Grow cucumbers on a glassed-in loggia. Technology for growing cucumbers on the balcony. Hypothermia protection

Unpretentious, withstands the vagaries of weather, and does not require pollination by insects.

Suitable options are intended for breeding in greenhouses or film shelters, as well as special types created for balconies and loggias.

Plants prefer very light soil with neutral acidity. The store-bought mixture is not nutritious enough; it is better to add garden soil or rotted compost to it. For greater ease, perlite or vermicult is added to the substrate.

For greater safety, it is recommended to sift garden soil and bake it in the oven. This procedure kills pest larvae. To restore beneficial microflora, the soil can be shed with special compounds sold in gardening stores.

Planting cucumbers: small subtleties

How to plant cucumbers on the balcony? Balcony cucumbers can be grown by seedlings or without seedlings. In the first case, the seeds are sown in paper or plastic cups filled with substrate.

When to plant cucumber seedlings on the balcony? Sowing begins in February, March or April. solution of potassium permanganate, washed clean water and dried.

If the bag indicates that the seed has undergone additional pre-planting preparation, treatment with potassium permanganate is canceled. It is preferable to plant dry seeds, since sprouted seeds are easily injured.

Sowing occurs with a depth of 1.5-2 cm. Plantings are sprayed with warm water and placed in a warm place. After germination, the containers are exposed to bright light. On cloudy days, additional lighting with fluorescent lamps is necessary.

For successful development seedlings require warmth and. Cucumbers are very moisture-loving; they do not tolerate drafts and sudden changes in temperature. 2 weeks after germination, seedlings are treated with an aqueous solution of urea.

With the seedless method, seeds are sown directly into a container filled with soil. Shallow holes are made at a distance of 40 cm from each other, 2 seeds are sown in each. Plantings are sprayed with warm water and covered with film.

For rapid germination, a temperature of at least 25 degrees is required. After the shoots emerge, the film is removed. The container is placed either under the lamps. For successful development, seedlings need long daylight hours..

After the emergence of seedlings, they are checked the weakest ones, sprouted from one hole, are cut off with a sharp knife. It is convenient to water the seedlings using a spray bottle, irrigating the soil as it dries. , it is important to maintain the temperature between 20 and 22 degrees.

Tender shoots are brought to the balcony after the formation of 4-5 true leaves. Before this, the plants are hardened off by opening the windows for several hours.

Features of care

Grown cucumbers move to a permanent place of residence. The boxes are installed in a place protected from the wind. Clothes lines are attached above them, each length is at least 2.5 m.

The lower end is folded into a loop and thrown over the seedling, the vine is carefully wrapped around the rope. It is possible to use large-mesh plastic nets or wooden trellises mounted on the balcony wall.

If cucumbers are grown in seedlings, the boxes are filled with the same soil that was used for planting. Plants are placed in the holes along with a lump of earth. It is recommended to spill the soil with hot water before planting..

cucumbers very thermophilic, but direct sunlight can cause leaf burns. In the summer heat, plants need to be shaded using roller blinds or special screens.

It is advisable to increase the air humidity by placing containers of water next to the containers. The soil is mulched with peat or moss; this technique will help maintain normal moisture levels and avoid weeding.

Plantings need to be watered frequently and abundantly.. With a lack of moisture, plants stop growing, the fruits turn out ugly, and begin to taste bitter. Water the plantings daily or once every 2 days, in the morning or at sunset.

On particularly hot, dry days, watering twice a day is possible. Only warm, settled water is used, cold can cause shock and even death of plants. The soil in containers must be moist; drying out is unacceptable.

Actively growing vines do not need aggressive shaping. If desired, you can limit their growth by pinching the plants after 10-12 leaves have developed. The lateral shoots are pinched to a length of about 30-35 cm. The tendrils of plants are periodically removed..

You need to harvest as the cucumbers grow. Small fruits are much tastier, so you shouldn’t delay the process. The fruits are carefully picked or cut so as not to injure the lashes.

In August, when night temperatures begin to drop, it is recommended to cover the roots of the plants with burlap or film, removing it during the day.

After 90 days, when fruiting is over, the vines can be cut off and the roots can be dug up. It is worth saving the soil from the boxes; it will be useful for next year.

Cucumber seedlings on the balcony are an excellent decoration and an essential vitamin supplement to the diet. Grown fruits are no different from greenhouse fruits.

At making the right choice varieties and skillfully, the yield will be high and the fruiting period will be as long as possible. You can explore additional ones.

