How to grow cucumbers on the balcony: 5 steps to harvest

And what should city dwellers do? You can also take care of a healthy diet while living in an apartment. For example, grow your own cucumbers on the balcony.

Balcony cucumber varieties: growing step by step

Seeds of cucumbers for the balcony, varieties, name, varieties - this is the first thing that novice gardeners have to understand.

On balconies it is impossible to withstand the set temperature. Weather conditions can change dramatically during the day, therefore, for cultivation in urban conditions, certain varieties of cucumbers should be chosen that can withstand temperature fluctuations.

When breeding such seeds, all the individual characteristics of the cultivation of cucumbers in a balcony are taken into account. These are usually self-pollinated hybrid varieties.
On a note! Hybrid seeds are marked with F1 on the packaging.

Variety Balcony F1

Characteristics:

• grade - hybrids;
• pollination method - non-pollinated (parthenocarpic);
• ripening rate - mid-season;
• sizes - short-fruited;
• way of use - universal.

Small adult plant. Leaves are miniature. From 2 to 8 ovaries are formed in the sinus. The first fruits will appear in 40–42 days from the moment the sprouts hatch.

The shape of the vegetable is oval-cylindrical. Length - from 6 to 10 cm, weight - from 80 to 90 g. Bushes bear fruit until winter.

Variety Balcony miracle

Characteristics:

• grade - hybrids;
• pollination method - non-pollinated (parthenocarpic);
• ripening rate - early maturing;
• sizes - short-fruited;
• way of use - universal.

The plant is compact, does not take up much space in an apartment. The leaf sinus has 2–4 ovaries. Ripe fruits reach 7–10 cm in length, weigh 60–80 g. Cucumbers are cylindrical in shape, the skin is glossy, there are faint ribs and pimples.

The duration of the growth of ripe fruits from the beginning of the emergence of the first shoots is 40–42 days. You can harvest until the cold weather.

Features of cultivation of cucumbers Balcony miracle

Experts recommend process the seeds before planting them in the container:

1. The seeds are placed in heat (they are kept on a battery for 2 days, then 1 hour at a temperature of +50 ° C in an oven). Heating the seeds will increase the number of flowers.
2. Immediately before sowing, the seeds are disinfected for 30 minutes. A weak solution of potassium permanganate is suitable for this.
3. Choose a warm place (+ 27 ° C) for germination. The seeds are placed on tissue or in a hydrogel.

When sprouts appear on the seeds, they must be transferred to a container with a substrate.

Machaon variety

Characteristics:

• grade - hybrids;
• pollination method - non-pollinated (parthenocarpic);
• ripening rate - early maturing;
• sizes - short-fruited;
• way of use - universal.

The grown plant has weak branching. Lateral shoots are short, there are quite a few of them. From 2 to 11 ovaries appear on the stems. Small leaves. The ripe vegetable is short, bumpy, and has white thorns. The length of a cucumber reaches 7-11 cm, weight from 60 to 110 g.

The duration of ripening from the beginning of the emergence of the first shoots is 40–45 days.

Variety City cucumber

• grade - hybrids;
• pollination method - non-pollinated (parthenocarpic);
• ripening rate - early maturing;
• sizes - short-fruited;
• way of use - universal.

A mature plant has a branched structure, the leaves grow densely. 3-10 ovaries are formed. Ripe oval-shaped vegetables with weak thorns. Fruit length 12 cm, weight 90 g.

Chinese cucumbers for the balcony

An alternative to short-fruited gherkins are varieties from China... Vegetables of an oblong, wriggling shape, grow up to 65 cm in length. The best varieties: White delicacy, Chinese miracle, Xindyai, Boa, Emerald Stream, Flax-Ming, Lifent Senius.

Varieties from the Middle Kingdom are characterized by high rates of fruiting - 4 kg per bush. Ripe vegetables with a mild taste, there are almost no seeds in them. Fruits with a thin skin, covered with small pimples.

Site selection and preparation

To grow cucumbers on the balcony, they create certain conditions for their stay, organize a replacement for the usual beds. You can plant cucumbers in long, narrow boxes, individually in pots or containers. It depends on individual preferences and conditions of the balcony reserved for plants.

