Feeding cucumbers with mullein is popular. This organic fertilizer or compositions with its addition are well accepted by vegetable crops. To get the benefits of fertilizing, you need to know at what time and in what quantity to apply it.
Treatment and prevention of diseases
Growing cucumbers is not complete without the application of mineral or organic fertilizers. Is it possible to use mullein in your summer cottage? The beneficial properties of this component will speak for themselves.
Mullein (cow dung) is an organic fertilizer that stimulates the growth and development of cucumbers, increases the number of ripened fruits, improves immunity and protects against many diseases. In fertilized soil, the number of many useful microelements increases: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, boron, iron and others. The composition is environmentally friendly and inexpensive.
The risk of developing diseases among cucumbers can be reduced even at the stage of preparing seeds for sowing. For sowing, it is best to take disinfected seeds. In addition to the common solution of potassium permanganate, an infusion of cow dung is popular and effective. Recommended proportions 1:6.
The use of infusion for spraying helps prevent many fungal and viral diseases. If the disease has just appeared, the stems of the bushes have become thinner, the leaves have withered and turned yellow, then foliar treatment is also effective. In this case, the manure is diluted in a ratio of 1:3 before use.
You can feed cucumbers with mullein several times during the entire growing season, with an interval of 12-14 days. It is especially useful when the plant looks lethargic, weak, and the leaves on the stem have turned white. Suitable for the first feeding, when the first leaves just begin to unfold. The main thing is to know what kind of manure is suitable for cucumbers and at what time it is safe to use it.
Basic rules for using fertilizer
Cucumbers benefit from mullein at various stages of their development, but it is different from slurry. Slurry contains many microelements, but it may contain pathogens of various infections. Mullein is produced by fermentation and during this process pathogenic organisms are killed. Therefore, it is safer to cultivate the land with mullein than with slurry.
A large number of microelements are concentrated in the manure bed, and beneficial microorganisms begin to multiply. It becomes profitable to plant vegetables on such plots of land. All useful substances contained in the soil are more easily absorbed by the plant when mullein is added. During the ripening period, you can enjoy tasty and crispy cucumbers.
How to make a garden bed, vegetable growers recommend rotted manure for cucumbers. Before planting cucumbers, it is useful for them to cultivate the garden during autumn or spring digging. If cucumbers are planted in such soil, a rich and high-quality harvest is obtained. Rotted droppings are also used to mulch the beds and infusions for watering are prepared based on it.
Manure cannot be used for feeding fresh. Fresh manure can cause burns to the root system and leaves. It is allowed to make an infusion from fresh manure for watering and spraying, or put it in a pure, undiluted form only in the fall, digging up the ground.
Since unrotted manure contains many weed seeds, spreading it on the site leads to the spread of weeds.
Despite the fact that cucumbers love and accept mullein well, you should not add it to the soil too often. An excess of some microelements can harm the plant. Therefore, only balanced use can be beneficial.
How to prepare a healthy composition
Ready-made mullein is sold, but you can make your own fertilizer for cucumbers. There are two main types of mullein: liquid and litter.
If there is bedding material from sawdust and straw in the cow's stall, the resulting manure is of the bedding type. The result is solid manure with the inclusion of straw. During long-term storage, it begins to overheat, forming humus.Humus is also useful for feeding plants.
Liquid fertilizer for cucumbers can be made as follows. Auxiliary components such as straw, fallen leaves, sawdust, potato tops or tomatoes are placed in a compost pit or large plastic barrel. Everything is filled with liquid manure. Then the layer of auxiliary components is repeated again. The layers are alternated to the very edge of the container.
You can feed cucumbers with a composition made in a different way. You should start making mullein-based fertilizer a week before applying it to the beds. The easiest way to make a good fertilizing is to dilute mullein with water in a ratio of 1:2 and leave to infuse.
The beginning of fermentation is indicated by the appearance of bubbles and the color becomes lighter. Before watering, the resulting solution is diluted again with water. Mullein infusion should be watered only between rows, avoiding contact with leaves and ovaries. To preserve all the valuable properties, you cannot open the container with the prepared solution.
There are several rules for feeding a cucumber bed with prepared manure. During the entire period of development, it is recommended to feed the cucumber bed at least four times. Since a varied diet improves the development of cucumbers, it is useful to alternate nutritional components.
- The very first time, you should fertilize cucumbers with mullein before the flowering period begins. The recommended dosage of manure is 250 g, which is diluted with a bucket of water. From the experience of gardeners: “Together with manure, I diluted 5 g of potassium sulfate, superphosphate and urea.”
- Next time, it is necessary to apply fertilizers at the beginning of fruiting. Instead of mullein, you can use chicken droppings and wood ash, which are also diluted in a bucket of water.
- After two weeks, you can water the cucumbers again with a solution containing mullein. Advice: “Dilute the mullein separately with water in a ratio of 1:3.” For the composition, you will also need to take a diluted solution (1 liter), add 5 g of potassium sulfate, urea and superphosphate.
- It is recommended to apply the last fertilizing after three weeks. Again, instead of cow dung, an infusion of bird droppings is prepared.
Cucumbers in a greenhouse can be fed with mullein for the first time two weeks after planting the seedlings. 1 liter of mullein is diluted in 10 liters of water and left to infuse for about three days. Then dilute it again with water and add 250 g of wood ash.
When feeding plants, it is best not to pour the mullein solution at the root, but to place it in grooves made next to the beds. After the solution is absorbed, the grooves are covered with earth again.
Application of horse and rabbit manure
Many vegetable growers note that it is much more effective to choose horse manure as a fertilizer for cucumbers in open ground. It decomposes much faster, heats up quickly and cools down slowly. It retains heat for a long time, which has a beneficial effect on the development of cucumbers.
It is best to treat the land with horse manure, especially fresh, in the fall. For 1 sq. meter you will need to take 5.5 kg of the main component. When digging up the soil in spring, it is best to add rotted manure for cucumbers. During flowering and ovary formation, it is most effective to water with liquid manure.
To make a bed for cucumbers When using horse manure in greenhouse conditions, the top layer of soil must first be removed. Then manure is placed on top of the remaining bed and boiling water is poured over it to get rid of all pathogens.After this, the greenhouses are covered with a new layer of soil, the beds are dug up and leveled.
It is beneficial for plants to make compost from horse manure. To prepare it, you need to place various plant wastes, for example, leaves, sawdust, tops of other vegetables, in a hole or large container and mix them with prepared manure. To make a liquid fertilizer, manure is diluted with a bucket of water and left to infuse.
You can also feed cucumbers with rabbit manure; it is no less useful than cow or horse manure. It contains nitrogen, potassium, calcium, magnesium, various trace elements, vitamins and other valuable substances in equal quantities. Growing a good harvest is simple, since all components are easily and quickly absorbed by plants. Manure loosens and fertilizes the soil.
Rabbit manure as a fertilizer is used in any form in a greenhouse or in open beds. The soil is cultivated with fresh droppings in the fall. To prepare the infusion, you need to take one part of manure and ten parts of water. Leave to infuse for 2.5 weeks. Compost is considered effective. Make a compost pit, about 1.5 meters deep, throw sawdust and leaves into it. The pile will have an alternating layer of vegetation and manure. Can be used for cucumbers in the spring, before planting.
The key to a good harvest is the correct and timely use of fertilizers. Be sure to take into account the timing of manure application and dilute the components in the recommended dosages.