Useful video

Personal experience of growing cucumbers on the balcony:

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If you are a real gardener, love to farm and there is no opportunity to purchase a vegetable garden or garden plot, do not be upset. There is a great opportunity to make your desires come true—at home. To do this you need to make an effort and have a little patience, stock up useful information, and not only flowers or ornamental plants, but also delicious vegetables - cucumbers.

Before you start growing cucumbers at home on the balcony, you need to take your time and carefully understand which varieties are suitable for planting in an enclosed space. Since there are no bees or wind on the balcony, you need to know which variety is suitable and select species that do not need to be pollinated and are characterized by high productivity - these are Masha, Bianka, Stella, Cucaracha, Aprilsky, Gribovchanka, Debut or Zozulya. This is not the entire list of varieties intended for growing on the balcony. Which ones are best to purchase, how to grow cucumbers on the balcony in the summer, the size of the pot - which one to choose and is there a difference in the selection of containers, what kind of soil is needed, fertilizing, about all this you need to consult with experienced farmers or read the information in this article.

Some experienced gardeners are trying to plant varieties of cucumbers that require pollination - these are Marathon, Frigate, Manul, Northern Lights, etc. But so that your work is not in vain, and the plants bear fruit, it is necessary to plant hybrid varieties near the above-mentioned varieties - self-pollinating cucumbers in the proportion: 5 plants that require pollination and one hybrid species. This planting guarantees favorable plant growth, flowering and then cucumbers.

Cucumbers on the balcony - harvest

When selecting varieties of hybrids, preference can be given to later ripening varieties - these are Claudia F1, Marinda F1, Gladiator, Hercules.

How to grow cucumbers on the balcony correctly with your own hands is described in great detail later in this article.

Growing process

If you feel like a real farmer and still decide to start growing cucumbers on a loggia or balcony, desire alone is not enough.

Firstly, you need to know that cucumbers are a delicate crop; they need to be protected from drafts and comfortable conditions created for favorable cultivation.

The room should be re-equipped, namely: install additional lighting, ventilation and heating. This will increase daylight hours, which has a beneficial effect on the growth of seedlings. Proper performance of ventilation and heating installations is the key to maintaining proper climate control.

Important! If your balcony is not insulated, but is located on the east or south-east side, such a room is not suitable for growing cucumbers, since at night, especially in winter or early autumn, temperature changes will negatively affect the growing process, even to the death of the plants . Therefore, it is important to know in detail how to care for cucumbers on the balcony.

Growing cucumbers on the balcony

Secondly, it is necessary to carefully study the process of growing vegetables indoors and adhere to step-by-step technology:

sow seeds;
prepare the soil;
take care of the seeds;
plant seedlings;
plant nutrition;
formation of cucumber lash;
plant care.

Below is the cultivation step by step, thanks to which cucumbers will delight you with their color, and even more so with their harvest.

Stages of planting seeds

Sowing seeds is the most critical stage and is carried out in several stages. Before planting plants, you need to prepare the seeds, decide on the time of planting and harvesting. If you plan to get a decent harvest of cucumbers in early spring, you should plant the seeds in winter.

Therefore, if you start growing cucumbers, do not stop this process and follow the advice of experienced gardeners.

Necessary:

prepare a weak solution of potassium permanganate and soak the seeds in it for up to 20 minutes;
strain and place the seeds on a well-moistened gauze cloth folded in several layers;
When the seeds crack and begin to germinate, they should be sown in small flower pots or dark plastic cups.

It is important to pay attention to the container for growing seedlings; it should not be transparent, since solar heat has a beneficial effect on the development of various diseases in the root system.

Cucumber seedlings

Container for disembarkation

It is necessary to take into account that in order to protect the root system from unwanted rotting, pots or containers for planting plants should be with double bottom. Since cucumbers are a moisture-loving crop, it must be provided with abundant watering, so the upper bottom should have drainage holes through which excess moisture and water penetrates into the lower pan.

If you don't have special pots, use a dark plastic container and make a container with a double bottom. Suitable for this design plastic bottles. The capacity of the pot for one plant should be 2.5 liters.

Important! Do not use a metal container for seedlings, as they are susceptible to corrosion and may kill the plants.

Soil preparation process

Before planting cucumber seeds, land alone is not enough. It is necessary to prepare a soil composition in advance that will ensure good growth of the seedling and protect the soil from drying out.

By the way, there is no one ideal composition; you can choose it yourself.

