Growing the crop in a greenhouse involves artificial pollination of cucumbers. There are several ways, each of which works to a certain extent.
How to properly pollinate cucumbers at home
To grow a good harvest in a greenhouse, you must monitor how the plants are pollinated. For the convenience of many summer residents, there are self-pollinating cucumbers. They are called parthenocarpic. But most varieties are insect-pollinated. Therefore, you should help them with pollination.In the open ground, this is done by insects and the wind.
How to pollinate cucumbers in a greenhouse is a question that interests many summer residents, because the harvest depends on quality pollination.
There are several ways for pollination:
- Attracting insects.
- Hand pollination.
Attracting insects
The basis of the method is to attract bees to the greenhouse. Plants are sprayed with a sweet solution.
For this you will need:
- Warm water 1l.
- Honey, sugar or jam 1 tbsp. spoon.
- Boric acid 0.1 g.
It is necessary not only to attract the smell, but also to help them get into the greenhouse. To do this, open windows and doors. The main thing is not to the detriment of the room temperature and humidity.
If possible, you can have a whole family of bees. Position the hive so that it stands at a height of 40 cm, and is well warmed in the morning sun. Insects must be well oriented; first, they should get used to their surroundings. They are released into a warm greenhouse when there is nothing there yet. Over time, the bee colony will begin its work.
During the flowering of natural honey plants, they need to be provided with flight outside the greenhouse. To do this, a small window is made in the lid; it needs to be whitened around it, this will help the bees easier to find their way back to the hive.
If cucumbers are grown in early spring, then the house with the bees is placed in a greenhouse. If in warmer times, the hive is left outside, pressed closely against the wall of the greenhouse, providing them with unobstructed entry. The hole made in the wall is aligned with the entrance to the hive. So insects will fly around the greenhouse, fly out of it into the street, through the window on the roof.
Difference between male and female flowers
If there is no way to attract insects, then cucumbers pollinate on their own. The main thing here is to understand the flowers on the plant. There are men's and women's.It is not difficult to distinguish them from each other.
The male flower does not have a pistil, but it contains a lot of pollen. If you shake it lightly, it forms a whole cloud. They are located closer to the base of the stem and are most often grouped in several pieces.
The female flower contains a pistil. Most often located on side shoots. It differs from the inflorescences of the opposite sex in that it contains a slight thickening that resembles a small cucumber.
Conditions for fruitful pollination
To pollinate a plant, you need to comply with certain requirements:
- The percentage of humidity in the greenhouse must be taken into account. No more and no less than 70%. At higher humidity, pollen clumps together; at low humidity, it dries quickly.
- It is best to carry out self-pollination early in the morning or at the latest before lunch, no later.
- Female flowers are ready for pollination on day 2. Therefore, the process is carried out on the second day, so it is more likely that the process will go correctly and fruitfully.
- If it is intended to carry out varietal pollination, then the female flowers, before pollination, are protected from unwanted penetration of insects into them.
- Those flowers that self-pollinated should be marked somehow. To make sure everything went right.
Manual method
Pollinating cucumbers in a greenhouse by hand is a difficult method, but effective.
Two important rules of pollination:
- There should be a lot of pollen.
- It is best to take pollen from one plant and use it to pollinate flowers from another bush.
By observing all the necessary requirements, any summer resident will be successful.
- The first method is to pollinate using a regular brush. To do this, pollen is very carefully removed from the male inflorescence and transferred to the female flower directly to the pistil. Then you should cover the pollinated flower. You can use cotton wool or other available materials for this.
The brush must be made of natural bristles, preferably very soft. To avoid damaging the delicate flowers of cucumbers.
- Second method, male flower. It can be used as a pollinator. To do this, it is carefully torn off and the petals are removed from it. Then it is placed in a female flower; it can be left in it until the ovary grows. Several flowers are used.
It is recommended to pollinate cucumbers by hand several times during the week, then the result will be guaranteed. If the ovaries begin to grow, the flowers are considered pollinated.
Self-pollinating varieties
Many summer residents do not like to grow cucumbers of self-pollinating species. This is due to the fact that they have a taste uncharacteristic for the crop, light stress can reduce the yield of the bush, and the plants are dependent on changes in external growing conditions.
But despite this, pollinating the plants yourself is quite labor-intensive, so gardeners buy hybrid varieties. Most often this is:
- Zozulya.
- Emelya.
- Hermann.
- Millionaire.
- Summer resident.
- Dynamite.
Experienced gardeners advise using a specific planting scheme for cucumbers when growing in greenhouse conditions. The very first to be planted are early hybrids of self-pollinating varieties. The majority of crops in a greenhouse should be insect-pollinated plants. The last to be planted are mid-ripening cucumber species.
Growing cucumbers at home in this way will protect the summer resident from loss of harvest.
The privileges of self-pollination
Although this procedure is not easy, many people use it when growing crops in a greenhouse. Cucumbers subjected to hand pollination grow as varietal varieties. You can safely collect seeds from them without worrying about the future harvest.
Self-pollination makes it possible to obtain selected fruits. They are practically no different in taste from those cucumbers that were grown in open ground. In addition, plants practically do not react to temperature changes, insufficient lighting and other signs unfavorable for their growth and development.
The presence of a large number of barren flowers
First of all, this is not appropriate agricultural technology, that is, something was done incorrectly. There may be several reasons:
- The seeds were collected last year.
- Insufficient heating of seeds before planting.
- Lack of light.
- Plants too close to each other.
In order to correct the situation, you can pinch the top of the plant. Thereby provoking it to develop side shoots. And the subsequent formation of female flowers on them.
Obtaining a qualifying harvest from a crop is preceded by a large amount of work with plants. Self-pollination at home is no exception. But the work is worth it, the cucumbers will definitely thank the patient summer resident with their productivity.
