How many days do cucumbers sprout: when to expect the first shoots of the crop

Cucumber seeds are considered one of the easiest and fastest to germinate. Each of them contains an embryo, securely covered with a dense skin that protects it from various adversities. In order for the shell to open and release the embryonic root, certain conditions are required. If all necessary requirements are met, small seedlings appear on the surface within 3–4 days after they are placed in the soil. However, it often happens when enough time has passed, but the shoots still cannot be expected! Why cucumber seedlings do not grow and what to do, read the article.

How long to wait for germination 2. Reasons for the slow germination of the crop 3. How to choose the right planting material 4. How to properly prepare the planting material 5. How to properly prepare the soil 6. What conditions are necessary to obtain seedlings

Photo: It takes effort to get seedlings.

Factors affecting germination

Conventionally, factors can be divided into internal - related to seeds, and external, that is, climatic, as well as sowing conditions. All factors are approximately equal.

The germination of cucumbers can be affected by the following:

Age of seeds. Although cucumber seeds can successfully germinate even when quite old - at 7-8 years old - over time, their germination percentage decreases. The older the seed, the less likely it is to produce a harvest, however, a seed that is only a year old will also not produce good seedlings, so the optimal age for them is 2-3 years.
Conditions in which the seeds were located. To live, they need oxygen, as well as a low temperature - about 10-12 degrees, although they germinate at a much higher temperature. They must not be allowed to become damp, because then they will die, just like at high temperatures and lack of moisture. If there is high humidity and heat in the room, the seeds left for storage may germinate at the wrong time and, accordingly, spoil.
Seed integrity and size. Heavy, undamaged seeds germinate best. The heavier they are, the greater the chance of sprouts appearing.
Boarding time. It is better to plant cucumbers when it is finally warmer and the earth is completely warmed up, since they need high temperature and humidity to ripen. After planting, it is better to cover the soil with a special film to create a greenhouse inside.
Land quality. Infected or depleted soil will not be able to provide a good harvest, so before sowing, either add a new layer of soil or treat it with special means.
Early pre-sowing seed treatment ensures a higher yield.

Cucumber growth

How to choose and prepare soil so that cucumber seeds germinate faster

There is only one piece of advice here: mandatory disinfection by any means, regardless of origin. But in general, the soil should be rich in nutrition, sufficiently moisture- and breathable, and loose. In compacted soil, it will be quite difficult for the seed coat to open, and for a weak, tender seedling it will be difficult to break through. The heavier the soil, the longer it will take for sprouts to appear on the surface.

A rather dense crust can form on top, in the fight against which the fragile seed sprout will, of course, lose. If you cannot provide any other soil option, then sow in shallow furrows, which, after the seeds have decomposed, immediately cover with lighter sifted soil in a layer no higher than 2 cm.

Recommendation . It is very convenient to buy ready-made soil for growing seedlings of a specific crop or a universal one. In this case, you will free yourself from the need to feed cucumber seedlings throughout their further development. However, disinfection will still be required.

How many days will it take to expect the first shoots?

How many days does it take for tomato seeds to germinate?

It is difficult to answer exactly what day cucumbers sprout. The germination time of cucumbers depends on germination factors. In particular, the higher the temperature during planting and in the following days, the faster the seedlings will hatch. In the best case, you can expect seed germination within 4-5 days after planting, and the maximum period is considered to be two weeks. If after this time no sprouts appear, the cucumbers are replanted.

On a note! Cucumbers in a greenhouse usually germinate faster than in open ground.

In addition to the temperature of the ground, pre-sowing seed treatment can also affect the germination time. So, before planting, the seeds are treated with a solution of potassium permanganate (dilute a third of a tablespoon of potassium permanganate in two hundred milliliters of water) to destroy possible infections. In general, if there is a non-zero possibility of cucumbers becoming infected with any disease, it is best not to try to get rid of the infection, but to buy a new batch of seeds, since no specialized product provides a complete guarantee of curing the disease.

As a rule, when germinating seedlings in cups or boxes in advance, sprouts appear earlier than when planting seeds in open ground, since cucumbers are heat-loving plants, and the temperature inside is more stable and higher than outside.

Thus, before answering the question of how many days do cucumber seeds germinate, you need to know under what conditions they were planted and how they were processed before sowing.

What determines the germination of cucumbers?

How many days do cucumbers sprout after sowing depends on a number of factors. Quite often, sprouts do not appear, not because of low-quality seeds, but under the influence of bad weather conditions. Cucumber is a heat-loving crop. And it’s hard to bear the cold. Therefore, even the slightest sudden cold snap is detrimental to a young plant. To avoid delays in the emergence of seedlings, it is advisable to plant when the soil is well warmed up and the threat of frost has disappeared. If it is intended to be grown in a greenhouse, sowing the seeds can be done two weeks earlier. You can see the article about growing cucumbers on the balcony.