1st squad. The mixture is selected in equal parts and mixed well:

compost;
turf land;
peat;
wood sawdust;
wood ash.

This composition can be purchased at a gardening store.

2nd composition. For one bucket above the proposed composition, add 10 grams of urea and 15 grams of nitrophoska. Mix everything thoroughly and plant the seeds.

3rd composition. A more profitable and economical option for soil preparation is to prepare the mixture with your own hands. garden plot. Take half a bucket of turf soil and compost, then two glasses of wood ash, 50 grams of lime, 5 grams of fertilizers: potassium, nitrogen, phosphorus. Mix everything thoroughly and compact it into a plastic bag. Then dig a deep hole, place a bag of soil mixture and cover with soil. After some time, the mixture will rot and become loose.

Before planting seeds, the soil must be treated with a weak solution of potassium permanganate - this will protect the plants from various diseases.

If you follow the advice of gardeners and prepare high-quality soil, this will significantly increase your chance of growing cucumbers and reaping a decent harvest without leaving your home.

Conditions for growing seeds

If you decide to start growing cucumbers on a loggia or balcony, you must follow some rules and tips. Caring for plants is not difficult, but the main thing is to create all the proper conditions for their favorable growth.

First, create and maintain the optimal temperature in the room, which should be between 22-25 degrees. If the air temperature is lower than expected, the seeds and future seedlings will slow down in development. Before planting seeds in the soil, the container must be thoroughly washed and rinsed with a solution of potassium permanganate. This will protect the seedlings from unwanted diseases.

When planting seeds, they must be deepened into the soil up to 2-3 cm. Place the pots with seedlings on a balcony that has been prepared in advance for growing cucumbers, namely: it is sufficiently well insulated, equipped with additional light and ventilation.

We grow cucumbers on the balcony ourselves

In about 25-28 days the first shoots will emerge. After the first shoots appear, the soil is fertilized twice: the first - after 2 weeks and after 10 days - the second. The necessary fertilizers can be purchased at the Ogorodnik store.

Important! Direct rays of the sun should not hit the plants.

As for the answer to the question “how often to water the plants,” here it is necessary to maintain a certain soil moisture; for this, watering must be done daily and with settled water at room temperature.

Planting seedlings

The first stage of cultivation is completed. The first shoots have appeared and now you can move on to the second stage of growing cucumbers - transplanting seedlings.

To do this, you need to purchase boxes with a double bottom at the store or construct the necessary container from plastic bottles. And cucumbers on the balcony - grown in plastic bottles - you can view details with photos in the gallery of this article. To prevent the soil from drying out, the container must meet the appropriate parameters: height - 20 cm, width - 30 cm, length - 60 cm.

When transplanting ready-made seedlings, fill the pots with the previously prepared soil mixture, approximately 1/3 full, and water generously with a weak solution of potassium permanganate at room temperature. Then, after 20 minutes, the lump of earth from the cups along with the seedlings must be placed in a box and covered with substrate. Such a transplant will protect the roots from unwanted damage. Watering the seedlings must be done once a day.

Please note. If the windows on the loggia are open and the air temperature is comfortable enough for plants, the pots should be placed in the place where gusts of wind are least felt.

The seedlings are transplanted and the growing process takes place within 30-40 days.

Top dressing

If there are created on your balcony ideal conditions To grow cucumbers and seedlings, they develop quite well; watering alone is not enough. After two weeks, when the first shoots appear, you should know what to feed and fertilize the young plants.

First feeding, based on 10 liters:

ammonium nitrate – 5 g;
potassium nitrate – 15 g;
superphosphate – 30 g;
magnesium sulfate – 5 g.

After 10 days, prepare a second feeding, based on 10 liters:

dilute well-rotted bird droppings in water (1:20);
superphosphate -20 g;
potassium sulfate 15 g.

Forming a cucumber lash

If you planted varieties that require pollination, they need to be pinched. When and how to pinch plants? To do this, you need to track when the third leaf appears and cut it off along with the growth point. After which, after 5 days, lateral shoots are formed from the axillary buds, below the first and below the second leaf, from which the main cucumber lashes are subsequently formed. The next pinchings must be done through the next two sheets. Therefore, having planted cucumbers on the balcony, growing and pinching (the video at the end of this article will help you understand all the processes in more detail) are prerequisites for the successful further growth of this crop on the balcony.

Growing cucumbers on the balcony

Since cucumbers are a climbing crop, the formed cucumber vine should be tied up. Approximately at a height of 1.5 m from the soil surface, it is necessary to tighten the wire. From the top of the wire, lower the thickened thread down, tying it to the stem. Then twist the stem around the thread. If you tie the plants in this way, it will not harm the growth and will provide good support for the plant.

