Many gardeners neglect the use of mineral and organic fertilizers when growing crops. Potash fertilizers for cucumbers are a necessary fertilizer, without which it will be impossible to obtain a good and stable harvest. As crops are cultivated, the soil becomes thinner and needs to be fertilized regularly.
Characteristics of potash fertilizers
Potash fertilizers are one of the most common mineral fertilizers in agriculture, which are used to improve plant immunity and accelerate growth during the growing season.
The use of potassium for cucumbers helps create a protective barrier in the soil that prevents the development of harmful insects. In addition, potassium fertilizer for cucumbers has a beneficial effect on their health. With sudden changes in temperature and prolonged rain, cucumbers are less likely to get sick. Vegetable fruits fertilized with potassium last longer after harvest.
Mineral deficiency always negatively affects the growth and formation of ovaries in vegetables. Organic matter alone will not be enough to grow a rich harvest.
Types of potash fertilizers
Potash fertilizers are divided into two main types:
- Simple;
- Complex.
As can be understood from the names, complex fertilizers contain several mineral substances, while simple ones contain only one.
Types of simple fertilizing:
- Liquid potassium humate
Potassium humate in liquid diluted with cool water and watered the cucumber beds. This fertilizer can be used together with organic matter.
Feeding cucumbers with potassium humate helps to increase the yield and the percentage of germination of planting material, stimulates the plant’s immune system, and also increases the shelf life of the crop.
One of the main benefits of potassium humate for cucumbers is its ability to remove toxins and nitrates from plants. Cucumbers can be treated with this product before sowing seeds and during the growing season.
- Potassium sulfate
If cucumbers do not have enough nutrition, then potassium sulfate can be used. It helps improve fluid circulation in plant tissues.This helps ensure that nutrients are evenly distributed throughout the plant. Potassium sulfate also has a beneficial effect on the formation of shoots in cucumbers.
You can add fertilizer to the soil at any time. If the soil on the site is heavy, then you can fertilize it in the fall to prepare it for planting the future crop. If the soil is light, then fertilizing is applied in the spring when digging the soil and during the growing season of cucumbers.
- Potassium salt
The lack of potassium in cucumbers can be compensated for by regularly watering the beds with a solution of potassium salt. This fertilizer is obtained by mixing two substances: potassium chloride and sylvinite. Bring in potassium salt Only needed in sandy or peaty soils where there is a lack of potassium. Fertilizer has the last effect on the growth and development of cucumbers.
Fertilizing is applied in the fall after harvesting.
Complex:
- Monopotassium phosphate
Potassium monophosphate is soluble in water. Feed cucumbers when planting them in a permanent place in the spring. Fertilizer improves immunity and promotes active growth. Under the influence of substances, cucumbers begin flowering earlier, and the ovaries form more actively.
- Nitrophoska
If there is not enough potassium, then you need to feed the cucumbers with nitrophoska. This is a nitrogen-potassium fertilizer that provides bushes with active flowering of crops, the formation of ovaries and fruits.
- Potassium nitrate
How to feed cucumbers? You can also feed cucumbers with potassium nitrate. The most favorable period is fruiting. Potassium nitrate is especially suitable as fertilizers for cucumbers in the greenhouse. It contains potassium and nitrogen.
If crops are fertilized with several substances, then their dosage should be halved. It is not advisable to overfeed cucumbers.Because in this case they will begin to bear fruit worse.
When to fertilize
Lack of potassium negatively affects the growth and development of cucumbers. Therefore, it is important to apply fertilizers to the soil in a timely manner. To ensure positive results, it is important to accurately determine the period when feeding will be most appropriate for cucumbers.
The initial condition of the soil is also important. If the soil contains enough nutrients, then you can do without fertilizing.
How to feed cucumbers at home?
If the soil contains sufficient potassium, then cucumbers do not require additional fertilizer. If there is a lack of potassium, then it is necessary to apply simple or complex fertilizers that contain it.
It is important to remember that at different stages of the life of cucumbers they require different substances.
When to feed plants with potassium fertilizers:
- During planting in a permanent place, there may be a lack of potassium in cucumbers;
- Plants also suffer from potassium deficiency during the growing season and shoot formation;
- It is especially important to feed cucumbers with humic fertilizers during the fruiting period. At this time, potassium is actively absorbed by the bushes from the soil.
For greenhouse cucumbers, the potassium solution should be less concentrated. In greenhouses, due to increased humidity and high air temperature, the amount of substances only increases.
Fertilizing with potassium also differs in the method of application to the soil. There are two types:
- Root;
- Foliar.
But with any method, you can only use warm water to dilute the product.
How to tell if cucumbers need potassium
If there is not enough potassium in the soil, then this will be clear by the appearance of the bushes. To know exactly when a mineral deficiency began, it is important to know the signs of potassium deficiency.
Symptoms of a lack of potassium fertilizers:
- The lashes and leaves begin to grow actively, but practically no ovaries are formed;
- The leaves take on a dark shade;
- A yellow border appears on the leaves, and gradually they begin to dry out;
- Zelentsy take on a pear-shaped shape.
Another sign by which you can determine the lack of minerals in the soil is barren flowers, as well as strong stretching of bushes upward. If any of these signs are observed, then manure can also be used as an organic fertilizer.
How to feed cucumbers with potassium
The first fertilizing using potassium should also contain phosphorus and nitrogen. It is introduced at the germination stage. When the first three leaves appear on the seedlings, you can begin applying mineral fertilizers. Then it should be repeated every 15 days.
Frequently feeding bushes is also not recommended. Otherwise, there will be an excess of minerals in the soil and the plants will begin to actively grow leaf mass, and the fruits will stop growing.
In a greenhouse, the use of fertilizers should not exceed 5 times. In open ground - 7. Cucumbers fed in this way grow more actively, and the fruits last longer.
Many gardeners prefer to alternate organics with non-organics. But this advice should only be followed if the soil is very poor. If organic fertilizers have already been added to the soil during planting of seedlings, then during the season you need to feed the cucumbers only with minerals.
For feeding with potassium, it is preferable to choose foliar feeding, since in this case, if the bushes are overfed, the mature vegetables will not taste bitter.
If you use ready-made complex fertilizer, it should be prepared according to the instructions.
Before flowering cucumbers:
- 250 gr. mullein (you can take bird droppings);
- 2 tsp. superphosphate;
- 2 tsp. potassium;
- 10 liters of warm water.
Mix all ingredients and dilute with warm water. Water from a watering can closer to the roots of the bushes. After this feeding, the cucumbers will have more nutrients.
The next time you should water homemade cucumbers at the beginning of the fruiting period, when the formation of ovaries begins.
- 10 liters of warm water;
- 200 gr. mullein;
- 1.5 tbsp. l. nitrophoska.
Water the cucumbers at the root, being careful not to touch the leaves.
You can also water the bushes with potassium monophosphate. But before use, you need to pay attention to the appearance of the greens. If the cucumbers are pear-shaped, then fertilizing can be applied. If the greens are of normal shape, then there is no need for it.