Having decided what to grow vegetables, you should choose a corner for installing containers. There should be enough space for growth - each grown bush takes about 30 cm of the windowsill.

So, given that balcony varieties do not tolerate temperature changes, they need to ensure a constant mode - not lower than +18 ° С during the day and not lower than +15 ° С at night. In addition, drafts and wind interfere with the successful growth of plants, so the balcony must be closed.

The level of light in the room where the cucumbers are planted should be sufficient - balcony cucumbers love the sun and light, but not direct rays, but scattered ones. If you plant vegetables in a dimly lit place, it is worth installing phytolamps.

Important! Indoor temperature and lighting should be constant, regardless of the season.

To summarize: the most important

Growing cucumbers on the balcony is easy and fun. It is available even for novice gardeners who want to get a vitamin and aromatic harvest of cucumbers grown at home with love and care.

We just have to summarize the basic important rules:

• Loosely loosen the soil regularly.
• Do not forget about pinching and garter cucumber vines on the balcony.
• Track the condition of the ground and do not let it dry out.

• Provide a constant temperature on the balcony.
• If home cucumbers grow in winter, keep in mind the additional constant lighting of the balcony.

Where do you grow cucumbers?

On the balconyOn the site

Only strict implementation of all recommendations, the correct approach to organizing a home mini-greenhouse will provide a rich harvest of home cucumbers. Fragrant, firm fruits without harmful additives will delight you and the whole family at any time. Even in winter cold, you will always have a delicious and healthy salad on your table!

Planting soil composition

The quality of the vegetable itself also depends on the quality of the soil. Before choosing a soil, it is necessary to study its components. Ordinary garden soil will not work, there are practically no elements useful for cucumbers in it. In addition, it can contain various kinds of bacteria. It is better to plant the plants in special soil, which is sold in gardening stores.

When choosing a soil, take into account the presence of sod land, humus, peat, and crushed sawdust in its composition. You can prepare the soil yourself. Here is one of the potted cucumber soil recipes. The components are needed in the same parts:

• peat;
• compost;
• sawdust;
• turf;
• ash.

The resulting substrate is disinfected with a solution of potassium permanganate.

Advice! For the looseness of the resulting soil, vermiculite is added, which is sold in shops for gardeners.

Pick up the soil

The soil for such cucumbers should also be special, so it is better to cook it yourself. The substrate will be ideal if it is included in its composition in even parts:

• Peat
• Small sawdust
• Humus
• Turf

An excellent addition to this composition will be 50 g of ash and the same amount of mineral fertilizers.

Seed preparation

Unless otherwise stated by the manufacturer on the seed packaging, the seeds are disinfected before planting. To do this, they are placed in a weak solution of potassium permanganate for about 15 minutes, after which they are washed with clean water.

On a slightly moistened gauze or soft cloth folded several times, the treated seeds are laid out for 2 days, providing an air temperature of +23 ° C. When the seeds swell, they must be transferred to the refrigerator for a day.

This video shows you how to do it:

Features of agricultural technology

Indoors, cucumber is grown all year round. If you want to get zelents by a certain date, 55 days are counted from it and seeds are sown. It is at this age that the cucumber begins to bear fruit en masse.

Long lashes require a garter. They take care of this in advance, fixing the twine on the ceiling or planting plants in pots. In the latter, the stems hang down. Be sure to form a bush and pinch the central shoot when it reaches the top point of the garter.

Cucumber is also grown traditionally: in the beds, in greenhouses. Under these conditions, varieties provide the same care as other varieties.

Attention! When growing a hybrid in an apartment in autumn and winter, one should take into account the fact that the duration of daylight hours is significantly reduced. The ripening period at this time lengthens by about 10 days.

Care of young seedlings

After planting the seeds, after about 4 days, the containers with future cucumbers can be transferred to their permanent place. They should be protected from drafts, sudden gusts of wind, hot sun and sudden temperature changes.

Three main tasks in working with young seedlings: take care of the lighting of the plants, provide the necessary watering and feeding.

Shine

The sprouts must receive a sufficient amount of light in the room where they are located. If it is not obtained naturally, it is necessary to add artificial lighting.

Direct sunlight is harmful: arrange the seed pots so that the sunlight diffuses into the room.

