Not everyone who wants to relish their own grown cucumbers can afford a personal plot, so the opportunity to grow these vegetables on their balcony not only in summer but also in winter, according to a completely uncomplicated technology, is a good solution for many. In addition, such cultivation will help to green and decorate the appearance of the room.
What varieties to choose
If you want to start growing balcony cucumbers, the first question arises as to how to choose the right varieties suitable for this process. It’s worthwhile to approach the selection with all responsibility, because this is especially for beginner growers, which will be the key to obtaining the expected result. First of all: it makes sense to grow cucumbers at home from self-pollinated varieties - hybrids that do not require pollination by bees.
The selection of such varieties is quite diverse, they include:
The most popular are:
Quite tall varieties are in demand and are characterized by high yields:
- Bianca
- Masha.
There are varieties designed specifically for home growing:
- The attention of home growers deserves a fairly new cucumber hybrid Balcony miracle. This variety is self-pollinated, quickly ripening, its fruits are small-tuberous with bright green skin, on average, their size is 7 cm, they are tastefully characterized by the absence of bitterness.
- Often used for home vegetable growing. Shchedryk, characterized by early maturity, cucumbers form already a month and a half after sowing. The variety favorably differs in that its bushes are compact, branches no longer than 12 cm in length, the fruits appear in the form of a neat bouquet of up to 8 cucumbers on each.
- Buyan F Great for sowing at home. It grows in a small bush, but can produce up to 8 kg of fruit. Seeds ripen up to 50 days. The only inconvenience when growing it is the need for additional lighting.
- Emelya - a variety that produces large fruits up to 0.15 kg each and is characterized by cold resistance.
- Ant - A cultivar known to vegetable growers, when 3 to 7 green leaves appear in the formation of bushes, the yield is approximately 4 kg per bush. Requires manual pollination.
- Crunchy - self-pollinated hybrid high-yielding cucumbers that appear 50 days after germination. Grow a bouquet of an average of 7 fruits. The variety is vigorous.
Quite rarely, for sowing on the balcony, they take varieties pollinated by bees, to which they belong:
The farm is rapid in terms of the appearance of fruits by a bee pollinated variety - the crop appears by the end of the first month. But this variety is quite demanding when leaving - it needs constant top dressing. In conditions of home growing on the balcony, the length of cucumbers is up to 10 cm, they appear with blackish spikes. On the bush, mainly female flowers grow. When growing varieties of cucumbers pollinated by insects, hybrid self-pollinating varieties should be sown next to them at the rate of 1 hybrid plant per 5 ordinary ones.
Important! For manual pollination of insect-pollinated varieties, it is necessary to determine the male steroid and place it on the female stamen. For greater convenience, a soft brush can be used when transferring the empty flower.
Preparatory work
As when planting in an open space, and when sowing at home, certain preparatory work should be done with seeds, soil and containers.
Seed preparation and processing
The seeds selected for planting must first be placed in a pink solution of potassium permanganate for a third of an hour, after which soaking in aloe juice for half a day will help them get enough of useful substances, vitamins and minerals. The done preparatory manipulations with seeds will have a beneficial effect in the future on the productive growth of cucumbers. 
At the end of the procedure, the seeds should be dried throughout the day, after which they are considered completely ready for sowing. If the seeds are not planted immediately in the soil, then they are, without drying, placed on a wet cloth. Sprouting seeds begin to crack on sprouting seeds, after which they are considered prepared for planting in separate containers.
Choice of capacity for landing
In order to further simplify the process of transplanting sprouted plants to a permanent place, it is better to sow the seeds in paper cups. Of these, sprouts with a lump of earth are transferred without special difficulties into containers for planting. Planting sprouts or sowing seeds is possible in cut plastic bottles, in flower pots, in other not less than 5-liter containers.
Did you know? Cucumbers are 95% water, which is why 1 kg of this vegetable contains only 150 calories.