In order to successfully grow cucumbers on a balcony, loggia or veranda, it is necessary to create proper conditions and care for the plants. By following all the recommendations and requirements of agricultural technology, you will get a fairly good harvest, please not only yourself and your loved ones, but also stock up on pickles for the winter.

Breeders have developed varieties of cucumbers that have a compact bush and are recommended for growing on balconies and loggias. These self-pollinating plants are very productive and do not require much attention from the owner. How to grow cucumbers on the balcony at home? Photos, videos and reviews will help novice vegetable lovers get a rich harvest of cucumbers on their balcony.

The optimal time for planting cucumbers for growing on the balcony is the last ten days of April - the first half of May

Growing cucumbers on the balcony: pot size, planting dates And

Cucumbers are one of the most popular crops in our country. They are grown not only in the garden and in the greenhouse, but also on the balcony or loggia. Many summer residents grow seedlings for the greenhouse and always leave a few bushes to grow at home. The plant blooms beautifully on the balcony and pleases the hostess with fragrant fruits.

What should you consider before you start growing cucumbers in a city apartment? Cucumbers are heat-loving plants. The balcony located on the north side of the apartment is not suitable for growing plants. There should be no drafts in the room, otherwise there will be no cucumber harvest and the plant will be lost.

The optimal time for planting cucumbers for growing on the balcony is the last ten days of April - the first half of May. It all depends on the climatic conditions of the area where the gardener lives. So in the Moscow region and central Russia, you can start sowing cucumber seeds in the second half of April. Residents of the Urals and Siberia should not rush and get to work in May. If you plant cucumber seedlings too early, it will still be cool on the balcony, and due to lack of light, the plant will grow, spending all its energy on the tops and not on the formation of fruits.

Seedlings should be planted in pots or containers. What size pot is needed for planting seedlings? Regular pots are suitable for indoor plants, with a depth and diameter of about 15 cm. You should not plant cucumbers in deep containers, otherwise all the plant’s forces will be spent on forming a powerful root system, and this is not necessary. If you decide to plant cucumber seedlings in containers, then you should choose boxes of this size:

depth – 15-20 cm;
width – about 25-30 cm;
length – 60-70 cm.

You should not plant cucumbers in deep containers, otherwise all the plant’s energy will be spent on forming a powerful root system, and this is not necessary

Growing cucumbers on the balcony: stages of planting seedlings, photo O

Before you start planting seeds for seedlings, it is important to carry out a number of preparatory procedures. These activities are necessary to prepare planting material for sowing, and also include the preparation of the soil mixture. What can be done to create the necessary conditions for seed germination? We recommend following this sequence of actions:

How to grow cucumbers on the balcony: caring for seedlings th

Caring for seedlings and adult plants on the balcony is easy. This usually takes a minimum of time and effort. In order for the cucumbers on the loggia to please you with a generous harvest, it is important to perform the following actions:

Water the seedlings regularly, but do not overdo it. If the soil becomes waterlogged, the cucumbers may become infected with a fungal infection;
To protect against pests and diseases, the plant must be sprayed periodically. For example, to prevent fungal infections, you can use regular baker's yeast. To prepare the solution, 5-10 grams of yeast are dissolved in 0.5 liters of water, and each bush is irrigated;
growing plants need;
In an adult cucumber bush, it is necessary to pinch the side shoots to form it into one stem. For this purpose, the mustache is also removed.

Growing cucumbers on the balcony, video for beginners X:

Who doesn’t know the real Russian green crispy cucumber with pimples? Its aroma quickly spreads throughout the room, you just have to cut its elongated fruit and add a little salt. Cucumbers are delicious both fresh and salted, and lightly salted cucumbers spread such an aroma that they instantly awaken the appetite.

A cucumber will make any salad tastier, and its emerald green dense foliage and bright yellow flowers can even serve as a decorative element, decorating one of the corners of your plot or balcony for half the summer. Yes, you heard right: cucumbers on the balcony are not a fairy tale, but the most real reality! Often, due to lack of knowledge, city residents avoid growing vegetables on balconies or loggias, so now we will reveal one of the secrets to you - the secret of a cucumber on a balcony.

Cucumber on the balcony? Is it possible?

