All garden crops have different requirements for the conditions of maintenance and care. One of them needs a lot of sun and light, others are sensitive to the characteristics of the ground, others need to be watered often. To such moisture-loving plants belong and loved by all cucumbers. If you are a beginner in growing vegetables, then before planting, you should always read information on how to care for planted plants. We suggest to learn how often it is necessary to water cucumbers growing in the open ground , immediately after planting and in the future, during flowering and fruiting.
Do you often need to water cucumbers?
Moisture for cucumbers is perhaps the most important. Without it, the quantity and quality of future fruits suffer. With a lack of water, cucumbers can be bitter, and when stagnation rotting often begins. That is why when watering these plants, you should look for a "golden mean".
So, water cucumbers should be as the soil dries. Unfortunately, it is impossible to sound a specific figure of the irrigation frequency (for example, every 5 days), because it always depends on the weather conditions. For this reason, it is necessary to check daily whether it is time to water cucumbers: if the ground beneath them is already dry, it's time to water. If the soil at the roots is still moist, it is better to wait 1-2 days, because waterlogging can lead to infection of the plant with root rot or powdery mildew . As a rule, in the heat, cucumbers should be watered more often than in cold weather, up to daily waterings.
Pay attention to the age of the plant, as well as whether they are grown from seeds or through seedlings. Young cucumbers need more frequent irrigation than adults, but the amount of water for bunches should be large. The conclusion is this: once the cucumbers have ascended, they need to be watered often and gradually, while the adult bushes require abundant watering (approximately a bucket of water under each bush), but less often.
Before the cucumbers blossom, they are watered moderately, no more than 4 liters of water per square meter. In the future, the amount of water is of decisive importance in the fact whether all the fruit that has been bred can mature before the leaves turn yellow. Nutritional moisture makes cucumbers on our beds juicy, crunchy, bright green and so delicious!
Cucumbers also have requirements for water temperature for irrigation, which should not be less than 10-12 ° C, and ideally reach 23-25 ° C. To water them, as well as other plants in the garden, should be in the early morning or evening, especially if the weather is hot outside. If water gets on the leaves, then the plant can easily get a sunburn, but this should not be allowed. At the same time, one should make a reservation: before flowering cucumbers are best watered in the morning, and during the period of mass fruiting it is better to do in the evening.
It matters also in what way you water your beds: using a watering can, directing a stream of water directly to the hole, or through a two-liter bottle with holes, buried in the ground near the root of the plant.
In addition to irrigation, an agricultural technique, called sprinkling, is very effective in growing cucumbers. Artificially created rain over the bushes of cucumbers is much more like natural rainfall, it moistens the aboveground part of the plant and the air above the leaves. One should only remember that it is not permissible to carry out sprinkling in sunny weather - only in the early morning or after sunset.
After watering the soil dries, and it forms a solid crust. It should be regularly loosened so that the root system of the plant receives enough air. When loosening the soil under each bush, gently pull the whips aside.