The essence of the landing is as follows. On light soils, the seed is planted 2 centimeters deep, on heavy soils it is deepened 1.5 centimeters. Then sprinkle with soil, peat and water. The bed is covered with plastic film until the first shoots appear.

Practice shows that when there is a lack of air, seeds germinate much better.

About 3-6 days - that’s how long it takes for cucumbers to sprout if the technology is followed. If the earth has warmed up to +18-25 degrees, on the 3rd day you can already see the first shoots. However, if the temperature drops below normal, seedlings will appear later. 8-10 days - this is approximately the day on which cucumbers sprout after sowing in still unheated soil. And if the cold snap continues, then most likely the farmer will not see any young shoots.

The following factors influence how many days it takes for cucumbers to sprout:

Soil temperature.
For this crop, +12-13 degrees is the lower limit. Experts advise sowing slightly hatched seeds after May 25th. Although much depends on the region of cultivation. In the southern parts with a warm microclimate, they are sown even earlier.
Humidity level.
The degree of soil fertility.
The presence of pathogenic fungi in the soil. To avoid such a situation, before sowing, the bed is watered abundantly with a manganese solution.
Shelf life of seeds. It is better not to use seed that has been stored for more than 5 years. The germination of seeds deteriorates over time. However, freshly harvested seeds also have a low germination rate. 2-year-old raw materials are ideal.

How to quickly germinate cucumbers

Since it is in the early stages that this vegetable is especially vulnerable (a sprout that survives the first weeks is most likely to develop safely and bear a harvest), cucumbers are subjected to additional processing to speed up the ripening process. Seeds that have undergone special pre-sowing preparation can be either planted in beds, planted as seedlings on a windowsill, or left to warm up under special lamps.

Seeds on the ground

Ajax cucumbers

Accelerating the growth of cucumbers takes place in several stages - from seed treatment to sowing, but you need to remember that the methods work most effectively when combined.

Before you start germination, you need to select high-quality seeds. This is done like this: first, undamaged large seeds without spots are selected, then they are placed in a saline solution (3 grams of salt per 100 ml of water) and mixed. After 10-15 minutes, those that float are removed (they are of poor quality), and those remaining at the bottom are dried and prepared for planting.

Advice! If there was a majority of those that surfaced, it is better not to use this batch at all.

As a rule, domestic seeds or those whose origin is unclear are subjected to such selection. Store-bought ones are tested during production. However, if you plan to plant a large number of cucumbers, you can check one of the packages, and if they turn out to be of high quality, calmly plant the vegetables.

Stimulation

This method is an improved seed soaking. The seeds are placed in water in which enhancer drugs (or folk remedies replacing them - aloe juice or tincture of valerian root) are previously diluted, and then left for several hours.

As a stimulant for the germination of cucumbers, you can use such products as Agat 25-K, Ambiol, Sodium Humate and many others. There are a few things to consider before using stimulants:

an incorrectly selected stimulant can harm the plant;
it is necessary to follow the instructions exactly, since otherwise the seeds intended for planting will die.

If the soil is fertile and not contaminated with anything, it is better to do without the use of stimulants, and instead use fertilizers at a later stage.

Soak

How many days do it take for cucumbers to sprout without soaking, and what happens if you do without it? As a rule, this depends on the climate and the condition of the soil. If you plant cucumbers in the conditions most suitable for them, they will sprout without additional actions, but this will take much more time. Without soaking, they will take up to two weeks to hatch, but with soaking, this period can be reduced to a week of waiting.

Soaking provides the cucumber seeds with the right conditions to begin to hatch. For the greatest effect, a kind of greenhouse effect is created - that is, the seeds are placed not just in water and heat, but in a covered container. Before soaking, they are disinfected - for example, with a solution of potassium permanganate.

Action of immersion in water

Technology: a small amount of water is poured into a container, a piece of fabric is placed in the water, on which the seeds are laid, and covered with the free end of the fabric. Alternatively, the seeds are immediately wrapped and then immersed in water.

Important! The water should stand for at least several hours, and also be warm - not lower than 20 degrees.

After this, cover the container with a lid (towel, bag, whatever) and put it in a warm, dark place.

The soaking process can last from several hours to one or two days. If all the water has been absorbed, you need to carefully add a little more. As a result of soaking, the seed should swell. Immediately after soaking, the seeds must either be sown in a garden bed, transplanted for use as seedlings, or the conditions must be changed and germination proceeded.