Not only is it possible, but it is necessary! We give cucumber varieties on the balcony green light, however, everything must have its own order. For a balcony or loggia, where sharp temperature fluctuations are not new, but rather the norm, the varieties most adapted to this are suitable.

Among the huge variety of these works of the hands of breeders, it is worth paying attention to those that have already done a fair amount of work in our beds, to those that are not capricious and stable. For example, a well-known variety is suitable for a balcony April ; you can easily buy this variety now Zozulya , the variety will also be ideal for a balcony environment Cucaracha , and is suitable as a pollinator variety Manul .

We sow correctly

The first sowings can be carried out at the end of December, if you can then provide the grown seedlings with the necessary thermal conditions on the loggia or balcony. And then you will be able to taste the most fragrant and long-awaited cucumbers in early April, to the wonder and envy of your neighbors. If warmth settles there later, then the seedlings need to be sown, taking into account the fact that in a month you must plant them in a permanent place.

Sowing– it’s a responsible matter, so there’s no need to rush. To begin with, the seeds must be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate - dipping them in it for about 20 minutes, then placing them on damp gauze and waiting until they begin to germinate. As soon as their noses are cracked, you should start sowing in pots or cups, which must be filled beforehand soil mixture. By the way, about the mixture: its ideal composition for cucumbers must include humus, peat, turf soil, as well as sawdust crushed into dust, take all this in equal parts.

It will not be superfluous if you add a glass of wood ash, a tablespoon of nitrophoska and half a tablespoon of urea to a bucket of the resulting mixture. All this must be mixed until smooth. Before placing the nutrient mixture into cups, they should be rinsed with a weak solution of potassium permanganate or held over steam for half a minute.

They usually sow one seed in each cup, deepening it 1.5-2 cm. After sowing, the cups with seeds are placed in a warm place. It is desirable that the temperature there is constantly maintained at 23...26°C.

Shoots have appeared

This is a great joy, especially for a beginning gardener, but the worries don’t end there, there are even more of them. As soon as the first sprouts appear above the soil surface, the cups must be moved to a well-lit place. In apartments this is most often a window sill, but always free of any drafts. I am glad that with the advent of plastic windows in our lives, drafts have self-liquidated.

Ideally, for normal growth and development of seedlings, it is necessary to maintain the room temperature at 18...20°C during the day and about 15°C at night. If it is too cold, the seedlings will develop slowly.

Not satisfied with the quality of seedlings

Beginners often encounter problems when growing cucumber seedlings- its quality, alas, is low. In order to kill two birds with one stone - to improve the quality of seedlings and to speed up the fruiting period, it is necessary to install additional ones. Nowadays there are a lot of them on sale, but you shouldn’t pay attention to the most expensive ones, take those that are simpler and cheaper (for example, lamps with a power of up to 90 W are quite enough). Supplementary lighting lamps must be placed strictly horizontally, placing them at a distance of at least 12-15 cm from the plants.

As the seedlings develop, the lamps must be moved away from the plants. Lamps are usually installed and turned on as soon as the first shoots appear above the soil surface. They should illuminate the plants from 8 am to 8 pm, providing twelve hours of additional light.

Questions about watering

People often ask: how to properly water cucumber seedlings. There is nothing complicated here. If there is enough light (additional lamps are installed), then it is necessary to water a couple of times a week. If there are no lamps, and the growth is not so intense, then once is enough. However, plants have certain requirements for water itself. For example, it is imperative to water with water that has stood for at least a day, and it should not be cold. The optimal temperature of irrigation water is +23…+24°C, that is, approximately room temperature.

How long to grow seedlings?

The optimal time required for the full development of seedlings is usually about a month – 26-28 days. During this period, a couple of feedings should be done. The seedlings are fed for the first time 12-14 days after germination, and the second time - a week after the first feeding. Any garden mixture or any complex mineral fertilizer is ideal as additional nutrition.

The seedlings have been grown, what next?

As soon as your seedlings have reached the optimal age, they must be planted on a loggia or balcony. Small boxes are usually used as containers.- narrow and long. Often their height is no more than 20 cm, width 30 cm, and length 50-60 cm. Before planting seedlings in boxes, they are filled with a nutrient mixture. You can use the same mixture that you filled the cups with before sowing the seeds. On a loggia or closed balcony, boxes with seedlings can be placed anywhere as long as they have enough light, but on an open balcony they should be placed only in the corners. This will save them from sharp gusts of wind.

Before planting seedlings, the soil mixture must be watered with a warm solution of potassium permanganate, and immediately before planting (15-20 minutes) with water at room temperature to moisten the substrate. Place the seedlings in small holes, trying to plant them with a lump of earth so as not to damage the delicate roots.

