The growth and quality of cucumbers directly depend on many factors affecting the crop from the external environment. Most often, this influence is reflected in the appearance of vegetables, which is why many summer residents ask the question: why do cucumbers grow with crochets in a greenhouse? In order to prevent the development of crooked fruits in your garden, you need to know about the reasons that cause this phenomenon.
Watering method
Most often, cucumbers curl due to improper watering.
There are several incorrect watering methods that every summer resident should avoid when growing cucumbers in a greenhouse:
- Watering with cold water causes deformation of the fruit. The greenhouse maintains relatively stable soil and air temperatures, which creates a favorable microclimate for the growth of a healthy plant. If cold water regularly gets into the soil, the roots of the plant crop become cold, the plant begins to redistribute all accumulated resources to neutralize the resulting damage, as a result, the fruits turn yellow and curl.
- Insufficient water used for irrigation leads to moisture deficiency. Cucumbers are plants that are very sensitive to soil moisture. During periods of drought, they begin to expend a minimal amount of resources to form fruits, which as a result curl and decrease in size.
- Excess moisture is also detrimental to cucumbers. In this case, crooked cucumbers in the greenhouse appear due to the formation of rot on the roots of the plant. Also, the plant crop loses the ability to fully extract the necessary substances from the soil, since they are washed out by large amounts of water.
If a summer resident does not know why cucumbers curl, the first thing to do is pay attention to watering the plant. If a sufficient amount of moisture is introduced into the soil, corresponding to the characteristics of the microclimate that has developed in the greenhouse, and the shape of the cucumbers continues to resemble a hook, then it is necessary to look for other factors that cause such a pathology.
Late harvest
Many summer residents think this way: “I will begin to harvest when a sufficient number of cucumbers of the required size have ripened on the bush.”It is worth considering that late harvesting is the wrong approach to gardening, since fruits that have been in the garden for a long time not only become crooked, but also lose their taste, rot, and are damaged by insects. Also, large pear-shaped cucumbers can greatly interfere with the formation of other fruits, causing vegetables to begin to deform their structure at the stage of their formation.
To avoid this, you need to pick cucumbers every 2-3 days when they grow to medium size. This approach will increase the duration of the fruiting period of the bush not only in the greenhouse, but also in the open ground.
Fertilizers
Why do crooked cucumbers grow for no apparent reason? The ratio of mineral and organic substances in the soil has a huge impact on the development of plant crops and the formation of fruits. Moreover, both a lack of fertilizer and an excess of it can cause distortion in vegetables. Deficiency can lead to mild deformation:
- phosphorus;
- gland;
- copper;
- nitrogen.
At the same time, the lack of these substances also causes yellowing of the leaves and loss of taste characteristics of the fruits.
There is a more obvious reason for obtaining a crooked cucumber harvest associated with fertilizing. In a greenhouse, cucumbers will deform their shape due to a lack of potassium. Potassium is washed out from the soil due to the use of fertilizers made from yeast, herbal infusions, and the use of chicken manure and mullein as fertilizers.
If you regularly feed plant crops with the listed fertilizers, the bushes become spreading, and the size of the cucumbers is reduced to tiny.
Another reason why cucumbers are irregularly shaped is when they are planted in an area where zucchini, pumpkin or dill previously grew. This is due to the fact that the listed plants leave only a small amount of nutrients in the soil, which is what cucumbers lack for active growth and fruiting. In order not to get a crop of crooked cucumbers, you need to introduce fertilizers into the ground before planting them. How to feed the soil for cucumbers? It is best to use fertilizers that contain potassium, phosphorus, iron, copper or nitrogen as top dressing. However, they should be added in moderation, without creating an excess.
Lack of light and heat
Cucumbers often become distorted due to lack of heat and lighting. In order for cucumber fruits to grow evenly, they need to create an optimal ambient temperature for growth, which is set between 23–26 degrees Celsius. This temperature regime must be observed with special care during the final flowering phase. When the temperature in the greenhouse exceeds these values, the cucumber fruits become withered and begin to curl from drying out. If the temperature is lower, the plant quickly becomes ill and begins to produce dense but bent vegetables.
A lack of light can be caused by cloudy weather, thickening, or improper greenhouse design. Lack of lighting caused by any of the above reasons negatively affects vegetative processes and photosynthesis. As a result, the cucumber fruits bend. If in cucumbers in greenhouse grow strongly, they need to be pinched, bushes pinched, foliage thinned. Such procedures will avoid thickening of plantings and lack of lighting.
Neighborhood of different varieties
Cucumber varieties that form fruits in conditions of lack of pollination do not coexist well with conventional or hybrid varieties planted in a greenhouse structure. The need for such isolation of parthenocarpic varieties is determined by the fact that pollen from hybrid plants spreads and contributes to disruption of the fruit formation function of cucumbers that do not require pollination. Because of this, crocheted cucumbers appear.
What to do to prevent such a situation from occurring? In order for even cucumbers to grow in a greenhouse, it is necessary to plant plants of the same variety. If the dacha plot is small enough and does not allow the construction of several greenhouses, hybrid and parthenocarpic varieties should be planted at different ends of the greenhouse space. If the greenhouse is small, it is necessary to limit the contact of these varieties. This can be done by covering part of the bushes with cloth.
Some gardeners grow cucumbers in the same bed for a long time, which can also affect the quality of the fruit. Why do vegetables turn yellow and curl in this case? The fact is that with such planting the risk of fungal pathologies increases. Also, the question of why cucumbers are crooked can be answered by the fact that during long-term cultivation of such crops in one place, colin accumulates in the soil - a toxic substance that disrupts the process of fruit formation, which, in particular, affects their shape.