Preparing cucumber seeds for planting

The off-season gave the enthusiastic gardener enough time to decide on the variety or varieties of cucumbers recommended for next year. Whether these seeds were received by mail, purchased in a retail chain, or obtained by chance through friends does not matter.

It is best to use them in the first half of their allotted time.

The main thing is that they must be full-bodied and healthy specimens. Some of them will be used for growing seedlings, and the other will be used for planting directly in the garden bed.

The procedure for simple preparation is simple:

sorting cucumber seeds. It is necessary to prepare a 5% composition of the usual salt, dilute 50 g of NaCl in 100 cm 3 of water at 20 0; Dip the cucumber seeds selected for sowing into the prepared solution for 20-30 minutes; low-quality and inferior representatives of cucumber planting material will float to the surface. Some seeds can be rejected even in an unsoaked state;
soaking seeds: in a liter of water, dissolve 1 ordinary teaspoon of simple nitrophoska and a tablespoon, without a slide, of stove, wood ash; place cucumber seeds in the solution for at least half a day;
disinfectant heating of cucumber seeds. Place the seeds in a warm place (at t = 50 0) for exactly 3 days, increase the heating temperature by 20 0 and keep the cucumber seeds at it for another 24 hours;
at home, cucumber seeds can be heated near central heating radiators (at t = 25 - 27 0) for 30 days. Heated in this way, the seeds acquire a number of useful qualities: cucumbers have more female inflorescences, they begin to bear fruit earlier than ordinary cucumbers, there is no usual spread in time for seedlings of one variety of cucumbers;
hardening of seeds before planting. After the cucumber seeds have gone through all the previous procedures, they must be placed in wet wipes for germination. The process lasts for 2 days at t = 20 - 25 0 - until the seeds swell well. After this, the cucumber seeds are placed in the refrigerator for the same period.

In the same way, the uniformity of the cucumber harvest will be influenced by the differentiated planting period.

Sowing

Puccini cucumbers

Soaking, germination and stimulation are elements of preparation for sowing. But you need to prepare not only cucumbers for planting, but also the soil itself.

Several significant stages can be distinguished.

Choosing the right sowing time. It depends on where and in what condition the cucumbers are planned to be planted. If the seedlings are kept at home, in the warmth and under the rays of the sun (otherwise the cucumbers may not sprout), then they should start around mid-April - the seedlings ripen in about four to five weeks. If you plan to plant cucumbers directly in open ground, then you should plant them closer to the end of May, beginning of June, when there will definitely be no sudden temperature changes.
Preparation for sowing, which includes choosing a site, preparing film (if an analogue of a greenhouse is created), preparations for cultivating the land, as well as fertilizers.
Soil cultivation. In the spring, before sowing, the soil is dug up, humus is added, and the soil is also disinfected and fed. Cucumbers are fed with mineral fertilizers, such as superphosphate (amount - 40 g per square meter of bed), potassium salt (25 grams per 1 m, if wood ash has not been used before), ammonium nitrate (15 g per meter) and specialized mineral fertilizers. After fertilizing, you can also additionally disinfect the soil with a weak solution of potassium permanganate.
Immediately before planting, the beds are additionally heated by pouring a small amount of hot water into each hole.

Pre-sowing seed treatment

If all conditions are met, high-quality cucumber seeds germinate in due time without additional processing. However, over material whose germination is in doubt, you will have to “conjure” a little:

At the first stage of the preparatory work, the seed material is sorted: the seeds are poured onto paper and sorted by hand, discarding damaged and shriveled specimens. The selected material is immersed in a solution of table salt (50 g / 200 ml) for 30 minutes. During this simple procedure, full-bodied seeds will sink to the bottom, and “dummies” will float to the surface. After “bathing” in the solution, the seeds must be washed, since salt is harmful to the germination and development of embryos.
The next step is soaking. Dissolve 1 tbsp in 1 liter of water at room temperature. a spoonful of sifted wood ash and 1 teaspoon of nitrophoska. The resulting “cocktail” is poured over the seeds and left in a warm place for 10–12 hours.
Seeds soaked in a nutrient solution are immersed in hot (50–60°) water for 5–6 hours. You can also warm up the seed near a heating radiator (30 days) or in the sun (20 days).
Seeds ready for sowing are pickled in a solution of potassium permanganate or a biofungicide preparation (Fitosporin, Planriz).

Seedling care

Seedlings are one of the popular and convenient ways to plant cucumbers. Using this method, it is possible to ensure the survival of more seeds, since during the most dangerous early period for growth and development they find themselves in conditions suitable for life.