Is care difficult?

Caring for cucumber plants on the balcony is not difficult, but it still requires certain actions. About a week or a little later after planting the seedlings in boxes, it is necessary tie up it to the wire using ordinary twine. In order for the seedlings to be tied at the same height, the wire is pulled evenly, placing it strictly above the box. The lashes are tied so as not to damage the tender shoots, and for this purpose the twine is pulled into two threads. Then the tip of the plant is pushed between them.

Features of agricultural technology

Subtleties when caring for cucumbers on the balcony include periodic removal of the mustache. This is done in order to form the plant into one stem. The top of the main stem should be pinched only when the entire vine reaches the height of the wire, but not before. In addition to pinching the top, you should also take care to remove all side shoots, because they still do not participate in the formation of the fruit, so it is better to trim them. It is advisable to pinch all other shoots, performing this operation just above the ovary, leaving one leaf.

Do you need additional protection?

Yes, wind protection is required on open loggias. To do this, you can use ordinary film, which should be pulled like a curtain. In good weather, this curtain can simply be removed like a regular curtain.

Watering cucumbers

Watering adult plants is not much different from watering seedlings. They are also carried out with settled water, and the frequency of watering is twice a week at an optimal consumption rate of 2-2.5 liters for each plant.

Feeding

Adult cucumber plants also need fertilizing to increase yields and support plants in habitat conditions that are not entirely familiar to them. The most optimal time to apply fertilizing is during the fruiting period. At this time, it is advisable to feed the plants approximately once every 8-9 days. As fertilizers, you can use both mineral fertilizers and simple natural substances, for example, an infusion of tea or eggshells from raw eggs.

About pests and diseases

Unfortunately, even on a balcony, cucumber plants can get sick or be attacked by pests. They most often suffer from aphids, whiteflies and spider mites.

WITH aphids It's best to fight at home folk remedies. The most acceptable and effective of them is to treat plants affected by aphids with tobacco infusion. We take the cheapest cigarettes and shake out the contents. Pour everything into water; it would be optimal to spend one pack of cigarettes per liter of water. Then put everything on the fire, bring to a boil and simmer for 7-10 minutes. After this, you need to pour another liter of water into the resulting infusion. The resulting liquid should be poured over the affected leaves. The nicotine contained in tobacco is harmful not only to humans - it kills aphids very quickly.

WITH whitefly things are more complicated, a stronger team is needed here. The same tobacco will do, but gutted cigarettes should be infused for at least a day so that the solution is as concentrated as possible. Sometimes they use a much simpler remedy, applicable to both aphids and whiteflies - a vacuum cleaner. It’s easier to work with devices that can regulate power - we set it to minimum and collect harmful insects, everything is simple - as if we were vacuuming a carpet. In home, balcony conditions, the effect is excellent.

A vacuum cleaner is not suitable for fighting it, and tobacco won’t scare it, but a strong infusion of garlic is quite possible! To do this, take one fresh head, grind it and add the resulting mass to water (about a liter). After the mixture has stood for an hour and a half, it is filtered and about 15 g of soap, preferably antibacterial, is added to the solution. This mixture, destructive for spider mites, is diluted to a working solution (in about five liters of water) and the plants are sprayed with this solution. This is how you can defeat these unpleasant and uninvited guests at home without chemicals.

Nikolay Khromov,

Candidate of Agricultural Sciences,
Researcher, Department of Berry Crops, State Scientific Institution VNIIS named after. I.V. Michurina,
member of the NIRR Academy

Photo by Olga Rubtsova

Today, more and more owners of city apartments use their balconies and loggias not as a warehouse for unnecessary things, but decorate them with flowers and even grow various herbs and vegetables. Cucumbers grow well on glass loggias and open balconies. But in order to enjoy a cucumber picked practically in the apartment in the spring or summer, you need to know how to plant, grow and how to feed cucumbers on the balcony.

Cucumbers on the balcony and loggia will not be pollinated by bees, so it is recommended to choose self-pollinating varieties:

Balcony miracle;
Window-balcony;
Diamond;
Masha F1;
Swallowtail;
April;
City cucumber.

Seed stores offer a large selection of different hybrids, from which you can choose one suitable for growing on a loggia or balcony.

If you choose a variety that needs to be pollinated, you will have to carry out the pollination procedure yourself. To do this, you need to pick a flower without an ovary (male) and move its center (stamens) along the middle (pistils) of flowers with an ovary, which are female flowers. One male flower can be used to pollinate several female flowers.