Important! The lamp should not be in the immediate vicinity of the plants, install it at a short distance from the shoots.

Watering

Plants love water. Be sure to watch the soil on the balcony, water once every two days, watching if the soil dries up. If there are signs of dry soil, it is necessary to increase the water consumption, but the main thing here is not to overdo it.

If water is leaking out through the drain hole, reduce watering.

Advice! Prepare the water to water the cucumbers, in advance, having defended it in a special container for several days.

Top dressing

After 1 month, young plants will be ready for transplanting. To maintain the plants, a minimum of 2 feedings are recommended over a period of 4 weeks. You can pick up fertilizers in any specialty store. Fertilize the soil no more than 1 time in 10 days.

The simplest remedy is urea. An instruction is included with any preparation: 1 tablespoon of the preparation for 3 liters of water. 1 shoot is watered with 100 g of the resulting solution (half a glass).

Transferring seedlings to containers

The next stage of growing cucumbers is transplanting seedlings into special containers.These containers must be prepared in advance: rinsed with running water and dried. The light and temperature in the room must match the needs of balcony cucumbers.

When to plant sprouts

The sprouts are transplanted 4 weeks after the day the seeds were planted in the soil and no later than 7 days from the last feeding. The substrate prepared for seedlings must be watered with hot water and after about 1 hour the plants should be planted in it.

How to plant sprouts

The sprout, along with the roots and the soil, where they grew for a whole month, are transplanted into a new pot: a depression is made in the soil, where an earthen lump with a young plant is placed.

Expert advice

Each grower has his own, proven instructions for preparing the perfect soil. A good soil mixture should be porous and allow good air flow to the roots of the plant. Beginners prefer to limit themselves to buying ready-made soil, and experts who have long practiced growing balcony cucumbers in plastic bottles say: you can prepare ideal soil with your own hands.

It should consist of:

• a quarter from turf or garden land;
• one fourth of the rotted leaves of any tree with the exception of willow and oak;
• a quarter of peat;
• a quarter of the drainage mixture.

The drainage layer is made from the husk of sunflower seeds, moss, fragments of bricks, pebbles, expanded clay, eggshells. Experienced vegetable growers say that by adding birch ash to the soil, you can get the maximum yield.

By the way, not all amateur vegetable growers like this method. Someone argues that cucumbers grown in plastic bottles are too small. But do not forget that you should not expect large fruits from hybrid varieties. In the end, in the business of growing cucumbers, the main criterion for success is not the container, but the composition of the soil.

Caring for cucumbers on the balcony

Proper daily care of plants will allow you to get an excellent harvest. For the first 7 days after planting the seedlings, it is necessary to water them 1 time. After a week of staying in new soil, the plants can be watered once every 2 days. Cucumbers should be fed 10 days after transplanting.

As soon as more than 4 leaves grow on one shoot, you can start garter... To do this, over the container (approximately at a distance of 1.5 m), you need to pull a wire or rope and lower the pieces of twine from it.

Fix them on the stem, departing from the root of the plant about 2–2.5 cm.

Regular soil maintenance: once a week, loosen the soil, remove weeds. Do not forget to cut antennae from the bushes. When the shoot grows to the wire, pinch the top, leaving only one leaf.

Harvesting the harvest

Remove ripe cucumber fruits immediately, they weaken the plant. Having freed itself from ripe fruits, culture throws all its strength into the development of new ones. On average, the first harvest can be tried already after 50-70 days from the moment of sowing (depending on the species). Ripe cucumbers have a bright green color, they are firm and elastic. When harvesting, use a pruner - the fruit should not be roughly torn off or twisted off.

Cucumbers are an amazing culture. The more often ripe fruits are plucked from the bush, the more it gives new ovaries and fruits.

Pest control

The most common "enemies" of balcony cucumbers are whitefly, spider mites and aphids. There are many photos of insects on the Internet. If you notice dangerous pests, the soil and leaves must be treated with special agents. You can find them at gardening stores.

You can use folk remedies for insect control: tobacco solution helps from the invasion of aphids. To prepare it, you need to mix the contents of 1 pack of cigarettes and 1 liter of water, boil and add another 1 liter of water. Process the leaves of plants with the resulting liquid.