the greenhouse.
Second phase
The well-known vegetable grower Oktyabrina Ganichkina, recommends adding additional fertilizing to strengthen the plants before the second stage. For this, it is recommended to use ready-made fertilizers from stores. For example, you can use top dressing Giant or Breadwinner. After fertilization, each bush should be watered with warm, settled water. It is recommended to spend at least 1 liter of water per plant.
Having finished with the preparatory work, you can start removing unnecessary shoots. This pinning scheme is quite simple. It is necessary to start removing stepsons when 5-8 leaves are fully formed on each bush. At the same time, one should not forget that at the second stage at least one ovary should be left on the cucumbers.
During the procedure, it is necessary to pull off the leaf near which the stepson is located and carefully pinch it off. There is no need to rush to avoid accidentally hitting the main stem or leaf. When all the work is completed, all the bushes are again tied to the supports.
Stage three
When about 10 leaves are formed on one of the bushes, it will be possible to proceed to the next stage of removing shoots. During the third stage, two leaves and one young fruit are left on the bushes. In this case, all the other stepchildren of the cucumbers are removed.
Further care for cucumbers in the greenhouse is very simple, since after the formation of the eleventh leaf, it will be possible to get rid of all unnecessary ovaries. It will be enough to leave 2-3 leaves and fruit on each side of the bush.
After removing the ovaries, the bush is tied to the supports. However, at this stage, this must be done very carefully, since the bushes are already too large. If you accidentally damage the top of the head during the garter, the plant will gradually dry out and die as a result.
On this we can assume that pinching is completely completed. However, many growers still recommend keeping an eye on the cucumber bushes during cultivation. Over time, extra ovaries will appear on them, which can slow down the development of the fruit. Therefore, it is necessary to regularly inspect the plants and remove excess shoots before harvesting.
Conclusion
Planting and growing cucumbers is of interest to many vegetable growers. At the same time, not everyone knows how to correctly remove excess shoots from cucumber bushes. To learn how to do this, you need to familiarize yourself with the correct pinching scheme in a picture or video. You can also find a lot of resources, where the removal of unnecessary shoots will be described step by step.
The best tool that allows you to activate additional plant growth from the outside is BioGrow, a really high-quality tool thanks to which the plant develops and grows much better.