Each seed is recommended to be sown in a separate bowl. Before filling the soil mixture, disinfect the containers above the steam. Processing with a pink solution of potassium permanganate will not be superfluous.
Soil preparation
One of the most significant points is the preparation of nutrient soil. High-quality soil for sowing cucumbers consists of turf soil, peat and humus in equal shares, wood sawdust. Vegetable growers with experience recommend mixing half a glass of wood ash into the resulting composition, a little less than 1 tbsp. l urea, 20 g of superphosphate. All components are thoroughly mixed. A more economical option is a mixture of ordinary garden soil with turfy soil and humus.
All parts are taken equally. Adding 2 cups of wood ash, 5 grams of potash, phosphate and nitrogen fertilizers, as well as 50 grams of hydrated lime to 1 bucket will not hurt. All components must be mixed, given that a properly prepared soil is friable. The resulting composition can be stored in bags made of polyethylene until use. The necessary composition can be purchased ready-made at an agricultural produce store.
Important! Before pouring into the tank, the soil mixture must be sanitized over steam or poured with boiling water.
Planting and caring for seeds at home
To be able to plant seeds according to technology, it is necessary to subsequently obtain their timely and full germination. When planting, the seeds deepen no more than 2 cm. Watering is required.
To obtain the expected result, special attention should be paid to seed care after planting in the soil, creating the optimal microclimate for their germination:
- containers with seeds are stored in a warm place;
- recommended air temperature - from + 23 ° С to + 26 ° С;
- under these conditions, containers with seeds should have a first period of 26 to 28 days;
- first fed 14 days after germination (in 3 liters of water, dilute 1 teaspoon of urea, 1 sprout - 200 ml of solution), after a while as an additional do the second feeding;
- a fertilizer complex and enriched soil are suitable for feeding;
- when piercing the sprouts, the container with them should be placed in a fairly bright place, for which a warm balcony or window sill in the room is suitable;
- the temperature in the room should be from + 18 ° С to + 20 ° С, at night it is possible to decrease the temperature to + 15 ° С;
- once a day, irrigation is carried out with warm, settled water.
Observance of such simple conditions will not only help to plant the seeds correctly, but will also ensure harmonious development for stronger seedlings.
Transplanting seedlings and subsequent care
Seedlings ready for transplantation are determined in containers filled with earth. The soil mixture for planting seedlings is prepared in the same way as for sowing seeds. The container for planting should have a height of 15 to 20 cm and be narrow and elongated.
Before starting the transplantation process, the soil should first be poured with a warm solution of potassium permanganate, and a quarter of an hour before planting with settled warm water. Seedlings should be removed from the cups and, trying not to break the earthen lump, planted in the soil. After that, it takes a month and a half to grow it.
Important! When growing on an open balcony, it is recommended to determine the seedlings of cucumbers in places near walls or in corners to avoid the effects of gusts of wind.
Optimal conditions for growing
Tanks with seedlings should be located in an insulated balcony or loggia, with a temperature comfortable for them from + 22 ° C and an allowable night drop of several degrees. It is recommended to keep cucumbers on the south side. Care should be taken in advance for light reflectors (mirrors, foil). The placement of polystyrene under them will help keep the roots from unexpected cooling. To grow cucumbers indoors, you need to maintain a sufficiently high level of humidity.
In the daytime, good lighting should be maintained. If necessary, you can use infrared or conventional, used in everyday life lamps. With a lack of lighting, foliage growth may not cause anxiety, but the fruits may not appear. At night, artificial lighting can be turned off to allow the relaxation of cucumber bushes and restore strength. When growing cucumbers both in the open ground and indoors, the soil should be loosened.
Watering and fertilizing plants
Moisture for cucumbers is of particular importance - without sufficient access, the bushes cease to form an ovary, so a special humidification system or the presence of water tanks near plants will not be superfluous. Moisture must be present in the soil where the cucumbers are grown, in no case can it dry out. Watering plants should be with warm, settled water several times a week.