Step 2 – Preparing the balcony

Cucumbers are light-loving plants, so loggias located on the north side are not suitable for growing them. As a last resort, additional lighting can be installed above the plants.

It is also not recommended to grow cucumbers on open balconies located in a draft.

The bushes will grow well and the fruits will develop on glazed loggias with floor-to-ceiling windows. Tinted windows and curtains are not advisable here as they block the penetration of light.

If you are planning to grow cucumbers on your balcony in winter, you should additionally equip it with:

heaters;
additional lighting;
good ventilation.

Step 3 - Preparing Seeds and Soil

Treated hybrid seeds are used dry for planting. If the planting material is not treated, it is first disinfected and germinated:

As soon as the seeds hatch, they are ready for planting. The process should not be long, otherwise it may break off.

The soil for cucumbers on the balcony should be the same as for cucumber seedlings. You can purchase ready-made special soil or prepare it yourself from the following components, which are taken in equal parts:

compost;
turf land;
sawdust;
ash;
peat.

Before use, the prepared soil mixture is spilled with a solution of potassium permanganate for disinfection. You can immediately add fertilizers in the form of urea (10 g) and nitrophoska (15 g), which are mixed in a bucket of soil.

Step 4 - Preparing the Pots

To grow cucumbers on the balcony, you can use clay, ceramic or plastic pots, as well as plastic water bottles with the top cut off. The volume of the container must be at least 5 liters.

The bottom of pots and bottles should have drainage holes.

If you grow cucumbers in plastic bottles, be sure to think about what to use to make stands into which excess water will be poured.

Step 5 - Planting cucumbers on the balcony

In April and May, on insulated loggias, the air temperature during the day is already more than +20 degrees, and at night it does not drop below +15, so at this time you can sow seeds directly into pots or plastic bottles.

To get an earlier harvest, you can grow seedlings. To do this, sowing is done in March, about a month and a half before planting the cucumbers in pots.

Sowing seeds, photo

In containers for growing seedlings and pots, the sowing procedure is the same:

the bottom of plastic bottles and pots must be covered with drainage;
containers are filled with moist soil;
seeds are placed in a hole 1.5-2 cm deep;
the soil from above is sprayed with warm water;
containers with crops are covered with cling film.

Crops should be placed in a warm place. If the planting material is of high quality, then cucumber seedlings may appear as early as 3-4 days. During this time, the film should be removed every day for a few minutes to remove condensation and ventilate the soil.

When the seedlings appear, they are placed in a well-lit place where there is no direct sunlight.

Step 6 – Watering and fertilizing cucumbers on the balcony

Young plants are watered in a timely manner when the top layer of soil dries out. They do not yet need a large volume of water at this time, since the root system is small.

In small containers, the soil dries out faster, so the soil under the seedlings is moistened more often. In large pots, bushes are watered so that the soil is moistened to a depth of about 10 cm. As the plants grow, the volume of water for irrigation is increased.

Attention! The soil inside plastic bottles and pots takes a long time to dry out, so you should water cucumbers growing in such containers carefully. Otherwise, the soil will acidify, the roots will begin to rot, and the plant will die. It is very easy to determine whether or not it is time to water young cucumbers that grow in transparent plastic bottles. The wet soil is dark in color, but as it dries it becomes lighter.

First feeding of cucumbers on the balcony and cucumber seedlings is carried out two weeks after emergence. At this time, to grow foliage, plants need nitrogen, which is found in many ready-made fertilizers. Choose those that contain the majority of nitrogen. For the first time, cucumbers can be fed simply with urea (1 tbsp per 3 liters of water). Each seedling is watered with half a glass of this solution.

The second time, seedlings and young plants growing in pots are fed with complex fertilizer:

potassium nitrate – 12 grams;
superphosphate – 12 grams;
magnesium sulfate – 4 grams;
ammonium nitrate – 4 grams.

Dilute fertilizers in 8 liters of water.

Attention! In order not to buy several types of fertilizers and not to calculate grams, you can use humic organomineral fertilizer to feed seedlings. From one and a half to three caps of this fertilizer are diluted in 5 liters of water and watered with it on the soil in which seedlings and young cucumbers grow in pots. Use a solution of humic fertilizer for the growth and development of young plants 2-3 times, with a break of 7-10 days.

