Growing cucumbers on a windowsill in winter - basic principles
Growing cucumbers on a windowsill in winter is a great way to provide your family with fresh vegetables. Plants need warmth and light to harvest. The first is always enough during the heating season, and light can be provided by placing the pots on the southern window or installing additional lighting. If lemons and tangerines bear fruit at home, then cucumbers can all the more.
Growing cucumbers on a windowsill in winter - which varieties are better
In addition, only early hybrids with a short growing season (30 to 50 days) should be selected.
For example, the following varieties are suitable for growing in pots on the window (marked with F1, which means "hybrid"):
- Khutorok;
- Masha;
- Marinda;
- Bianca;
- Prestige;
- Room Rytov;
- Claudia.
Sowing dates
If it is possible to supplement the planting, it is better to plant the seeds in winter, in January-February. The culture should have at least 15 hours of daylight hours. Therefore, without additional lighting, it is more expedient to sow later, in spring, when the daylight hours become longer.
You need to focus on how long it will take from the emergence of seedlings to the ripening of cucumbers. On average, this takes at least 45 days.
First, it is better to sow the seeds in small cups on seedlings. And then transplant it into pots or containers with a volume of 5 liters. This will be enough for one plant. The soil must be taken light and nutritious. A special substrate for pumpkin crops is sold in stores, but a universal soil for indoor flowers is also suitable.
How to care for indoor cucumbers
Comfortable conditions for plants will be lighting for at least 12 hours, warm (not lower than 20 ° C, otherwise they will stop growing). And the complete absence of drafts.
Caring for cucumbers on the windowsill is as follows:
- Watering in the morning as the soil dries out.
- Periodic spraying, because working heating batteries dry the air.
- Top dressing before flowering with nitrogen fertilizers, and then with complex preparations (phosphorus-potassium).
Indoor cucumbers need proper pruning. Parthenocarpic varieties are formed into one stem, pinching its top when the bush gains height. As a rule, it is limited by the height of the window. Common hybrids are pinched after 5 leaves, forming a lush bush. It does not hurt to remove the mustache - they only take food from the bush.