Feeding is also important, especially when keeping cucumbers on the balcony. The first top dressing is done 10-14 days after transplantation, urea is suitable for it (1 hour for 2-3 liters of water, not more than 200 ml per plant). The second top dressing is carried out 7 days after the first; a mixture of nitrophoska (1 tsp) and wood ash (1 tbsp) per 3 l of water, not more than 200 ml per bush, is optimal. Then cucumbers are fed with a frequency of once every couple of weeks.
Specially developed mineral fertilizers that can be bought in specialized stores are suitable. For seedlings, "Growth" and "Agrolife" are recommended, for adult plants - "Epin", "Radogor", "Bucephalus". Before use, you need to familiarize yourself with the instructions. Organic fertilizers that are bred in warm water are also suitable for feeding. Although cucumbers love moisture, it is impossible to fill them with top dressing - this is fraught with the death of the plant.
Did you know? Through the thorns on young cucumbers in the early morning time, excess moisture is removed.
Pinching and lashing
A week after planting cucumber seedlings, the stretched plant should be tied to a support, wire or rope, which are stretched at a height of one and a half meters. The antennae appearing on the stem should be systematically removed, which contributes to the formation of the stem. Extra extra lateral processes also need to be removed - they do not participate in the formation, and they will take away forces from the plant.
For more effective formation of the ovaries after reaching the height of the support of the main shoot, it should be pinched, the side shoots should be pinched to a height of 25 to 45 cm. 10 to 11 leaves are left on the shoots. In hybrid self-pollinated varieties, the pinching procedure can be omitted.
Disease and Pest Prevention
If the cucumbers grow poorly, their leaves are deformed and dry out - this means that the plants are affected by the disease, or they are attacked by pests.
The most common pests:
- aphid, for the prevention of which they use tobacco infusion (tobacco from 1 pack of cheap cigarettes is poured into 1 liter of water and boiled for 10 minutes, after which another 1 liter of water is added, all the leaves of the plant are carefully sprayed with the resulting solution). The aphid does not tolerate nicotine and therefore from such a remedy it not only does not appear on cucumbers, but also dies quickly enough;
- whitefly, to prevent the appearance of which is still the same tobacco infusion, but more concentrated and pre-infused for about a day. If insects nevertheless appeared, then in closed conditions, collecting whiteflies from leaves with a vacuum cleaner is suitable for controlling them;
- spider mite, to get rid of which a saturated infusion of 1 head of chopped garlic and 1 liter of water, infused for half an hour is suitable, after which it is necessary to add 15 g of laundry soap and dilute the infusion with water up to 5 liters.
Preventive measures to prevent the manifestation of the most dangerous diseases in cucumbers:
Also, the implementation of several simple rules will help prevent the occurrence of such diseases when growing cucumbers:
- crop rotation compliance;
- timely harvesting from the garden beds and all residues of vegetation;
- correct temperature regime - not lower than + 23 ° С;
- watering with warm, settled water.
Features of harvesting and storage of crops
Depending on the variety of cucumbers, they can start to be collected a month or a half after planting seedlings. This should be done daily to enable the next batch of fruits to ripen. Cucumbers are vegetables that are not kept fresh for long, so it is recommended that they be eaten almost immediately or used for harvesting for the winter.
Important! When growing cucumbers on the balcony, it is rational to use the hydroponic (soilless) method, which greatly simplifies some stages of growing plants in the soil (preparing the soil mixture, watering, transplanting seedlings, and others), but also has its own characteristics (arranging special devices, filling their substrate, the creation of a nutrient solution, etc.).
As experience shows, obtaining a crop of cucumbers at home is quite possible and uncomplicated. The main thing is to get acquainted with all the nuances of the process and be patient. Then the final result will surely please both the experienced home grower and the one who for the first time decided to treat himself to self-grown Zelentsy.