However, seedlings also need to be looked after. First of all, you need to decide what seeds will be planted - dry or already germinated. There is no significant difference between planting sprouted cucumber seeds or dry or swollen ones. Some manufacturers sell dry seeds ready for planting, coated with special fertilizers, and they should be planted just like that, without additional processing. Otherwise, it is advisable to at least simply disinfect the seed with potassium permanganate, and germination is left to the discretion of the gardener.

Important! The roots of cucumbers in the early stages are thin and fragile, they are easily damaged, so they try not to pick cucumbers. It is more convenient to grow seedlings immediately in separate small cups, so that later you do not have to plant the vegetables in different containers.

The containers are filled with earth (you can prepare the soil yourself, or you can buy a special substrate) approximately two-thirds, the grain is placed inside and covered with a 1.5-2 cm layer of earth. Then carefully water it from a spray bottle (or just a thin stream from a bottle) with settled water.

Thus, the basic rules for growing seedlings look like this:

The seeds can be of any kind, but it is still advisable to treat them with potassium permanganate before planting.
It is more convenient to use separate containers - cups, jars, pots - than one large box, since replanting cucumbers is difficult.
After planting, you need to cover the containers with any suitable object - a bag, glass, or a light board.
After the first shoots appear, the plant is removed from under the covering.
It is necessary to ensure that the seedlings do not dry out and water them regularly.

Seedlings are planted in open ground a month after sowing.

Useful materials

Explore other useful articles about caring for cucumber seedlings:

How to properly grow on a windowsill, balcony and even in the basement?
Tips for growing in various containers, in particular peat pots and tablets.
Find out the planting dates depending on the region.
Causes of common diseases, and why do seedlings stretch and their leaves dry out and turn yellow?
How to calculate the timing of sowing seeds, and when to plant seedlings in open ground?

Properly grown cucumber seedlings at home are very beautiful. Its health and well-being are indicated by bright, fresh greens, strong stems and rapid growth.

And how to make cucumber seedlings - you will find step-by-step tips in this article.

What to do if cucumbers don’t sprout

There may be several reasons why the cucumbers did not sprout at all. Not only people who are far from gardening, but also experienced gardeners may not achieve the desired result.

The reasons why sprouts did not appear can be divided into three groups - because of problems with the soil, with the climate, and because of mistakes made during preparation for sowing. Before you start worrying, you should wait two weeks after planting - the maximum time for sprouts to appear.

The main reasons why seeds may die:

Cucumbers may not germinate due to soil diseases or the presence of small pests.
Cucumbers may not germinate due to sudden temperature changes.
They may initially be of poor quality.

If the cucumbers have not sprouted within two weeks, you need to re-seed the area very quickly. Before this, you can carefully dig a hole or several and check what happened to the previous seed. If it is gnawed, it may be worth moving the beds to another area. Perhaps the seed has not begun to germinate, and then you can choose a more unpretentious variety. It is necessary to water the cucumbers with warm water - this can also affect the seedlings.

When re-seeding, it is better to first germinate the cucumbers and additionally treat the soil with fertilizers.

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Phases of sprout germination

Seed germination is divided into several phases. Each of them needs to be given special attention. With qualitative observation, you can easily understand why some of the sprouts appeared, while others did not sprout. Germination itself is the appearance of a plant embryo covered with a seed coat. This peel is a protective shell for it. It helps prevent various types of damage, protects against harmful insects, and retains moisture inside.

For a sprout to appear, the shell must open. To do this, the seeds need to be provided with a constant, comfortable temperature, natural light and oxygen.

The first phase is the beginning of the cycle. The main component for its passage is water. It is the required amount of moisture that gives the embryo the opportunity to leave the shell. This explains that many seeds germinate simply by being in a glass of water for several days. During this period, you need to monitor the temperature regime. It is necessary to exclude sharp jumps, and even more so, its decrease. If this happens, the seed may become moldy and the embryo in it may die.
The next stage is the development of the seed embryo. At this stage, many processes continuously occur that are not visible from the outside. The main one is the launch of a series of chemical reactions that encourage the hatched sprout to further develop. The first result can be noticed when you see a small sprout in the container where you planted the seed. This happens almost immediately after the root emerges from its shell. Through this sprout, the future cucumber bush begins to receive the sunlight necessary for development.

At the embryo stage, the plant no longer needs the skin and sheds it completely. Now it will receive nutrition from water and air. If the seed has not sprouted at this stage, it may be because you did not plant it high enough. There was contact with open air, which caused the peel to dry out and the embryo to die.

This can be prevented if you take care of timely watering. In this case, the moisture will prevent the grain from drying out and it will be able to germinate.

Stage of germinated seed.