Step 7 – Transplanting cucumber seedlings, photo

Growing seedlings on the balcony ends about a month after sowing, when 3-4 true leaves appear on the bushes. At this time, they will need to be transplanted into plastic bottles or pots already filled with moist soil:

In order for the plants to quickly take root, they are kept in a shaded place for several days, and then placed in a place where there is a lot of light, but there is no direct sunlight and it is not hot.

If cucumbers are grown on an open balcony, they are pre-hardened. When the seedlings take root in the new container, the plants begin to be taken out into the fresh air. On the first day - for a couple of hours, increasing the stay time every day.

Step 8 – Caring for cucumbers on the balcony

How to care for cucumbers on the balcony? Proper care consists of a number of mandatory activities:

timely watering;
feeding;
lash garter;
bush formation;
protection from pests and diseases.

Watering

Richly moistened seedlings transplanted into pots or plastic bottles are watered for the first time after 7 days. Subsequently, the soil is moistened as needed. The frequency of watering cucumbers on the balcony depends on the air temperature, the material from which the pot is made (in clay containers the soil dries out faster) and the degree of development of the plant.

Since cucumbers grow on a loggia in a limited volume of soil, the frequency of watering depends on the growth of the bush. The larger the plant, the more its roots consume moisture. At the same time, make sure that the soil does not turn into a swamp, otherwise the roots will begin to rot.

Garter, photo

Rooted cucumbers good conditions will begin to grow quickly, so their stem and lashes require garter. You can use twine for each plant separately, tying it at a height of 1.5-1.7 cm to a nail driven into the wall. Twine or rope is lowered to the bush and wrapped around the main stem. In the future, you will need a few more pieces of twine to tie the whips to them.

Cucumbers should be tied to the twine every 15-20 cm, or you can simply twist the whip around the rope.

If a lot of cucumbers are grown on the balcony, a wire or rope is stretched at the top and twine is tied to it.

How to feed cucumbers on the balcony

Growing almost adult cucumbers need potassium-phosphorus fertilizers, which will help the plants develop, bloom, set ovaries and bear fruit.

To feed cucumbers on the loggia, you can use Kemira or Fertika Lux complex fertilizer. They contain phosphorus, potassium and some nitrogen. A tablespoon of fertilizer is diluted in 10 liters. water and feed the cucumbers with the solution once every 5-7 days. For mature, overgrown plants, fertilizing is applied with each watering.

Pinching cucumbers on the balcony

The formation of a bush of cucumbers growing on a loggia depends on the variety.

Hybrid varieties can grow up to 3 meters, so the whip that has grown to the trellis is pinched. After this procedure, side shoots will actively begin to form, which are pinched at a length of 25 to 40 cm. The main harvest on hybrids develops on the main stem.

Bee-pollinated cucumbers on the balcony is formed as follows:

The shoots from the first and second leaves are left, and the third leaf is removed along with the growing point.
The fourth leaf with the shoot is left, and the growth point above the fifth and sixth leaves is removed.
Next, pinching is done every two sheets.

Why do cucumbers turn yellow on the balcony?

There may be several reasons for this illness:

Air temperature above +30 degrees. If the plants are too hot, the leaves begin to turn yellow and wilt. What to do: in the evening, spray the foliage with warm water and cover the top soil with damp moss.
Spider mite settles on plants at high temperatures and dry air. Signs of pests are cobwebs in the axils between the leaves and stems, light yellow spots on the foliage, small dark moving dots with reverse side leaves. Lack of treatment will lead to yellowing and drying out of first the foliage and then the entire plant. What to do: Spray the back of the leaves with garlic infusion. Carry out the procedure several times.
Powdery mildew affects cucumbers in high humidity and drafts. Signs: white spots in the form of mold on the leaves. What do: at the first signs, spray once a week with a solution of 1 liter of water and 0.5 grams of potassium permanganate.

If in cucumbers the ovaries turn yellow and dry on the balcony, please pay attention to the following points:

You should water the bushes only with warm water;
watering should be regular so that the soil does not dry out;
lack of fertilizers also leads to yellowing and falling off of the ovaries on cucumbers, so do not forget to feed the plants on time;
cucumber culture loves good lighting and with a lack of light, the ovaries turn yellow or do not form at all;
pollinated varieties require pollination of female flowers, otherwise the ovaries will not develop, but will begin to turn yellow and fall off.

Having studied step by step instructions for beginners - how to grow cucumbers on the balcony at home, you can safely start sowing seeds so that you can enjoy delicious cucumbers without leaving home.

Cucumbers grown on the balcony